Just before coming to NECC, I found a pointer to this recent post by Dave Winer reflecting on what conferences can and maybe should be. I actually attended the very first BloggerCon at Harvard in 2003. The “Blogging in Education” panel featured Pat Delaney, one of my earliest mentors, and there were a bunch of other smart people all around. But the real kick to the conference was the Day 2 unconference. The idea was to capture the best part of conferences, the conversations, and displace the presentations.
So, when I was designing my own conference in 2003, I decided to do something different — I moved the conference out of the hallway and into the meeting room. Or you can think of it the other way around. I tried to imagine what a conference would be like if you held it in the hallway.
It was, in a word, awesome. People engaged, interacting, debating, riffing on ideas and playing them out, all facilitated by “discussion leaders” that weren’t there to “present” but to guide. It was the hallway brought into the room.
I think that’s what we tried to do, with some pretty good success, last year in Atlanta with the first NECC related EduBloggerCon day. We had about 65 folks, and from what I remember, it was a lot of sitting around tables and on floors having some pretty wide ranging conversations about the state of education. It was like we all just wanted to get our brains stretched by the ideas, and have a chance as a group to get some deep, synchronous, back and forth with a whole bunch of folks who were passionate about figuring out what exactly was happening. It felt different. I wrote:
I’m not sure how far down the road we’re getting on answering any of the big questions. But we’ve started some conversations that I’m sure are going to continue. Steve, who has done such a great job of making this happen, said at the outset that he’ll be interested in seeing what transpires from this six months out. I’m feeling, at this moment at least, that we may have actually pushed further forward by that point.
In essence, as I read over the posts I wrote from NECC last year, we were part of a giant coming out party for these ideas that we’ve been kicking around here, some of us for years. It was like, finally, at last, people are listening. They’re getting it. We’re shifting.
Which is why yesterday’s EduBloggerCon II was, at least for me, a disappointment. I mean absolutely no disrepect to Steve who worked his tail off to organize it all and who I just simply admire as a good human. But right from the start, it was obvious that we hadn’t pushed further. In fact, if anything, it felt like we took a step backwards. Yep, there were more people, and that is a good thing. But the sessions I dropped in on and walked past didn’t have the same feel. They were being led, not facilitated. They were about tools. There were cameras and boom mics that totally interrupted the flow of the conversation, with clipboard laden vendors swooping down on those that talked with release forms needing signatures.
In short, it felt more like Monday than Saturday, in the room, not in the hallway.
It might be me. Others seemed to have gotten a lot out of the day. But it feels frustrating, on some level, that the week is shaping up once again to be more about tools and vendors than about the real work of getting our brains around how learning and networks and the very essence of how teaching and schools are being pushed by the shifts that are occurring. (And before anyone takes me to task, I’m fully aware that I’m doing a session on tools tomorrow, which, on some level I regret proposing.)
So I’m asking, what’s changing, really? How have we moved further down the road since Atlanta? I really want to know.
Hello, Will,
As someone who opted not to attend NECC this year, I’ll be curious as to your impressions on the rest of the conference.
I strongly agree with your assessment that, if the conversation stays limited to the tools (and by extension, the vendors that sell access to the tools), only a small portion of the possibilities will be addressed.
Cheers,
Bill
Hi Will. The link about the cameras suggests that you are talking about the formal presence of more professional efforts but as someone who cannot attend NECC this year (or might only make it every 3-4 years due to district and personal funding issues; my last one was San Diego), I hope you aren’t talking about the attempts of some folks to bring these conversations to the poor masses that cannot afford attendance. I got to sit in on three conversations yesterday via uStream and although I can’t say there was anything groundbreaking, it was affirming to me that my thoughts on the direction of these technologies is similar to the larger conversation that seems to be going on. I have yet to experience any of the BloggerCons in person but I have been part of the magic because of these technologies. It has made conference attendance to regional conferences seem mundane in comparison as conversation was at a minimum at best (and I was actually grumped at by a presenter for blogging during a session 🙂 ).
