Can you believe that #IDedchat just recently had its 7th birthday?! When #IDedchat first started, it was as a result of encouragement from Nancy Blair @blairteach and Dr. Darin Jolly @drjolly. It began on the back patio at Janet Avery’s house in Jerome at the end of July 2012 – finding a time and day of the week was a challenge at first. Then, Simon Miller @leadedtech introduced Janet to a tech coach who was trying to get a Boise area chat up and running. That tech coach was Marita Diffenbaugh @mdiffenbaugh.
The purpose of #IDedchat is to provide a platform where Idaho Educators (and anyone else who wants to join the conversation) can come together to learn from and with each other. We come together to confirm and to challenge. When we come into this space, we introduce ourselves and what our “role” in education is; however, when we are in this space – we are learners, not titles.
We love that other educators from outside Idaho join us each week – it adds perspective to our conversation and theirs. We have always dreamed of expanding the learning experience. The first way that happened was through the founding of Edcamp Idaho! That first edcamp was planned all through Twitter and Hangouts! The first time we were all together was when we were setting up the evening before! What an experience that was – face to face participant-led discussions – and we just had our 6th Edcamp in June!
This blog is our next step in broadening the learning impact of our #IDedchat PLN. Our hope is that after chats each week, we (Janet, Marita, both) will expand on a “gem” from our chat and include resources. OR we will reach out to one of you. Ours will be called “wonderings.” Guest posts will have a different title. We are so excited to begin the next phase of this journey with all of you!