Kootuitui's first Unconference

At the Leaders' PLG in Term 2, the idea of an unconference for Kootuitui was raised and discussed. It was decided to go ahead with our first in Term 3. The format would be slam down 1 followed by a 20 minute workshop, a Kahoot quiz for everyone and then slam down 2 followed by a 20 minute workshop. The top presentation is the slide deck that was used to gather offerings for the 20 minute sessions. Dave Winter, our wonderful Manaiakalani Outreach Manager, prepared and ran the Kahoot. Two of the school leaders sourced prizes for the Kahoot winners. These were one chromecast from Cyclone and two portable wifi storage devices from Noel Leemings, Papakura. Papakura Kootuitui Trust sponsored sweet treats. The second presentation is a range of photos taken at the unconference.
About 80 teachers/personnel attended with 19 individuals offering workshops.
How did it go and what was the feedback? The location of the high school was very good. Everyone gathered in the hall and it is a large enough space to accommodate everyone. The workshops were held in different classrooms. The original plan had been to have the workshops in the hall. However issues such as noise and the lack of portable data projectors and screens, necessitated a change of plan. It seemed to run smoothly and meet most people's needs. Some feedback included:
- it was good to have everyone together for clustering and networking
- keep the same venue for subsequent unconferences
- maybe a few of the workshops could be held in the hall next time so that people could find it easier to move from one to another within the 20 minutes
- the 20 minutes was a good length of time to have a discussion or get information that I could then look at later in my own time
- prizes were great
- I wanted to go to two in the first session and none in the second
- there wasn't anything for complete beginners
The Leaders were buoyed by the overall positive response and are now planning another unconference for Term 4. There will be a few tweaks to the first as we want to provide a way for attendees to express their interest in learning about certain things rather than being the receivers of predetermined workshops. The first time through we considered providing afternoon tea of some kind and decided that it would take time from a very tight schedule. However, having tea, coffee and biscuits available may be a way around this. We also need to ensure that all schools are clear that their staff bring their laptop with them as some teachers claimed they weren't told to bring one and so couldn't fully participate.
It certainly was an excellent way of gathering for a purpose - learning, creating and sharing, and it will be interesting to see where the idea heads over the next year. It has been suggested that unconferences happen once a term and replace one of the sets of Toolkits. It has been fantastic working with the Leaders on this and achieving something much bigger as a group than any one of us could alone.