Good to hear that you had a positive experience at the ETC! I think I’ve become a little spoiled with the constant learning I feel that I have at my fingertips through my understanding of networked learning and an amazing PLN! I remember when conferences were my source of inspiration throughout the school year and I am so appreciative that I am able to have that experience pretty much every day now through Twitter, RSS and social networking tools.

@Keri-Lee,

It was such a pleasure to meet you! If for no other reason, it’s worth attending regional conferences just to meet colleagues face to face. The casual conversations you can have when you already “know” someone from online conversations are so powerful.

@Paul,

I wonder if the people on the “conference circuit” you mention are the ones who really value sharing and are willing to spend their own money, time and energy to attend and present. It’s a lot more work to present at a conference than it is to attend. For me, it was very intimidating to present for the first time, but once I had the opportunity (when I was working in Munich) I realized just how valuable it would be for my professional growth. Now I’m willing to dedicate lots more of my time and energy to make presentations.

@Pat,

Agreed! I totally appreciate the opportunity to connect in person, and wish that conferences promoted more unconference sessions that allow for more of those in-depth conversations we can have online…

@Chris,

Great to connect with you! I bet ISB has changed a lot in those last 9 years! We’re still at the Nichada Thani campus, though and I bet quite a few of your high school teachers are still here

@Ben,

Agreed! I am so thankful that we have the opportunity to make these kinds of connections online – it’s so worth it!

@Frank,

It’s amazing how much you can learn from your network. Aren’t we lucky?

@Kristen,

Yes! I totally agree of creating webs of connection! Regional conferences are great way to build those kinds of local connections that can sometimes be hard to find online.

@Dennis,

Thanks for all those thought-provoking questions. One that really struck me is “what causes ideas to become old?” One thing I’ve been thinking a lot about lately is how perceived “old” ideas (like project-based-learning, which I learned about in grad school) have become “new” again, and how we keep revisiting “old” ideas in new ways. Maybe ideas never get old, maybe we just need a new lens to look through? Thanks for pushing my thinking!

@Chad,

I totally agree – the ideas and inspiration come faster than I can process them in my new mode of networked learning. But one thing I really appreciate is being able to go back and find those ideas I passed by the first time around, and the fact that I know the best ideas will be repeated (and retweeted) until I have a moment to see them. It’s an exciting time for learning, that’s for sure!

@Tim,

Agreed – it’s the networking that is the most powerful. More time to connect and collaborate is, in my opinion, what’s needed (instead of presenters talking at their audience).

I organise a conference for Teachers called Treasuring Education. From these conferences I get a diverse range of feedback. The one consistent thing participants say is that the most important thing to them were the opportunities to network. They loved the topics, enjoyed the presenters, and the food and beverages were great, but it was the connecting and building relationships that count for them.

2) What about our students? Is this how they feel while they’re in school? I suspect in most classrooms they feel their time is being wasted, but in those same schools and classrooms students don’t know what a PLN is.

3) As educators, should we expect that students can learn more from their PLN than they can from us? If we want them to be self-directed, like-long learners, you are a perfect model!

Here’s my thoughts on one of your statements in the post.

“…a place to push my thinking, (What are the “places” I can go to push my thinking? What questions are worth seeing throught ot answers?)

to expose me to new ideas, (What ideas are old? What causes them to become old? How would I define a new idea? Is one enough? How many new ideas do I need this week, this month? How many new ideas are too many? Is there a balance I need to strike between old and new ideas? Do I have a role to play in making old ideas fresh?)

to put my learning on hyper speed.” (What fuels learning on hyper speed? What does it look like? Do you accomplish more when learning is on hyper speed? What do you accomplish in this state that’s of value?)