always learning

Alex and I have always wanted to go to Japan and we finally managed to organize a trip there for our Songkran (Thai New Year) holiday a few weeks ago. We’re pretty well-traveled, so normally I wouldn’t think one of our vacations is worth a blog post, but this trip had something special: my PLN.

One of the reasons we decided to go to Japan this year was because I actually had quite a few friends living around the country. Not friends from college or high school, or former colleagues, in fact, I had never met most of them face-to-face. But we share ideas, collaborate on projects, and chat almost every day, thanks to Twitter, Skype, G-talk, and my RSS reader. Because of these virtual friendships, we were able to take a very unique tour of Japan, stopping in at three schools, staying with friends, and really experiencing a taste of life in Japan.

• Brian and Genki shared every single detail about transportation (and the essential Japan Rail Pass) I could ever want, down to pictures of which trains we could take and which ones we couldn’t.
• Brian and his wonderful wife, Alex, even welcomed us into their home, took us out to dinner, and let us stay overnight when we first arrived in Japan!
• Rhonda organized a full day of visits all around Canadian Academy and Rokko Island so we could meet various teachers and even take a sneak peak into CA teacher apartments. What better way to get to know a school than to visit in person?
• Christine organized an in-depth tour of Yokohama International School, including a delicious lunch off campus (with more fellow Twitterers, Brian, and Collin), and even a Japan educators Tweetup after work, where we got to make even more new friends (and visit Apple Japan HQ)!
• Leanne magically coordinated a full day of consulting for me at Tokyo International School, where I got to meet quite a few fellow Twitterers (like Allan, Matt, Michelle, Andrew, Lisa, and even a new ISB colleague) and of course, got to continue building my consulting experience.

Of course, through all of this, I got to know my virtual friends so much better. It still amazes me how deeply we can connect online, and just how real my virtual friendships are. Meeting Leanne, Rhonda, Christine, and Genki for the first time wasn’t really like the first time – I knew them already from our many conversations!

This isn’t the first time I’ve met members of my PLN face to face, but it is the first time it hasn’t been at a conference or professional event (or on my own “turf” in Bangkok). I love that we originally connected based on our professional interests, but that we can build on that foundation to create a true friendship that extends beyond work.

Thank you so much, friends, for making our trip to Japan so absolutely fantastic! We never could have done it without you!

The best thing about holidays is spending time with friends, and thanks to my PLN, it seems like I have friends almost everywhere!

How have you connected, in person, with your PLN?

Over the past few weeks of organizing and hosting K12Online LAN parties, reading about Seth Godin’s new book Tribes, and following the various blog posts from the Connectivism & Connecting Knowledge course offered by George Siemens and Stephen Downes, I have made a bit of a realization:

As much as I love working with students and teachers, and being at the center of 21st century learning at ISB, what would be most useful for our teachers is actually being connected to other teachers at school that share their interests, and can help them learn and grow in the direction they want.

It’s not that I can’t do this with and for our teachers, but if I want this growth to be sustainable it can’t be about me (or about any individual at the school). It has to be something that teachers can do themselves. They have to know who they can reach out to, who has the knowledge or information they need, and who can help them move to the next step.

So, really what I need to be doing is figuring out how to connect our teachers to each other. As odd as this may sound, considering that we all work in the same physical structure every day, many of us don’t know teachers in other divisions (I hardly know any high school teachers, even though this is my second year at ISB) and we most certainly don’t know who is interested in which aspects of teaching and learning in a digital world. Because our days are so jam-packed and busy, we actually need a way to connect asynchronously – even though we are in physical proximity most of the day.

I’ve known for many years just how powerful a network can be, but I seemed to always focus on making those connections with individuals outside my day-to-day work environment, the benefits of being able to find a like-minded colleague without having the fortune of physically sharing a teaching space. But, over the last few years, we’ve planted enough seeds around the school, spread out throughout each division, that we actually may have a network of learners right here, working together every day, and we just haven’t realized it yet.

At our last ISB21 Team meeting, we talked about this and Jeff and I came up with an idea: start a social network at school using our Elgg install. We can create a group, Jeff and I will populate it with relevant information, videos, images, etc before inviting other teachers, and then share it with our dedicated early adopters so they can add even more. Eventually we can share the group with the whole school to see where it goes. Even if we only connect a small group of teachers that wouldn’t otherwise be connected, it will be worth it!

