Comments on: Redefining Conference Professional Respect

By: Jen Millea @ education.au » Too rude? Blogging and tweeting at conferences

Jen Millea @ education.au » Too rude? Blogging and tweeting at conferences — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 01:26:03 +0000

[...] a couple of good discussions on this topic: at Graham Wegner’s and at KerryJ’s blogs. Although I haven’t presented at a conference where live [...]

By: Tina Reiman

Tina Reiman — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:23:36 +0000

Let me say right up front that I am a total “newbie” when it comes to the topic of integrating technology in education. I am right now attending an educational technology course in order to renew my teaching license and am overwhelmed with how technologically inept I am. But it seems to me that what I keep hearing is that this generation of students are “hypercommunicators” and “multitaskers” and that we need to accept that fact and learn to work with it. Therefore, it seems to make sense to me that seeing open laptops and hearing keyboards click at an education conference fits right in with the same scenario. I’ll admit, my intital response to these situations is the more traditional tendency to turn around and “shhh” the individual. (I came from the generation that said “You can’t do your homework with the TV on.”) But I think we have to develop a new, more open-minded response. This conversation needs to happen so we can reach a new consensus about what’s appropriate behavior in such situations.

By: Gilbert

Gilbert — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 12:18:12 +0000

I posted this over on KerryJs, but thought it worth a repost here as I am attempting to understand the middle ground that may exist in this issue

I was shocked about a 8 months ago to witness a well known advocate of ‘network learning’ declare that he would not do a de-conference as he really preferred to just present and not get ‘caught up in discussions’.
I think issues around ‘enabled devices in presentations’ are indicative of transition we are in the middle of. It goes to the heart of the pedagogic conflict and while many school leaders and academic advocates, talk the ‘collaboration’ talk – they do not walk the walk (possible because they have gone through content driven academic and management systems and their brains have just been shaped that way).
The big question is where does the ‘knowledge’ originate?
Your ‘empty vessel’ (KerryJ refers to)infers the Platonic view of knowledge that there is an ‘expert’ who understands the way the world is and we must dutifully await instruction. It is hard if you are an academic or a teacher ‘paid’ for your knowledge to get past the content delivery mode – sometimes it isn’t a sinister ‘control’ thing- more often it is the feeling that you have not done your job properly if you don’t finish the PowerPoint.
If you believe the knowledge resides in the network (a more constructivist approach) then at these conferences and hopefully in our classroom ‘processes’ must occur to liberate and generate that knowledge. Again our presenters and colleagues are not necessarily predisposed to such skills.
In any communication there is a sender and a receiver, and both have expectation of each other. While we feel that a more progressive attitude should prevail at such conferences – the complaints of others indicate that many in the audience expect to sit passively and be feed information.
I do believe in experts and I do believe in knowledge residing in the collective – I do not believe the challenge is to eliminate one over the other. The real challenge to be faced (in conferences, classroom and work environments) is to find the right blend of didactic delivery and facilitated collaboration to meet the learning challenge at hand.

By: We’re living in a conversation « HeyJude

We’re living in a conversation « HeyJude — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 04:44:33 +0000

[...] (twittering) during conference sessions, which was further fueled by Grahams reflection on Redefining Conference Professional Respect. We talked about it on Twitter, and in other online and virtual [...]

By: Graham Wegner

Graham Wegner — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 10:13:44 +0000

Thank you all for your feedback – much to think through but of course, posting this idea through this blog is more likely to attract comments from progressive supporters than if I asked the opinion of other less connected educators. Some of the responses on the list-serv were less charitable – but maybe it is just reflective of teachers in general where some embrace technological change and the possibilities it offers for doing things better and differently while others don’t want to mess with formats that they believe already work.

By: Hannah Davis

Hannah Davis — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:15:31 +0000

I can see the point of the ICT conference rules. Cell phones and laptops can be distracting. People may be pre-occupied with their gadgets and not pay attention to the speaker. But, speakers can get boring after hearing lectures for hours. I think there should be a choice whether to use a laptop or not. It should be up to the listener. After all, some people learn while moving their hands like during typing. The laptop user could be using the internet to gain more knowledge about the topic. It would have to be based on the “honor system.” Hopefully, people would have enough respect to stick to the topic at hand.

By: KerryJ

KerryJ — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:28:19 +0000

Thanks for sharing this! I always enjoy your insights and don’t mind if you only blog once a month. Your posts are worth the wait.

This one fired me up to such an extent I wrote an entire blog post questioning why we still structure these events with a font of all knowledge up front and rows of vessels waiting to be filled with knowledge… http://kerryj.com/2008/10/11/hypocrisy_of_web2and3_presentations/

By: The hypocrisy of ICT in education conference PRESENTATIONS

The hypocrisy of ICT in education conference PRESENTATIONS — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:15:27 +0000

[...] Wegner’s recent post about “Redefining Conference Professional Respect” sparked up a blaze for me this morning. Waiting for time to pass – CC (b) Orange42 [...]

By: murcha

murcha — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:30:11 +0000

Having just attended the Learn2.008 conference in Shangahi, where the majority of participants had their laptops, wireless connections, were twitter members, used backchannels,emails, blogs etc constantly and were actively encouraged to do so, by some of the top global presenters. Hence, I continued energetically in that ‘mode’ at the ACEC08 as did many others.
Those who object, are educators who have not experienced the wonderful opportunites for sharing, collaboration and virtual teamwork. Obviously, have not experiemented with their digital students and therefore are not attune to their needs in the classroom setting. There is some concern perhaps, for appropriate protocol when using twitter, in that comments are not seen as ‘bullying’ or too negative but rather a chance to build a better educational platform for all.

By: xpatasia

xpatasia — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 11:29:04 +0000

I am inclined to agree with the sentiments and the ideas of the other comments here as I also do lots of notetaking on the PC during conferences but I am surprised that noone has yet turned the tables and asked if you let your kids connect to their social networks during your classroom presentations?
Now there is some food for thought!
Before you start saying that they may not be sharing the content of your presentation, just reflect if you are always sharing the content of the presentation that you are in.
Cheers
Paul Mc in Hongkers.