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On Connectedness & the Learning 2.0 Conference
August is Connected Educators Month.
I started writing this post on the last leg of a flight home from Australia*, where Gwyneth Jones (the Daring Librarian) and I met with the fabulous librarians of Sydney, Adelaide and Perth.
Sometimes it really hits you hard that things have changed. It hit me hard on this trip.
We couldn’t have been much further from home and Gwyneth and I met so many people we already knew.
We librarians have created a strong tribe. We know each others’ names. We know each others’ work. We are connected with each other and with other educators.
One Saturday in Perth, Sue Waters, the Edublogger herself, generously offered to take us out to see Perth’s wine country. We were delighted to be able to spend time with Sue and her husband Dave.
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But Sue is the ultimate connector. When she discovered that Alec and George, the Couros brothers, were also in town, what followed was a rather spontaneous librarians’ breakfast meeting, a Kings Park Walk and a combined Couros bros/librarians meet-up lunch at a Swan Valley vineyard. In fact, we closed the vineyard as the last table standing.
Gwyneth’s longterm online conversations with Jesse DesJardins led to yet another meet-up at the Sydney Hard Rock Café.
You may not know Jesse’s name, but I’ll bet you know his work. Jesse, the SlideShare phenom behind You Suck at PowerPoint and PowerPoint Porn, inspired us as we rolled out our whole-school presentation reform movement. Jesse met us for an early dinner and a discussion of all things preso, including the brilliant ideas-the audience is the hero of the presentation and the presentation strategy–this what it is now; this is what it could be.
None of these connections could have been realized in the old days.
We left Australia initiating a few new unconference strategies, reinforcing a few hashtags and inventing a couple of new ones, and most importantly, celebrating connections.
As we enter the second half of Connected Educators Month, one very big celebration is coming up.
You can join the free party at the worldwide, virtual Learning 2.0 Conference, August 20 – 24, 2012.
In conjunction with Connected Educator Month, the conference will be held online, in multiple time zones, over the course of five days. It will include an all-day virtual unconference (SocialEdCon online!) as well as a special educational start-up “pitchfire” event.
To keep up with the schedule and the events, join the Classroom 2.0 network. The Twitter hashtag for the event is #learning20.
- Keynote Sessions: Gina Bianchini, Julie Evans, Lucy Gray, Heidi Hayes Jacobs, Lee Rainie, Angela Meiers, Sugata Mitra, Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, Michelle Pacansky-Brock, Marc Prensky, Audrey Watters, and Yong Zhao.
- Keynote Panel on Technology and Librarians: Gwyneth Jones, David Loertscher, Michelle Luhtala, Shannon Miller, and me.
- Pre- and Post-Conference Special Interviews : David Deubelbeiss, Lee Rainie, Alfie Kohn, Gary Stager, Stephen Downes, Howard Gardner, Rudy Crew, Roger Schank, Paulo Blikstein, Rob Fried, Gordon Dryden, Tony Wagner, and Michael Strong.
Filed under: Connected Educators, professional development
About Joyce Valenza
Joyce is an Assistant Professor of Teaching at Rutgers University School of Information and Communication, a technology writer, speaker, blogger and learner. Follow her on Twitter: @joycevalenza
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