Participate in WIAOC09 May 22-24

The Webheads in Action Online Conference May 22-24, 2009, provides a free opportunity for educators around the world to learn together via a synchronous, web-based conference. Web Heads in Action has been active since 1998, and their online conference dates back to 2005 (one year prior to the first K-12 Online Conference.) WIAOC09 offers a continuous, synchronous online conference experience rather than a more asynchronous experience, like K12 Online.

Registration of WIAOC09 is available via the conference Ning. The byline of the main Webheads informational site (webheads.info) is:

Practicing Peace and Professional Development through Web 2.0 and Computer Mediated Communication

Each week at Sunday, noon GMT, webheads converge for “live online, text chat and more” via Tapped-In. The Webheads is a powerful example of the ways educators can and are using the Internet as a collaborative platform to reduce isolation and extend ongoing, free professional development opportunities to others around the world.

How many teachers at your school have participated in a conference which takes place completely online? If you’re like most schools in the midwest where I live, the answer would be, “Not many.” The Webheads in Action Online Conference provides an outstanding opportunity for educators of all levels to personally experience the value, excitement, and process of participating in an online conference with hundreds of other educators around the world interested in not only learning together but also making connections which are personally beneficial and have direct benefits to students as well.

The official conference schedule lists details of presentation times and topics. All presenters and organizers of the Webheads in Action conference are volunteers. While a dizzying array of websites related to the Webheads are available, the community learning portal at Worldbridges (which includes recorded webcasts of events) as well as the site webheads.info are good places to learn more about the organization and its activities.

Whether or not you consider “online learning” or “distributed learning” to currently be one of your fortes as an educator, it behooves all of us to learn more about the value and potential of both blended and online learning. The best way to do this is through personal experience! The lessons you learn can be brought both into your classroom as well as school district, and very well may transform the ways you view not only professional development but learning interactions and opportunities overall. We live in a global village, and the Webheads (specifically via WIAOC09) are offering a FREE opportunity to “plug-in” and learn together with others. Join the conversations!

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