Now is as good of a time as any to round up any wandering ideas from the 21st Century Learning Conference in Hong Kong. Since I returned my colleagues and administrators have been asking,
How was it? What did you learn?
I have not been in the Ed-tech game long enough to become completely jaded, but I have been around long enough to understand that sometimes conferences can feel more depressing than inspiring. I try not to become weighed down by my cynicism, but it seems that every conference leaves more underwhelmed than the last. Don’t get me wrong the organizers did a good job of organizing the sessions, keynotes, and getting people together but I cannot think of anything that really blew me away. In the age of Professional Learning Networks what can we learn from conference that we cannot learn from our Twitter and RSS feeds?
What is the purpose of a conference in the age of online learning? I feel I should have an answer if I ever want to get approval from my school to attend another conference. I have to go with the cliché response I heard everyone say throughout the conference:
The best part of this conference is meeting my existing network face to face.
I couldn’t agree more. It was so exciting to eat dinner with people I had only known online. At every conference there are a group of people who do not blog or use Twitter who end up looking on amazed that their peers could be so connected. There is always the confused question, “How do you guys know each other again? Really? You have never met. ”
A network is only as strong as it’s connections and these face-to-face meetings really help create authentic communities. I loved chatting with Robert about the great work he and Gary are doing at their school with WordPress and Scratch. It was a pleasure to share ideas with Dana and Stacey, or to meet Tim for the first time after the many RT’s. Suddenly Ben was more than an avatar, but a living breathing person who helped my session not fall apart. He is headed to Jakarta next month to visit Hugo and I hope we can meet up again, maybe with Rod who I already know in Jakarta. I finally met Colin, but couldn’t pin him down for an actual meal. And of course I started conversations with Neil, John, Jason, Justin, Greg (already started a great chat on his blog), Jamie, Gary, Philip, Lynn, and Makky. So what did I learn from this conference? I learned that there are people across the region who are doing great work and they are ready to connect and learn. I may have crossed paths with these people eventually, but a conference is like a crucible to strengthen relationships quickly. It is because of this human connection that I go to conferences. We meet. We chat. We eat. We connect. As for the sessions…
I am embarrassed that it is 2011 and we are still trying to convince teachers and administrators who run schools to use technology in their classrooms, as if we still have a choice. I cannot even begin to imagine the frustration of the educators who have been involved with the use of technology for longer than me. How do you sit through, or worse present another Keynote explaining that learning is changing and that the internet and our connections to it can be a powerful learning too? I find it embarrassing that we are still stumbling about wondering how or why to use laptops in classrooms, that we still have beginner sessions on blogs, or that we need to be inspired to teach differently.
Do we really need to have the discussion telling teachers that it is the pedagogy and not the tools? Do we really need to tell them not to be afraid and move toward a more student-based approach? Do we really need to warn them that soon they will be irrelevant? I am ready for that threat to simply be a goodbye. Sorry, sir but our school simply will not hire teachers who are not connected and familiar with terms like PLN, blogs, Twitter, and connected learning, perhaps you can find a job at a school where technology is not considered a valuable teaching approach. What’s that? You don’t know what any of that means but you are curious and want to learn. Come on in.
I understand the need to look closely at the various issues surrounding technology and the use of laptops in schools, but there is also something to be said about simply moving forward and taking the training wheels off to see what will happen. I am tired of going to conferences and backtracking to the beginning. I am tired of slowing down the pace of my learning to bring others up to speed. I want to move forward. I want to sit in rooms with teachers who are working at the edge of possibility and connect our learning, our skills, our students, our schools. I want to cloister myself with a group of teachers who are pushing the boundaries and doing amazing work in their classrooms despite their school policies not because of them. Where are the sessions for us? Where are the times that connected teachers can move forward instead of looking back?
