photo by flickr user charbeck10When I left Thompson, Manitoba, to go to this past weekends Unplugd Canadian Education Summit to be with these people from across Canada, my wife said to me "have fun with your geeky friends!"
Now that Unplugd has concluded, I'm thinking how interesting it was that with 36 other people who are trying to figure out ways to infuse technology and as part of their work achieve Literacy with ICT with their students, that our 3 days spent together really wasn't spent talking much about the technology.
Sure most of us that attended can make technology dance when we need it to but it was the passion about education that was most evident and stood out for me and not our ability to use, or our knowledge about technology.
Sure there was a bit of how do you do this, and what app do you use for that? Most of our discussions however seemed to be about kids and learning and teaching.
We talked about what we thought was excellent about what we do.
We talked about what we thought wasn't so excellent about what we do.
We talked about what we thought education could be like in Canada.
For those who don't already know, we unplugged from the Internet but of course used technology to capture our collective experience and create a few artifacts through collaborative authorship. A book we all co-authored will be released in the next few days one chapter at a time. I invite people to take a look at it to get some idea about our thoughts and join us in the ongoing conversation.
When I begin to try and explain to others what happened and who I was with at #unplugd11 I think I will begin my part of the conversation by saying "I spent 3 days in Algonquin park at the Northern Edge with 37 people that care so much about education that it hurts."
Are you like us?
Watch for the essays and stories coming soon.
Rob, thanks for helping to guide us towards words that we could use to describe each other "people that care so much about education that it hurts."
ReplyDeleteI also appreciate your observation that "Most of our discussions however seemed to be about kids and learning and teaching." That might be the most encouraging thing that I take from the weekend.
Rob,
ReplyDeleteYou wear your heart and soul on your sleeve. Thank you for that. I'm happy to hear that you will begin your conversation with others with the sentence that moved me emotionally at the Edge... "37 people that care so much about education that it hurts" - that phrase will be used in many of my conversations with others as well.
And I'll be proud to say that I was one of your geeky friends. It was wonderful to meet you F2F.
Rob,
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of my Unplug'd experience, I remember two moments: the first; when you shared your narrative with me while waiting for the camera crew and the second; when you encapsulated spirit of our encounter with a phrase that many of us repeat, 'teachers who care so much that it hurts'. I am honoured to be counted as one of your geeky friends.