Learning from peers

This summer, at the NECC conference, I was sorry to have missed the first “Educon” — an informal gathering of educators/bloggers who had only previously met virtually –who were meeting in Atlanta to talk informally about education. 

Tomorrow I’m leaving for an experience I am very excited about–and the seeds of which were planted at that first meeting.   If you aren’t familiar, I’m heading to Educon 2.0, which takes place at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, and is composed entirely of conversations about education (and I hope will lead to many actions as well!)

I’m nervous but excited to be hosting two conversations.  The first conversation on Saturday at 2:30 will be “Extreme Makeover: Library Edition” and will be hosted by Joyce Valenza, Cathy Nelson, and myself (this will my first time to meet Cathy also!).   We’ll be having a conversation about Library 3.0 and what that can look like, and ways to start getting there.

The second conversation I’m hosting is Internet Filtering and Intellectual Freedom, which takes place on Sunday at 2:30.  I’m following a session by Tim Stahmer on the balance between access and safety.  Hopefully our conversations will build upon one another.   The goal of my second conversation is to begin building a shared “go to” site for information about best practices in schools regarding the issues of filtering.   We know the problems–but what can we do to insure that our districts follow “best practices” and that we have examples to share?

Chris has already established wiki links for each session and every session at the conference will be Ustreamed.   Check out the agenda and links for all of the sessions here.   And since it’s on a weekend, this means if you want to follow a session from home, no worries!   Plus they’ll be saved for later viewing as well.

The most inspiring part of the conference is the roster of attendees and presenters(if you can call leading conversations presenting?).  I’m going to get to meet so many bloggers and teachers that I’ve read about or admire.  We’re going to get to have a tour of the Science Leadership Academy, and I’m really looking forward to seeing practice in ‘action.’

And on a related note, I’m wondering why within our campuses, we can’t host an “educon” for students–why not have a day where our students present workshops and learn from one another?   One of the other sessions I’m very excited about will be hosted by Arthus Erea, a high school student from Vermont who will be attending the conference.   What a great example–I can’t wait to hear his session!

And the very best part of all of this is that it’s a group of peers who have come together to learn from one another.   Peers learning from peers–all of us there because we are passionate about education.  What could be more inspiring?

2 thoughts on “Learning from peers

  1. I have your conversation circled on my schedule so I’ll do everything I can to adjust mine on the fly. 🙂

    See you in Philly.

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