always learning

I’ve been to a lot of conferences this year. So, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about conferences, mostly about how to make them a better experience for the participants. After the absolutely fantastic Apple Global Leadership Summit in Hong Kong last week, I had a bit of a brainwave.

Here’s how I think a really engaging, exciting, and community-building conference could be run (apologies if there’s already conferences out there like this, I just haven’t been to any):

Action

So many conferences follow the “sit ‘n git” model where participants sit in room after room (or if you’re incredibly unlucky, the same room all day) listening to “experts” tell you how things “should” be done.

There’s no time in the schedule for actually doing something with our new knowledge, and sadly, often no time for just talking and interacting with our fellow conference goers in a learning- or topic-focused environment (coffee breaks don’t count).

We need to make conferences more practical, not just hands on training with new tools, but a focus on the actual creation of something that bridges new learning with what you already know, and asks you to create something useful.

Although it was great to see so many hands on sessions at the Hong Kong summit, as a presenter, it seemed like the hands on training felt very isolated to the new content presented and there really wasn’t enough time (1 hour for a hands on session) to activate and engage participants’ prior knowledge within the workshop as a whole.

As the ADE Institute and the Flat Classroom Conference did very well, conferences should make the event about some sort of action or project that bridges the theory, content and tools, helps build your network, and requires you to leave with something tangible.

Grouping/Differentiation

I would love to see a conference where attendees were grouped the first day (by choice, ability, experience or interest, organized in advance with color-coded nametags), and spent the whole conference reconnecting in various formats with a group leader (during an Apple conference, this could be an ADE group leader) to create something together.

All groups could have an ongoing task that lead you through the conference, asking participants to put their new knowledge to work, building on each plenary and presentation session, and then culminating in the production of something practical and useful during a hands on workshop time. The hands on workshop time could be lead by the same group leader, and introduce group members to the all of the different tools they will need to create their final action project (from a presenter’s perspective, this could be the new role of the “presenter” or “ADE Workshop Leader” at a conference).

Between keynote sessions, these groups could come back together to digest and discuss the information presented and then begin to develop an action project that utilizes this new knowledge. If the groups regularly meet in the same classroom over the course of the conference materials could be kept & posted around the room.

In order to ensure that there was enough cross-pollination across all conference attendees, the group action projects could be structured in such a way that each group is required to interact with members from the other groups in order to complete their project.

In terms of practicalities, in a conference of around 500 people, you could create 17 groups of 30 people, or 20 groups of 25 people (that raises your number of “presenters”, and therefore the cost of travel and hotel, but it would be so worth it for everyone). Group leaders could have a meeting before the conference starts to discuss, plan, and network among themselves. (And by the way, why don’t we have sessions for the presenters to network at conferences either? They miss out on all the casual conversations because they’re so busy organizing and prepping for their own presentations!)

Diversity

Why, oh why do we still see the same presenters at every conference? I don’t mean the same individual people (although that can be a problem too). I mean the same older, white, males. Where’s the diversity? Gender, race, age, experience? How did we get trapped in this model where we think only older white men have something to offer?

There have been many posts about the need for diversity in conference speakers, but some things never seem to change. This needs to make it to the top of the list for conference organizers.

We need speakers that represent our society. It’s not a planet full of older, white, men, but our conferences make it seem that way.

Students

Along the lines of diversifying presenters, why is it that we have all these conferences about learning and how to meet our students needs, but we never actually have any student participants or presenters?

I’m not talking about handing out badges or directing people to the right room, I mean students leading sessions. Maybe sessions on how to use new tools or on what they’re doing with technology outside of school, or what they’d like to see in school (imagine that?). What about having students as experts on a panel discussion of what schools should be doing with technology? Or how technology has changed the way they receive, create and distribute information?

Time for Reflection

As much as I loved the Hong Kong Summit, there was simply not enough time for reflection and metacognition. No matter how much you know about a topic, there is always a need for discussion after an engaging session. After each session, a group leader could facilitate an unconference style discussion, with a focus question or Visible Thinking routine to get people processing the information. If participants are working within the groups outlined in the first paragraph, they would get to know each other well during these breakout unconference sessions, and knowledge could be built as a collaborative team towards the final action project.

