Like going to educational conferences? I do. Meeting new and old friends, learning cool things, and being inspired is revitalizing. But it’s not something I want to do every day! Airplanes, leaving home, work piling up, big crowds, and jet lag can make you wonder if it’s all worth it.So here comes some web 2.0 savvy educators with a great idea. Can’t we have it all? Can’t we share, collaborate, and be inspired without the TSA being involved? Can I participate in a way that’s easy for me, comfortable for me, and convenient for me? Oh, and did I mention… FREE?
Yup, and it starts next week. The K12 Online Conference about 21st Century teaching and learning will run over the next three weeks. But really, you are in charge. You can look at the keynotes and sessions where and when you want. You can watch videos or listen to audio. You can download them as podcasts. This is an online conference, but it isn’t about online learning. It’s about using technology – web 2.0, software, and other tools to enhance teaching and learning.
What happens during the next three weeks is that the sessions are slowly unveiled, one at a time, and there are online discussions scheduled at different times over the course of the whole conference. Some of the conversation times may be convenient for you, some may not, but somewhere, someone around the world will be thinking… “hey, they thought of me!”
Plus there will be places to comment on the presentations in a blog format – if you want to. That’s what it’s all about. You could replay your favorite session twelve times — if you want to. You can explore last year’s sessions — they are still up there on the website. You could wait until December to do this — if you want to. You can download something and share it at a staff meeting — if you want to.
But only for the next three weeks will you be able to participate with educators from around the globe talking about teaching and learning with technology in real-time sessions — if you want to.
We all like to be challenged and inspired, but we all like to put on our comfy slippers too. Now we get both.
The 2007 K12 Online Conference about 21st Century teaching and learning is scheduled to be held over two weeks, October 15-19 and October 22-26, 2007, and will include a preconference keynote and fireside chat by David Warlick during the week of October 8. The conference theme is Playing with Boundaries.
Check out the website, cruise around and look at the teasers for all the different sessions. The sessions run the gamut of different grade levels, classroom ideas and staff development and from practical how-tos to more philosophical things. I guarantee there will be something you will like.
Download a printable flyer and send it to a friend (or two, or ten) K12online flyer (PDF). Be brave, like Cathy Nelson of TechnoTuesday and demo it for your colleagues! Next week I’ll post more the conference and about my sessions coming the week of Oct 22-26. I blogged about my “teasers” here if you can’t wait 😉
“See” you there – Sylvia
Update – Added links to all my sessions:
Wiki with supporting resources, research, and how I made these presentations!
Flickr photo: Winston thinks my new slippers are very tasty.