Posted on by

Conference Survey Results

The top 4 ways respondents found out about the conference.  AERO Email  AERO Newsletter  AERO Social Media  Word of Mouth 
90% rated the conference as excellent or above average.   6% rated it as average.  “No words can describe how amazing it was” 
89% found the conference site to be very helpful or extremely helpful 
The largest number of respondents are from Northeast – US, Followed by Southwest – US, Canada, and Asia 
91% of respondents found the price of the conference to be reasonable to very reasonable.  2% found it somewhat reasonable. 
52% attended the AERO conference for the first time. 
96% indicated they would attend this event again.  2% indicated they would not. 2% were undecided 
90% said indicated they would attend a similar/smaller event sometime in February 2021.  3% indicated they would not.  7% were undecided 
Over 80% felt that they had enough time to network.  “I had enough time to network but could always use more” 
85% felt that they had enough ways to network.  
About 80% attended popup sessions.  Most felt that popup sessions went well or were OK 


Some suggestions on how to improve the conference :


Maybe have a one day break for people to do networking, and to take a breathe, and declutter all the information in the head then return to conference activities with a non overwhelmed energy. Then a month out have another check in on networking and connections to keep momentum up.

I was pleased and impressed by all of the effort put forth by the organizers and presenters. It was a marvelous experience. I would have liked to have to have had the opportunity to attend a workshop on issues of privilege and access in SDE. Some of the docs did present those ideas though, so I am glad that was addressed during the weekend.

More student talks and Q&As, so that we know what they think. And, more parents to share how they make a living while committing into homeschooling.


Every AERO conference should have offerings about race/accessibility/diversity/inclusion issues and make space for people to discuss and learn about this. I know it’s a really tricky subject. I hope AERO does NOT take the same approach as ASDE (cancel culture, white apologism, etc.) but rather opens space for dialogue and how we can all be better around this topic.

Absolutely love the hybrid idea, running on alternate week-ends through the summer, and the aerox which i haven’t attended yet but absolutely will given the smashing success of this aero conference.

More youth speakers and activists

More speakers from marginalized backgrounds and workshops and discussions surrounding this topic as it relates to self-directed learning and alternative education.

I think it was a really good conference at a very challenging time. I appreciate being able to have the recordings to listen to afterwards for the sessions I missed. I wish we could have addressed racial inequity more directly and especially had some POC youth –that would have been very powerful. Perhaps for the next conference. 

Other comments 
I was so happy to be there! The USA EDT start time allowed me to take my time in the morning, eat a little something, and easily get to the room before/at start time. I realize not everybody had that luxury! Grateful.

Thank you all for efforts in organizing and hosting this conference. I can only imagine the logistical/technical hurdles you had to work through. Well done.

Thanks for putting this together and providing so much support with the prices to make it super affordable.

Please do not consider turning AERO into a digital conference once the world has returned to normal. I really cannot connect with people over video conferencing. I ended up not attending most of the sessions, despite the conference being one of the things I was looking forward to this summer. It was very well done and organized, but I really need the in-person interaction and place to focus.

Virtual conference a wave of the future
You provide such an incredible and important service with AERO the org and the conference. I love how people from all over the world attend. I think it’s important that you stay neutral and welcoming of different pedagogies.

Posted on by

Summary Report on the AERO Conference

When we first realized that we would have to abandon the in person AERO conference that was planned for Minneapolis and create a virtual conference, we were skeptical that it could measure up to the face to face one.
When it became obvious that we couldn’t have a regular AERO conference this year, we had to suddenly switch gears in March a start to create our first remote conference. We’d never done a full conference this way before, but we were determined to try to incorporate key aspects of the AERO conference: A wide spectrum of attendees, extensive networking, opportunities to create spontaneous pop-up workshops, etc.

For a long time it looked like our network was also skeptical. We stagnated at about 100 registrants for a long time. Then, at a member’s suggestion, we threw it open to everyone by offering to let people name their own conference fee for a week. This led to an explosion of registrations. Many still paid the regular price and we ended up with a record 500 registrants.

The conferences itself was a continuous revelation. We were surprised at almost every turn. For example, we did introductions with 90 people in the virtual room. It was not chaotic! Everyone took their turn to make a brief introduction with no moderation necessary.

As the conference grew and evolved it suddenly occurred to us that the conference was like a giant learner-centered child, learning and developing as it went along.Stephanie Sewell said “I felt like I jumped into doing a doctorate!”

Eventually we had over 45 regular workshops, 8 keynotes, 4 panels, 4 mini-talks, 4 school visits and 4 documentaries. We also had our first online AERO auction that raised $1450, a continuously open main room, operated overnight by people from Sri Aria School in Malaysia, 15 spontaneous pop-up workshops including one inspired by Jaki Armstrong about systemic racism.

As often happens, this year we received many unsolicited workshop proposals and didn’t reject any. Anyone who attended was able to host a popup session or discussion topic. We had more leeway because it was online. Also, for the same reason we had a record 30 countries 35 states, and 7 Canadian provinces participating, from such places as Burkina Faso and South Africa to Egypt, Russia and China.

