A VIRTUAL Experience

Techlearning blog

A New Kind of Conference

We are now counting the days and hours to NECC, the National Educational Computing Conference. This is, by all accounts, the largest and most comprehensive ed tech conference in the world and a high point for tech-enthused educators from all over the world -- and a bewildering and sometimes life changing experience for newbies, who are invited in by their tech-savvy colleagues and friends.

But something very interesting is happening to this conference.

Before I go there, I want to say that I am taking nothing away from the very dedicated, seemingly tireless, and incredibly creative people who organize and run this enormous conference, and the innovations that emerge every single year -- thanks to the mission and passion of ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education).

But what is interesting to me are the truly intriguing elements of NECC that owe their origin, not to ISTE, but to conference attendees. I first noticed something new during and just after NECC 2005, in Philadelphia. I and many other educators had been blogging and reading blogs for many months, with a handful of true pioneers with years of blogging behind them. What I noticed was that the buzz in the blogosphere during and just after the days of NECC were not about this international conference of tens of thousands, but a very small conference of fewer than a hundred in Memphis, Tennessee, the Laptop Institute. Because of the very concentrated presence of laptops at that conference, ubiquitous access to wireless Internet, and an atmosphere of helping each other; a drove of new bloggers and blogging came out of that conference, making it shine more brightly and interestingly than the enormous event that was sharing its dates.

This year (and last) NECC will be followed by educators around the world through Hitchhikr, a web site that aggregates conference blogs and photos. People, sitting in the comfort of their homes in New Zealand, will be able to read the blog postings of educators who are sitting in the sessions, typing their notes in their blogs in almost real-time.

NECC has instituted a tagging system where each presentation and event at the conference has its own tag for bloggers and photographers. But it was Steve Hargadon, of Technology Rescue, who created a list of conference sessions with hyperlinks that we can click on to see all of the blog entries and photos from the session of interest. In Hitchhikr, the blog tracking pages for the EduBloggerCon, a pre-conference event for folks interested in blogging and other Web 2.0 applications in education has been used 1,469 times. NECC's page only 932 times. The Laptop Institute, which doesn't begin until July 15 has already been used 1,334 times.

Once again, this takes absolutely nothing away from the NECC that many of us will enjoy as a physical experience. I can't wait (although I'm old enough to know how exhausting it will be). And to their credit, the NECC folks are paying very close attention to these parallel activities and encouraging the innovations of its audiences, supporting it through the session blogging tags, working with a number of prominent education bloggers who will be attending, and the bloggers cafe, which you can learn the most about through a recent posting from Hargadon.

I guess the most interesting thing I've seen was a series of blog postings from Vicki Davis, which became a widely and wildly read report on happenings and selected sessions of NECC 2006 in San Diego. Her stories were rich and detailed, and she was three thousand miles away, in her home in Camilla, Georgia. She was aggregating blog entries from educators who were attending, synthesizing them, and then reporting almost immediately to a growing reader community.

As an educator, I find these developments both interesting and provocative. The learners, in many ways, are exerting themselves into a position of literally leading some of the aspects of this and other conferences, which, once again, would not (could not) be the intense learning experiences without their traditional leaders and organizers.

But what might this look like at a much more local level -- say, a classroom. Might we imagine a classroom where the students start to use interesting new applications and skills that they are developing in their own social networks, to enhance the benefits of their classrooms? ..And what actions from the school might empower and support these developments? What could school leaders do to follow ISTE and NECC to encourage and support innovative learning?

