Comments on Steve Hargadon: Conference 2.0 Thoughts

Steve,A couple of things here. After reading Will'...

2008-03-09T20:05:00.000-07:00

Steve,

A couple of things here. After reading Will's post, I really had to think long and hard about how we are interacting with all of this information we are receiving at the conferences and while we are at conferences.

First off, I applaud the effort that you are running on with the conferences 2.0 wiki. It is a great idea to get a single point of contact/reference for the ad hoc "conversations" that surround sessions. However, with it, we are again pulling away from the conference resources. One of the things that I felt IL-TCE did right was the use of the Ning to spur collaboration and attempt to centralize information as well as build a social network community of the participants. However, the Ning in it's setup and configuration was too limited by the hamstring that services based around discussion forums are. You needed to go into posts or sections or other places to "FIND" information... therefore you need to go searching (often for things you weren't sure were there). Your wiki idea will work well in the future, but (I feel) only if it is driven by the event, not by a participant or outside entity.

I am sitting on the ICE2009 committee next year and this will be a focus of mine to increase the ease of back channeling and information during sessions overall. Hopefully, I can help in making some of your ideas here more of a reality for that conference at least.

I have other aspects of your post that I would like to comment on, but my comment is getting to the length of a post itself, so I think I will get to that information in a bit more formal way on my sire, tracking back to you here.

Scott

Most schools have a budget that allows teachers, s...

2008-03-07T20:01:00.000-08:00

Most schools have a budget that allows teachers, staff, and/or administrators to attend limited conferences, most of the time 1.
I was able to attend my 1 in Springfield at the IL Ed and Tech Conf in November.
I was able to take from that conference a rekindled spirit about technology and its utilization with teachers and students. And since then I have taken advantage of Steve's Classroom20 talkshoe discussions, ustreams from presentations by Charlene Chausis, Will Richardson, David Warlick, BudtheTeacher and others. Talk about PD. Wow!
I have made the comment to others that I enjoy the ustream chat because I don't interrupt the presenter when I want to make a commment about something they have said. I get immediate feedback and opinion from others in the chat area.
Will I attend conferences? Absolutely.
Will I jump on Ustream when I get a Tweet?
Most Definitely.

What we don't talk enough about is teacher buy-in....

2008-03-07T12:19:00.000-08:00

What we don't talk enough about is teacher buy-in. We think that being at conferences and showing off our wizardry with a wiki or podcast will be enough for the "common" teacher who is content with email to make the jump. First, if they are at the conference, those are usually not the teachers we have to get to buy-in. They are the choir we are preaching to. They already have at the smallest bit a reason for buy-in. But usually these teachers, unless already tremendous technology leaders, will not make a dent outside their classroom door. I don't know of a model yet that gives teachers on a large scale a buy-in. While we talk about all this stuff, what gets lost how to build. I think in the future, I would prefer to see more with regards to training and organizing and inspiring and offering teachers a buy-in versus another example of digital storytelling or moodle.

In fact, I think I have a topic for a conference I want to attend... I just don't have the experience.

I am in complete agreement with James. We just ha...

2008-03-07T11:58:00.000-08:00

I am in complete agreement with James. We just had this discussion at lunch, talking about the future of our professional development model, things we would LOVE to accomplish, and how many of those things would promote the "deer in headlights" mode. Our current dillemma is bridging that gap between providing professional development on various tools and teachers using them in their classroom. I think many of them are overwhelmed with all of the other classroom related tasks and this is "just another thing to fit in" at this point.

Look like it cut off some of the URL so try again ...

2008-03-06T13:57:00.000-08:00

Look like it cut off some of the URL so try again
http://www.ustream.tv
/channel
/ustream-users-community-forum
or http://tinyurl.com/2zadfd

Fascinating articles and comments, I am constantly...

