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LAN Parties … an idea that fosters connections
Jeff Utecht over at The Thinking Stick posted about K12 Online and had this idea:
My plan is to gather everyone who wants to ‘attend’ this conference, give them all a laptop order a bunch of pizza and beer and listen, watch, and read the conference online. We will then create a podcasts of our discussions as we discuss the various presentations. I will then load the podcast either here or talk to the organizers of the conference and load them directly into the conference as a way to add to the conversation. Just think of the possibilities, the discussions and the learning. My goal is to get at least 10 teachers/administrators to attend the conference. I plan on making it a relaxed affair at someone’s house with drinks and food. Now, who wouldn’t want to come to a conference like that! I’m even working with our PD person to try and get teachers who attend credits through our partner university, University of Plymouth. I see that David Warlick has already set up a hitchhikr page for the conference which adds a whole new level of being able to follow the conference conversations.
He’s in China. Wouldn’t it be cool if others, across the world did the same? Imagine … people from around the world spontaneously create breakout sessions using skype or gizmo (gizmo has the advantage of making recording the call push button easy) … connecting … sharing … learning … does it get any better? 
If you’re planning a K12 Online LAN party like Jeff leave details about it here in the comments to this post. Include the date and time you’re planning to have your party. In the event you want to create a breakout session you can use the information here to connect with each other. Who knows, it may end up being a piece in the first ever WWAN (World Wide Area Network).
On this day..
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Such a simple, powerful idea. When I get back in the office next week, I’m scheduling one of these things for people in our region.
That’s great John! I hope you publish the details of your party here so we can foster some international connections via K12 Online.
[...] WOW, my idea of getting a bunch of people together and taking this online conference offline here in Shanghai has been getting some attention. Glad to hear it and I hope more people around the globe will take this opportunity to show just how much things are changing. So, I thought I’d give you an update of where I am with my LAN party as it is beening called. [...]
[...] The first every K12online Shanghai LAN party As some point in the last month you all have said you would be interesting in joining me for the first every K12online conference and the first ever Shanghai K12online LAN party. (If you know of others who would be interested please forward) This little brain child of mine has been getting some attention and has been mentioned here, here, and here. Last night I had a great conversation with Sheryl who is the lead person for the conference. She loves our idea and wants to make sure that what we do here is highlighted within the conference. So some background if you are not familiar with the format. There are 4 strands spanning 2 weeks. Week 1 Oct 23-27 A week in the classroom (1 keynote 10 sessions) Basic Advance Training (1 keynote 10 sessions) Week 2 Oct 30-Nov.3 Personal Professional Development (1 keynote 10 sessions) Overcoming Obstacles (1 keynote 10 sessions) So here is what I’m thinking. We would have two 3 hour sessions each week. Each session would focus on one strand. A session would look like this. 45 minutes: Together everyone listens to the Keynote and we discuss. (recording our conversation for a podcast) 90 minutes: We have breakout sessions. Where everyone would watch/listen/do the “sessions” they wanted to. You will not have time to do all 10 and try new stuff. So everyone can pick one or two and really get into some programs, discussions or heavy thinking. 45 minutes: We come back together and we all discuss what we have learned, what we tried and what we’re thinking. (recording our conversation for a podcast) That’s it! Once we’re done I will take the podcast we create around our discussions and send it the Sheryl. She will load it onto the k12onlineconference blog for everyone to listen too. Essentially becoming a part of the conference and conference history. Time and Dates This is the hard part. Please, Please, Please do not feel obligated to come to all of the sessions. Any or all of them is fine with me (Except for Daneah she has to be there!) So that being said here are two options that I have come up with for the LAN parties. Please choose which option best suits your needs and reply by Thursday Oct.11 at 3:00. Option 1For those that treasure their weekends: Oct. 24 5:00-8:00 ~A week in the classroom (Pizza night) Oct. 26 5:00-8:00 ~Basic Advance Training (Chinese night) Oct. 31 5:00-8:00 ~Personal Professional Development (Thai night) Nov. 2 5:00-8:00 ~Overcoming Obstacles (Finger Food) Option 2 For those that treasure their nights Oct. 24 5:00-8:00 ~A week in the classroom (Finger Food) Oct. 28 9:00am-12:00pm ~Basic Advance Training (Brunch potluck) Oct. 31 5:00-8:00 ~Personal Professional Development (Chinese night) Nov. 4 9:00am-12:00pm ~Overcoming Obstacles (Brunch Jeff cooks…this could be scary) Food and Drinks: It would be great to know in advance who will be coming to each session (we’ll figure this out later) so I know how much food to order. We will have Beer, Wine, Soda, Water, and a liquor cabinet full of good stuff. For each session you attend there will be a “Food/Drink Fee” not sure how much, we’ll see what the bill is and divide by the number that shows up. Fair? Location: I think my house is as centrally located in Shanghai as we’re going to get. So this will take place at my house. This also allows us to listen to the keynotes on my stereo system just like you are in a large conference hall
. I will provide you with directions in Chinese soon. I will also do my best to have all the keynotes and sessions available on my external hard drive in case the Internet decides not to work. You will be able to plug into the external, download the sessions you want, and then work on your own. What you need: You will need to bring your own laptop with AC adapter and earphones. The laptop must be wireless and I would hope less then 2 years old as that makes it easy. If it isn’t, we’ll give it a try anyway or contact me and I’ll check one out here for you. (Mac users you are on your own. I will take down the sign in my office that says NO MACS ALLOWED for this special occasion:) ) Don’t forget your ear phones, 10 people listening to 10 different things could be crazy! OK, I think that’s it…hope I didn’t scare anyone away with this long e-mail. Just trying to think this through. I’m preparing 3 sessions for the conference on: Using RSS feeds, Social-Bookmarking, and Flickr. So I’m busy preparing as we speak. Thank you and hope to hear from you soon! Jeff [...]