In recent weeks and months, I've been thinking and creating with a terrific group of Canadian collaborators who are breathing life into a first-of-its-kind event. Very soon, we will be taking a collective pause from our virtual learning networks, in order to connect face-to-face, and to think deeply about what it means to be a teacher; learner; and change agent.“If a teacher thinks in the forest, does he/she make a sound?”
A diverse collection of Canadian educators with experience that spans primary, elementary, secondary, and post-secondary classrooms, will answer that very question at ‘UnPlug’d: Canadian Education Summit’.
UnPlug’d delegates will gather amidst the concrete of downtown Toronto, before making their way to Northern Edge Algonquin, a retreat on the northwest corner of Algonquin Park. By the time the weekend is over, participants will have traveled by plane, train, bus, kayak, canoe, and mountain bike, all in order to connect with transparent learners who embrace opportunities to think, learn, and teach.
By unplugging from their highly networked personal and professional lives, participating Canadian change agents will:
- reflect on personal and professional learning while forging connections to the learning stories of other participants;
- share stories of small scale innovation with colleagues who are similarly engaged in discovering what matters most in teaching and learning;
- transform digital relationships through face-to-face encounters, strengthening the loose ties that bind us as networked Canadian educators;
- go deeper with ideas than might otherwise be possible, amidst the hush of a natural, purely Canadian setting;
- come to appreciate what it means to be a teacher and learner, in Canada, both today, and for tomorrow.
“But will it make a sound?”A multitude of conversations, stories, and ideas will resonate from the UnPlug’d experience. The collective wisdom of the group will become evident through the digital release of “UnPlug’d: Why _________ Matters” which will follow on the heels of the summit. Throughout the days and weeks that follow, blog posts, audio reflections and multimedia pieces can be anticipated from particpating delegates.
To discover more about UnPlug’d and to meet the participants, visit www.unplugd.ca
To tour the venue we’ll be meeting at, visit www.algonquincanada.com
To receive UnPlug’d updates, follow @unplugdca
To learn from the delegates before and after they unplug, follow the group: http://twitter.com/#!/unplugdca/unplugd-2011
