Session 4 brought about two situations that would not be likely during a regular conference or in-service:
- I was torn between the Wiki Wiki What? session by Christine Miles (@ritzius2) and Ann Leaness (@aleaness) and The World of Google Apps with a few of my lunch-mates, Karen Blumberg (@specialkrb), Rita Chuhran (@rchuhran), and Frank Williams (@fronk2000). Since the “unconference” format encouraged people to “vote with their feet” and leave if a session wasn’t working for them, I felt confident to ask Christine (even though I had never met her) what her session would be covering. I explained that I had experience setting up wikis, and she said that her session might not fit what I was looking for, but we could hook up on Twitter if I had any questions. Instead of being insulted, Christine was concerned about what would fit me as “the learner.” Can you imagine giving students a choice like that with the ability to leave if a lesson or learning style did not fit them? How about professional development? (More on that in my next post.)
- The next situation arose from a technical difficulty, the inability to get a computer connected to the screen. For presenters at a traditional conference, this may have signaled the end, but our intrepid guides forged ahead with the power of a participatory audience behind them. Brian Carter (@briwcarter) started a Google wave, Yoon Soo Lim (@Doremigirl) and Joyce Valenza (@joycevalenza) shared their uses of Google Apps and other helpful tools, and David Jakes (@djakes) mentioned the very cool gpanion. So many others chimed in and share their learning and/or asked questions, and even though, the computer connection was made, its absence did not hinder our learning.
Please consider sharing your session 4 experiences.