Riverstone Village students singing conference theme song

There we so many things created at this conference! For example, there was a collaboration between Carl Rust in Indiana and students and teachers at Riverstone Village in South Africa that produced this song. It became our conference theme song and was played throughout the conference. It is a really catchy tune sung by a well known African singer. Let us know how we can spread the tune further.

There were many student activities, including three student panels on student rights and other topics, some student-led workshops, and even a conference Minecraft server.

The AERO Conference website was elegantly created by our conference webmaster, Anthony Umina. It was set so people only needed to click on the website they wanted to attend and it would go right to a Zoom link. Now it wall be revamped so that you can use the same website to go to the over 50 videos of the conference if you were an attendee. If you did not attend you can purchase the video package HERE .

We used a special app called Whova so attendees could communicate with each other, to the organizers, network or create popup workshops. According to our records, at least 250 attendees downloaded the app and have sent nearly 5,000 messages and continue to use it now, after the conference.

By all measures this first online AERO conference was quite successful, surprisingly so for us. It may have appeared seamless, but there were lots of little fires being put out in the background. Luckily we had Anthony as our web expert. We are considering doing another virtual one, maybe next February in an expanded virtual AEROx.

Some Conference Feedback

It was extremely well done and the pivot to a virtual conference seemed clean and easy on the participant end! I am still catching up the conversations and looking forward to a lot of video replays. KT

Jerry this has been the most unbelievable experience!! I’m the most technologically challenged person on earth, and I’m cruising through. It’s so well organized. Well done! TR

I think that the organization you and Peter have done shows the amount of time you have put into it. It is the best run Zoom meeting I have been involved in. CN

Much better than taking part in a conference in person as I have obstacle of language. Now I can follow it much better by text and oral together.

The conference energy has been great to observe. Tell Peter he is doing a great job with all of the reminders and coordination – and when he did the interviews, too.

I can honestly say, from the bottom of my heart, my life will never be the same.

This conference was one of the most meaningful, inspiring experiences I’ve ever had.Not only from an educational point of view, but also from a human perspective.

I think that you are undercharging. Strongly recommend raising the price, but having a pay-what-you-can option as well. This establishes it as a valuable conference and continues to allow people who need a price break to take it. I would also add the option of paying extra to support those who can’t pay full.

No words can describe how amazing it was!Great conference and an eye-opener for saving travel, motel, variety of participants, and meal experience. Prepare for an even larger participant virtual conference in the future. WJ

Some parts were excellent; some parts were average, and everything in between.

Thanks for putting this together and providing so much support with the prices to make it super affordable
I started a discussion because of the deafening silence around anti racism. It seemed that AERO had its blinders firmly in place. On second thought, nothing before its time! So perhaps AERO’s reluctance forced me to ‘go brave’.
Thanks so much for still forging ahead with the conference. I think it was a beacon of light in a dark time, and so heart warming to see the energy and enthusiasm everyone has for keeping this approach to education alive and growing. I think it was especially important for my team to be involved as up til now I was the only one that had been to a conference (APDEC). I think this will have helped to inspire them and solidify the what, why and how of the philosophies behind our school at a pivotal time for us (we’re launching our first one day nature programme in term 3 this year).

Of course, given the choice, I’d prefer to attend an in-person conference, but this one surpassed my expectations. There were even perks that the online offered that are not possible in person, such as the wonderful international spectrum of attendees. The main room offered opportunities for networking that I was concerned were not possible online, so even that was a happy success. All in all, this stands up very well to the in-person conferences and was a wonderful and inspiring experience.

I am still feeling the excitement of the conference. It far exceeded my expectations of what a virtual conference could provide. The international piece was great. I felt like globally no one thought education should or would go back to prior to the pandemic. Lots of exciting work going on globally. CF

Yong Zhao does a keynote on Zoom
Brian Conner of the National Student Rights Association
Posted on by

Adler’s Report on Asian Participation in AERO 2020

Hi everyone!
Thank you all for the great conference!
Ozzie, Tim, and I are all very happy and honored to have had such deep conversations with you all. It’s also our pleasure that many of you asked for our information and would like to keep in touch!
Here we compiled a list of resources and information if you’d like to know more about what we talked about: Za Share

Adler’s documentary: If There is a Reason to Study

World crises perpetuated by education systems & Learning by Contributing

Experimental Education in Taiwan

Please keep in touch and let us know if there’s anything we can do together!
Also, don’t forget to join us at ZA Share 2020 later this year!  We’ll send out the invitations when they’re available!
Sincerely, Adler

—
— 楊逸帆 / Adler Yang / アドラー・ヨウ Educator / Researcher / Social Architect / Systems Thinker  Studying and actualizing sustainable, healthy, and sincere societies R&D Director for Learning Systems and International Programs, Za Share Taiwan Representative of the Alternative Education Resource Organization Director/Producer, If There is a Reason to Study  Founder, Awakening Lab | 2015 Becoming Aces 30 under 30Certified Blue Belt Systems Thinking, Mapping, and Leadership Trainer

www.facebook.com/adler.yang
www.linkedin.com/in/adleryang

If we want to change the future, change ourselves. Because we are the future.

