Group items tagged

By Michael Feldstein on the blog e-Literate, May 13 2012. In the context of last year's NERCOMP LMS Unconference, Feldstein first explains the concept of an unconference and then describes his own (successful) strategy to giving the keynote. Along the way, he defines a third way of teaching (or conducting a conference), in opposition to "guide on the side" or "sage on the stage," he suggests "guide on the stage," while acknowledging that each of these methods is correct and has its proper place/time/audience.

Many of Feldstein's ideas about "priming the pump," unconferences, and "guide on the stage" might be useful in Jams as well.

"Unlike most traditional academic conferences, sessions at an unconference don't consist of one or three or five people delivering papers to an audience. Instead, they might feature project demonstrations, discussions, creative work sessions, or other formats that build on the knowledge and expertise of whoever attends. For the Texas THATCamp (and I think this is fairly typical at others), participants posted session ideas beforehand on the website, followed by a 45-minute scheduling process as THATCamp began. Topic headings generated by those initial session ideas were posted on the walls of a large meeting room, and participants circulated through the space to meet up with others interested in similar topics. After some productive chaos (which admittedly tested my structure- and schedule-loving personality a bit) the group developed a schedule of sessions that represented not only a variety of interests but also the desire to cluster certain topics into tracks. Like any conference, I frequently wanted to be in two places at once - which I see as one marker of the event's success."

Conference dates: July 11-14, 2011. Conference organizer Gary Stager. This annual convening is somewhat like an "unconference" and invites teachers to take on the role of learners for the duration. The focus is on personal project development, with lots of good resources in the form of guest speakers and "mentors." On this News page, you can see blog posts describing the conference. 2012 conference (5th annual) to be held July 9-12, 2012 in Manchester, NH.

Considered a well-established e-COP for those interested in learning and technology (participants include ICT policy-makers, teachers, researchers, and commercial developers), the MirandaNet site shows a wide array of offerings, including publications, resources, professional development, and forums. MirandaMods, the group's version of the "unconference" is especially interesting.

I thought that this was an interesting group with an interesting website. Wondering if others of you are already familiar with this group and their work. I did see that one MirandaMod on CoP in teaching and learning included Etienne Wenger.