Sitting at the blogger café unable to get online. The situation is dripping with irony, but I digress. People I should be connecting with surround me, but I find myself retreating back to where I feel safe. In words.
I have been plagued by a sense of bitterness and apathy since I arrived at NECC, and no matter how I try to shed my prejudices I find myself asking: What is all this hype? Surrounded by snake oil salesmen and product pushers, it all seems like it is too much, too big.
Ironically, I find it easier to make connections swimming the waters online rather than making connections than sitting face to face with someone and discussing yet again how kids learn differently today and need a new set of skills to succeed in the 21st job market. I see my role as an educator as bigger than this. How much longer do we need to discuss these ideas? I am only thinking out loud here, and I hope I do not offend, but I am ready for a new discussion. I am not sure what this conversation will look, but perhaps that is what we should be talking about.
I can quip about how it is not about the technology but the teaching, but then again that platitude is neither original nor progressing the issues. If anything this conference so far has made me less evangelical about educational technology. I don’t need a session sponsor by Cisco telling me how to use technology in my classroom.
Connection may be the name of the game here, but I still find myself the awkward teenager in a room full of cool kids pontificating about ideas that I would rather simply do than talk about.
For me, it all boils to down to a simple axiom, and while I feel like broken record and a bit of a simpleton when I express it, but learning need not be this complicated. Yes, there may be new skills. Yes there are new tools, but ultimately we simply need to be engaging students by creating authentic learning communities built around honest open relationships. These tools, these ideas are mere ways where we can create these communities. Students could careless about any of the ideas at NECC. They just want a teacher who is willing to be honest with them, respect them, and willing practice what they preach and learn along with them. The rest is all hype.
I have only been here for a day, but as a student here at NECC, I have not seen any communities like the ones I have described. I want to collaborate with others. I want to create a product. I want to use the tools, that so many companies seem hell bent on selling my school, to lean something new. Where is this happening at NECC? If these secessions exist, please show me the way.
Hi Jabiz,
I’m not there, but I think I’d have a similar reaction. The key question: what would Socrates say?
As you write, “learning need not be this complicated”. The first job of a teacher—90% of the job of a teacher—is to inspire students to learn. After that, it’s just a matter of helping here and there.
Socrates managed to inspire with no technology beyond a stick and some sand. We should aim to do the same, whatever tools we have.
Hey Jabiz,
Sorry to hear that you are disappointed. I would trade places with you in a heartbeat though. To me the best part of the Ed Tech community is the infectious enthusiasm for learning.
Sitting in Ballroom B listening to someone talk about moodle is nice, and I have gotten value from those sessions, but the real value is in letting yourself open up to others and inviting them to do the same.
The best memories I have from the few Ed Tech conferences I have been to are the conversations in the lobby, the conversations at dinner, the times when someone you only know online shares some personal vulnerability with you and shows you trust to keep their confidence.
Most of the people there probably have many interests similar to yours and if you try to get to know them on a deeper level than just, “So how do you use voicethread” it might make your time there better.
There is nothing better than establishing a real connection with someone and having a partner or two to get deep with at 1am then go to that moodle workshop at 10:30 the next morning and learn together.
That’s my take.
i know what you mean…every year i come (like every other. last was Atlanta) i come with such hopes and dreams and then i find frustrations and a cluseter fu…fudge. too many people, too many crowds not enough *real* talk…went to the Second Life playground and couldn’t even get a signal to tweet that i was there! much less get to the actual SL grid!
but there are great nuggets to be had here….i’m still hoping!
i also find connecting with like minded peeps easier online, twitter, NECC Ning, Teacher Librarian Ning, Second Life (New Babbage & Caledon and ISTE island)….trying not to be jaded, too… but your rant did resonate with me that and huge crowds make me skeevy.
I don’t have any advice that will improve your experience. I’ve never been to NECC and have chosen a smaller US conf this summer because of what I’ve heard about NECC- too large, overwhelming, unable to get into workshops, etc. I’m trying to follow online and from what I see out here and from chatting with other virtual attendees it seems a similar experience as actual attendees- connection problems and feeling lost and confused mainly.
I guess trying to narrow your focus, planning to meet up with people you know online and personally will improve the experience. I’m with you though, if an event is too big I just feel lost and disconnected.
Excellent and much needed post. You should talk to David Jakes and Gary Stager. I think they’d support many of the above observations.
