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Computers and the Internet are really good at copying information and sending it to lots of people at low cost. That's why many of the recent innovations in online learning focus on packaging knowledge in the form of short video lectures, and sharing them online. Khan Academy and the recent spate of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are successful examples. They take the traditional model of instruction (sage on the stage) and scale it to vast audiences.

But there is another approach to learning, that turns around the top-down model of instruction, and places the learner at the center. It encourages students to explore their passions, and band together with others to tackle problems they care about. In my work at P2PU and the MIT Media Lab, I am interested in these social aspects of learning. And how technology supports new ways of learning with others.

With support from the MacArthur Foundation, Drew Harry, Srishti Sethi and I have been working on something we call Unhangouts during the last few months. The original idea was to replicate the magic that happens at physical unconferences, where the agenda is not fixed, but participants can add sessions or float between different rooms. We built an open source platform that leverages Google Hangouts to host similar events online. Another way to think about it is as a classroom with an infinite number of breakout sessions. You can create all the rooms ahead of time, or let participants add more rooms on the fly.

Users arrive in a lobby, where they can see who else is there, and chat with each other. If the hosts offer a video broadcast, it will be screened in the lobby. Participants then break out into smaller sessions (up to 10 people per session) where in-depth conversations, peer-to-peer learning, and collaboration on projects take place. Unhangouts are community-based learning instead of top-down information transfer.

The Media Lab way of developing new technologies is to test and iterate fast. We built a first version (I'm hesitant to call it a beta) and found some awesome partners, who shared our passion for tinkering with technology, and were fearless when it came to wrangling new tools into submission: the National Writing Project (NWP), the ConnectedLearning.tv team, and the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub. A lot of credit for the successful first test goes to them.

We scheduled the first ever Unhangout at the end of the monthlong " Writers at Work " seminar series, that was hosted on CL.tv. NWP recruited a handful of session hosts and we announced the event through the CL.tv mailing list and our various twitter networks.

Overall, the experience was fun, we learned a lot, and the participants liked it, too.
"I really dig this platform and the ability to build the breakouts. I can see some great ways to use this in schools/outside of schools for professional development"
We did a mini survey (10 responses, about ⅓ of all participants) and 80% of respondents ranked the conversations in their hangouts as the most useful part of the event (the lobby broadcast was a distant second, and lobby chat came last).

One of the results we are happiest about was that of those, who joined a hangout, almost all said they actively participated (listened and spoke). That is exactly the kind of engaged learning we were hoping to support.

And 10 out of 10 respondents said they would recommend a similar event to their friends and colleagues. Bingo!

We also learned a lot about how to improve things. One of the features we are working on now will make it easier for hosts to see how many participants are in each hangout, and send messages to everyone (for example, to invite them back into the lobby).

Moving forward, we have big plans for Unhangouts and a few concrete pilots in the pipeline. One of the partners we are most excited about is the HOMAGO project (initiated out of the DML Research Hub at the UC Humanities Research Institute). We are speaking to them about ways that Unhangouts could support interested-driven teen learners. Also, a first virtual unConference for connected learning educators is on the horizon for sometime later this year or early 2014. And we are speaking with TEDxBeaconStreet to build social learning around their collection of presentations. TEDx speakers would host intimate conversations about their presentations, and invite participants to add their voice (rather than be dazzled in the dark, which is how I would describe the typical audience experience at TED).

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Computers and the Internet are really good at copying information and sending it to lots of people at low cost. That's why many of the recent innovations in online learning focus on packaging knowledge in the form of short video lectures, and sharing them online.

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21 Mar 2008

12 Tools for Transition: No.10. How to Run an Open Space Event

If you are a control freak, you will hate organising an Open Space event! It involves a lot of trust that the process will work but at the same time I have never seen or heard of one not working. Open Space is a powerful tool for engaging large groups of people in discussions to explore particular questions or issues. It can be used with groups from anything between 10 and 1,000 people. Open Space has Four Rules and One Law (the Law of Two Feet).

The Four Rules state:

1. Whoever come are the right people.

2. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have.

3. Whenever it starts is the right time.

4. When it's over, it's over.

and The Law of Two Feet states that:

"If, during the course of the gathering, any person finds themselves in a situation where they are neither learning nor contributing, they must use their feet and go to some more productive place."

Key to a successful Open Space event is the question - which is usually in the title of the event - which sets the ground for what is to be under discussion that day. Some examples from Totnes include:

How Will Totnes Feed Itself Beyond the Age of Cheap Oil?

