Jason T Bedell » Unconferences

Reform Symposium, A Reflection

Jason Bedell — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 21:09:36 +0000

Growing up and through most of college, I have always hated working in teams. The reason was simple; I always ended up doing most of the work. This was due to many factors including the people I was working with, poorly planned assignments, and, most of all, my own neuroses. Recently, I had the honor of working with Shelly Terrell, Chris Rogers, and Shelly Terrell on the free educational conference, the Reform Symposium. I was honest at the outset that I knew this was going to be a terrible summer for me time-wise, due to both personal and professional reasons, so I most likely would not be able to an integral part of the group. I have to say that I have never worked with a more dedicated, hard-working team. They did an awesome job of moderating the sessions, planning, inviting speakers, getting prizes, designing the website, training speakers and volunteers, and more. If you have any experience planning conferences, you know what a colossal job this is. They have made a tangible difference in the minds of many educators and they deserve all the credit in the world. Many thanks also go out to our dedicated sponsors and volunteers.

I was only able to catch a handful of sessions unfortunately. Two that stood out to me were George Couros’s session on Identity Day, and Joan Young’s and Lisa Dabb’s joint session for new teachers. George’s passion was palpable and I could see how it resonated with everyone in the final session. So many people want to emulate his Identity Day; more importantly, they will be making a point to better know their students as a result of his presentation. Joan and Lisa have such hearts for helping and coaching others, new teachers in particular.

There are many, many sessions that I will be watching and reflecting on over the next two weeks (I could watch them all in 2 days, but unfortunately some us not named Shelly actually sleep. ). I really had hoped to catch the panel discussion with John C. Carver and Patrick Larkin. Joe Bower’s session on abolishing grades is sure to be interesting. Steven Anderson’s closing keynote was amazing, I am sure, as he always is.

Beyond the sessions, though, what amazed me most was what always does: the teachers. Teachers really are some of the more hard-working and caring people on the planet. That was evidenced by many people spending their entire weekend at the conference. I believe over 2000 people were represented and almost every session had over 100 people participating (not listening, participating). That is amazing and I can’t wait to work with everyone again.

What an unconference is not

Jason Bedell — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:08:50 +0000

Unconferences, by their very nature, are changing and unorganized at the systemic level. Meaning, there is no definitive standard by which something can be called unconference. There has been a commercial educational company that has been setting up a business and calling it an unconference that really rubs me the wrong way. I have planned, helped plan, or am in the process of planning 5 unconferences, the most notable of which are TeachMeet Nashville (April 2010), the online Reform Symposium (this weekend), and TeachMeet NJ (date yet to be determined). All of the unconferences that I have been to share some similarities. First, no one gets paid to present. I did cover my keynote speakers’ travel cost through sponsor donations, but no one ever made a monetary profit. Second, no one pays to attend. This, like Twitter, levels the educational landscape so all can learn freely. Third, there is flexibility in what will be presented.

The business model that is being promoted heavily on Twitter and other places, which will go unnamed out of respect, is calling itself an unconference. I have no doubt that the people behind it do care about education, but it shares none of the similarities mentioned above. It is a series of pre-recorded videos on professional development topics. They claim to have over 500 hours of on-demand professional development videos. Some of them look quite interesting actually and several are mad by people I consider friends. Since they are calling their businesss an unconference, all teachers can freely access the material, right? No, it costs $200. That does not sound like it shares the unconference philosophy of helping everyone to learn freely.

Second, I know from one of their blog posts, that several people got paid. I have no problem with people being paid for training or for conferences. I am being paid to speak in Las Vegas next week and am trying to start my own educational consulting firm. However, paying speakers defeats the point of an unconference. They are about educators coming together to share and support each other. The idea of payment in this situation, similar to the discussions I’ve been having recently about grades, takes the focus off of helping people learn and onto how to maximize one’s pay.

Third, what spontaneity and flexibility can there be with watching pre-recorded videos? Yes, there is value. But, when topics have to be approved and are selectively chosen by a small group, that severely limits the options of what can be learned about.

This is admittedly a bit of a rant. I just feel that this “unconference” is an insult to everyone who has worked so hard to help the educational community. This slanders the name of those who have spent so much of their time planning TeachMeets, EdCamps, BarCamps, NTCamp, etc…

Reflections on #ntcamp

Jason Bedell — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 00:17:35 +0000

I got home from a great day at New Teacher Camp, which ironically was mostly veteran teachers, about an hour ago and would like to get some thoughts out while the experience is still fresh in my mind.

First off, thanks to Andy Marcinek, Kristen Swanson, Gerald Aungst, and Rich Kiker for setting up and running #ntcamp. You did out network of teachers and pre-service teachers a great service by providing such a great day of learning.

Second, #ntcamp just reinforced what hosting TeachMeet Nashville and following EdCamp Philly and EdCamp C-ville online already told me. Unconferences are about the best form of professional development around. I’ve actually already put together a team to start work soon on TeachMeet NJ (stay tuned for details).

Third, I really think that teachers are some of the most caring and devoted people on the planet. People drove into Philly from New Hampshire, Virginia, and Connecticut. Others flew in (without being compensated) from Missouri, Florida, North Carolina, and Iowa. Everyone that I talked too, literally, was open and welcoming.

Fourth, the authentic networking and dialogue is wonderful. Before the day even officially started, I had a great conversation with @DrTimonyand @toddhill99on grading. I was talking about getting rid of grades, David was on the opposite end of the spectrum, and Todd was somewhere in the middle. We all had and presented our reasons, but we were able to civilly disagree while also being open to each other’s ideas. The networking built into the day, including the extra-long, 104 degree lunch, helped make the day wonderful and solidify relationships.

Fourth, face-to-face #edchat (I’m pretty sure @amandacdykescoined that term) is great. I highly recommend it if you get the chance. If not, make the chance and start your own conference. We talk to each other online, but the relationships feel like they become “real” for me when I can meet someone in person. Those connections are more important to me than any session. Education is all about relationships. That is why Twitter is so powerful.

Fifth, the sessions were great. They were of the same quality or better than conferences that you pay a lot of money for. @cybraryman1is a great person and, it turns out, a great performer. Check the archive if you didn’t see his opening. The panel discussion with @mbteach, @nhms_principal, @web20classroom, and @kylepacewas a great introduction to social media. My first session after that was on special education with @dancallahanand @kristenswanson, who were very insightful. I led a session afterwards on grading and assessment called “Grades and learning, are they mutually exclusive?” Even though we did not get to the two most interesting questions, in my opinion, the dialog was excellent. almost everyone stayed 10-15 minutes into their lunch time to keep the discussion going. You can read our notes here: http://typewith.me/assessment. Then, I listened in on Twitter for teachers session @tomwhitby, @web20classroom, and @kylepace. Lastly, I went to see @paulawhite’s session on gifted students, but I apparently went to @dancallahan’s “Things that suck” session. That turned out to be a lot of fun, so I stayed there and enjoyed it.

All in all, I met a lot of people I look up to and met a lot of new people to follow online. I can’t wait for TeachMeet NJ (Date tbd) and EdCamp NYC (Dec 4) now. Thanks to @shannonmmiller, @mbteach, @hadleyjf, @paulawhite, @kylepace, @web20classroom, @techfish, @nmhs_principal, @dancallahan, @kristenswanson, @EngTeachGeek, @arosey, @rkiker, @xmath2007, @geraldaungst, @rchuhran, @tomwhitby, @CoachB0066, @Coachginsubrg, and everyone else my tired brain is forgetting for making this a memorable day.