Dialogue

Here’s one of the many things I have learned from the past two years working in the elementary division. Every single presentation must include room for dialogue, not always with the presenter but just with the people you’re sitting next to, even keynotes.

Just a simple opportunity to chat with the person you’ve never met (but had to crawl over to get to the only remaining seat in the middle of the row) based on the information you’re learning. We know we have to do this in the classroom, and the same applies in a conference – it’s just a big classroom, right?

Movement

Do not sit in the same room all day no matter how logistically convenient it is.

Final Thoughts

What have I missed? What would you like to see in a next generation conference format?

World Mosaic: A Tribute to Flickr Portraits by pardeshi

One of the perks of being an Apple Distinguished Educator is being able to represent Apple at their educational events around the world. A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of presenting a session on Garage Band at Apple’s Think Ahead Roadshow (at my very favorite hotel, The Metropolitan) here in Bangkok.

Wow. I’m still a little bit speechless. The Roadshow was so well-organized, so clearly grounded in sound educational practices, and so totally focused on what we need in the classroom and in our schools. Honestly, I’m still a little surprised that all of this was being presented by a vendor. The one-day session was a lot better than many educational (and edtech) conferences I’ve attended.

Now, we all know I’m already sold on Apple, but if I wasn’t, this would have convinced me to head straight over to the Apple store and pick up a new MacBook. For starters, Adrian Lim (one of the regional managers for Southeast Asia) gave an absolutely fantastic keynote presentation that actually brought tears to my eyes.

Everything that Adrian said was something I have thought, said or heard at one time or another as a teacher in the field of educational technology. His explanation of the stages of technology integration, implementation and professional development in schools was stated so clearly and so accurately it’s almost unbelievable that he’s not actually teaching right now. The background information and research about our 21st century learners described exactly what I’ve been learning and thinking about in my PLN, and the approach for how to engage those students to create a 21st century classroom was almost word-for-word what I was planning to share in Doha the following week.

On top of all that Adrian shared Apple’s vision for the 21st century school, their revised Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow Today program, and of course all of the easy-to-use and innovative software that Apple is known for. All I could think as he was presenting was that we need him in our schools, presenting this to full faculty and the parents. This was more powerful than so many keynotes I have seen delivered by “big names” in education and technology. And it was delivered by a vendor, who’s not teaching, and in fact, not working in schools at all.

Following Adrian’s keynote were two hands-on sessions. I delivered the one on Garage Band and a fellow ADE, Michael Koronkiewicz, presented a session on iMovie.

I have to admit, I was a little nervous to present on a software package in front of the people who work for the company that designed the software. Um, who’s telling who how the software works again? But, it was by far the easiest presentation I’ve ever had to give. All of the materials were provided for me (scripts for my “students” who recorded their own podcasts, research on a wiki already prepared, 15 MacBooks and iPods all ready set up and ready to go, and even some prizes to hand out to the “best” group project!). Plus, I had at least one tech support person in the room at all times. Oh, how I wish that was the case on a regular basis in the classroom. What a breeze!

The best part about the presentation (for me) was how much it reflected my philosophy and classroom practice. Each piece of material provided by Apple was almost exactly (but usually a little bit better than) how I would do it in my own classroom. The “project” my “students” completed was very similar to something I’m doing with grade 5 right now, and I never felt like I was “selling my soul” to present on behalf of a vendor. In fact, I learned quite a few new things that I’m planning to put into practice over the next few weeks. How often can we actually say that about technology vendors?

In addition to the one-day session, I just have to share how supportive, friendly, and approachable all of the Apple staff are. I never once felt pressured to do or say something I didn’t believe in, I was consistently encouraged to share my voice and my opinion on the tools. There were plenty of times in my presentations when I recommended web-based services that would accomplish the same tasks (but are not sold or provided by Apple) and this was encouraged.

If I wasn’t already convinced that Apple is the best choice for education, I certainly would be now. Tools designed specifically for education, with software that could not be easier to use, and support personnel that actually understand education and are as passionate about the changes we need to see in schools as I am. Why wouldn’t we want that in our classroom?