Powering Totnes Beyond Cheap Oil . . .

The Economic Revival of Totnes - how can we build a sustainable, equitable and healthy economy in Totnes?

You may choose to invite specific people, or just leave it open to whoever turns up. Your venue needs to be large enough to take those who attend sitting in a large circle. You need walls on which you can stick things, and you need enough other space for several break-out areas. When people arrive they take a seat in the circle, and when everyone is gathered the event begins. In the centre of the circle is a pile of sheets of A4 paper and pens, and on the wall is an empty timetable, with the timings of the different sessions on one axis, and the various breakout spaces on the other (see below).

Each of the squares is the size of an A4 sheet. Explain to people the rules of Open Space and that the only prerequisite for proposing a question is that you will host that discussion and scribe the conversation for the benefit of anyone unable to participate, and write that name on the sheet, and post it on the timetable. Then say "Go!". This is the nerve-racking bit:
your heart will be in your mouth the first time you do this, worrying that no one will come forward, but then one person does, and the floodgates open.

What follows is a ten-minute mêlée of people proposing questions and sticking them up. You may well end up with more questions than you have slots available, in which case consolidate some of them together, for example, three or four may be on different aspects of community energy generation and so could be rolled up into one session on that subject. Once your
timetable/agenda is full, allow people a few minutes to look at it and work out what they want to go to, and then ring a bell, or something similar, to announce the convening of the first session.

In theory, the rest of the day will organise itself. Each break-out space should have plenty of flip-chart paper and pens. At the end of each session, ring a bell to let people know it is finished, then go round and collect up the notefilled sheets, and put them up on the wall in the area you have pre-designated as the 'Market Place'. You may also choose to have someone typing up the sheets, if you are posting the proceedings live on the web, or even if you just want to get to the end of the whole thing without endless typing to do. A bit like washing up, typing up a pile of flip-chart paper looks far more daunting the next day.

Tell people when each session starts, and remind them about the Law of Two Feet. The event will then, basically, run itself. Leave 30-40 minutes or so at the end for a go-round, for reflections on the event and the process itself, rather than issues raised. Harrison Owen's book Open Space Technology2 sets out ways that Open Space can be used in longer two- to three-day events, which people leave with a full set of minutes, but this scale of event is more appropriate for corporations than for Transition Initiatives, as it would be difficult to find many members of the community able to give up 3 days of their time.

Open Space is surprisingly easy to run, and an amazingly powerful way of exploring issues. What it does is draw out all those who are really passionate about a subject. For your first one you might find it useful to have someone with prior experience of running Open Space to facilitate it, but once you have a successful Open Space under your belt, you'll marvel at how simple it is! You will find a really good short film about running Open Space, based around the one we ran at the Inaugural Meeting of the Transition Network below;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux_LFjFeCvg

Finally, the best book on the subject is Harrison Owen's Open Space Technology: a user's guide, Berrett Koehler Books (1993).

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21 Mar 2008 If you are a control freak, you will hate organising an Open Space event! It involves a lot of trust that the process will work but at the same time I have never seen or heard of one not working.

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Preparatory video for first-time participants and/or hosts of a World Cafe conversation. Originally made to introduce faculty at Florida State College at Jacksonville to the underlying principles of the cafe process.

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This video delves into the Art of Hosting technique of Open Space, which is a tremendous way for a group of people to explore an issue deeply.

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A big resource site about Open Space Technology

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For many, Open Space has been a daring and marvelous exploration of the vastness and the urgency of personal and organizational transformation. For others, it's just an exceedingly effective, and efficient, meeting methodology. Welcome to a slice of all of that...

Join us later this year for Open Space on Open Space
world practice conference in Reykjavík, Iceland on October 22-24, 2018.
Check theWOSonOS 2018 Facebook page for details.

After thirty years and literally millions of invitations and actions, small meetings and large events, conversations and publications, organizations and adaptations - in more than 140 countries - the Open Space story can get a bit messy. There is no overarching Open Space organization, no patent or trademark, and no global marketing budget: just lots of good people, active practice and shared stories.

OpenSpaceWorld.ORG doesn't own or control any of that and couldn't possibly define, evaluate or curate it all. The intention here is to bring together just enough of the Open Space story to get you started, suggest some basic patterns, and send you (back) out into the web and the world, to find and do more opening.

