Connections and conversations- ICT making us more human
Posted by Lauren O Grady on July 19, 2008
The last two weeks I have felt like I have not stopped, been at conference after conference. The learning has been amazing. I have met some of my geek heroes and shared drinks and great conversation with them, most of all I learnt heaps and was stimulated to learn more. This was all done via technology, I met these people face to face for the first time over the last fortnight but felt like I knew quite a bit already through my e-network. My enetwork is my online personal learning network. The people in my enetwork are found via blogs, twitter, secondlife and various other networking sites. These applications are making me more human not less, I am out meeting and having some of the most powerful conversations in my life thanks to these networks.
So who have I met? and why was it so powerful ?
- Dr Michelle Sellinger: We had a great discussion on the advent of mlearning and the implications it has for multimedia content creation in the classroom. We spoke about how linking mlearning and elearning together we can collaborate, connect and create with greater ease than ever before
-Al Upton: I feel like I already knew Al before I got to South Australia, he is my neighbour in second life. I learnt again not so much from the content of his presentations but the way he presented making sure all voices were heard and everyone were actively part of the moment.
-KerryJ what a woman with passion and knowledge ! I never knew this time last year I would have met such a dynamic person with great knowledge of copyright and creative commons and life through secondlife. Kerry organised dinner for a group of us and we had an absolute ball and have made connections and conversations that may have the possibilities for collaborations in time.
-Others: Over the time I had amazing conversations and reflected what a small world we live in and how much we need networks so that learning is not a one sided process.
So from these connections where to for me? I have set some goals based on the learning’s from people and thought it best to print them for the world to see :
-Be more present and treasure each moment you have when working with people.
-Listen more, people have amazing knowledge to impart but I am sometimes too busy talking to ever hear it
-Have fun, I am only 28 and don’t need to be the best at everything being where I am means I always have somewhere to go and always have something new to learn
So my question to my network is:
Where can we take these conversations?
How can we collaborate?
How can we further connect to ensure future learning?
July 19th, 2008 at 9:11 am
Thanks for the kind words Lauren. Likewise, I was looking forward to meeting so many of these people who were also in my network, many of the same ones you mentioned. I heard you on a podcast a while back talking about IWBs and was hoping to chat to you about them, but we just ran out of time… busy couple of days! Thank goodness for Skype!
Nice post, and I also hope the edtech community continues to figure out ways to take this amazing network forward.
July 19th, 2008 at 9:27 am
An excellent example of the how technology facilitates human interaction and learning despite extensive geographical distances and barriers. I’ll be fascinated to read if this continues and drives further developments in interactive learning.
July 19th, 2008 at 9:30 am
I just love the fact that all this technology means I can rock up at a conference and meet someone from my online PLN for the first time face to face and feel like I have known them for ages.
There is simply no limit to where we can take these conversations. We just need to keep having them, to push our boundaries, to remain creative. Just be having conversations about all sorts of things we are extending ourselves in many ways and it ensures that we are connecting further and ensuring future learning.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Right back at’cha Lauren! The word community is becoming as over-used as the word friend, so it was amazing to discover that you and Al (and now Chris) are part of my circle in a closer way than I thought possible. More of us jokaydians are meeting up in Sydney this Sunday and now I know that when we do the only thing missing will be computer screens and our avatars.
We do have to start taking these conversations forward — and find a way to impact what’s going on. Establishing a network of people who can guide and lead, providing “toolkits” for institutional change — everything we’ve been talking about needs to start being put into action. Despite the talk — the government and many well-meaning jurisdictions still have a top down, protectionist, silo-ed approach that is as enervating to progress as classrooms with pupils sitting in rows waiting for their “education” to be delivered to them.
What can we do — as a network of practitioners who are often left out of higher-end/bigger picture decision making — to make a real impact?
July 20th, 2008 at 12:28 am
Lauren, it was great to cross paths with you at both ALEA and CEGSA and put a human being to the avatar and blog post insights. I wish I had half your talent and wisdom when I was 28 when it comes to education and technology - guess it is part of being a late maturer. I agree that Chris did a great job and part of the success of it when talking to others was that this was a keynote from a real practitioner, not just a theorist or academic. Hey, SL is one of those things on my to-do list but it doesn’t seem to be as opportunistic as blogging is for me (a few mins here and there to write part of a post) as the family absorbs every bit of my free time until the boys are safely in bed. When I do take the plunge, I know that experts like yourself and Al are in my PLN available for advice and assistance. Good luck at the rest of those conferences - might see you at the National IWB Conference in Melbourne maybe?
July 20th, 2008 at 12:36 am
Hi Lauren,
I have just read your comments on your blog re the CEGSA Conference. I was there as a “watcher” I watched a powerful interaction between a couple of you during the Key note delivered by betchaboy Chris. He began to demonstrate twitter to we who are further down on the learning curve and all of a sudden you guys recognised your second life buddies and posted comments as he spoke. The impact of that on you who were involved and Chris, was pretty powerful stuff to watch. It actually made the title of the keynote address come alive and we saw the outcomes instantly! Thanki you for being an outgoing, confident role model / leader in educators lives! You have the ability to make your life sound exciting!! Onya! Di alias Zebrasfly
July 20th, 2008 at 12:37 am
I sit at my computer in Austin, Tx reading and taking in all this incredible information from all of you amazing educators from Twitter that I have been following and your posts like this. I teach in a semi- rural district that has never heard of Twitter, let alone sites like Skype, and is just this year considering letting the students Blog , after I had tremendous success with my below grade level students using tech.last year vs.pen to paper.
I just went to a SEM4SMB conference for SEO’s in Austin last week with a friend. The person who put it together can do the same for educators. It was a two day conference packed with speakers, hands on workshops, and just social networking and learning from each other. I know I would love something like this, I could take it back to my school and classroom and teach my campus about it or slowly spread the word.
I’m a Special Ed. teacher and my district has no intention of sending me to any conferences, that is my biggest frustration because how then do I help my students and or other teachers?