Ali's Blog

Now that the conference is over for another year and I have had time to reflect, these are some of the thoughts and memories I will take from this year’s Tertiary Education Conference held on Darwin.

1. I really like Darwin- I found it a cross between small town New Zealand and Bali- you probably have to visit Darwin to understand that though!
2. I loved the heat and did not find the humidity anywhere near as bad as expected…. and you just walk more slowly if it gets too hot
3. Jo and her team from ATEM did an amazing job of organising a conference in the Northern territories, when most are not even located there, and when even the conference organisers said that no-one would travel that far to attend (550 people proved them wrong)
4. It was nice to finally attend a conference in Australia where the country’s first inhabitants were appropriately acknowledged, not only in the entertainment, but by key speakers who all acknowledged the land’s original people
5. That there were finally a number of sessions about an andragogical approach to tertiary education, and the use of new technology in this teaching- maybe there is hope for unis after all?
6. That there was a lot of talk about how Australian universities and TAFE can work together as a coordinated tertiary education market- once again good to see New Zealand leading the way with sessions on how such collaboration is working well across the ditch
7. That Ted Egan enlightened us to the fact that despite the rhetoric and the vast sums of money poured into the issues, the plight of First Australians is still at a critical phase, with the Aboriginal people being the unhealthiest, the poorest, the least employed, the most illiterate, the worst housed, the least trained, the most imprisoned people in the land.
8. That not all TV presenters are interesting without a script (you had to be there to understand that one!)
9. That I still enjoy the “tertiary education industry” and must continue to look for ways to engage with the sector regularly.
10. That I am disappointed I am going to miss next year’s event in Melbourne as it will clash with Ulearn.

Posted on September 20th, 2009 under Educational bits and bobs, Odds & Ends, Travel • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback