I’m really glad that Kim and Rebekah went forward to take #beyondlaptops to the #nextlevel and I look forward to contributing in that space. Hopefully we’ll be moving forward at AIS soon enough that I can throw up a few bits on the wiki about our progress here. Our 3-strikes policy (inspired by YIS’s) is in its third draft already and will be brought to student leadership next week for review!

While I can understand Rebekah’s point about inclusiveness, with something as focused as #beyondlaptops I think the law of diminishing returns comes into play: once a certain point is reached, more voices can actually hinder the conversation rather than help it. Since I wasn’t there, it’s impossible for me to put a number on it. I think, however, a relatively small number of people leading the charge and sharing as they go (and being open to input/peer-review of their work) is likely to be more effective than a big group. Maybe that core group can then be committed to sharing the group work at their own schools or at regional conferences or online conferences such as K12 Online.

I completely understand what you’ve said about the size. This is a tricky situation. Unfortunately I feel that the increased size results in less focused conversation. Perhaps we need to think creatively about how to do this without limiting the impact. I’m looking forward to continuing to talk about this, and hopeful we can experiment and problem-solve.

I hope you join us for whatever iteration comes next in this. And I am still hopeful that it will be a Community of Practice!

One concern (that I think I raised on Jabiz’s post and talked w/ Kim about), is limiting the size of the conference. I understand the idea that we want to talk to everyone, but I worry that by making it smaller we will lose other voices. Perhaps I’m being selfish, because I’m very aware that I would not be invited to #beyondlaptops if I didn’t work with Kim at YIS (literally 10 steps from where the conference is happening). But I think there are lots of people who should be in that room (teachers/admin/curriculum/coaches) if we want to bring change to schools. I think there is value in opening the door to other people. I just hope we keep doing that.

Thanks for your post and for your conversation.

R

I am so disappointed with myself for not starting the conversation with a blog post like this one. Because believe it or not, we are after the same thing and headed in the same direction: “The idea of a Community of Practice within a Community of Practice”

Although I didn’t mention it in my post, I agree with the things you highlighted about #beyondlaptops. (Organized, small, contextualized, etc…)I guess I just took those aspects for granted, because they were so seamless and well-done, and moved on to my frustrations. Lesson learned.

As for the #waybeyondlaptops conversation, I am in the process of getting my “head out of the clouds” and nailing down some of my basic ideas. I hope to have it posted soon. I hope it does not turn into a debate as to its merits, but an invitation to join the conversation of where to go next. Because in the end, these are the exact same questions I hope we answer:

What are we doing after we share our practice?
Where and how does it evolve?
How do these PD experiences — even the unconference types — push us to contribute to the continual development of the practice within our profession?

In short, “Sitting and talking and planning and sharing is great, but what comes next?”

I too, “want us to be supported and I want us to support others.”

You mentioned that, “Those of us at schools in Singapore are already talking about a #beyondlaptops “support network” to share what we are doing and challenge each other to carry out the great ideas and goals and actions that came out of discussions in Yokohama. ”

This support type group is what, I was proposing. Hope to have a clear vision soon. Stay tuned.

Thanks for writing the review of #beyondlaptops I wish I had, looking forward to talking with you about the next step.

Cheers,

Sean