» [Fall Workshop 2015] Summary Feedback

This year we tried a riff on our ETUG Fall workshop program. We offered a two part program of 2 plenaries on open: The Agora Project and #textbookbrokeUBC and following that, an unconference. We wanted to highlight these 2 exciting initiatives and having received very positive response last year from our first unconference, we wanted to try this new (to ETUG) and open format again.
A total of 105 participants registered at the workshop this year which is an all time high! Nineteen participants responded to the workshop survey. If you participated, but did not get a chance to give us input, we’d love to hear from you, so send your comments or ideas to [see etug.ca for contact info]/. Thanks! See you soon!

Summary Responses

For how many years have you been attending ETUG workshops?

This was my first year		42.1%
2 years		5.3%
3 years		10.5%
4 years		0%
5+ years		15.8%
Every ETUG since the beginning of time (or so it seems).		26.3%

We invite you to give feedback on you have on the Plenary I: The Agora Project

“Really enjoyed have so many team members sharing their experiences and thoughts.”

Always a good indicator of the quality of the Plenary if people reference it the rest of the day!
I think this was an interesting project & will be interested to follow up & find out more. But it took awhile before I could figure out what this was about: the goals, the players, the learning outcomes, the technologies involved. Not sure about the role of the skyped-in participants either.
Great project. Interesting approaches and insights into the experience. Might have benefited from more time.
Yes with another group
The presentation about the University of Guadalajara was very interesting, especially the fact that the education there is free, as it is in many countries in Europe, and used to be in England where I am from.
Technical problems got in the way. I found this talk a bit unstructured and sometimes I couldn’t hear what was being said. Lost my interest.
Absolutely loved hearing about the innovation and collaboration in this project with JIBC, TRU, U of Guadalajara. Makes me think there are many other opportunities across institutions that we start building on.
Very interesting and exciting project. However, it felt a bit disconnected as there was no follow-up unconference session that seemed to relate to the excitement. I would have loved a taco design session or an exploration of how they set up their studios (design thinking, practicalities). I supposed I could have asked someone (Brian or Tannis?) to lead a session but I wasn’t certain if I could do that. Would have been fun to have them do a hands-on afternoon session to promote the organic (emergent) kind of design approach they took.
This was really exciting to hear about and such a great example of institutional collaboration. It would be great to see something similar available for BC post-secondary faculty (the ability to build skills and confidence through a supported studio model).
Very inspiring and interesting
Great project – would be nice to know how we can get involved with such projects?
a few tech problems but well worthwhile
Very interesting. Lots of take-aways in terms of how they used group learning, dealt with experience differences, and kept learners active over 3 months.
Very interesting on multiple levels — from looking at ID & planning decisions to the collaborative nature of the project as a whole. It would be interesting to start a directory to help groups looking for partnerships like this find each other.
What a great idea!

We invite you to give feedback on the Plenary 2: #textbookbrokeUBC

“Great to have student presenters. and they were well-organized, informed, & passionate about the issue. Lots of good info here.”

It was really helpful to hear the students’ perspective and good to know that they are open to speaking with other student associations.
Loved having the students present their point of view. It was a good follow-up from the OpenText book presentation that VCC hosted in October.
Sort of interesting. Not as many take-aways personally.
Great! Very informative, lively speakers.
Again, a wonderfully current topic facing all institutions, which is the high price of textbooks. Creating open textbooks and ensuring their viability need to be a goal of all post-secondaries; therefore, a unified, provincial approach seems most sensible and cost-effective.
Amazing young people. Again, a relevant topic but it didn’t connect into the afternoon. Would have been nice to have them host a session where we could have followed up with questions or tried to help them develop further ways to engage professors in exploring more open teaching/learning? Beyond the googledoc they started – I didn’t feel it really worked in that presenttaion/plenary format.
Interesting initiative but may not have needed as much time.
I totally sympathize with students on the text cost issue
Loved having students share their views, love to see this type of thing in the future – esp. with Q&A possible.
Interesting to see students taking the lead.
Interesting to hear from students reps. I think there’s much education that still needs to go into the uses of open textbooks and why open text should be adopted.
Good to have students presenting
Nice way to give students a say in the rising costs of books
I thought the presentation and ensuing discussion about open textbooks was good.

What aspects of the unconference did you enjoy the most?

“Liked the variety of topics being pitched – enjoyed the casual format of presentations.”

