EduBloggerCon 2007 in Atlanta - Update

There have been lots of fun new sign-ups for the free, all-day EduBloggerCon 2007 Saturday, June 23rd, in Atlanta. I figured it was time to start giving some structure for the day, so I've made some updates to two of the wiki pages.

1. I've put in a proposed time schedule that has 4 major blocks of
time for sessions, followed by discussion time. Those who decide to facilitate a session can add their session to a time block, and we'll see if people are able to balance things out. :) See the bottom half of http://edubloggercon.wikispaces.com/Unconference.

I've also proposed a whole-group starting meeting and a finishing meeting, and indicated some things that I think could get done during those meeting. Let me know what you think or add your suggestions to the page.

2. I've consolidated the two pages that had session ideas and session "offers," and have made it possible to indicate interest in attending a session. This should help give facilitators an idea of what interests others if we can encourage the use of this page: http://edubloggercon.wikispaces.com/Atlanta+2007+Session+Offers.

I also think it might be nice to get some sponsors who could provide refreshments and, if we're really bold, lunch (!) or t-shirts or buttons. Let me know if you think you know anyone who would be interested.

The Web 2.0 and School 2.0 Connection

I gave the keynote address to the CVCUE meeting in Fresno this past Saturday, and prepared a presentation on why Web 2.0 is going to be so important to education. When I was driving home I made a connection that I hadn't fully made before: that the transition between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 is very similar, if not almost identical to, the change between School 1.0 and School 2.0.

Now, in retrospect, it seems obvious that the technology that is most significantly reshaping our culture and business (Web 2.0) would also have the potential to dramatically change how we view education, but I hadn't really defined the parallels in my own mind. These two simple graphics describe what I'm seeing.

Web 1.0 came out of our existing mindsets of how information is transferred, and very much reflected the 100+ year history of industrialism, with experts/businesses dispensing identical knowledge/products to mass consumers.

Web 2.0 has really been the flowering of new relationships between individuals and businesses, and reflects new ways of thinking that the technology has facilitated or created. It's about engaged conversations that take place directly, and don't rely on top-down management, but peer feedback and mentoring. It's an incredibly effective restructuring of how learning takes place, and somehow we have to figure out how to bring this experience into our learning institutions--or they will become obsolete.