Yesterday was the Sudbury-North Bay Region’s eSymposium 2013. This was the sixth year for the event, and it’s changed a little along the way. The theme this year was “Stepping Up Our Digital Learning”, which seems appropriate in retrospect.

There were a number of challenges to organizing and carrying out a symposium this size. The biggest issue that plagued us yesterday was the weather to the north. No one got out of Timmins on Monday or Tuesday, so that was unfortunate. I think we recovered well, but three presenters were absent and had to be replaced.

My personal challenge was the number of times I spoke to a group (links to my presentations):

• Session 1A: Supporting e-Learning Students and Teachers in Small, Rural Schools
• Session 3D: Collaboration Session for Other Subjects
• The Stepping Up and Looking Forward Show with Tim Robinson
• Session 4C: Becoming a Connected Administrator
• Session 5A: SLAM: Using the LMS for Teacher Collaboration

I was also there to help out my superintendent in Session 2A: Supporting Digital Learning as an Administrator.

I’ll be posting some reflections soon. In particular, we again discussed how best to use Twitter as a teacher or as an administrator, and Stacey Wallwin tweeted some great thinking at me this morning. Once I get it a little straighter in my brain, I’ll dump my thinking here.

I also wanted to thank the SNB Region, e-Learning Ontario (Rick Beaulieu [sorry you couldn’t make it!] and Sharon Korpan [thanks for being flexible!]), and Desire2Learn (Tracy Collins [great presentations!]). I love being a part of such a highly connected region, and I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished together.

Tim Robinson and Andrew Swartz were our co-chairs this year, and they did a great job. You’re on again for next year, guys. Get the spreadsheet ready, and let me know how I can help. :)