Techlearning blog A Window Into Virtual Conferences It is 9:30am late in May and I sit glaring out the technology lab windows into the Library/IMC area where there is the typical whirlwind of excitement: teachers in the computer labs and students learning and working in various spots. The only thing different about this day is that I’m not right there engaged in the action. Today, I sit perplexed as my colleagues come in and out to participate in a virtual education conference within Second Life and I hear the questions regarding their first virtual conference: Is it better/worse than the traditional? Is it really a conference? Is there the same breadth and depth? Right there, perplexed and focused on anything but the window I stare, I realized that I was being asked one question: why would anyone attend a virtual conference? They weren’t against it; they were challenging me to ensure that I had thought this one through! Breadth and Depth While each person has his or her own reason for attending a conference, there are three points that seem to stand out most or at least for me (I’d add vacation to the mix but that wouldn’t be professional now would it): 1. Networking Obviously, this is one of the most powerful reasons for attending a conference. You can sit in a room, hotel, and conference center surrounded by people with similar interests, questions, and concerns. You can pull from these people, connect with these people, and develop relationships that may never have been possible without the conference. For instance, I had the pleasure of meeting and interacting with so many great professional at the Tech Forum in Chicago this year such as Vicki Davis, Steve Dembo, David Jakes, Meg Ormiston, and Gwen Solomon, and a host of ICE and NICE members. Would this, could this happen at a virtual conference? The answer is yes! I had the opportunity to meet and interact with some amazing organizations, educators, and technology professionals from all over the world. Many of these new colleagues now interact with me daily through email, IM, blogging, Skype, Twitter, and Second Life. Why? We see each other all the time in Second Life. When a traditional conference ends, people return to their physical space in the world separated by miles unlike in the virtual realm where that separation only exists in terms of logging on. 2. Gathering Freebies I have to admit that I carry a trait from my grandfather. He could never pass up anything free. He’d sit and listen to someone for hours as long as he knew that in the end he was getting something free. This explains why I often bring an empty suitcase to conferences ☺ I know I’m not the only one that does this because the tip was passed down to me. It is okay! Conferences offer freebies in bunches for us to explore, analyze, and evaluate. They offer free possibilities! Virtually, I’ve yet to leave with a suitcase full of resources. However, I’m not convinced this won’t happen in the future as more and more vendors realize the opportunities that virtual conferences represent to their interests. 3. Increase knowledge Just like networking, this is critical. When I look to a conference, I want to know that I will leave with a better understanding of topics that face my field, with more questions that challenge my thinking, and with needed resources that allows for reflection on my experience. In almost every traditional conference I’ve attended, this has happened. Without a doubt, the same thing can be said virtually. At the Second Life Best Practices conference, there was a mental stimulation that rivals any traditional conference I’ve attended. Is this because the content is so new? Would it be the same if there was a virtual conference not focused solely on MUVEs but a general conference like NECC or Tech Forum? Only time will tell but my virtual gut says yes! Professional and Collegial Recognition It is clear that physical conferences are well-respected and often encouraged in the education world. If you are presenting at one, there is admiration amongst your peers and employer. However, what would they say if you asked to attend a virtual conference? How would you be perceived if you were presenting at one? Is the educational community ready to embrace a shift of this magnitude? I can only speak from my school where they embrace forward thinking, but what about your school? What about your colleagues? The Future Conference Okay, open your blog or word processing software. List out the characteristics of attending a traditional conference session. If you want to get really bold, break these down by types of sessions and pros and cons. Got it? Good. For the most part, you can cross out traditional and add virtual to this list because they are that similar. Yes, there are some pros to attending the traditional that you can't get virtually and vice versa but it is wash for the most part. By no means am I saying that virtual conferences will replace or should replace traditional conferences, I simply contend, or I hope, that there will be an explosion of virtual conferences and an increase in hybrid conferences: the blending of traditional and virtual. As budgets are cut and professional development monies shredded, fewer people will have the opportunity to attend the wonderful conferences that exist. This is a shame and virtual worlds are going to assist in resolving this issue. One prime example will occur in about one week at this year’s NECC where there are a host of opportunities for people to be a part of the NECC experience from the comforts of their home. What does this mean for other local, state, national and international conferences? Will they embrace the possibilities of the virtual worlds? Will sponsors and vendors see the possibilities? What about your colleagues and administration? Why Would Anyone Attend A Virtual Conference A month later, I sit staring out the window as my dog runs through the yard my wife chasing her, the neighbor kids playing, and my family pulling in the driveway as I sit with my laptop no longer perplexed by this question. I’m engaged in two worlds peacefully balancing my professional and personal life and I know the answer to why I attend virtual conferences is rather simple: it is right outside my window and it is in knowing that the answer is simply the same as why we attend any conference.