Was your EBC session about the tools? Was our social networking and PD session about the tools?
I certainly didn’t think so.
The point at which you walked out of McLeod’s leadership session is the very point at which you should have spoken up. Not by complaining on Twitter. Not by formulating your next post. But by actually engaging in the conversation. Remember, sharing is easy. Collaboration is more difficult. And group action? Well that’s the real kicker, isn’t it.
EduBloggerCon is what we – those that honestly care enough to work through all the kinks – make it.
Hey Will,
My only real desire to make it to NECC (which i couldn’t for family reasons) was to sit around and chat with all your folks. I can’t help but think that the coming together of all that edu brain power should be able to produce something more than a debate on attribution of photographs (however entertaining)
The whole (formal part of the) conference model is based on the idea that knowledge is scarce and that distribution is uneaven. That people carry proprietary knowledge in their slides and heads which can be distributed to a bunch of other folks who pay their two bits. Or, worse, it’s a conference full of folks who are all just waiting until their turn to present.
The interesting part here… is that the people who I’m following at NECC aren’t like that. They are free and open sharers of their work. They have access to all the knowledge (particularly about tools) that they could receive at a conference like this. So, then, it becomes about ‘informing the second wave’ (which is not a bad thing) and about vendors selling things and recording the work of people for their own designs.
New model please.
Interesting — I just read Ewan’s post, and then the additions here.
The Pearson presence (mentioned in Ewan’s post) sounds interesting, to say the least, especially considering their video contributions during the spring.
Dave Cormier hits it pretty much on the head — like him, my main desire to go to NECC has to do with the conversations that take place outside sessions, rather than the sessions themselves. Given that the deadline for submitting sessions to NECC is a full nine months before the actual event, a good portion of the content is virtually guaranteed to be stale.
@Jason Nieffer — if someone grumps at you for blogging during a session, you should politely inquire why they are having that reaction. If the paradigm remains unchallenged, things won’t change. Obviously, your half of the interchange would need to be polite in order to remain constructive, but I think you get my point. If we don’t advocate and model the change we want to effect, it won’t happen.
@Darren Draper — to each their own, eh? We all need to find the medium and the method that makes the most sense for us. One size doesn’t fit all — in education, and in social discourse.
Cheers,
Bill
Darren, I’m with you on the idea that we all need to make an event a successful event. And, in some ways, we failed. But it’s not your job to tell Will or anyone else how they can contribute.
The rule of two feet applies to all of us. Sometimes, walking away is the best contribution we can make. And we all, each of us, have to make that call on our own.
Do you really think it is about the tools? I don’t really think so. Call me naive, which could be so, but I really don’t think so. In fact, of all the sessions I am going to this week, only one is a tool. (a free one at that). Most that I’m going to are about process.
I think people come to this for many reasons. Some of us need to be here to see tools. Right now I am sitting in the Blogger Cafe and I heard someone walk by and say “what is podcasting?” Well I know what it is, but some folks don’t and they are here to learn. We need to honor everyone and their learning level and spectrum.
I remember last year, I missed the EduBloggerCon. In fact, I didn’t even know about it until after the fact. I was an EduBloggerCon Wannabe!!! I really felt I missed out. You guys were all talking about (blogging) the cool things that happened, and the great feeling you all had about the event, and the “hallways” and even though I was not there, I felt it in the air too, all around the conference. It was amazing. Such a great great event.
So maybe this year, the anticipation is or has been something of a player? How do you top what happened last year? As one of the people who has learned so much from your learning, and your sharing, as well as the other “bloggers” around, I want to say that I AM carrying the messages to my district. I AM working towards change. Every time I get in front of our school board and talk about teachers and technology and change, I am taking our messages from here and moving (pushing) forward.
So, maybe the problem this year is that we (all of us) need and WANT to move to the next steps. We Want to make change. WE want to continue to make change. Grow. and push. We need to continue to be inclusive and shape our learning to best suit our needs. But maybe we should shift the conversation every chance we get from the negatives of “yeah but” to the positives of …”this is how you get there”…..Next year’s EduBloggerCon might even be ready to tackle that!!! You never know!