Images by Kelvin Kong

Yikes. How can it possibly be February 2009 already? What happened to January? And for that matter, what happened to 2008? I know “time flies” and all, but this is ridiculous!

The last five weeks have been pretty much a blur especially because I’ve been stuck with a case of never-ending bronchitis, that seems to be finally, miraculously, slowly, ending just this week. I actually had that moment of suddenly feeling better on Friday. You know the one: you stand up, blink, swallow, and then realize you suddenly feel kind of good. In fact, you remember that this is what you used to feel like all the time before you got this illness. It’s a pretty good feeling.

At any rate, along with the coughing fits, sneezing, runny nose, and general malaise, I have also been extremely busy this past month, which explains where the time has gone (and why I haven’t been posting as often as I usually do). Here’s what I’ve been up to:

Teaching the first course in ISB’s new SUNY Certificate of Educational Technology and Information Literacy

Thankfully, Jeff and I are partnering up on this course, so although we’ve been super busy getting things going, two heads have certainly been better than one! We started out with a one-hour introductory session after school in late January and had our first full-day session on the last Saturday in Jan (watch the archived uStream footage here). Thanks to Clarence and Chris whose fabulous guest appearances definitely made our 7-hour Saturday session even more engaging and practical than Jeff & I could have done on our own!

So far, teaching the course has been an excellent experience. We have 50 ISB teachers participating on campus (plus 5 new ISB teachers joining us virtually) with the widest range of understanding and ability levels possible. Seeing as I’ve never taught a formal graduate-level course like this before, it has been such a steep learning curve for me. I’m so conscious of the fact that we have learners at all different levels, that we need to keep everyone engaged, but not stressed, and that we need to model best practice in all of our interactions throughout the course.

Of course the fact that all 55 participants are my colleagues makes this even more interesting… And not to mention adds quite a bit of reading to my Google Reader account.

Participating in the K12 Horizon Report Advisory Board

Along with Lucy, Judy, Julie, Westley, Alan, Karen (and quite a few other educators whose names I recognize) I have been participating in the process of creating the K12 version of the annual Horizon Report. After I got over the shock of being invited to be on the Advisory Board, I realized just how exciting (and challenging) this experience would be. As much as I love envisioning the future, I’m not sure I have a real grasp on the nitty-gritty of exactly how we’re going to get there. And that’s pretty much what this report is all about.

We started off with sharing our thoughts (via a wiki) on upcoming trends in technology and which of those would be applicable to education in the Horizon Report time-line structure.  I found myself much more easily able to envision 1 – 2 years out than the extended 5-years out, but I’m not sure why. I guess what happens in 5 years depends on what happens in the preceding 4 years… Either way, it was definitely the most authentic use of a wiki I’ve seen in a while, and it was absolutely fascinating to see what others on the Advisory Board see in our future.

Unfortunately I was not able to attend the face-to-face session in Dallas a few weeks ago (one of the few disadvantages of being an international school teacher), which sounds like it was a real highlight of the Advisory Board process. It certainly would have been interesting to meet all of those visionary educators in person. We’re now on to the voting stage, in order to select which trends will have the greatest effect on education in the next 5 years. I definitely don’t feel smart enough to continue hanging out with this bunch though!

Guest Speaker at Apple’s Think Ahead Roadshow in Bangkok

One of the perks of being an Apple Distinguished Educator is speaking at Apple events in your region. This will be my first time presenting at an official Apple event (aside from the ADE Institute) and I’m really looking forward to it. I attended a similar roadshow in KL a few years ago and remember being impressed with how many different international schools were represented in the audience.