Woah! That train of thought went down a few dark tunnels. Let’s turn things around a bit and drive into the light. Yes it is true that many teachers, administrators and schools are terrified to move forward and are mired in fear and paralysis, but there are pockets of teachers worldwide who seem to get it. We often work in isolation at our schools, pushing the envelope, and forcing our schools to look more closely at the use of technology. The ironic part is that we are already connected. Through conversations on our blogs, twitter, connected classrooms, skype and other tools we are constantly learning from each other. We do not really need conferences because we are teaching in an environment that resembles an ongoing global conference.
Some final thoughts to share with your administrators:
- Schools who are truly invested in the use of technology and a successful 1:1 program achieve buy in from students, teachers and parents. They recruit and train teachers who are open to teaching in student driven environments and help them understand not just the skills necessary to teach using technology, but also help them achieve a firm understanding behind the philosophy of this new pedagogy through the use of an effective and well-staffed technology integration team. They make learning fun and exciting for everyone and they do not accept teachers who are not willing to learn. They offer training, support and time for all teachers to learn new ways of teaching.
- Time and training is vital. If you want your staff to do amazing things you have to hire the right people and give them an opportunity to play, experiment and grow. You must give them time to play, experiment and grow. You must give them money to play, experiment and grow. You must give them room to play, experiment and grow.
- If you want your school to move forward you must take off the training wheels and move forward. You cannot wait for everyone to get it. You must set up expectations, hire the right people to get the staff moving forward and hold people accountable.
- If you want your school to move forward you cannot continue to appease the members of your staff who don’t get it. You cannot steer your professional development to the members of staff who are the furthest behind and most resistant to change. If you need to convince your teachers to use technology you have hired the wrong teachers, or it is time to ask those people to move on.
- If you want your school to move forward, you as an administrator must get it. You must be involved in the conversations and foster them in your school. You need to ask your staff questions about how technology is changing their teaching and if they do not have an answer you need to ask why. You must create an environment that fosters passion about learning in your teachers. You can no longer accept “I am too busy”, or “they expect so much of me.” You must demand your teachers question their pedagogy and share their thoughts. You must train your staff to share their learning with each other and the parent community. You must give your staff support and time to learn. You must lead the way and model the behavior.
- If you want your school to move forward you must turn your teachers into learners.
If this is the value of conferences, doesn’t it make you wonder why the bulk of the time is devoted to one to many lecture formats?
I’m seeking in vain ones that flip the proportion of the block session schedule dominance- where people gather to *do* something rather than talking about doing things.
Some of my favorite conference sessions were modeled on the hands-on, “do something” approach. Went to an NCTE session on mentor texts and we wrote poems modeled in the style of other writers and shared with each other. That did more to inspire me than any session spent watching someone talk with slides or, worse, read an academic paper from start to finish at a podium.
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Bravo, well said. I couldn’t agree with you more about conferences these days. It was the same in Shanghai earlier this school year. The face to face connections were the best part. Did I get anything from the sessions that were earth shattering and new, not that i can think of.
Maybe a conference of job-a-like sessions with a required outcome of a real project/collaboration aimed at learning…
In this day and age why are not more classrooms connected? The answer, it takes more time and effort but man the ROI is so worth it.
I agree with you Jabiz. I have a conference coming up in a couple of weeks and can’t wait to meet people. I am presenting on collaboration based on a Scratch project with Gary (that you just met) and am struggling with how to allow conversations in the room. I want the session to be conversations about challenges and successes of collaboration and not just a “book report” of what we did. I guess I fear if I don’t “give” people something than they will leave my session disappointed. I also feel that one hour is too short to share and converse.
The other thing that is happening in the U.S. are the edcamps. I think these are a direct result of what you are talking about here. They are “unconferences” and focus on meeting people that you already “know” online and conversations. They are also free and starting all over the country. They are usually on Saturdays. All of these factors allow anyone to attend, especially those who can not get released from a school day or afford to pay for a big conference.
I will be attending edcampdetroit and plan on “presenting” the same topic. I am interested to see the difference in how these presentations will go in these different formats. At the “professional” conference I think most people in my session will expect me to dominate and give them info. At the edcamp I think most people will expect me to facilitate and let them talk.
