I’m totally with you on this, Marcy. I think a major problem (and this crosses over a bit into the conversation Scott McLeod & Russ Goerend had a few weeks ago on Twitter re: leadership in education) is that by & large, the folks at these conferences tend to be classroom teachers who may be able to influence what happens in their classes, but with little overall influence in their districts. They can stand up and speak, but if their voices go unheard (or ignored) by decision-makers who don’t like or don’t understand what they have to say, what other recourse do they have? Or worse, if their own fellow teachers disregard them? I’ve always thought change like this needs to start from the ground up, but without at least a small group of like-minded folks, the lone reformer can get burnt out pretty quickly.

So how to combat this? Dunno. Maybe we need fewer teachers and more admins at these types of things? I know there were some principals, AP/VPs, and maybe even a superintendent or two there this year. What I’d like to see in future years is a more even distribution of classroom teachers and admins (and other folks in support roles, like me) taking part and bringing their support back to their individual districts. I think that might be more beneficial in the long run.

How has EduCon transformed education? It hasn’t, but I’d venture that’s an awfully heavy load & potentially unfair question to pose to a single conference or event. I think it does its part by providing a space for folks to discuss systems, structures, and practice in education in addition to the neat tech tools that seemed to bring us all together online in the first place.

With regard to fresh new voices, that’s another point in EduCon’s favor – anyone can apply to conduct a session, not just by invite only, as some conferences are. And as far as I know the folks involved in the selection process, I have no reason to believe there is an agenda at work with regard to censoring certain topics or ideas that don’t fit within a specific philosophical worldview.

I’m slowly coming to the realization that my desire for conversation and camaraderie around these themes stems less from a desire to incorporate tech into curriculum (although I do think that’s important) and more for a desire for overall reform of the educational system in this country. The technological stuff and the attendant attitudes, I’m finding, are simply aspects – microcosms, maybe? – of my larger desire for change.

Changing the US educational system – no prob; we’ll do a conversation on it at EduCon 2.3.

I’ve decided that next year is definitely an “Imma-goin-to-EduCon-no-matta-what” year. Hopefully I’ll see you there next year.
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