BIT2018 Conference Reflections

Attending a conference can be a great way to get new ideas, connect with other passionate educators and consolidate your thinking.

This past week I was able to attend two days of the Bringing IT Together 2018 (#bit18) conference in Niagara Falls.  It was two days of pushing myself out of my comfort zone and, back home and reflecting on the experience, I'm so glad I went.

As a former primary teacher and Kindergarten/Primary Consultant, most of the conferences I attended and presented at were geared to an audience of primary and kindergarten teachers. At BIT2018, the participants at the sessions I attended were mostly secondary teachers. Even though we were coming from very different contexts, the overall consensus was 'good pedagogy is good pedagogy.'  Whether we are talking about online learning or learning in a bricks & mortar classroom, it's about building relationships with students.

To push myself even further out of my comfort zone, instead of presenting a workshop with an agenda, powerpoint and speaker's notes, I facilitated a Learning Conversations session.  In these sessions, participants sit in a circle and engage in conversation on the designated topic. The facilitator guides the conversation, provides prompting questions when necessary. The topic I selected was Building Community in an Online Classroom, and the participants shared lots of ideas.  I had been worried - what if no one shows up, what if no one talks, what if.........  I shouldn't have worried. It was a group of teachers - of course they're going to talk!

I attended another Learning Conversation about the pedagogy of online classes, and having attended and facilitated a Learning Conversation, I'm now a huge fan. While there is still a place for 'sit and get' sessions at conferences, it was a welcome change of pace to engage in a small group discussion with other educators. The Learning Conversation gave us an opportunity to talk about the ideas we were hearing at other sessions, and consider how to apply them in our own context.

Thank you to the organizers for a relaxed, well-organized conference.  I left feeling renewed and re-energized with lots of new ideas to try in my online classroom.