Jabiz,
We had pretty much this very conversation on the bus in Hong Kong, how conferences are are not meeting the needs of educators who are convinced, aware, practiced, and actively innovating. It is a huge problem, because there are many educators who still need to be convinced, to become aware, to have room to practice and permission to innovate.
I continue to believe that there is a place for ed tech conferences, even in the age of Twitter. Some folks still need to be taught, as do some ideas. But conferences do need to evolve to facilitate the conversations your previous commenters talk about in a way that enlightens and energizes all of us.
How do we convince those who are resting on the narrowing ledges of confort, unless we provide a place for them to listen, become confident, and then grow in the conversation.
Blah blah blah! You heard me say it on the bus 😉
Great to see you again, bro!
— dave —
Good rant and good comments…and agree
You want a different conference? Try to create one! That’s what we did with Learning 2.08-10 where we successful? Maybe in some places, not so much in others. Part of the issue is people want to see “sessions” and there aren’t enough of “us” to run a full conference. We had a hard time at last year’s conference filling spots because there were no pre-sessions for people to look at because we created them there in the unconference format.
We even tried what David suggested and have a project/idea that people could go deep with (our cohort strands) what we found is you can’t force collaboration.
What I think a conference will become is some great keynotes and then just time to play with area to play and learn. No sessions, no speakers just a bunch of smart people talking, chatting, doing.
I hear where you’re coming from…your feelings are why I stopped going to conferences and started presenting at them. 🙂 If you can’t find a session you want to go to, do one you’d want to.
Good Stuff!
I think the Learning 2.00? conferences are definitely doing something different and getting close to a model that could work for a wide range of audiences. I am very excited to be on the presenting side this year, so maybe I can have a say in how I can create the conference I want.
Agree with all that’s been said above… both your words, Jabiz, and the commenters’ too. It is important to remember (like David Warlick states) that we have to remember that there are plenty on the fringe who aren’t there yet. I worked with two teachers last week who didn’t know what their email addresses were, nor how to access them. We can leave these teachers at the wayside, as you suggest, or we can meet them where they are and move forward — hey, they showed up! they must be willing to do something!
Which leaves me with another hope… I wonder if instead of returning from a conference to the tune of colleagues asking, “How was it? What did you learn?” we might instead hear what Alan suggests above, “How was it? What did you do?“
In the forum session we attended I got one of the two big take-a-ways for me, differentiated teacher instruction in ed tech. We still have a large population of teachers we are trying to move forward with 1:1, but need the training wheels that are provided by a Ed Tech team. Our KIS Tech Team was trying to do this more and more, reach the individuals and give them excellent what they need when they need it. It was great to know that other people were thinking the same thing. Sometimes when you get in that little vacuum of tech people in your school, the great ideas begin to look mundane, because the whole group is having the idea and sharing it all the time. I find myself wondering if I’m on the right track, conferences give me a chance to meet other people and share ideas. Usually the take-a-ways for me come from these discussions, not from the presentations; although, I found Warlick and Heppell to be inspiring speakers and being inspired is always a good thing. I don’t thing we are trying to convince people anymore, I think we are trying to encourage and support. Their isn’t one teacher at KIS now that would say, “What’s the point of using tech?” Those days are over, thank god, but we have teachers who aren’t sure how to take the first step, or the fifth step, and they need assistance. The get the big picture; they see the value, but they need some help. There will always be those of us at the front running ahead of the pack to try new teaching styles, but most people don’t; they stay in the pack. Now is the time we move the pack closer to the lead dogs.
As always with learning it’s all about the differentiation. If we can’t meet the needs of a broad spectrum of learners then only invite and advertise to the market you are pitching too. I agree that there is still a place for the face to face learning at all levels whether you are a PLN guru or not but perhaps strands pitched at different levels within a conference. Change is a process that can be so very frustrating to those who embrace it immediately but this change is not going to wait for the trailers for very long.
