Cn EdubloggerCon Chat

Cn EdubloggerCon Chat

It's simple. You check what's going on via Twitter and if you feel like learning you join the conversation. That's how I joined this one tonight. It started in a UStream channel by Jeff Utecht inspiring a lively conversation among some 20 followers, which ended up in a wiki that was read aloud to the the attendees. Full circle.

It's strange to think that so much learning and engagement goes on among people I've never met face to face. Of this online meet-up I've just met Chrissy last summer in Buenos Aires. Yet, we are all happy learning buddies. Somebody will have to explain to me someday why these conversations are not so probable in your own workplace staff room. There is something magic and attractive about talking to people far away in distance; however, very much synced with our minds. We are close.

I wanted to jot down some ideas that well deserve future posts. For this is the kind of conversation I really enjoy being a part of.

Chrissy Hellier and Julie Lindsay summarised the starting point in their tweets:

	nzchrissy Focus on the learning not the technology cerca de 2 horas ago from twhirl
	julielindsay Don't confuse the learning experience with the tool set...blogs, wikis, Moodle...what do these mean in terms of learning? Communication? cerca de 2 horas ago from web

I've read many similar tweets lately. I guess that at this moment in the edubloggers conversations I overhear on Twitter, we get a bit confused sometimes. We voice a need to underline the basics frequently.

Tech is the enabler; not the learning.

This line seems a cliché seen outside the context of the chat, but as we were discussing we realised how messy it all really is. The learning and the explaining what we have learnt is not that simple.

I think there is a value in publishing and exposing ourselves as people struggling to learn. We are not experts; we are curious learners. Not everything is a success in what we do, the old ways find their way into our classrooms. Yet, we keep motivated to go on because we understand the value of our efforts. And this is an important model to show our students. The bumpy road in which we all learn.

Other topics followed in the chat:

-Meanings of literacy

-How differently we learn today; being the protagonist of your learning.

-Modelling how we get caught up in the learning and try again.

-Students coaching teachers.

Fascinating conversation tonight with Bud, Jen, Steve and Patrick. I met (wish Ustream provided hyperlinked names!) mmkrill, kstevens, laurenogrady and many more passionate voices.

Thank you all. Look forward to a next time.