Blogging About the ECOO Conference

It’s been a week already since the ECOO Conference in Toronto.  It was a great few days and certianly a lot of learning at the time.  How does it stick?  One of the ways is thanks to the blogging of folks that were there.  I set a Google Alert for #ECOO12.  I know that I would miss blog posts but hopefully, Google wouldn’t.  Here’s what we found….

The ECOO Experience #ecoo12

Scott Kemp presented at the conference and shared his thoughts plus his presentation slides “It’s Not About the Number – Learning Without Marks”.  I thought that the session was particularly timely.  There’s a lot of discussion about assessment and the value of our current system.

ECOO 2012 – Learn in the NOW Century

I thought that I had missed my friend Diana Maliszewski.  She warned me that I wouldn’t recognize her at the conference and she was right.  I expected some sort of wild and whacky hair colour.  I didn’t know until after the fact that the Minecraft icon who bowed to me was actually Diana inside!

Her blog entry is actually her report to her principal about her reflections on the conference.

Moving From Newsletters to Blogs – My Presentation-That-Never-Was at #ECOO12

This session was on my personal calendar to view.  After all, I had blogged previously “Your School Doesn’t Need a Newsletter”.  I had re-read the original post and was curious to see how closely aligned my thoughts were to Erin Paynter’s.  Sadly, I had to announce to the Thursday morning group that the session was cancelled.  However, Erin has at least provided the slideshow that would have been used.  A good Plan B.  Thanks, Erin.

ECOO12 – BYOD Panel Discussion

Mark Carbone and I have had this discussion lots of time.  Over this period, the focus has shifted from “Is this a good idea” to “How do we make it work?” to “We need to step back and evaluate this going forward”.  In fact, it was the focus of my keynote at the summer CATC Camp a couple of years ago.  At ECOO, Mark assembled a panel to continue the discussion.

In the post, Mark lays out the format of the conversation including their guiding questions.

Sticking Your Neck Out

One of the keynote speakers at ECOO had an impact away from the conference.  Colleen Rose shared a quote from Michael Fullan that her principal Donna Fry had shared with her.  This quote is indeed worthy of thought.

Take a Risk- Tales from ECOO

@hendylou shared her thoughts continuing the theme of risk taking by sharing some of her thoughts during the panel discussion.

The focus that John Seely Brown noted about the bottom fixing itself is very interesting.  Instead of the top down “One and Done” approach to PD, it really amplifies the notion that professional learning is continuous and needs to be personalized.  In the quest for personalization, we need to be willing to take those risks and fail in order to learn.  Absolutely.

Let’s Play! Now Let’s Document!

Early Years’ teachers always seem to be able to on what’s truly important.  Jocelyn Schmidt talked about her presentation at the ECOO conference.  It sounded like there was a great turnout, noting that she was overwhelmed by those who were in attendance.  And they all weren’t full-day kindergarten teachers.

I really liked the brainstorming wordmap that was provided on the blog.  She must have really enjoyed the time that John Seely Brown’s comments on Montessori.

‘Digital Storytelling’ presentation at ECOO

What would a technology conference be without sessions about digital storytelling?

I had to smile at the comment that digital story telling is one of the things that her students do best.  What better testament for the effective use of technology?  When you think of all of the pedagogical and technological learnings that one needs to be successful, wouldn’t it be great if everyone could make that claim?

Forming an ECOO Presentation

Every wonder what goes into a success conference presentation?  Tim King read a book.  Actually three books that helped him frame his discussion.

The message in this session is important for all to hear.  You can’t just stick 25 boxes in a room and call it computer integration.  Who cares if 25 kids can type 25 stories in a word processor at the same time?  Tim explored how to try to reach the promise that technology affords.  It doesn’t look like the traditional setup.

ECOO 12

Camille Rutherford had an interesting presentation. “Using Technology to Support the Distribution of School Leadership”

We’re using the technology for everything else.  Why not distributed leadership?  Can there be no better evidence that we need to have everyone onside and learning?

Minecraft Madness and Play at ECOO 2012

This was where Diana was headed!  What can mining and Minecraft bring to the classroom?

I think that it’s so cool that Liam found a group of students ready to sit in on his session.  They had to be from Royan Lee’s group.  I think it’s also cool that they were there to learn along with their teachers.  Did you ever think we’d see that?  Often students come to a conference to work on a panel and then leave.

Excitement for #ecoo12

And, why not go to a conference for some quality time with your dad?

That was one of Jamie Weir’s goals for the conference.  (I also wanted to talk to her dad!)  I didn’t get the chance but hopefully she did.  I did get an opportunity to have a nice chat with Jamie which was one of the highlights of the conference for me.  As she notes, it’s always nice to get together and chat with people that we learn with daily.

There were lots of great posts describing the ECOO experience.  Thanks everyone for sharing.  If I missed yours, blame Google and please let me know!

You can read these blog posts at the original site and all of the great blogs from Ontario Educators here.

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