Always intriguing thoughts, Thanks Jabiz
MJ
I think it is interesting that we all normally agree that one of our biggest takeaways from a conference are the face to face interactions we make with our PLN. Here we are in a world that presents us with a multitude of ways to connect to others around the world, yet we all appreciate that important piece of human contact. Will it change in the future? I hope not, but it is important to keep that human contact and connections in mind when we work with our students.
“How was the conference?” I struggle with this question every time I return from a conference. I have been writing my reflections for a few days now and I’m still not there yet. I can’t sum up in a sentence what happens in my head when I return from a conference. The biggest piece for me is not what did I hear, or what did I learn, but who inspired me, what lead me to think about something else, what triggered an idea that I had forgotten about. This is where the true learning comes from and this conference did just that. It is similar to Warlick’s description of trying to take a drink out of a fire hydrant, the ideas are flowing. I am trying to gain some control before they pour all over the sidewalk. Did they only come from one keynote, one presenter, one school visit, one F2F, no. The ideas are a product of everything and everyone, and that is always time well spent.
Great points one and all. I probably should have followed Dana’s method and waited a few days before writing up my thoughts. I have to admit I was in a bit of a dark place and I think my post inadvertently reflected my frustration, but I knew if I waited too long I would never have gotten to this post. Besides sometimes it is nice to hit the hammer while the iron is hot so to speak.
I do want to say that I do love going to these conferences, and I do see value in them for all the reason everyone has stated. Where else can you geek out with like-minded people and not feel embarrassed by being the “crazy techie” guy like at school?
Just wanted highlight a few ideas that resonated with me from comments so far:
@Alan mentioned a conference where, “people gather to *do* something rather than talking about doing things.” I love this idea and for the session I presented it is what I tried to do, but the need to differentiate to my audience made it difficult. I had people who did not know how to save a photograph on their desktop and others who struggled typing in a web address.
Which brings me to Mike and Adrienne’s points, “We can leave these teachers at the wayside, as you suggest, or we can meet them where they are and move forward — hey, they showed up! they must be willing to do something!” and “perhaps strands pitched at different levels within a conference”
Differentiation at conferences is something I have thought a lot about. Like Jeff I am starting to make the shift from conference attendee to conference presenter, and this shift is forcing me to rethink my relationship to tech and how I share my skills, passions, and ideas with the members of staff and other teachers I work with worldwide.
So if I learned anything from this conference, it is that there are still people just getting started and that perhaps my role is not to only be pushing myself to sprint, but to sometimes slow down and make sure others are still in the race. It can feel like we are not moving forward when we have to take three steps back for every step forward, but it is clear that change is slow and we must build relationships with people and bring them forward at their pace, lest we run too fast forward and end up alone at the finish line, or worse passed out somewhere along the side of the road.
I know my post sounded a bit harsh and angry, but that is the beauty of blogging to flush out these emotions, get comments from brilliant people, reassess your own ideas and move forward. I hope that I can now work with more patience and get my school and staff on board!
Thank you for your post and stimulating a discussion. I’m glad you wrote from a “dark place” because if you wrote up a neat and tidy post, I think fewer people would have read and commented.
I spoke with a couple of conference organizers and made a couple suggestions. One was that if there continue to be sessions, the presenter should not only write up a description, but should also state the general level of tech skills expected in the room. For example: beginners, people familiar with most basic tools and software, and highly experienced techies. This might help sessions run a little more smoothly and keep listeners/doers from feeling frustrated.
After going to a couple of tech-ed conferences recently, my biggest struggle is trying to sort through the multitude of excellent and open programs available to teachers. There’s an incredible amount of cool stuff out there! Many people say something like, “Pick 2 or 3 new tools to focus on and learn them well.” I agree with this. However, I just don’t know which I should invest my time in. I don’t want to waste my time on something that proves less useful in the long run. How should we go about this? And if there are suggestions, which tools are essentials that can be adapted for multiple subjects?
Grant,
While I agree in principle with the “small steps to change” process as suggested to you (the concept of choosing 2 or 3 tools to focus on and learn well), I feel compelled to jump (back) in when I hear someone focused on learning the tools.
