Unconferences

In EdTech, I was reintroduced to the term “unconference.” An unconference is essentially a user-generated conference. Participants are able to choose and potentially lead whatever topic they are interested in. A big part of unconferences are the idea that participants can choose to learn about what they really are interested in. I had heard of it before, but I had never been able to experience it first hand. Luckily for me, our instructor ran us through a mini unconference that I think was really useful for not only learning about unconferences, but also learning about the actual topic I chose to learn about.

Below, I’ve attached a video showing an overview of an unconference that happened here in Victoria in 2015.

I think that unconferences could be a really interesting tool in the classroom, but you have to be wary of a few things. I think teachers must be ready to ensure that topics are related to the subject matter at hand; even in our class, one topic was “Do aliens exist?” The group discussing it was able to make it educational, but I am not sure if younger students could be trusted do the same.

Another potential issue could be in group sizes. For example, my group only contained 3 people, while others had up to 10. I think depending on class dynamics, this could present a number of issues. For our class, however, I think it worked out well.

Unconferences encompass a style of learning that I find really interesting, and I’m looking forward to learning more about how I might use it to inform my future teaching practice.