Will – your frustration with the lack of moving forward and getting stuck on the tools rather than the real work of addressing teaching and learning and how it must change touched a nerve of the overall “network” of educational technology, edubloggers, and the web 2.0 crowd (not quite sure how to “label” that!). I have been in education a long time – and for that entire time have heard about and been involved in “educational reform.” I actually started an education technology masters program at Nort Texas University about 18 years ago – and heard predictions about how technology was going to lead to drastic changes in education. Yet, not much of great significance has changed. (I was a math teacher; there is a great subject area to look at – we are still teaching the same math to ALL kids that we were 20 – 30 or more years ago – and the resistance to even considering a change has been unbelievable).
I am growing increasingly frustrated – on many fronts. As an administrator, I still see inefective instruction in fundamental literacies and a lack of awareness and/or willingness to examine the impact of that instruction on genuine student learning (which allowed NCLB to take hold); I still see no consensus on what our students should truly know and be able to do or what learning is critical and why; and I see so many truly dedicated and passionate people who want to make a real difference and real contributions. Yet, it seems as though we have created some articfical separations or stratifications that keep people from joining forces. I am equally frustrated with conversations about how teaching and learning and schools are being pushed or need to be pushed – or at least frustrated how many of the conversations by those who are part of the edublogging network and the “big names” in education technology remain separated from the everyday practice of educators in the schools. It is difficult at times to tell where a genuine desire to impact education bleeds into making a living or building a career. I have felt, at times, a certain arrogance or impatience, or perhaps lack of ability to ‘walk in another’s shoes’ from some who are pushing for changes in the education system. For those of us “in the trenches” – those of us who do not know enough or are not connected enough (or lack the time, energy, & expertise)to be a really active part of the conversation or be involved in what at times seems like a club or fraternity – there does not seem to be a great deal of help in learning how to work within the current structure of public education – within the current culture of a building/district – to start from where we are (teachers, admin, etc) and move forward toward more effective practices within the context of a standards-based, assessment-driven system AND at the same time work towards fundmental changes in that system. (Although I would like to thank Chris Lehman for graciously spending time with me and a few of my teachers at what I am sure was a vey hectic time!!!! There is some chocolate onthe way!). Sure – there are books, there are people who will do workshops or presentations, there are confences to attend – and the overall effectiveness of those things has proven to be minimal.
I am trying to start where I am to make a difference – and at times, I feel there is little support for such small-scale change. Yet, if we do not bring the change down to the “small scale,” it will never take hold. So – attending NECC or an unconference – I will pass on both. I need some nitty-gritty, roll-up-the-sleeves type help . . .
@Will –
Like a another comment above suggested – there’s still a great need to learn about the tools that make up the “learning revolution.” While you may feel you have the tools under your belt, there’s a wide audience here.
What too many people here may need is what you address – a discussion on how to change pedagogy. While an informal, unorganized meet is something that appeals to you, it may not appeal to everyone.
I was unable to attend yesterday, but I hope there is still plenty of learning and enlightenment to be had in traditional sessions.
It is disappointing to me to hear that Edublogger Con was anything less than what I attended last year in Atlanta. I think it is easy to talk about tools especially with all of the web 2.0 tools that have emerged in the past 12 months. It is harder to talk about pedagogy and how to make real change happen. Harder conversations is exactly why the conversations need to occur.
My biggest disappointment came from the size of the breakouts. Most of them felt like panel discussions with a few people talking and everyone else listening. Last year the smaller groups allowed for more real discussion.
But then there was also this sense of deja vu. Haven’t we already been over this ground? And isn’t it time to move beyond talk about what our administrators and colleagues need to know and do? Where’s the take-it-to-the-next-level action plan?