You will know you’re not wasting your time on useless tools when you choose tools that will most benefit the needs of your students. Don’t start learning how to master Glogster if your students rarely have a need to create visuals. You won’t find WolframAlpha useful if your students aren’t learning how to manipulate data. That’s not to say that either of these things can’t be done in any content area, but my point is to start with what your students need — with what you want them to be able to do, what can support them — and choose your tools that way. This approach is less likely to lead you down the road of, “Well, I spent 4 weeks learning ______ and that was useless because my students never use it.” If you try to learn a tool and then throw that tool at your curriculum to see if it sticks, you’ll become frustrated more quickly, and suddenly your curriculum will be about the tool and not skills, knowledge, and concepts.
On a related note, I’d love for conference presenters to keep this in mind too! I’ve been to too many sessions myself where it’s all Jing this, GoogleDocs that, throw in some greenscreen over here, add a pinch of Audacity and ta da! out comes an Animoto! Even to someone who is familiar with these programs (me) it sometimes comes across as arrogant and irrelevant, but I’m at least able to sort through what is useful to me and what is not. A newbie to all these programs, however, is just going to be downright intimidated and overwhelmed and we will have lost him right then and there.
How many conference presenters distribute surveys in advance of their sessions, to find out the needs of their learners, and then plan their sessions accordingly? I realize there are a few logistical constraints here, but is this not something we can move towards?
I knew if I waited someone smarter than me would say want I wanted to say in a better way. So yeah, What Adrienne said!
I believe this leads us back to the original comment from Alan regarding the flip. Let’s take it a step farther and start a conference where we practice what we preach. It is not about the tools, it is about the learning. A conference that looks at effective strategies for reverse instruction would be well attended by so many of us. Flip our conference experience, send us your lecture and let us apply the skills in the workshop. Now that would be something.
Wish I could shed more “light” here.
I think about those conference goers who don’t already have their PLNs…is there a different value for them? Are we talking about different conferences just for those who are already connected? One of the things I love about what Jeff and others have done in the past in the Bloggers Cafe at ISTE is simply be present, invite the noobs in and sit with them. Pick them off one at a time so to speak. That kind of generosity of time and spirit is what really extends the conversation. But…it’s hard to scale.
A couple of weeks ago, I presented to 900 educators about the world as it is, and they looked at me like I had been sent through some time warp to annoy them. PLNs or whatever else are not of their world, and certainly not of the education world. And in the US, we have no money, no time, to vision to speak of, and now our salaries are going to be married to our kids’ test scores. #goodluckwiththat
Change will come. It is coming. But from the meta level, the pace is laughable. The face of it is too different, too disruptive, too scary for most educators to make sense of. It’s a shock to the system, and like with any big jolt, we jump back, not forward. Some with enough “intellectual chutzpah” make the leap. But the masses won’t until pushed in some other way. (And I’m not saying teachers lack intellect…but like most who have been tamed by the system, they might lack chutzpah.)
So, what to do? Make it about your practice and your classroom and your kids as much as you can, right? Be a learner, make that transparent, spread the vision, deepen the conversation, do all the things you’re already doing. Help the kids and teachers you can. Change will come. It’s just going to take a long while yet.
Thanks again every. Not to beat this dead horse, but I really appreciate you all grounding me and helping me calm down and forcing me not to resent the teachers I see as “obstacle” but helping me to be kind and helpful to move the whole show forward.
I can use my PLN and my classroom to do what I do. I can feed my own insatiable need to learn and try new things with my class. I can share with who ever is listening, but when it comes to other teachers at conferences or within my own school, I have to remain calm and meet them where they are. Just like we don’t teach the kids we wish we had, we teach the students we have…teachers are the same way.
This post has been very cathartic for me. I hope it helps others as well.
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Jabiz, just discovered this and appreciate your writing on the conference topic. I’ve also been thinking about the conference format a lot – have attended in the last few months a continuum of pretty much “every which way but loose” conference venues and formats. None seem to work for everybody which reminds me of what class feels like to kids pretty much every day.