...to all of the authors, editors, translators, wiki gnomes, donors and other helpers who've contributed to this site since 1999, especially Raffi Aftandelian, Tova Averbuch, Brian Bainbridge, Tricia Chirumbole, Ashley Cooper, Chris Corrigan, Artur Ferreira da Silva, Carol Daniel Kasbari, Koos de Heer, Gerardo de Luzenberger, Gabriela Ender, John Engle, Ted Ernst, Wendy Farmer-O'Neil, Doug Germann, Diane Gibeault, Elwin Guild, Beck György, Michael Herman, Thomas Herrmann, Peggy Holman, Sheila Isakson, Lisa Kimball, Tim Lannan, Paul Levy, Jean-Yves Lord, Christy Lee-Engel, Elena Marchuk, Esther Matte, Brendan McKeague, Gerard Muller, Ingrid Olausson, Funda Oral, Barry Owen, Harrison Owen, Michael M Pannwitz, Stanley Park, Brian Rogers, Véronique Dos Santos, Mikk Sarv, Agneta Setterwall, Harold Shinsato, Anne Stadler, Filiz Telek, Siona van Dijk, the Open Space Institute USA, and the photographers who've shared 12,000+ photos at Flickr!

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For many, Open Space has been a daring and marvelous exploration of the vastness and the urgency of personal and organizational transformation. For others, it's just an exceedingly effective, and efficient, meeting methodology. Welcome to a slice of all of that...

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from NSRF website

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Elizabeth Hertz's blog series. This is #4. Scroll to the bottom to see all of them listed.

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This is the final post in a four-part series on running an edcamp unconference. You can find links to the previous posts at the end of this post.
Once you've taken care of all of the important things like securing a venue, finding sponsorship and assembling a team, there are plenty of smaller details to take care of. Some of these can be accomplished earlier in the game and some can be left to the last minute.

Make a Website

Once you are confident that your event will happen, it makes sense to build a simple website to begin advertising and spreading the word about your event. You can use a simple Wordpress template like the edcamp Philly site or any other site builder you feel comfortable using. You can contact one of the edcamp Philly organizers about joining the edcamp.net domain.

You can also use your site to showcase attendees and sponsors as well as host the schedule and information for the day of the event.

To Feed or Not to Feed

Once you have satisfied your basic costs to put on the event, you can start to think about whether you have enough leftover funds to provide breakfast and/or lunch for your attendees. You may also want to seek out sponsors who can donate food, such as local coffee shops or restaurants. Feeding your attendees is not necessary, but it is always nice to have some coffee and things to nibble on before a long day of conversation.

Live Streaming

Some edcamps have provided live streams of sessions by setting up rooms with streaming equipment. Others have had attendees running live UStream feeds from sessions. This is always a nice touch for those who want to attend from afar.

Use Twitter

Many edcamp attendees are prolific tweeters. It is wise to create a Twitter account for your event (i.e @edcampphilly or @edcampnyc) to broadcast updates. You should also decide what the official hashtag for the conference will be so that it is easy to follow the backchannel conversations during the event.

Accessorizing

Many edcamps have tee shirts and you may want to invest in lanyards or other "swag" items. You can also solicit these from sponsors if they can provide them. Since edcamps are grassroots events, these kinds of items are generally unnecessary, so it is up to the organizing team whether they are present or not.

Make a Final Walkthrough

If you are holding your event at a venue with which you are not familiar, visit the location a few weeks prior to do a walkthrough of each room to survey its capacity and amenities as well as to check walking distance to parking, restaurants and public transportation.

On the day of the event, it is important to have signs pointing people in the right direction. If you are not using all of the rooms, you can place signs outside the rooms you will be using to make them easier to locate.

Create a Scheduling Board

The scheduling board must be made ahead of time, but will not be filled out until the morning of the event. The board should have time slots on the left and room numbers along the top. Attendees can fill out an index card or similar item with their session title to place in a time slot. If you have rooms with special amenities like projectors or live streaming, label them as such so people know what each room has to offer.

Have Fun

The amazing thing about an edcamp is that it basically runs itself. Since sessions are run by the attendees, there is little for the organizer(s) to do except make sure that they are moving around and monitoring that everything is running smoothly.

To see what an edcamp looks like in action and hear more from attendees, check out this video by True Life Media:

Ed Camp from True Life Media on Vimeo.

See the previous edcamp posts:

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Planning an edcamp Unconference: Doing All of the Little Things | Edutopia

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This is the final post in a four-part series on running an edcamp unconference. You can find links to the previous posts at the end of this post. Once you've taken care of all of the important things like securing a venue, finding sponsorship and assembling a team, there are plenty of smaller details to take care of.