Here are the benefits we’ve thought of:

• It’s hosted at school, so it’s fast and we don’t have to rely on an outside connection (often tenuous at best in Bangkok) – a better choice for us than something like Ning.
• It’s private, just for ISB staff, which may help teachers feel safer sharing and learning in a new environment.
• We’re planning to run a survey using ProfilerPro in January (Chad’s brilliant idea) which will graphically represent areas (and individuals) where the school is strong in their use and understanding of technology. This survey would allow teachers to find other individuals in the school that have the skill set their looking for and the social network would provide a place for them to connect outside of their extremely busy school-day schedules.
• By allowing teachers to learn from each other we’re enabling them to be self-directed and independent, while still providing a basic structure for how to get started. This could be a gateway to developing a more international personal learning network once they see the value of connecting this way.
• By connecting our various seedlings around the school, we’re hoping more will grow. The “look what she’s doing – I want to do that too” mentality.
• By using this tool for their own learning, teachers will be more likely to see how relevant appropriate it can be for classroom use.
• By connecting peers to each other, we’re taking away some of the dependence on us, allowing individuals to continue to sustain their learning beyond our tenure at the school.
• We could invite incoming teachers into the group before they arrive, allowing them to get a first-hand look at what teachers are learning about at ISB.

What do you think? Are we onto something? Is something important missing? Has anyone else tried this at their school? What were the results?

Marietta Diner by The Rocketeer
Interlocking (fins) toy #2 by Ctd 2005

This year I’ve been fortunate to meet many of my edublogger friends in person. It started with Learning 2.0 where I got to meet Jeff Utecht, Clay Burell, Wes Fryer, Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Will Richardson (and I also was fortunate to spend lots of time with Susan Sedro, who I had met the year before for the first time); continued to my trip to Doha, Qatar where I got to meet Julie Lindsay; and finally followed me right back home to Bangkok where the wonderful Chrissy Hellyer stayed with us for just under a week (and this doesn’t even begin to include all the other amazing educators I was so fortunate to meet – and now consider my friends – on all these occasions).

As I’m sure many of you would agree, in my experience meeting an online acquaintance in person is exciting, but not surprising.

When I opened the door to see Chrissy, it was like an old friend coming to visit – not some stranger I was meeting for the first time. As Chrissy said, it was my first time meeting her “body,” but we were already good friends from our online conversations. Our f2f conversations simply continued from the last time we spoke – via Skype. In fact, what truly amazes me, is that often my “online friends” know more about what’s going on in my life than my “physical” friends and family.

Being constantly connected means that when Chrissy and I met for the first time I actually knew more about what was “going on” with her than I did when my oldest friend from high school, Martine, showed up for her visit the following weekend. Not that I don’t keep in touch with Martine – we e-mail regularly, occasionally have a phone or Skype call, and we always spend time together when we’re in the same country (not so easy when she lives in England and I’m in Thailand) – but it’s not the same regular, consistent communication I have with my network (almost all of whom definitely do not live in Thailand).

I have to admit, I’ve almost started getting a little irritated with my friends and family that aren’t online with any regularity. They miss the photos I share (unless I send them a direct e-mail or remind them by phone), they don’t get my in-depth vacation recaps from my personal blog until I come home for the summer and do my annual slideshow, and they certainly don’t get the inside scoop on my daily life here in Bangkok because by the time I get home for summer holidays I have to rush through all the stories in whatever limited time I have (and usually I have to tell them over and over again as I go from city to city visiting – by the end of the summer most of my interesting stories have really lost their luster).

So I guess what really surprises me is how so many other people react when I tell them that I’m meeting an old friend for the first time. The confused, somewhat awkward look on their face – clearly not sure exactly what to say. How can you be old friends if you’ve never met? I know they’re thinking, but they’re always too polite to say anything.

When I really take a minute to think about it, though, those virtual friends are actually far more in tune with my life than so many of my “old” friends and family. They all know when I’ve been home sick, or when I’m traveling, or what’s new and exciting in Bangkok. And when they show up at my door, or wave from across the conference hall, or show me around their school, it’s like we’ve been friends and colleagues for ages.

A couple of thoughts about this paradox of virtual friendship spring to mind:

First, because of this and other online-connection experiences I’ve had over the last two years or so, I think I’m beginning to understand the sorts of networks that students and teenagers are creating when they SMS each other every five minutes, or use the library computers to go on Facebook – behaviors which often frustrate and irritate teachers and parents. They’re not necessarily just goofing off – they’re creating, maintaining and enlarging their own personal networks of people who genuinely wish them well and provide them with emotional support.

Second, the old argument against technology being “impersonal” or alienating, that it creates drones who stare in loneliness at separate screens instead of engaging in healthy human interaction, is looking even less likely than it ever did. Whenever humans invent a seemingly “impersonal” new form of technology – whether it be the written word, the telephone, or the computer – we always seem to quickly find ways to use that “impersonal” technology to bring us all closer together. And that’s a very encouraging thought.

What do you think? How do your “virtual friendships” compare to the “real-life” version?