In”talk at” sessions from keynotes to workshop “presentations”, sometimes “new” occurs but often it’s a mash of truisms in PPT. In workshop sessions, it’s mostly a series of orchestrated “activities” that remain superficial in nature. And, I’ve been both a presenter/keynoter in these formats as well as a recipient and walked away feeling I couldn’t have hit the mark as well I want as a teacher or a student. I also am well aware that the very session that wasn’t my cup of tea was valued greatly by others in the session – just like in school.
I’ve been thinking a lot about what I would like to do differently, either as participant or facilitator of conference sessions. First, I wonder what a conference strand would look like that has an edcamp feel but even more unstructured. Show up- post a topic for conversation- keep the door open w/a sign that says come on in- and whoever show up stays as long they desire- no schedule. If the topic shifts dramatically, repost and keep going. Feels pretty different… almost like a street ball game that goes on until someone gets “next” where teams are constantly forming, reforming, dropping or adding members for hours.
In keynotes, I’ve been thinking about what it would be like to podcast/pre-teach the “note” part ahead of time and let people know that the “key” part will be small group sustained dialogue- after an initial 5 minute quick check for understanding of essential questions. The last portion of the “key” would be a mashup summary generated by the group running a visible back channel and open comment town hall. I wonder how this would work in a lecture hall audience?
Workshops for me that are skill-share driven make the most sense- I personally want a facilitator who can recognize varied skill levels in the room and adjust strategy to address those… while a workshop may have a frame, how do we make it less canned and more flexible? how do great facilitators do that on the fly in a conference? Perhaps for such sessions, the work should be clearly labeled as beginning- intermediate- advanced and what that means- although I prefer heterogeneity as long as the workshop allows participants to be learner and teacher along with the facilitator.
Lastly, how do we when planning conferences create opportunities for people to find caves, campfires, and watering holes as interaction or privacy spaces? I can feel as lost in the hallways of the conference as a kid in a high school on the 1st day of ninth grade. I see that sense of isolation reflected in the blank faces of people wandering, hurrying from session to session, lost or on their way to the next thing. I’d like to slow people down, pause them, and provide something that brings tribal members together- how do we reteach people to rendezvous – trade goods, share stories, play music and games that bring us together at conferences in spontaneous and planned ways? And, how do we provide known quiet spaces to leave the interaction zones? Sometimes this seems well thought out- other times less so.
Conferences provide something we need despite the daily engagement in the PLN and you describe it in your post- the chance to have face to face tribal time together. The concept of PLN has created a reason to evolve conferences as we have known them. Thanks for putting some thoughts out there for us all to consider.
Thanks a lot Pam for your insightful comment. Lots to think about for sure. All suggestions I will consider next I time I attend or present at a conference. I loved this one best:
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You took the words out of my mouth and especially my frustrated heart. You said it all; but still I want to add a simple thought as a ps: when will teachers become proactive and responsible for their learning? In what other industry do we see this lax and passive attitude towards upgrading our skills tolerated? None. Nowhere else.
I have to hold hands with the fearful, cajole the reluctant and try to dodge the ambushes laid down by the resentful and I do all this because my students, our students, deserve better.
Oy. Have to jump in here again. I disagree — I see this complacency in many other industries! I worked in food service for a long time. I also worked in Safeway for several years. And I’ve worked in retail/sales, and a handful of nonprofits. All these industries have plenty of people working in them who are complete and utter slackers about developing new skill sets.
However, it should not be tolerated as much in education because our mission is different. Having said that, I do maintain that we be gentle with the newbies and not expect radical, overnight changes. Like our students, I hope we meet them where they are and move forward together.
