So, how shall we then learn?
So, we attended Unplugd12 on the weekend, had intense personal experiences, shared our deepest thoughts, hopes and dreams about learning with like minded people and now we’re home safe from the wilds of Northern Edge Algonquin. What’s next? How shall we then learn?
The fact that we are all still processing what just happened will, no doubt, continue to create new learning, new points of view, new ideas that result from reading, thinking, analyzing and synthesizing the book we collaboratively wrote while we were there. For me, and maybe others, the connecting of these ideas will be a slow process, as I read through the various pages and chapters.
But already there are some pretty salient truths that emerged. Almost everyone brought to the event a deep passion for personal learning and teaching using the most current of technology tools. How can those tools enhance the learning that occurred for us, when we return to our teaching roles, whatever form they take? How can the experience of thinking, writing, editing, critiquing, organizing, linking, creating and publishing at Unplugd12 be used to model similar activities with the learners with whom we work? What’s your take away from that experience?
One very obvious outcome is the way we now read ones another’s tweets, blogs, emails and other written communication. We hear one another’s voices, both literally and figuratively. We have some deep connections to people from which we can gain inspiration, knowledge, skills and insights. How will we maintain, nurture and develop those connections in the near and distant future? Will our #unplugd12 hashtag be sufficient? Will we need to explore more immediate forms of communication to bounce ideas around one with another (I tried a Google + Hangout and invited all of the gang, with limited success, so what will work?) ? How can we connect our learners with the unplugd12 community?
Unplugd12 was a short, intense visioning exercise that must produce some obvious change in thinking and practice. For me, that change will be evident in the quality of online exchanges and more definitive boundaries in my PLN, with the hope that my specific learning goals for this year can be achieved. What about you?
The Rodcast 
Hi Rod, It is that deepening connection with participants that was originally at the heart of the UnPlug’d experience when we dreamt it up, but there is also that personal and deeply reflective experience, unique to each participant, that is a rich outcome from a weekend unplugged. I’m sorry to have missed the opportunity to ‘hangout’, but I’m sure that our investment this past weekend will lead to numerous opportunities for re-connection. Thanks so much for sharing this with us…
Hi Rod;
For me, the asynchronous nature of our ongoing connections is critical.
While we carved out a weekend to be fully present with each other f2f, it is clear that most of us are very, very busy people, and as we re-emerge, catch up, and move on, time is a precious commodity.
That I can take 5 minutes away from my responsibilities here and there throughout the day to make a quick connection with my fellow learners is a lifeline that I treasure.
I do look forward to further opportunities to connect more deeply, but those daily check-ins with people I have come to know and trust help immensely to keep me moving forward in my learning and the learning I share with others.