RUME Conference - Portland - Day 3

Here's a thought. If you hold a conference and the last day is a half day only...particularly on a Sunday, people WILL leave early. This should be avoided. a) it's somewhat embarrassing I think, to the organisers, b) it's not pleasant for the speakers, particularly if they are new to the community at the conference/students - they can feel like nobody cares about them. How to avoid it: a) put higher profile speakers on the last day, b) don't have a half day at the end if possible (eg, remove breaks between talks and squeeze the program into a shorter time.

Submarine and Interstate 5 from Full Sail

I watched a couple of talks today about blended instruction/online teaching - these were interesting enough. It was cool to see someone in mathematics employing the Elluminate Live! technology (this is a tack-on to blackboard/LMS sort of a cross between skype, online whiteboard and powerpoint). They used it for teaching a graduate level course to teachers in remote areas (Colorado and Wyoming I think from memory). This is something that I'd like to do myself with my idea for a GradCert in maths for Qld/Aus teachers who are interested in upskilling their mathematics. It seems unpopular though with folks at work...not to worry.

Full Sail Bump in the Night and Mathffiti on the copper table top

Anyway, I feel like I was a good boy for actually going to a few talks on the last half day. But at the end, it was good to head out (even though it was freezing and raining) and wander around town, grab lunch and drink some Full Sail (cask aged Bump in the Night). We also got all cultured and headed to the Portland Art Museum for a couple of hours. Not a lot of artworks that I liked, but some. Some of the African American stuff was powerful - but there was a particularly lame bit which was basically video and bits and pieces made from experiments of cells dividing. Darryl and I are thinking of approaching an artist and giving them some matlab vids of solutions to the diffusion equation. We iz artists.