TCEA 2010 Information

The K12 Online Conference pulls off an “Unconference” every year, but they don’t call it an ‘Unconverence.”

The K12 Online Converence is a no-cost conference open to anyone. This online conference is an “Unconference” in the sense of Web 2.0 sharing by educators from around the world interested in integrating emerging technologies into classroom practice.

One goal of the (K12 Online Conference is to make sense of new technologies, meet the needs of a changing learning landscape, and to streamline decision-making for adopting technology and teaching streategies that produce measurable student learning outcomes.

Getting started on the Conference Wiki.

Vendors or affiliates should check the K12 Online Conference Goals and Values page for guidelines for vendor participation.

In 2009 the K12 Online Conference is using three sites for Web 2.0 conference participation:

• The K12 Onnline Conference Ning conversation hub
• The K12 Onnline Conference Blog where announcements and news items are posted
• The K12 Onnline Conference Wiki where basic how-to information helps participants and presenters obtain the most benefit for the conference.

In 2009, conference presentations will are cross-posted to both the K12 Online Conference Blog and the K12 Online Conference Ning. In addition, scheduled live events receive asynchronous discussion support and activities are posted in individual conference presentation Blog posts.

The Conference Ning contains videos categorized by Special Interest Groups (SIGs) targeting the strands and theme for each year of the conference. The Conference Ning also contains a discussion forum.

To engourage interaction and collaboration, participants post about, cross-link to, and embed conference presentations and content in their discussions.

The official tag for Blog posts, Flickr images is k12online09. The official Twitter tag for this 2009 is #k12online09.

The K12 Online Conference is a volunteer effort. The project is brainstormed, developed and conducted by four planners and a bevy of subcommittees.

So, although the K12 Online Conference does not call itself an “unconference,” it meets all the criteria necessary for making the conference a true, participant-centered, collaborative effort.

Other Unconference projects such as the TCEA’s 2010 Unconference can learn from the experience of the K12 Online Conference.