Hello, Jabiz
This is the first time I’ve visited and read your blog and among all the interesting dialogue in it I found this on the HK 21st Cent Con one and thought since I was there the last two years I’d weigh in on it a bit – I’ll try not to just rehash but –before I will say it must be at least somewhat gratifying to have people responding to a post 2 weeks+ after 🙂
Generally speaking, though I readily acknowledge the many merits of a good face to face get together in any human endeavor I have to say that I’ve found a number of these events to be a disappointment as well. The weird thing is when you leave with this sensation but you’re not sure exactly why… I not saying I didn’t enjoy the HK Cons but upon reflection, I believe, the main reason many of may not fill fulfilled is because it seems that though everyone’s talking about it, few people in our field –from whatever century they claim to be living or teaching in are really taking chances. Yet, somehow we harbor some hope that going to conferences will yield us new revelations or at least something unexpected. But now we all know just what to expect and that’s usually just what we get. It’s understandable. I mean in order to put on a conference people adhere to what they think a conference should be and what attendees will expect. So, by and large, it’s become a predictable retinue of Keynotes, break aways, job-alikes and (thankfully), more frequently than not–very compelling conversations with those we encounter that are inevitably begun face to face but unfinished as we dash off to the next scheduled event or a flight to catch . Fortunately there is the medium of the webiverse for continuing these exchanges but this seldom offer the same quality of spontaneity. Mind you as both an attendee and a presenter I’ve emerged from cons. feeling satisfied and on rarer occasions, inspired but as you’ve so well pointed out it’s the connections I’ve been able to make with others that are the most valuable and indeed lasting aspect of the experience.
So how to marry these opportunities to connect in person without the imposition of structure that many seem to find tired and less satisfying? Well I know that Jon Z., and Jeff U. made a run at trying to present an “unconference” last year in Shanghai and I heard, and read mixed reviews about it -unfortunately though I had initially intended to go, extenuating work-related circumstances prevented my attendance. But I think this was a “shift” in the right direction-I’m sure Jeff U. would appreciate the idea of “Shifting Our Conferences”. The thing is, it ‘s already happen(ed)ing as a grassroots movement in the form of EduCamps–direct descendants of BarCamps but it’s only now just starting to trickle up. Though the educational unconference is not really an original idea it’s only now just beginning to catch on with the professional set. I need to say -kudos, credit, and congrats to the Shanghai 2.0 crew for popularizing it further –and please hear me, -no offense guys- I don’t at all mean to diminish your efforts but again, like so many new and interesting things –our (former) students have been organizing and running them for some time already…
However, as we all know and have been quite vocal about -it does take a while for some things to be adapted by the education community at large. Only one respondent in this forum post mentioned “edcamps” but that was it. I realize much of the dialogue was devoted to exorcising some professional demons and frustrations we all have but the post was originally about the conference or ed conferences –right?
So as you probably know, -interestingly, Barcamps –and to a large degree EduCamps- were started by geeks and have been maintained and spread by them. But anyone and everyone can organize and participate in one. The format (forgive me if you’re familiar with it already) is pretty simple and straight forward: find, select a location, establish time parameters, and let the attendees propose and choose the offerings. The same attendees vote on the spot for desired “sessions’ with a pencil and their feet and away they go. Another time honored feature is the “Lightening Talks”. 5 minutes to present and at the end often a group vote of “most enlightening”. Probably sounds frightening to the seasoned conference circuiter but it’s loads of fun.
EduCamps are true community events by interesting people for interested people. They demand, relevant themes and focus. They can happen anywhere with a lot less required overhead, organization or sponsorship then the traditional formula; everyone can wear a”presenter” badge and is potentially a “keynote speaker”. Vendors are not solicited, and there are no costly fees. There is ample time for those treasured unscheduled face to face connections and introductions. And refreshingly, to address and air thoughts feelings, and even frustrations in an open public forum without apology…
We’ve successfully put on one here in Singapore last fall and will hold another this April. I’m sure there’s others happening many other places as well this spring –the ideal season for happy marriages… Thanks for allowing me this opportunity to spread the word ~Sean
Thanks Sean. Great comment. I will see about starting up an EduCamp style even here in Jakarta. I really appreciate your thoughtful comment.
Once you learn of any keep in mind to discuss. Several thanks!