Technology Enhanced Learning, the English Riviera, and a Werewolf…

South West Technology Enhanced Learning Forum (SW TEL) broadcast its first live meeting on YouTube in May 2016; named 'TEL Friday' after the '90s C4 television show.  A fresh, fast-moving event accessible from individual devices or via a large screen for groups, it took a lot of organisation and was really well received. This June we revisited our colleagues at the Horizon Centre in Torbay Hospital to broadcast a bigger, better TEL Friday for 2017.

In addition to our team from last year which included Jo Pratt and Andy Kerslake, this year we drew colleagues from across NHS South. Paul Wilder joined us from Frimley Park, and Jaz Bance of HEE stepped up into a vital supporting role.  Alison Potter also joined the team, and in December we began sharing ideas via Skype.  We wanted a co-presenter and some 'big names' from the technology enhanced learning world.  Will (our Stage Manager) suggested we hold a live 'eLearning challenge' and I chose a subtle cognitive test for the viewers.   

The TEL Friday team

Fellow SW TEL member Amanda Gunning from RUH Bath agreed to co-present, even though she'd never undertaken anything quite like it before.  Jaz used his contacts to gain Donald Clark's agreement to be interviewed, and similarly Dr Amit Mishra who's been working with Google Glass to support trainees. Nicki Forgham-Healey undertook to provide guidance on how to find reliable educational information on the internet, and Alison Potter agreed to provide a National TEL Scene spot.  Paul Wilder signed up for the live eLearning Challenge team along with Andy Kerslake and Jaz; we then emailed our TEL-South colleagues for suggestions, as our guys would be creating an eLearning module from scratch, to be hosted the same day!

By now there were too many components to coordinate them all live with our limited resources, so Will and I travelled to Brighton to interview Dr Mishra and also Donald Clark, who are both based in Brighton.  These recordings were then 'in the can' ready for broadcasting on the day itself.

The photo above shows us ready to go, everything planned, tested and rehearsed - little did we know that two minutes before we were due to start, our YouTube link would crash!  For an agonising four minutes Jack and Will worked feverishly to create a fresh link while the rest of sat and waited; barely able to contain the tension we were feeling. 

Amanda reports on the progress of our eLearning Challenge team

TEL Friday went live a few minutes late and credit is due to Jack Carey in particular for keeping cool during this completely unexpected crisis and setting up a new connection (the cause turned out to be a YouTube fault).

We soon got going again and Amanda gave such a polished performance as co-presenter that many viewers thought she was a professional (read about Amanda's experience as a first-time presenter in the blog below).  She provided regular updates on the progress of the eLearning Challenge Team, and even volunteered to be videoed for their demonstration of oral care!

After his fascinating video report on how Virtual Reality (VR) can support patients and staff as well as provide truly stimulating learning, Nick Peres joined us for a chat about what the future may hold.

And finally; did you see the Werewolf?  He walked behind me during the introduction high above Torbay, but no-one reported seeing him - he was apparently even less visible than the interloper in a well-known basketball video clip.  

If you didn't catch TEL Friday live, it's available here with a table of contents, so you can choose which parts to watch.  We'll see you next year!