2008-03-06T13:54:00.000-08:00

Fascinating articles and comments, I am constantly amazed at the new and imaginative uses educators find for Ustream. Since my daughter is an educator I always am partial to educators problems and if Ustream can help, then I am even more thrilled.
And it can be intimidating at first so we make it easier with live demonstrations of the technology straight to your PC, so stop by Ustream help channels; http://www.ustream.tv/channel/aeiz or http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ustream-users-community-forum and we will get you going.. and welcome to ustream.tv

Before I read that post, Steve, I will say this. I...

2008-03-05T11:12:00.000-08:00

Before I read that post, Steve, I will say this. I found while cleaning my closet this weekend the original Illinois Tech 2000 presentation abstracts (from May 22, 2000). What was done then, and what we considered "learning" does not hold the same value today. Has the value of learning with regards to technology reached the high point, or are we still scratching the surface? And are we leaving behind those that need to help us scratch deeper?

More questions. Less answers.

kmulford: I've got to make sure that I really giv...

2008-03-05T07:15:00.000-08:00

kmulford: I've got to make sure that I really give some kudos to the folks at IL-TCE, as they did a great job bringing the ideas of the collaborative web to their conference. It was a great event, and in using IL-TCE as a springboard to talk about Conference 2.0, I don't mean to diminish in any way what they accomplished this year.

James: good reminder. We're in a unique period of time with these technologies... I wonder what you're going to think of the blog post I just submitted... http://www.techlearning.com/blog/2008/03/web_20_is_the_future_of_educat_1.php

Vicki: You are, in a word, amazing. Translating learning into action is more inherently a difficulty when there is little to no action at the time of the learning. What I feel is "sad" is the need to remind folks to write down those three things--as though they are on a Disneyland ride and passing through so much that they are going to forget what they saw at the beginning when they get to the end. There's no opportunity to drill down at the moment, to test and try out, when you're rushing from session to session.

The "three things" weren't their NOTES -- they wer...

2008-03-05T07:01:00.000-08:00

The "three things" weren't their NOTES -- they were the THREE THINGS to DO in the next 7 days.

The problem w/ conferences is in translating learning to action!

So, if they go to 6 sessions and do three each -- that is 18 things they will do or check out when they get back -- an 18 item improvement from most conferences.

I think the struggle w/ beginners (I feel like one still) is in knowing where to start -- if they can decide where to start they won't suffer from analysis paralysis.

And we all were a "deer in the headlights" at some point on these things.. it just takes longer for some of us.

I hope that we all will be patient with those who don't understand it yet and see that as an opportunity to help beginners.

Much of the fault of presenters is that sometimes we forget that we must speak to beginners and experts as well and that every audience is a mix. That is the usefulness of the backchannel!

Good luck at CUE!

I completely understand the overwhelming aspect. I...

2008-03-04T19:24:00.000-08:00

I completely understand the overwhelming aspect. In this fast paced Web2.0 it is easy to get caught up in the "stuff" and forget about the "common" teacher who is still trying to figure out email. As much as I want to move staff forward and have grandiose ideas, I know that many of those ideas would be lost in the ether. The deer in headlights would be all I see. I did a recent survey on just the terminology of Web 2.0 with my staff. NONE knew anything about RSS. Very few even knew about Digital Storytelling, and yet I know there are at least 5 out of 45 that use it in their classes on a regular basis. For all the great new things that come out, I would like to just tell everyone to STOP! Remember who we are trying to educate. It isn't just students, it is teachers. Teachers who feel they have little time to check email, and are proud when they can create a PDF and attach it to a message.

I have read and re-read your blog. SO much there. ...

2008-03-04T18:43:00.000-08:00

I have read and re-read your blog. SO much there. I'm particularly fond of the last half of your last paragraph. It's a great analogy, and -- while I thoroughly enjoyed my ice cream experience -- I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of the IL-TCE conference. Maybe future years will be different. This was, according to attendees on all levels, a "much better conference" than in years past. Perhaps the expectations of attendees and presenters will be closer in future years...