How Do You Design the Perfect, Most Impactful PD Experience?

Dean reunites with retired Ontario educator Rodd Lucier (“the Clever Sheep”) to unpack seminal professional-learning experiences that shaped their work, from early networked learning and the unconference-style Edcon to the creation of Unplugged in 2012. They describe gathering about 30–39 educators from across Canada (and later beyond) to travel from Toronto to an offline retreat at Northern Edge Algonquin, where participants—self-selected, like-minded, and already leading without titles—built relationships, collaborated in small groups, and wrote and published a book in three days using pre-work and story videos. They discuss why the setting, disconnection, shared responsibility, and informal “hallway” time made it transformative yet hard to replicate, note resources like photos, blog reflections, and a facilitation guide, and reflect on today’s fragmented online spaces, AI, robotics, and the enduring need for human connection in education.

00:00 Leaders Before Titles
00:22 Writing A Book Together
01:03 Seminal Learning Moment
03:19 First Meeting At Edcon
05:54 Rodd The Clever Sheep
09:00 Edcon Joy And Tribe
12:13 Unplugged Origins
13:20 Designing The Retreat
17:49 Measuring Long Term Impact
21:26 Shared Moments Matter
21:52 Six String Nation Metaphor
26:25 Facilitation Guide Takeaways
30:26 Allstar Team Professional Learning
38:09 AI Raises Human Stakes
39:08 What He Reads Now
42:33 Advice to Teachers Try Stuff
43:12 London Hidden Gem Nature Walk