This was my second year at Lausanne and this time I was here solo. What I took away this year was in some ways the same items I took from last year and that is inspiration, more questions than answers and knowing that there are educators all over the world trying to improve their classrooms. Although I was here alone, I never ate alone. Conversation was never lacking and topic ranged from education, culture, and simply life. Chances are I never would have met many of these people anywhere else as they were not in the same discipline or style of school but I learned so much from them. The cool part of the laptop institute is that we each can share based on where we are in Education. Last year, I did not have much to share but lots of questions. This year I could share not only my experiences with computers but also answers questions about the institute itself and there are many people here who still(and always) will know more than I do about not only technology but also education. I leave with the challenge to add to my toolbox, change my classes and encourage a look at the way my school community looks at education. All of this will not only make me better but will more importantly help me help my student’s and their future. Hope to see you next year.
My Brain Hurts
I’m not sure if my brain hurts more because of the constant shift between stifling heat and bone-chilling cold, or if it has more to do with the collection of knuckleheads who are with me on this crazy adventure. Either way I need about a four-day nap.
Networks Form in Real Time
(By Jeff Utecht)
I’m sitting here with some time to reflect on my own sessions (practice what you preach they say). After the keynote and two sessions this morning I’m enjoying some down time in a quiet corner of the school to just reflect on what others had to say and what were the take aways from the keynote this morning.
Via the Twitter Stream, I found Sarah’s blog where she decided to live blog the keynote. A great idea and a great way to take notes that include others. The system that she used also allowed here to add the Twitter stream from the conference…however she soon found out that it seems like to much information. She then called on one of her blog readers Bill Campbell to manage the Twitter stream and filter through it in real time and allow the good comments to come through.
Here’s the thing….Bill is not physically at the conference! Bill was following the Twitter tag for the conference saw Sarah Tweet about her live blogging, jumped there, and then saw a place where he could help make the content better for everyone.
The network between Sarah and Bill (I don’t even know if they know each other) was a just-in-time network that lasted for the duration of the keynote, created the content they wanted together and then left the archived copy there for everyone to read and learn from.
So if you missed something this morning most of the big ideas ended up here.
http://littechlearning.blogspot.com/2011/07/laptop-institute-2011.html
A powerful display of connections between people in real time.
Then there was the collaborative notes taken by Megan, Joan, and Susanne this morning in the Google Doc.
3 people taking notes for the world. 3 people in three different parts of the room together creating content in real time. Susanne who was in charge of links and resources lost connection and then the doc crashed on her. But what did we really loose? By splitting up the task we make sure that we still get the voice of others and from different perspectives and different parts of the room. The lost links can be found in the revision history and either I or probably someone else will go back and dig them out and add them to the finished document.
Both of these examples show the power of the connection, the power of real time networks. You don’t have to know someone for a long period of time to create content, you just need to have a common purpose or goal. There’s a lot of power here in creating content with and between students during class and after.
The power of human networks is the greatest power to leverage in the classroom. How are you going to leverage the human power in your own classroom?
Pictures: Some rights reserved by Darren Hester
1st blog entry
Created@keynote
Immediate reflection.
Thanks, Jeff, for the great Keynote! How wonderful it would be to give kids two minutes at the end of each period for immediate reflection on a blog!
Rethinking Professional Development Reflection
We had a great discussion about ways to encourage and promote professional development so that we can develop professionals. For me, I loved the idea of the “unconference.” Hope to be able to do this with my faculty to showcase their exponentially expanding tech knowledge and to build confidence in those who are not as comfortable yet.
Welcome to LI11 Reflection Blog
Give yourself permission to reflect. Have a great conference! Jeff