I suppose you could say I’ve sipped the Apple Kool-Aid, but I have to say, I spent the first 5 years of my teaching experience in a Windows school, and the following 4 working with Macs. In comparison I would generally say I spent well over 50% of my teaching time troubleshooting those Windows machines – none of which I am doing in an all-Mac environment now. I can focus on the teaching and learning bit, without wasting so much time on the “making the computer do what we know it should be doing” bit. Yeah, that’s probably why they asked me to do the session next weekend…

Returning to Qatar Academy in Doha for a 3-day consultancy visit

Thanks to Julie and the administrative team at QA, I’ll be heading back to Doha next week for my second visit in two years. This time around I’ll be working with the Senior School (middle – high school) on building an understanding of 21st century learning. It looks like I’ll be delivering 3 plenary sessions to the full faculty (The 21st Century Learner, The 21st Century Educator, The 21st Century Classroom) and then working with individual departments to plan authentic units of inquiry which naturally embed technology. Thanks to all of Julie’s hard work, QA will be 1:1 next school year and this is the kick-off to the practicalities of working in a 1:1 environment.

Delivering the grade 4 Common Assessment on Influence

Last December, I worked with our grade 4 team to develop a common assessment for their first social studies unit of the year, Influence. We spent several afternoons designing an authentic assessment task that followed the Understanding by Design process and utilized technology tools (wikis and VoiceThread) that are developmentally appropriate and fit naturally into the assessment task.

After we returned from our semester break, I had the extremely stressful challenge of making sure that each class had access to the laptop carts for the duration of the final assessment (oh, how I dream of being 1:1). Juggling several classes, dealing with the bizarre slowness of our internet connection over the past month, and facilitating the delivery of this common assessment pretty much ensured that I was on fast-forward every single day.

In the end, I must admit, I’m quite happy with the assessment. The task was at the right level for the students, the technology was a natural fit for the task, and the students had a taste of a project based learning experience. I’m looking forward to getting some valuable feedback from the teachers so that we can revise and improve the assessment while the experience is still fresh in our minds.

Is that all?

Now I know that’s barely scratching the surface of what so many others manage to do on a regular basis (I’m not writing a book or earning a PhD… yet…) but it definitely kept me busy for the past few weeks.

How do you cope with being overwhelmed for an extended period of time and actually manage it all without shutting down?

This weekend I discovered TweetDeck and I am totally in love! (Yes, I am late to the party with this one @JavaJive, Jeff showed it to me ages ago, but better late than never, right?).

As you may know, I am obsessively organized (often mocked for the obscene amount of folders I have for storing old e-mails) so the fact that I can actually organize my twitter friends is just about the best thing since sliced bread. All weekend, I’ve been categorizing and organizing all my twitter friends into convenient groupings – so much easier to follow what I want to follow, instead of just what rises to the top!

One of my fun new groups is “International Teachers.” I had been following quite a few teachers that I know personally, but being able to categorize them in TweetDeck has helped me find dozens more just this weekend – and now they’re all nicely organized into my “International Teachers” group, so when they post something new, I notice right away.

I love connecting with international school teachers, because even though our day-to-day experiences may be very different, we all share the common bond of teaching overseas, our schools are often very similar, and it’s amazing the number of times we will cross paths during our careers – despite the fact that we may currently be on opposite sides of the planet!

In an amazing coincidence, I woke up this morning (far too early, I might add), to see that Lucy and Vicki had found TwittGroups, a way to create groups of Twitterers with a common interest (Lucy started one for Apple Distinguished Educators Worldwide and Vicki started one for Teachers).

I figured this would be a great way to find even more international school teachers, so I created a group for us! I’m not so sure how this works yet, but even if it just ends up being an opt-in listing of international school teachers, this would be a great way to connect and find more international colleagues in one central place. Please, join!

I’m also curious about international school teachers that are blogging. I’ve been organizing (of course) my Google Reader account as well, and I have an “international teachers” folder that I’d love to add more feeds to – I just need to find them!

It’s amazing to see how we’re all connected – despite being so widely spread across the globe – connecting with one international school teacher in one city begins an amazing chain reaction of so many others in that city, and then their connections around the world. I love it!

Is there a central place where I can find a listing of international school teachers who are blogging? If not, anyone want to share some links in the comments here? I’ll be sure to write a follow up post with links to all the bloggers and twitterers that share! What a great way to connect with our fellow international school teachers!

Update: I just had a brainwave! I’ve been wanting to try out Google Forms for a while, so I just made one for international school teachers to share their blog and twitter info. If you’d like to be listed, please fill out the form here and check for the results here. Looking forward to connecting with even more international school teachers!

Amongst the Flags by thadman