20 Lesson's Learned at UnPlug'd

It's now been one month since 37 educators participated in the UnPlug'd at Northern Edge Algonquin. While many have been challenged to put into words the experience of unplugging, I'll be sharing my perspective for the first time at the Learning 2.0 Conference in Shanghai on September 8, 2011. Although my script is not being made available at this time, I suspect that each participant at this event could augment this slidedeck with a personal narrative that answers the question: What really happened at UnPlug'd?

For my presentation, I'll be sharing:

20 Lessons Learned at UnPlug'd

View more presentations from Rodd Lucier.

UnPlug'd Approaches...

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

UnPlug'd: A Canadian Education Summit

Going to the 'edge', and taking the leap to try something that's never been done before, can be both intimidating and energizing at the same time. Taking such a risk with friends is one way to give yourself the guts to attempt even the most challenging of endeavors. I count myself lucky to work with colleagues who share a common dream; one that will breathe life into a potentially transformative teaching and learning experience.

In August of 2010, I found myself immersed in the natural setting of the aptly named Northern Edge Algonquin, a retreat centre near South River, Ontario, and I asked myself:

"What would happen if we could gather together innovative educators who were used to 'learning out loud'? How might Canadian thought leaders interact in a face-to-face environment? What might such teacher-learners create while immersed in a natural setting, 'unplugged' from the online world?"

When the questions refused to fade upon my return home, I made phone calls to a few kindred spirits I'd come to know and trust. After conversations with Zoe and Ben, I sketched out a plan for a meeting that would include Alec and Dean, two distant Canadian colleagues whose vision for collaboration and sharing are well known. And now, six months after our initial meeting, our team includes Tom, Darren and Bill, and we've gone public with "UnPlug'd", the first grass roots Canadian education summit.

UnPlug’d will take place this summer, bringing 40 leaders from classrooms across Canada, to the remote retreat setting of Northern Edge Algonquin. At a carefully orchestrated 3 day summit, teacher-learners will share their most compelling stories, and will refine a shared vision about what really matters most in K-12 education in Canada. In the wake of the summit, we will capture and share our collective wisdom in a mixed media publication: "Why _______ Matters".


Will the thin electronic ties among delegates be thickened through face-to-face familiarity? Will we be able to collectively re-imagine what it means to be a teacher? Can a Positive Deviance approach to social change, lead the transformation of education?

Regardless of the outcome, a number of Canadian educators who are already re-inventing education, are going to have some wonderful stories to tell. In fact, it's a story Ben and Zoe have already begun to tell.

Photo Credit: Rodd Lucier (taken at Northern Edge Algonquin)