I'm not really sure where to begin. +School Counseling On Air was unlike anything I've known. Not like a conference. Not exactly a workshop. Kinda like a webinar but more like sitting around in a living room or coffee shop with good colleagues and sharing the tricks of the trade. One thing is for sure, School Counseling on Air is something in the making, something BIG.
The idea for SCOA originated when +Trish Hatch saw an event that Google put on for Educators in 2012 and posed the idea of something for school counselors to +Erin Mason. From there the idea snowballed, as many good ideas do, and other key players came on to the scene. +The Counseling Geek played a major role in helping organize and promote the event, setting up SCOA accounts, getting presenters prepared and monitoring incoming questions from various feeds during the live sessions. Other key players and presenters included +Danielle Schultz, +Jeremy Goldman, +Julia Taylor and +Franciene Sabens. In truth, it could have been a MUCH bigger event and included many more people, but as a pilot we decided to keep it small and manageable. You can read more about the format in this earlier SCOPE post.
The topics we covered ranged greatly, some were connected but others were not, we decided that we would each present on something we were fairly comfortable with rather than trying to generate a particular theme of topics. We hoped there was something for everybody.
Here were some highlights and insights I had during the process:
1. There are so many passionate and committed people in this profession. What made this an especially powerful collaboration was that we had such variety in our presenters and developers when it came to positions in the field, time in the field, areas of expertise, etc.
2. We all have something to share and we have things to learn. Yes, ALL of us. Whether you are just beginning as a graduate student or have been a school counselor for many years, the field is always changing and there are always new things to learn.
3. SCOA was a non-hierarchical and very organic learning environment, one that allowed for real-time presentation AND conversation, something you don't often get with traditional webinars. What mattered most was creating a shared sense of community and learning, not a one-way, expert-to-novice learning approach.
4. I want to see more. I think we really hit on something. Geographical location no longer needs to be a limitation to connecting with colleagues and getting quality, timely, practical information. This particular group has embraced the power and beauty of technology in an effort to serve the profession.
5. WOW. Stay tuned. I'm pretty sure there will be more SCOA in the future. ; )
Below you can see one of the featured sessions from School Counseling on Air, each was 1 hour.
Follow this link to see all those that are available for viewing:
"Social Media Saturday"
Wow! How exciting! I really like this idea for collaborating with others. How do we know when it will happen again?
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