Discussions with other educators around learning do not rob us of our time. They sustain us, making the time we spend on teaching more precious and focused. This was reinforced by RSCON3 (e-conference in July), where we gathered from all parts of the world to interact with one another. And I do mean interact thanks to Steve Hargadon‘s Blackboard. The technology allowed each one of us to see, chat, process our thinking as we reimagined school. I allowed myself to dream big and and was carried away with the passions shared by the many presenters (even setting my clock to catch the ones that were outside my timezone so I wouldn’t miss anything). The same passions that took Kelly Tenkely to envision a new school where the whole child is embraced, Tinasha Blanchet through multiple ways of connecting curriculum, tools and the conversation, Steve Wheeler where the future of learning is that knowledge is free, Shelly Terrell who lives the very definition of an engaged ‘lead learner’.
What resonated with me (besides being awestruck by all the phenomenal presenters and participants as well as a list of new tools)?
- deep engagement is passion driven
- develop and nurture collaborative conversations and relationships where we can have fun, be curious, be reflective and grow each other. The process allows us to be more responsive, adaptive and intentional, helping us to engage deeply in our practice. The power of blending social media tools like Twitter, blogs… and face-to-face enrich our experiences beyond measure.
- be a ‘lead learner’, be a voice for your passion and be generous (Hargadon)
- power of one can change the world
- school is like a ‘family restaurant’ (Couros brothers). I also think that it’s like Norm at Cheers – where everyone knows your name and you’re always welcome.
my next steps…
- extend communities of practice to engage deeply in discussion, crowd sourcing and passion-based learning
- find alternate ways to share tools that help educators to move from consuming pd to creating pd
- bring conversations to light through Twitter or back channelling
- write more to stretch and percolate new ideas
Digital Sandbox 
I’m glad you enjoyed RSCON3! It was my first online conference and an awesome experience for me, too! I particularly liked the first sentence of this post: “Discussions with other educators around learning do not rob us of our time.” I couldn’t agree more–let’s keep the conversation going!
Thanks Tinashe. Loved your session – your passion for learning and sharing is fabulous!