The very thoughtful balance of structure vs. unstructured.
The variety of pitches.
The fact that fortunately there were enough volunteer presenters to make the afternoon very worthwhile. Also it was a dynamic experience.
variety of sessions: great topics, lots to choose from
I enjoyed the breakout about flipping the LMS, with Paul Hibbits, seems that his technique provides some added flexibility, immediacy, and student input, but seems best suited to more technically literate students
interesting topics
I liked the range of options that ended up being proposed. I thought the warm up exercise fit well (low key and not too intimidating for new ETUG-ers)
The quality of the topics.
Loved the starter session by Michelle from BCIT who modelled the approach and informality of the unconference (IMHO). Enjoyed the willingness of people to step forward and offer something or, even more unusual (for me) was the lady who stepped up and said what she wanted to learn about and asked who would/could lead a session on that topic.
Flexibility, informality.
Watching it self-organize
Liked hearing the pitches
diversity of sessions,
the whole thing! I liked the self-serve aspects; how the room was set up to accommodate different participants (row seats, tables, ongoing snacks / coffee etc)… Also really liked that some participants requested sessions! Networking is always highly valued at conferences and it seems that the unconference is a semi-structured, organized method for getting the most out of networking.
People brought creative topics to the unconference.
Great topics (better than the spring conference in terms of my interest in the subject matter) and lots of discussion in each group.

What aspects of the unconference did you enjoy the least?

“I felt that I didn’t get enough time to look and decide which workshop to go to.”

The time slots seemed too short. There were too many sessions per time slot to choose from.
sessions at the same time
Can’t think of anything. It seemed to work much better this year but maybe that’s because all of the proposed sessions were of interest to me this time around.
Nothing stood out as unpleasant.
Hard to choose with 5 concurrent sessions so hopefully some will also present in the spring or at TELL sessions.
This year seemed more disjointed than last (perhaps I was distracted). I didn’t note that the schedule of events was posted as a tiny url so, when I went to look for what was when, I couldn’t see it as the group that was going to use that space had the screen pulled down. So I wasted time wandering between rooms looking for what was on. I also felt that some of the sessions were “thin” – not sure if it was cuz the topics weren’t new or relevant to me or whether the presenters were not as effective at explaining their ideas?
Nothing really.
not having the opportunity to tweet the schedule, too many good sessions on at the same time.
The time it took to set up. Felt some pressure to give a presentation and I didn’t have any ideas.
Some sessions weren’t long enough.
The session I wanted to see the most came at the end of the day (luck of the draw) :-}
i really can’t think of anything
nothing really

How did you hear about the ETUG unconference?

Email notification		42.1%
The ETUG News		36.8%
Etug.ca		26.3%
Twitter		15.8%
Facebook		0%
Friend or colleague		36.8%
ETUG rep		15.8%
Linked-In		5.3%
BCcampus.ca		21.1%
Other		0

How would you rate the clarity of the pre-unconference info and orientation provided to you as a participant?

Very Clear		55.6%
Clear		44.4%
Unclear		0%
Confusing		0%

How helpful was the unconference orientation provided the morning of the workshop to frame the day?

Very helpful		38.9%
Helpful		55.6%
Unhelpful		5.6%
Very unhelpful		0%

Do you have any comments or suggestions for the workshop committee on how to improve on the organization and facilitation of ETUG unconferences in the future?

“I think the unconference idea is a powerful one, so trying to better organize or plan it sort of defeats the purpose. People want to pitch ideas that are important to them at the time. For this reason, I really like the unconference format.”

Do a tech run through to make sure it all works. Better instructions for participating in the graphic facilitation.
Continue to create unconferences that provide opportunities to be responsive to the community interests
I think that the planning board (with the post-it notes and times and rooms) should be posted outside of the room where sessions take place. This was a bit of an issue last year too. I hate to say it, but maybe it should be on Tracy’s big graphic facilitation paper? rather than on the whiteboard or not just digitally linked?
I suggest that a member of the hosting institution is available for IT related issues. It was difficult to concentrate on what was happening during Brian Lamb’s presentation at the end of the day when people seemed to pushing buttons and interrupting his session
nope, you guys did a great job
maybe post the unconference rules….
I’d love to see a shared ride board to help promote carpooling.

What participant-led session(s) were your favorite?

“I got something out of all of the sessions I attended. It was exciting to hear the news about the Ed Tech playground.”

