#TMETRU09 was a fantastic evening. To my knowledge, it was not only the first-ever EdTechRoundUp TeachMeet, but the first one done solely online! Go to http://edtechroundup.wikispaces.com/TMETRU09 for all of the links and resources related to the event.

Some people have asked how we did organized a completely-online TeachMeet. Here’s a brief overview:

Well before the TeachMeet

1. Discussed the who? what? when? where? why? questions as a group.
2. Set up a wiki page on the TeachMeet wiki
3. Assign roles (overview, setting up accounts, etc.)
4. Thought up a hashtag (in this case #TMETRU09) and used it in tweets from then on
5. Encouraged people to sign up to record a presentation or do one live.
6. Set up a Diigo account to collate links.

Just before the TeachMeet

1. Booked FlashMeeting.
2. Signed up for Justin.tv for live stream.
3. Tidied up the wiki page.
4. Reminded those who hadn’t recorded presentations to do so.
5. Sent out tweets building up anticipation.
6. Tested using SoundFlower and CamTwist (Mac-only?) to stream out FlashMeeting and presentations.
7. Discussed roles on the evening (who to host, introduce videos, etc.)
8. Sent presenters private link to FlashMeeting.
9. Made sure instructions for those viewing were clear on the wiki.

Evening of the TeachMeet

1. Hosts arrive early to FlashMeeting, check everything is working OK.
2. Last minute changes/preparations sorted.
3. Videos checked to make sure they’re working.
4. Barrage of tweets with hashtag sent out (add ‘Please RT!’)
5. Press both ‘Broadcast’ and ‘Record’ at Justin.tv.
6. Keep things light-hearted and be prepared for things to go wrong…

The first ever TeachMeet EdTechRoundUp edition is today (Sunday 6th December) 7-9pm GMT. Click on the image above for more details!

Sign up for the first-ever ETRU TeachMeet in December!

We’ve two new sections, both of which anyone can participate in and through:

EdTechRoundUp Hub

This syndicates blog posts from those part of the ETRU community that are on topics related to educational technology. It won’t syndicate all your blog posts (just the ones you choose), so if you’d like to have yours featured on the ETRU Hub, please get in touch with Doug (@dajbelshaw) who’s organizing that.

EdTechRoundUp Forum

To encourage those who listen to the podcast to interact with the ETRU community, the Forum has been set up. Agenda items from the wiki shall be posted so questions can be asked and conversations continued!

Please let us know what you think about the new additions.

In that blog post and podcast, Doug made some comments about TALMOS Virtual Learning Environment to which the company behind the product took exception. More details here.

Mike Jones from Core Projects & Technologies (UK) Ltd. accepted our offer for TALMOS to put their side of the story. We’re not releasing it as a podcast as the issue probably won’t be of interest to most of our listeners. However, we thought it important that we make available in unedited format the discussion that took place.

Click here for the FlashMeeting replay!

If you could ask the Google Apps UK team anything, what would it be?

Responses either in the comments section below, or on the ETR wiki here.

We’d like more people to join us in the conversation – let’s use education to improve technology technology to improve education!