A couple of years ago when I discovered the volume of educators on Twitter my first thought was: why are they there? My next thought was, how does any of this connect to issues in education that really matter to me?
What I saw was a lot of rah rah, empty hype and uncritical discussion of tech tools – and almost absolutely zero discussion of critical pedagogy, equity issues, social justice or any of the really important issues that I was wanting to connect on in education. I found it incredible that such a large volume of educators could spend so much time talking about their fancy apple gear and rarely have anything resembling an opinion on NCLB or other really serious issues in education — with some exceptions (because there are folks who routinely talk about this. But a very small minority).
As well, I’m Canadian. We have a very different education system here. And here in Toronto, our school board and teacher ed programs are mandated for social justice, equity teaching. You cannot enter teacher’s college here without a proven and articulate commitment to social justice pedagogy. Because this is at the heart of urban education – dealing with students who are under serviced. After over a year on Twitter I can count the number of people who talk about these issues on one hand.
And I find that disgraceful.
There’s no question that this is a very sexy time – technologically speaking – but all the existing challenges in education are still there and I’m continually asking how different technologies apply to those issues.
For example, with social media, there are a whole host of social literacies (hidden curriculum issues) that are never discussed). Why are so many of the participants in Twitter and Facebook so middle to upper middle class? Because it’s not simply about access to technology but access to cultural and class codes to participate – discussions of material gear, activities and lifestyles that are decidedly privileged. The very design of these sites speak to this. We’re urged to continuously “share” but the reality is that only those with the stability, means and comfortable place in the status quo have the inclination to do so. Those whose lives are challenging are less inclined or encouraged to join into such discussions with “I cannot find a job”… “I cannot afford that iphone that everybody seems to have/talk about” … I don’t know anything about (trendy band, trendy place, trendy store). Etc.
Truth is, all the inner city teachers I know don’t have time for Twitter. They’re too busy spending their evenings calling home, meeting with parents and creating old fashioned curriculum for their non-wired classrooms. Sorry, but taking part in all of this is a privilege – and that’s very obvious.
It’s deliciously ironic that you find yourself wanting to spend more time engaging with ppl online at a conference than mingling with those there!
Having attended NECC a few times I have to say I will probably never go again. Why? Too big, too impersonal, too much hype, not enough analysis of why we do what we do.
That said, I learned about Twitter at NECC and met some truly wonderful and inspiring people. Did I need to go to NECC to make connections? Well, I guess I made the connections more meaningful by attending. Truth be told, I am not a “big conference” guy. I prefer meeting up with 10 ppl I follow, read, and admire. Yet that’s what I did at NECC, grabbed the 10 ppl I wanted to meet and disappeared into a corner or bistro.
In that sense, I enjoy a conference like NECC as an excuse to visit with colleagues I adore and respect. I find myself feeling more selfish as I get older. I don’t want to spend time mingling with 3000 ppl. If the web gets you what you need, then you’re all set.
I agree with your sense of the BCafe often feeling like the cool kids corner of the HS cafeteria. It is not intentional, but it is certainly the perception of the vast majority who steer clear. There are some who come to NECC to rehash the same skepticism about the woeful state of teaching, technology use, learning, and pace of reform in education.
If you get away from the BCafe and start talking to the people who are intensely and private absorbing, writing, reflecting, and listening, you will find more like you than you think. They are not on Twitter, did not attend EBC, and have marvelous and personal experiences they do not credit as valuable. Many in-the-trenches teachers who do make it to NECC are self-deprecating and unfortunately come away feeling less adequate, even though their instincts and practices may be the most valuable to share with MOST classrooms. Tak to the people in line where the cheapest food is..or those eating only the free stuff…or skipping food entirely.
The BCafe may be those who are eating up their own presence. Find those who look more dazed. You will find a valuable network that will verify that most teachers ARE in it for the right reasons and really want to make learning better for themselves and for their students. I am always struck silent by the teachers who do not toot their own horns. I do not malign those comfortable in the Bcafe, but I want to be sure they realize that there are MANY good teachers here who will never sit at their table simply because of perception.
As I approached another NECC, I blogged about the Swimmers Obligation. I continue to think about that concept…and will be writing more about it, thanks to your post here…as soon as I get out of the session I am half listening to…
slow to find it – but great post.
i especially agree with the – let’s do something – rather than keep talking about it.
also wonder how many cities we could wifi with the money going into those events…how many laptops we could give to kids. seems the part of those conferences that cost the most – are the things people didn’t attend. silliness.