This June marked my first ISTE Conference. It was great to meet and re-connect with folks I know from the Interwebs, as well as have the opportunity to lead a breakout session at Leadership Bootcamp on Saturday and sit on a panel on Wednesday.
There was a lot of great learning going on, and I hope a lot of it leads to improvements in the way we teach our kids. But first, being an ISTE first-timer, I wanted to share a couple of peculiar observations I made over the last few days.
- ISTE Royalty? I’m not talking about the über-edubloggers and their enamored Twitter followers, I’m thinking about the good people I saw walking around the convention center with scores of ribbons dangling from their ISTE nametags. At first, it was 3 or 4. “Presenter,” “EduBlogger,” “Twitter…” But by Wednesday, what started as a mildly amusing trend became a downright puzzling obsession. People were literally walking around with ribbons dangling down to their knees. Between the excessive number of ribbons and the swag bags overloaded with free pens, stress balls, and other sundry vendor freebies, they looked like some overtired, sunburned elves helping Santa stage a June comeback tour.
- The PLN Workshop. Fresh from Saturday’s EduBloggerCon session in which we debated the very existence of PLNs, there were probably a hundred people or more lined up outside the “How to Start a PLN” session on Wednesday. The incredible irony was that most were staring at their iPhones or Droids Tweeting about where they were. I wanted to suggest to them that, quite possibly, the best way to start a personal network would be to put the phone away, turn to the person next to them in line, and introduce themselves.
- The Cupcakes. The only line in the convention center that was even close in length to the PLN line was the line for cupcakes.
- Backchannel Blunders. Twitter and the like are a double-edged sword. They’re great for making connections with colleagues whom you’re not likely to meet any other way. On the flip-side, though, they enable otherwise kind, regular people to put things out into the universe that (a) they would never say to someone in person, and (b) they’d never tolerate from their own students. During a couple of keynote speeches this week, we saw the best and worst that Twitter has to offer. Before any of us pop off with some scathing criticism of the person with the microphone, we should ask ourselves what we would be talking about if we were keynoting. We should ask ourselves how many sessions we presented in which our audience was busily ripping on us while we spoke. Consider – just for a second – that every thought does not have to be Tweeted.
All in all, it was a great event for me. Most of that is due to the people with whom I interacted in person over the last few days. I’m looking forward to putting into action some of the things I’ve learned and I hope you’ll share your Big Ideas from ISTE 2010 as well.
I wholeheartedly second your point regarding snarky back channel comments. While I certainly encourage thinking critically and bringing up counterpoints, we can’t simultaneously cry for openness and sharing, then ridicule the people brave enough to do so.
It’s definitely about the give and take. What irks me is when the folks critiquing are the types who come to an event like this and take, take, take ideas from others. I had to fight the urge to ask them, “What have you contributed lately?”
Great to finally meet you, Elizabeth!
I did not attend this year, but I do agree that there might be a group of people who feel like they hold all the answers for “improving our schools” and anyone who disagrees with them is wrong. Unfortunately, theses are most of the people I follow on twitter. I had an uneasy feeling that I was on the outside of a fraternity that only responds/compliments their friends. During ISTE I sent several tweets to those that promote developing your own PLN, only to have them completely ignore my question. Sadly, a form of elitism looks like it exists among our Ed-tech leaders.
My first ISTE too and, as a psychology teacher, I found it a fascinating study in individual/group behavior. Came away much wiser about ed-tech applications and ideas, but I don’t know if it’s worth the effort trying to connect with the illustrious big twigs in the PLN pantheon. Warren, I hear you. The experience did remind me of college. Clearly there are circles upon circles of followers and we can all learn from each other without necessarily infiltrating the most elite set. In terms of trash twitting, it’s human nature but a few constructive words would be so much more valuable. I wonder if anyone actually said anything to JF Rischard’s face like “You might try Prezi or follow Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 rule for powerpoint next time.”
Warren -
Just a thought, but if you are that anxious to connect with the some of the “EduBlogger-ati,” you might consider sending them an email. I don’t have near the Twitter followers that some of the heavy hitters do, but it’s easy to miss an @ message in the fury of tweets going around during a major event like ISTE. I’m not excusing snobbish behavior, but it’s worth mentioning.
Cammy –
Glad you enjoyed your first ISTE! It truly was a fascinating study in sociology. I don’t get too caught up in the perceived “caste system,” myself. If I want to say, “Hi,” to someone, I walk up and say, “Hi.” If they ignore me or blow me off, I move on. There are plenty of great thinkers I can connect with.
Thank you both for stopping by and reading!
I have to disagree with your comment about putting away your phone; I think there were two conferences those for the people who are on twitter and those for the people who weren’t on twitter. For me it was a much better conference b/c of twitter, it really connects people.
As for twitter comments, people said what they thought and were being honest. There is also a awful lot of ‘group think’ that was going on via twitter and if you challenged the ‘group think’ you were fighting an uphill battle.
As for PNL’s, I don’t think you need a workshop on it, so much as you need to just start putting your ideas out there and reaching out via twitter to people who both support and oppose your ideas.
Hi Joe -
For the record, I was tweeting like crazy at ISTE. What struck me as comical an slightly ironic was the line of people tweeting while waiting for a how-to workshop on building a learning network and ignoring the people standing in the same physical space.
Thanks for reading!!
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