As to the Pearson cameras and sound booms, they didn’t bother me as much as some. I doubt they’re going to get much monitary profit from what we say and I certainly don’t think my face is going to sell any of their goods. 🙂
@Sue – I totally understand your sentiments. Small scale, trench change is what counts. Sometimes large-scale events feel more like hype than “meat”. I think what is happening here is that these types of events will become more and more unsatisfying or disappointing for those who are experiencing communities of practice and meaningful personal learning networks. Somehow, 45-60 minutes “presentations” and keynotes can’t compete as they used to. We all want – and need… more.
I had not attended a previous EduBloggerCon, but I did experience some unconference sessions last fall in Shanghai and Learning 2.0. I agree some mistakes were made this year, but we can certainly learn from those and not repeat them. Overall, however, I want to stress that I found the day VERY beneficial, VERY rewarding, and definitely worthwhile overall.
I’ve commented on this elsewhere but will repeat it again here– echoing what Ewan wrote, NO sessions should have been cancelled. The essence of an “unconference” is that people don’t have to get permission or “approval” to share and learn together. So if one person wants to talk about WordPress plug-ins (I did) and at least 1 person wants to join in, then by all means let them! We could have gone in the hallway and talked about this– and in fact I’m sure we will in the blogger’s cafe and in other venues. The day did have a “conferency” feel. That said, as others point out many people came with different experience sets, and I have heard a lot of positive feedback from others. I’m confident Steve H and others will listen to the community and strive to make upcoming events even better. Ewan has some good points and I think we should definitely listen to his advice on no time limits, no rows, free beer, etc. 🙂
To Sue’s comment, I think we are only starting to glimpse the potential we have for social media tools to change our own practices as well as the ideas, perceptions, and practices of others. I think Pearson’s presence at this event was a real positive: a sign that edublogger ideas are being taken seriously and traditional publishers are listening. I may be in the minority on this, but I view this as a big positive.
I also agree with Darren’s point about us needing to engage together in conversations to make EduBloggerCon better. While I agree with you Bud, that everyone can and should make their own choices about attending or walking out– and you certainly made a loud point by leaving early Will– there are multiple opportunities to engage in discussions about how things can and should change. This post you’ve shared, Will, gives us an opportunity to engage in that dialog, and that is good.
In all this I don’t think we should lose sight of thanking Steve H for his hard work in helping coordinate this, and ISTE’s willingness to provide EduBloggerCon with a space. It may not have been an optimal space, and if not, let’s find a better one next year. I’ve thought we should see about using a dorm facility where we could rent rooms for the night preceding and following the EduBloggerCon event. We also need to incorporate “social objects” as Ewan described today, which Alan November does well at BLC. (I’m told he does, I haven’t been there yet.)
Maybe we should contribute to a wiki page which includes all the ways we think EduBloggerCon can be improved next time. Let’s use the collaborative tools at our fingertips to demonstrate to ourselves and others how these tools can be used to solve problems and make things better.
I was unable to stay for as long as I would have liked to attend the various sessions at EduBloggerCon (I was busy taking care of some snafus related to my poster session the next day and had to make a desperate run to Kinko’s a few miles out). I did however enjoy the one I was able to attend – outside in the Second Life space late morning. I liked that it had a feel of an unconference – in terms of the space especially and how everyone was sitting (some even standing around the periphery, but participating nonetheless) on couches and chairs, on the floor.
I also enjoyed the discussions around Clay Shirky’s book, and as always that I get to meet f2f the many bloggers I only otherwise know in the virtual blogosphere.
I did get the sense at the end of the day that things had not gone quite as many of the edubloggers would have liked them to, and the Pearson thing struck a bad note for sure. I agree with most of the things Wes has written here about acknowledging Steve’s efforts to put this together, and also about the more influential edubloggers voicing their suggestions to right some of the things they felt could be done better – in the spirit of true collaboration – *during* the course of the unconference rather than blogging about the negatives after the fact.
That said I’m sure there are lessons learned from this one that everyone will hopefully take forward to similar open, collaborative exchanges in the future.
