Why Conferences?

https://metcedplus.org/

I just got back from METC, the Midwest Education Technology Community Conference, and have some thoughts running through my head. The one that keeps bugging me is the lack of professional blogging in the education community.

I know there are some really great education bloggers who have been writing for years and doing amazing things, but I see very little conversation around pushing for new edubloggers. Truthfully this hasn't been 'a thing' for several years but this year I noticed there was a lot of buzz around podcasting. Why podcasting and not blogging?

I remember coming back from edcamps and conferences and eagerly awaiting other attendees thoughts on their blogs, but I don't see any being shared anymore. I am curious as to why that is.

I know that I quit writing so much here when I stopped getting anyone to come and read, and more importantly to comment. I really felt like one of my students who was constantly writing but I knew that the only one who would read it (maybe!) was the teacher. Even then, the most I could hope for was a quick attaboy.

So, this gets me to my point. There are a myriad of reasons to go to an education conference, but one of the most important is to reflect on educational practices. I left METC with a strong desire to start student blogging again, it used to be an integral part of our classroom practice. Circumstances have made it more difficult, but that never stopped me from doing what I felt was important.

I am grateful for the time I spent talking and sharing with others at the conference, as I am after every conference. This time the thing I took away wasn't from a session, but from a conversation I had that made me realize I needed to go back and do something with my students that I used to do but quit. Something that was vital and useful, something that made a difference. 

Maybe This Is Why We Don't Share Our Failures

Photo by RusselDavis

I presented a session at METC on students creating video reflections. As you can (if you know me at all) imagine the emphasis was less on the technology, more on what the students were reflecting. I also spent a large percentage of the time discussing my mistakes and failures throughout the process.

Today I received the feedback from the session. These are the two comments that I received:

Terribly boring. No new information. Hardly any technology.

The presenter showed us examples of video reflections but they weren't good examples. He even admitted that they were bad! No instruction was given on how to record the videos or how to upload them. He also didn't share how these reflections could be an instructional tool but just a fun project. I wish this session went deeper and was more meaningful and applicable.

No wonder so few choose to share their failures.