Last Friday and Saturday, I had the distinct pleasure of being invited to the Ontario Teachers’ Federation’s Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century session. The keynote speaker and facilitator was Will Richardson. In addition to Will doing his work, there were a number of different breakout sessions facilitated by Ontario Educators. It was a marvelous setup and a great opportunity to learn together with some of the great Ontario minds and to learn and reinforce concepts as they would apply in the 21st Century.
The two days was absolutely full with learning opportunities and the change to meet and re-connect with folks from around the province. I even ran into a retired colleague, Mike Budd, who I’ve known for years.
The setup wasn’t quite what I had expected. The learning wasn’t quite what I had expected either. But, perhaps that was consistent with the message of Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century.
So, just some random observations from my perspective that affected our learning and just things to be aware of as we move forward.
Registration – There was a registration bag with the agenda for the two days in it. Although there was lots of information to be gathered during the event, it wasn’t going to be on paper.
Hand Sanitizer – What was in the bag was our own personalized sprayer of hand sanitizer. This was there to help us stay safe, for sure, but it reminds us that the world is changing, getting smaller, and that we have contact with more people from more diverse areas than ever before.
Computers – Not everyone brought one although it was clear that this was an event where you would be connected, online, and learning. Interesting. But, for those that did bring computers (very clearly the majority), there were Macintosh, Windows, and Linux computers spread throughout the room. It’s tough to be nosy and identify dialects of the Macintosh operating systems which didn’t require much support. It was the Windows computers where you noticed Vista, Windows 7, Windows XP, and Windows 98 with all kinds of customizations and problems installing software and connecting to the networks. The small group of Linux users just did their own thing and it just worked.
Networking – I would have thought that wireless would have been the easiest way of connecting the folks but each table had its own switch and 8 ethernet cables so that you could just plug in. Networking remains a challenge and will remain a challenge to get a computer to talk to its network. Most of the people were using DHCP which made it easy to connect but assistance was needed for people bringing in machines with a static IP trying to connect to the network. Don’t believe all that you see in television advertisements about easy networking.
Devices – Connectivity means more today in terms of devices than ever before. There were folks using iPhones, iPods, and Blackberries during the connected communication sessions. We must remember that being connected means far more today than it every did.
Protection – This goes along with network literacy and a reminder to folks that computers in schools are not the same as computers anywhere else. It’s fine and dandy to configure a machine to work on a school network but it may not be configured to be portable! I met a whole team whose desktop was mapped to a drive G:\ somewhere beyond the four walls of where we were!
Easy On Ramps – There are easy ways to get started in this business. It’s called your network. When all that you need to do is get connected and then get going, the workshop sessions were easily started. When you had to download or borrow a CD-ROM and install software and then look for activation keys, it gets messy.
Talking is great – There were very few people in the room that you might well know but talking and sharing abounds. In all of this, it’s comforting to know that the person next to you has more to share than their Facebook address.
Communication is great – When it was time to go live, Twitter connected the group. The hashtag #otf09 kept us all on the same page. Twitter lists and exploring friends and followers expanded the connections. Presenters had no qualms showing off their wikis and blogs as proof that they’re ready to go. The new folks got a chance to create these accounts. The challenge will be to see what happens today.
Future communication is great – In addition to the face to face meeting, Elluminate sessions are scheduled to ensure that the conversation continues. This will be a nice support for people trying to get started with their new creations and are in search of some support.
We can vote with our hands – No technology need get in the road when we come to the fork. The power of the masses speaks simply by putting up one’s hand and voting for options.
Copyright is so confusing – We had lots of discussions when it came time to bring in a little music or some clipart. Where do you get it and what do you do with it? How about those people running around the hall with their cameras taking pictures of us? For even this event, we had media release forms that needed to be signed to respect privacy.
Time – Time is such a precious commodity. Can we add more of this stuff to an already full plate? Or, does something have to be pushed off in order to accommodate?
Connectivists and Constructivists – These people can actually work together in the same forum. They had better because I don’t see either camp taking over.
We’re all unique – Just like everyone else. I’m not sure that there were any two people that would have walked away with the same learning. Presenters were careful to differentiate the experience so that everyone was successful at some level.
This, all before we talked about any actual content.
You can read the rest of the November 2009 edition of GEC Computers in the Classroom by clicking here.
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