Flipping the LMS and the session on WordPress
Privacy
flipping the LMS, WordPress
The BC Open Educational Technology Sandstorm by Brian Lamb
Liberating Structures
I was very interested to hear about Educloud and the open app development.
really enjoyed the ice-breaker drawing activity
Liberating structures. I’ve been a bit fuzzy on these before but this particular session was super-clear & valuable. The OpenEd Tech one was pretty cool too.
The last one on Educloud. Periscope one was good too.
Graphixia and Open Education Tools sessions.
Peter’s on Flipping the LMS
Liked the WordPress session and Open-Ed Tech session
UBC student session.
The final one on SPLOT and OET tools… we are so limited in BC by FOIPPA. It’s very nice of some smart people to create this website to alleviate the problem.
Tracy and Leva’s 25-10 crowdsourcing cuz it was simple, engaging, active, fun and useful to them and us!
Two instructors from Douglas College (I can’t remember names). Very good speakers, interesting information.

What did you think of the amount of time alotted for participant-led sessions? (30 min)

Too long		5.6%
Too short		11.1%
About right		83.3%

Do you think the venue (VCC downtown) was suitable for an unconference?

“If I were to really need to “vote with my feet” and leave a session, a classroom with only one door would make it a bit awkward, but I didn’t need to.”

it was ok… the room was awfully cold though. VCC is not the greatest venue but it was conveniently located & of course good to move the event around a little.
You bet. Great location.
Yes great venue.
The venue was great.
Yes.
Not bad. the signage for breakout rooms seemed a little vague for me but it could have been me. It had windows for natural light, air flow was good, room temps were good (way better than SFU Harbour Centre), chairs were comfortable, bathrooms clean, whiteboards were clean. Only issue was the overheating of the presentation screen and audio (which ultimately led to a very funny situation when Brian was doing the end of the day session and thought the tech support guy was cutting him off). LOL But all of us have faced similar challenges so it didn’t interfere with the enjoyment of the conference.
Yep.
Yes
yes, especially the food and bakery.
yes
The eduroam wifi did not work at all that day. Food was good.

Do you think ETUG should do another unconference instead of the regular conference format?

Yes for part of Spring 2016 workshop		16.7%
Yes for Fall 2016 workshop		22.2%
Yes for part of Fall 2016		38.9%
No, give it a break		16.7%
Yes I like unconference for everything		11.1%

If you attended the ETUG pub on Thurs. night, what did you think of the Library Public Square venue? Do you have any suggestions for pub/dinner night for future? (This Spring we will be at BCIT Burnaby campus.)

“It was good! It would be great to have a pub night venue where people move around a little, something that would mix old timers with newbies. Something a bit quieter to facilitate conversations. But Library public square wasn’t bad.”

n/a
Very nice venue, easy access too.
Did not attend
good venue – good food (music got a bit loud)
Hi, I think you mean Thursday night for the pub night. Although the pub location was good for those who were staying downtown in the hotel, service at our table was extremely slow. Always been a big fan of Steamworks or Yaletown Brewing Company.
too loud for conversation and seating was awkward to mingle to network
N/A
When I got there, there was a huge lineup, so I couldn’t get in.
Personally, I found the pub venue too loud for visiting/talking but this is just my preference.

If you attended the “pretug’ event on Thurs. at the VPL Inspiration Lab, what did you think? Do you have any suggestions for future tours or sessions prior to the Fall or Spring workshop? Please comment if you think “pretugs” provide value to you as a member.

“Loved the “pre-tug” session. It was helpful to know of the services that can be shared with students. Please keep the “pre-tug” sessions up if possible. If a hosting institution has a great technology or program to share perhaps they can showcase it.”

this was really great
Very cool! Enjoyed seeing the lab.
n/a but i like the ‘pretug’ idea 🙂
n/a (but wish I could have attended)
I really enjoyed learning about the VPL facilities, but I’d also like to see a showcase of student created projects.
N/A
Great tour of the Inspiration Lab. Very valuable.
wish there had been another opportunity on the Friday
This is the first pretug I ever attended and loved finding out about VPL’s Inspiration Lab. Thanks for arranging this!

Please use this space to provide with any additional feedback, suggestions for ETUG workshop themes/activities or offers of help. Thanks!

“Thanks to the event organizers. Such an enthusiastic group with a rich and diverse range of interests and experiences to share.”

always a joy!
The paired drawing seemed a little out of place and might have taken longer than it needed? I heard a few rumblings about it. Maybe have a shorter lunch next time and an actual afternoon break. The 10 minutes between sessions didn’t give people much time and a lot of the break food and drink didn’t get taken. Maybe end lunch at 12:45. Have two sessions and then a longer 20 minute break at 1:55.
Thanks for another great networking opportunity.
Thanks to everyone for all the hard work that goes into setting up and running the workshops! You ROCK!!
Great workshop! I really enjoyed it. Thank-you!
I think a directory of how to get reach unconference presenters would be helpful.
Excellent planning day and ETUG workshop. I’m looking forward to working with SCETUG over the coming year.
Thanks again for another great Workshop!