-Shuchi Grover
I agree with Wesley. I’m having a great time here at NECC. I’m dipping in and out of sessions. Some are more directive, others are more participative. Some are too big, some are just right. I’m also dipping in and out of conversations – in the hallway, down and around the corner, on the sidelines – wherever I can make it happen. I’m glad that folks are voting with their feet. For example, if you didn’t find value in the session Chris Lehmann and I led, I hope you GOT OUT and went to do something else! No grudges. Learn something else. Talk about something else. Have fun!
Scott: Wasn’t that I didn’t find value in what you were saying as much as I couldn’t because of all that was going on from the film crews. I found their presence really distracting, which was a shame.
Like you said, your session is about tools. How can you expect everyone else to have moved on from tools, if you, a respected leader in the edtech community did not.
From what I see there is still a large number of participants (a majority?) that don’t know the tools or the possibilities. (Is it someone in the prior comments that said they overheard someone say, “what is podcasting?”) Not everyone is where you are Will, they need to be brought along/caught up to even have the conversation.
As far as EduBloggerCon. After last year, it was given a great deal of hype (over-hype). After hearing about that mostly spontaneous event from last year, everyone wanted to be a part of it … like many good things, once it gets to the masses it gets watered down and commercialized. It’s not going to have the same feel for those that were there in the beginning.
As an edtech leader, instead of bashing the conference and specific sessions, model the behavior you want to see and next time do a session that is not about a tool. (Note that the film crews were there doing what we/you push for … breaking down the walls, including a global community, allowing for (possibly, I don’t know) a live stream … hey wait, that’s what your session was about! I wonder if all those uStreamers in the various sessions were distracting the people that were there for the conventional face-to-face presentation.)
What did I get from the conference? Some insight, methods, and vision for getting technology integrated (fused) into the curriculum at my school and motivation and vision to continue to lead this charge in my sphere of influence. I continued to build the vague vision I have for education in the future. And yes … I learned, and was introduced to some specific, useful and cool tools that I may not have otherwise run into.
I am just a teacher….nobody special or important. But I do have some things to say so I hope you will listen. This was my first NECC. I teach in rural Nebraska and I am one of just a handful of teachers in my region who can even define the terms blog, podcast, wiki. and Web 2.0. When I mention those words to colleagues they look at me like I am speaking a foreign language. I went to NECC absolutely desperate to connect with anyone who was willing to listen to my story or share theirs. I found my niche in the Bloggers’ Cafe. I have heard since the conference that the atmosphere of the cafe kept many people away and that “newbies” were especially intimidated by the “big names” that were hanging out in there. I was welcomed from the beginning.
I somehow managed to snag a great table in the cafe on Monday morning. I was sitting at it by myself when I noticed a woman who was looking for a place to sit. I offered her a chair and we struck up a conversation about Moodle. I think I have found a lifelong friend in Nancy Pratt. (She posted a response to this blog as well.) I also had the pleasure of meeting Bud Hunt. I have had a blast following him on Twitter over the last week as he has searched for “hot doughnuts” while on vacation. While I was talking to Bud the Teacher Sharon Nussbaum-Beach walked up and introduced herself to me. Put her arm on my shoulder and said she recognized my name. How???? Like I said at the beginning….I am just a teacher. She must have spent some time on the Ning. When I got home and checked her CV I was truly impressed—-17 pages long! What hasn’t she done?
On another visit to the Bloggers’ Cafe I ended up listening in on a discussion about blogging and Twitter etiquette. I looked up and noticed “the face” of NECC 2008—Jeff Utecht. I quickly sent him a message through the NECC Ning telling him I appreciated his comments and that I was sitting directly across from him. A few minutes later he looked up, smiled and waved. We never did get the chance to talk. I’ll catch him next year….
It disappoints me that some of the “important” people did get much out of NECC. I did not get much sleep at the conference because I was so EXCITED about interacting with people who are dedicated to making a difference in education. I have started following the movers and shakers on Twitter (bethstill) and, of course, I have subscribed to their blogs. I have talked about the lessons I learned at NECC, but at times I feel like I am not making any progress. That is why I blog. Even though I do not have an audience I keep holing out hope that someday someone will care about what I think and they will start listening. If you got to the end of this post—thank you!