Like many of you on Monday morning, I opened up my web browser and pointed it two the K12 Online Conference Blog so that I could download the Pre-Conference Keynote by David Warlick.

One of the changes in this year’s conference, which Wes Fryer notes in his blog post, Inventing New Boundaries, is the presence of both audio and video content feeds for the conference. I have now listened to Warlick’s audio feed nearly twice over and watched the video feed once last night.

Something that I have noticed is that the experiences are vastly different. The same way that I prefer listening to a baseball game on the radio rather than watching it on television (ok, I would rather be at the game), I found the experience of listening to the keynote much more profound than watching it.

In trying to determine why, I first think about the environment that I was in while listening versus watching. When watching the keynote, I was on my computer and during the presentation, I was backchanneling in David’s chat room, I was reserving my copy of Ender’s Game at the library so that I could reread it, and I was checking my email. Comparing this to the environment of my car or walking the dog over the last two evenings, I was more focused and engaged in the process. I also found that trying to process of processing the audio content while associating it with the video more difficult, especially with this keynote. It will be interesting to see if this is going to be the same for the other sessions as they are posted next week.

At times, I found the video distracting and not helpful to developing the ideas, whereas simply listening to the audio has sparked many ideas. I found that there were several outstanding kernals which I wish that David would have focused on to develop more meaning and understanding. I am still processing the the ideas that are bouncing around my brain, trying to develop make sense of it and putting onto the framework that I need to in order to be a better teacher, coach, and mentor.

I look forward to sharing my take-aways from David’s keynote. I hope to be finishing this within the next few days. Come back soon

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