TEDxPhiladelphiaED vs. EduBloggerCon

The battle of the long-named events was brewing long before people began arriving in Philadelphia for the 2011 edition of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference.  At first glance one might think they would be complementary to one another – both were very education-based, both involved a lot of deep thinking, and both leveraged the enormous conference population to fill their seats.  From my perspective, however, the two events were about as far apart as one could get.

I began my morning with a very large and inspired group of educators for EduBloggerCon.  For those who don’t know, this is an unconference that takes place annually the day prior to the ISTE conference.  By definition, the unconference model asks the participants to share their knowledge by offering ideas for sessions and then voting on what topic(s) they want to attend.  The sessions are organized into blocks (1-hour long, in this case) and people scurry off to find a group with a topic that’s personally interesting or relevant to themselves.  The goal of any unconference is for meaningful conversations to take place. Led and moderated by the attendees themselves, there are no “rock stars” in one of these settings as everyone has an equal opportunity to participate.

I was able to attend one session, which I plan to write a blog post about later.  In that session there were maybe thirty people – perhaps twenty of whom spoke up and added their thoughts to the conversation.  Everyone was engaged, people were forming personal relationships with others, and it didn’t feel as if someone was telling a story.  We were creating one.

Unfortunately I couldn’t stay for the remainder of the EduBloggerCon sessions.  TEDxPhiladelphiaED was taking place at 1:00PM and we were asked to be fed and at the event by noon.  I went on an excursion with @MonicaAnnaBatac and @Brooker1015 to the Philly subway system for the ride across town.  While down in the hottest, smelliest subway station I’d ever been in we ran across two other TEDxPhilly-goers in @khokanson and @MichaelBaker.  We got to the building, through security and registration, and eventually to our seats.

To say I was surprised to find a LiveScribe pen in my attendee “gift bag” would be completely downplaying the excitement that I felt.  A pen!  A pen with a microphone!  A pen with a microphone and a camera sensor that I can upload to my computer!  Yes!  #TEDxPhillyED was getting off to an amazing start.

…and then the presentations began.  To say there was audio trouble is an understatement.  From the beginning the headsets would cut out, some didn’t work at all, some mics were turned on while being hooked up, and audio from the computer/video equipment wasn’t configured to work with the rest of the system.  The worst part of the audio problems was knowing that when I applied I specifically indicated that I would be willing to help with A/V if needed.  Throughout the event I kept thinking there must’ve been some catastrophic malfunctions in the control room; near the end of the evening, though, someone mentioned in passing that they had nobody with soundboard experience working.

Sessions began to get extended due to the A/V issues.  People got hungry.  During the timed breaks there was some discussion happening in the atrium, but most of the conversation around the snack table was concerning the technical issues.  I walked out into the foyer and was shown how to use my new LiveScribe pen – a little too commercial for TED in general, but at the same time it was a welcome 3-minute training for me.  And all at once someone said “time to get back in there”, forcing the group of us to rush back to our seats in time for the next speaker.

Overall, I found the speakers to be absolutely incredible and engaging.

But something was missing: Participation.

One of the tenets of constructivism, which is the most basic building block of a solid 21st-century education system, is that the learners must construct their own knowledge.  They need to be engaged, encouraged to offer ideas and to try things, and they should strive to obtain multiple perspectives on a topic.  Very little of which happened at the TEDx event.  EduBloggerCon, however, offered an environment that didn’t only allow for this to happen, but forced it to.

I felt like a student in a progressive, relaxed, knowledge-rich environment at EduBloggerCon.  I saw the value not only in the content, but also in the stories of the people who were offering the content.  There was debate, there were moments when emotions ran high, there were times when nobody knew what to say…  but EduBloggerCon was about building relationships and opening our minds up for change.

I felt like a student in my grandmother’s one-room schoolhouse as I sat through the presentations at TEDxPhiladelphiaED.  There were topics that didn’t really interest me – but there was no other alternative.  I wanted to stand up and stretch every so often but I felt it would’ve been looked down upon.  The organizers were in an auditorium full of educational technologists but never did ask if anyone knew how to run a sound board. The feeling was very formal… which I guess I should’ve expected.

I haven’t felt like a student in quite a while.  Having both of those experiences in one day really turned me off to the lecture-style of teaching and has inspired me to put the extra time and effort in so that my students are never feeling like I did on Saturday afternoon.  The sad thing is, I really would’ve liked to chat with all of the TEDx presenters.  They were all such incredible speakers.  But the format of this event put me in the “student” caste, while the presenters stood above us as the “rock stars”. I was able to speak briefly with a couple of them, but I found it to be more of the exception than the rule.

What do you think?  Content notwithstanding which style of teaching & learning do you prefer?  Which event do you think was more meaningful and left a longer-lasting impression?  Did anyone feel the same way I did?