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). 😉