LAN: Learning is Social! Online Conference

To "lead the change," Bryan Hughes presented a new way to "breathe new life into professional development." As teachers and presenters, we are always looking for novel ideas to make inservices and conferences more engaging. He liked Kim Cofino's idea of educators sitting around with laptops, engaged in discussion so he instituted a variation at his school entitled "LAN." The teachers prefer to say it stands for "Learning at Night" Party but it is actually an acronym for "Local Area Network." It is a meanss to introduce real networking within the school, district, and around the world. Three key ingredients to make LAN parties successful are conversation, idea, and food. Teachers would meet from 5-7PM at the school. Sessions would be offered and teachers could pick the presentation they wanted to view. Following their sessions, teachers would reconvene, eat, and discuss what they learned. These sessions would enable teachers to see and talk what educators are doing around the world. When possible, teachers could even talk with presenters using Skype. Thus, teachers would be providing their own professional development and would be able to integrate ideas into their teaching right away. Their professional learning communities would be established and in place to contine their collaboration. Thus, treat teachers as guests, allow them to select their session, and provide a wonderful (pot luck) meal in a festive atmosphere ( thematic decorations-Chinese for the New Year, Taco night for CincoDe Mayo, etc.).