I’ve been trying to figure out how to report on, and now how to summarize, BLC (Alan November’s Building Learning Communities). I find it a mightily tough challenge.
Let’s start by saying ideas were flying.
We are on the precipice of dramatic classroom change. An explosion of emerging tools connects us and allows us to create and collaborate. This explosion lands us at brink of new pedagogy. At events like these, when groups of people with vision meet, when their ideas fly, the planning can be potent.
I suppose, most emblematic of the shift is dialog beyond the podium.
In the old days, you’d have a speaker; you’d have an audience.
At BLC, enhancing the speaker were the Skypecasts that broadcast audience comments to those spread around and beyond the conference. All around the room, in fact, all around the world, Twitter tweats kicked ideas around as they popped. Twitter and Twittercamp continually displayed fresh tweats. (If these terms confuse you, read Educause’s 7 Things You Should Know About Twitter).
Those tweating included the likes of Dean Shareski, Bob Sprankle, Ewan McIntosh, Will Richardson, David Jakes, and later Christian Long and Chris Lehmann. We also heard from emerging educational leaders too numerous to mention.
Why was all this tweating so important? I’ve been thinking about this since Edubloggercon at NECC. The folks in this ever expanding group are finding community–audience for their news and discoveries. This community needed to find itself. It needed lift its voice to others who believe.
Remember Cassandra? For nearly two years I’ve been thinking of myself as a happier type of Cassandra. The prophet was fated not to be believed. When she predicted that classic gift horse would bring tragedy to Troy, folks thought she was insane.
The horse slowly entering our gates today is a real gift, a gift that may forever open our gated cities.
Yet, I suspect at our own schools, when we first announce the appearance of the horse and bandy about words like wikis and blogs and Nings and Flickr and Twitter and podcasts, we too appear a bit insane.
So when all of these Cassandras gather at events like NECC and BLC, prophecies are shared and pieced together. Excitement builds as we share how the new tools can work and will work. No one wants to stop talking and predicting.
(Front row tweats)
Right now I have: 100 ideas I must implement in September, ten new titles I must read next week, and at least twenty new contacts I can call “friends.” I will share details in coming posts.
3 responses so far ↓
Thank you for allowing me to live vicariously through you and many others who attended NECC and BLC. I am definitely the crazy Cassandra around my school - spouting words of another world, ie. wiki, podcasts, blogs, twitter. I hear too much of “I don’t have time to learn about those things.” My thoughts are “You can’t afford not to.” I’m glad there’s a “virtual” community who speaks the language.
Like Joyce I found any attempt to capture BLC07 a challenge and I guess the reason is that it was much much more than a conference. The number of things going on and the variety and intensity of discussion could never be captured in anything but the memory. I also have a hundred things to do but will be elated if I manage any of them that last.
thanks for the “7 things…” site. As all these terms go whizzing past, I frequently think to myself, “one of these days I’m going to spend an entire day on Wikipedia and find out what all this stuff really does.” This will make learning about them a bit more manageable, for me, and for sharing with the faculty.
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