Future of Conception

[steve]

PLP intends to keep supporting and developing Conception, to keep alive the legacy of Tom Conlon (http://www.parlog.com/tom), its creator. This forum is for Conception users and enthusiasts to discuss how they would like Conception to develop in future, how they are using it, how they might contribute, etc.
If you have any ideas please post them here. If you don't want to discuss the details in public, we could set up a non-public forum for this purpose. We could also schedule a meeting, for local people. You can post on this forum as a guest or by registering as a "member" (there is no need to be a Conception licence holder).
If you don't want to post here, please contact me by email (steve@parlog.com) or call me on 01454 201280. We would like to listen to the ideas of everyone with an interest in Conception, so please let us know what you think about the future of Conception!

[ely]

I am new to conception and the work that Tom accomplished.
I met Tom in the last Concept Mapping conference in Tallinn-Helsinki and listen to his presentation.
Immediately I noted that Tom's ideas and implementation are an excellent venue to follow.
My research is on the utility of graphic organizers to text comprehension, and Tom's approach is a straightforward merge of applying study strategies with technology.
I had a chance to chat with Tom several times during the conference and an agenda to come to him and learn more about his ideas.
Now I am writing as a lost student, asking whoever is using Conception to contact me.
I am willing to come, for a week or so, to learn directly about Concpetion applications and how to advance it.

Ely Kozminsky, PhD.
Department of Education
Ben-Gurion University
Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel
ely@bgu.ac.il

[IainP]

I am an English teacher who has been using Conception in my classroom for the past two years. I was a pupil of Tom Conlon's on a Chartered Teacher programme, and have been using the software ever since. I am not aware of any other English teachers using Conception, but would like to share ideas if anyone else is.

I have found concept mapping particularly successful in allowing pupils to build up their own understanding of texts, particularly poetry. Conception has ensured that this knowledge is much more robust than that acquired by more traditional teaching methods. I undertook a short project on this as part of the course with Tom.

Last year, Tom asked me to be involved with his work on Text Concept Mapping (TCM), and my pupis provided him with data for the research he presented at the 3rd Concept Mapping Conference. I found this work extremely useful in helping pupils with text comprehension - an ongoing issue in English teaching.

Conception has much to offer in the English classroom, and I am keen to work with other with an interest.

Iain Petrie