Gone Fishin'
Conferences Saturday, June 28th, 2008I’m already hearing (and reading) the rumbles from San Antonio about the best part being the informal gatherings that allow for unstructured sharing, learning, and playing. Last year, these same rumbles were heard but after Edubloggercon had ended and NECC actually started.
This year, the rumblings have begun and they’ve begun during the thing many felt was the best part of last year’s NECC: Edubloggercon. So, I can’t help but wonder why fight it? Why try to force oneself into something that doesn’t work for you and obviously those around you?
If the formal conference structure isn’t doing it, why not call your pals, hang up the sign that says Gone Fishin’ (or Learnin’ if you so choose), and meet at a location determined by the group (perhaps a different person’s school) where there are no structures or time limits but sharing, learning, and playing.
As Albert Einstein once said “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.
[Tags] conferences, necc, necc08, ebc08, edubloggercon [/Tags]
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Short URL: http://www.ryanbretag.com/blog/?p=356
I’m looking at all of this NECC-mania information flowing through my aggregator with a bit of bemusement and envy. Basically, being on the other side of the world and probably never ever having the opportunity to go to a big show like NECC certainly colours my perspective but I feel somewhat disconnected when this big event takes place. If it wasn’t for the fact that a few Aussies are on a study tour I would focus on matters close at hand and try to block it all out. It’s easy to think that the edtech world begins and ends at San Antonio this week and the only people worth reading and connecting with are all hanging out and solving the education world’s ills in the Bloggers’ Cafe. The way I see it, edubloggers are all parts of a very complex ecosystem and how we interact with each other and the conversations we have without ever meeting are more important to re-shaping our worldview and impacting the students and colleagues we work with.
Glad you like the title/idea of my blog. (-:
It is pretty sad that I spent 10 minutes exploring your blog trying to figure out what the heck you were referencing. Good news is that I know more about you from your About the Author and know more About your blog from the About this Blog page.
Graham:
I couldn’t agree with you more and found myself reflecting upon what you said in relation to the keynote at NECC speaking about cognitive diversity.
Thanks for your thoughts and here is to the conversations beyond the confines of a conference.
Reading this post made me recall a concept I learned about a few years ago called Open Space Technology. Here’s a good description of it: http://www.co-intelligence.org/P-Openspace.html This link has a few pictures: http://www.chriscorrigan.com/openspace/whatisos.html . I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of this, but I thought it might be an interesting exploration for you.
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