–Adler Yang

Posted on by

Peter’s Conference Report

Last week AERO finished it’s first-ever 4 – day online conference.  By all accounts it was a resounding success and far exceeded expectations.  

When the COVID-19 virus made the decision for us that we would be having the conference online we were pretty nervous about it.  

We had planned to have the conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota which would have been another first for us.  The virus had other plans.  

We had to suddenly rethink the conference and ditch a good deal of the planning we had already done in preparation for Minneapolis.  

In the beginning, the idea of the online conference didn’t quite catch on.  We wondered if our numbers would stay on the low end.  With a little less than a month to go to the conference, the numbers started to pick up significantly. 

Then a day before the conference we had 475 people registered with more trying to get in!  

Thursday morning started with online school visits with our friends from Sri Aria in Malaysia and Liberated Learners leading the way.  The conference officially kicked off with a welcome from Jerry and Peter.  

Many people had a chance to introduce themselves and then were put into  Zoom breakout rooms to network and get to know each other more. 

One thing we were worried about was networking. Networking is the backbone of the AERO conference and AERO. 

We put a lot of thought into making space for that to happen at this year’s conference but weren’t sure how it would go.   In true AERO fashion, the community stepped up and took every opportunity to network and connect.  It was beautiful to watch.  

One reason that networking was so effective was that our friend Kristy Cheng, from Sri Aria school in Malaysia, kept the main room open for our community members in different time zones.  This was one of the highlights of the conference as many reported on the amazing conversations/connections that happened during these hours..  

In the afternoon our set of 20-minute talks started with Gina Riley, followed by Mara Linaberger, Zoe Greenhouse and ending with Andrew Pudewa’s.

Then the series of over 45 workshops began.  

After a short break, students Kat Farr and Walker Meyn were interviewed by Peter Berg.  The interview focused on mental health in education.  

The evening concluded with a keynote from Peter Gray.  The main room remained open during the overnight hours.  

Friday kicked off with another set of amazing workshops.  Many participants stayed in the main room during the lunch break for the launch of The Quest for a Just Society petition (see article). 

Another set of workshops got us going again after the break.  

Then Wayne Jennings delivered a keynote speech on some of his pioneering involvement with public alternatives.

A panel with Brian Connor, Jacob Dennis, and Walker Meyn from the National Youth Rights Association on youth rights in education was next.  They described the scope of work NYRA is doing and about how each of them individually contributes to it. 

After a break, we all watched the documentary Unschooled.  When we came back to the main room to hear people’s thoughts we had an unexpected treat.  Taylor Wildenhaus, Associate Producer on the film joined the chat and spent about 30 minutes with us answering questions. 

Kristy kept the conversation going all night.  Some of us went to bed so we could rest up for the over 15 hours of programming on Saturday.  

Saturday began with more networking and discussion in the main room.  Another set of incredible workshops took place in the morning.  After a break in the afternoon, a long evening began with another set of incredible workshops.   From there we had the pleasure of listening to an International Youth Panel on consent in education.  Anna, Katherine, Mike, and Sofia took us through their journey through self-directed education.  They then showed us their campaign for SDE for all, focused on student rights and consent in education. 

Shortly after, Amir Nathoo, founder of Outschool.com presented on how the online marketplace can support self -directed education.  He took us through some possibilities and also the latest happenings with Outschool. Outschool has gone from 8000 students to 300,000 during the pandemic.

After a break, we came back to hear Catherine Fraise, founder ofWorkspace Education. Right after that, professor, author and education critic Yong Zhao presented. Adler Yang and Ozzie Su joined Yong in a short panel discussion.  Adler and Ozzie continued with their presentation describing pioneering work in Taiwan. It was quite a long day filled with so many amazing perspectives, ideas, and calls to action.   

Many of us were pretty tired by the end of this long day 3.  We were excited for day 4 but a little sad that this was the last day of the conference.  

Sunday began with the documentary CaRabA, about what would happen if the court decided that compulsory education was unconstitutional, followed by a discussion with the filmmakers.  There was also networking and discussion in the main room.  Our last set of incredible workshops rounded out the morning session.  Public superintendent of schools Dr. Michael Hynes and Kate Robinson, daughter of Sir Ken Robinson made the culminating workshop.  

Sadly, it was time to close out the conference and say “see you later” not goodbye to all of our friends from around the world.  Jerry and Peter asked for feedback and suggestions during a short evaluation session and ended the conference with thank you’s to all the volunteers and participants.

Throughout the entire conference, there were impromptu pop-up sessions and discussions many of them are still continuing.  One of these topics is titled The Elephant in the Room: “The protests in the United States of America and around the world are highlighting the gross inequities based on the amount of a chemical (melanin) in a person’s skin.  The absence of this issue at the conference is deafening, especially since the AERO conference was to be held in Minneapolis this year.”   This has raised deep, critical discussion.  

This was a truly global conference with people from 6 continents and over 30 different countries.  We are still on high from the conference, processing all that happened, carefully considering feedback, and recuperating. Thank you again to all of you who were a part of the conference and thank you to all of you for being a part of AERO.