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MAKING NEW CONNECTIONS: AN "OPEN SPACE CONFERENCE" ON COOPERATIVE LEARNING SPONSORED BY THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF COOPERATION IN EDUCATION JULY 11-14, 1999 AT RYERSON POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA COME AND EXPERIENCE A DIFFERENT SORT OF CONFERENCE An Open Space Technology Conference is structured with no pre-planned program, scheduled speakers, or scheduled workshop presenters. Instead, all participants are invited and encouraged to contribute to the conference by leading discussions, presenting research findings, chairing seminars, or sharing practical ideas. Beginners and experts are equally welcome to lead a group on any topic or issue relating to Cooperative Learning. Open Space Technology creates an open and stimulating atmosphere with a lot of interaction and inspiration. Twice a day there is a community meeting, a time for exchanging information, announcing workshops or discussion groups, and sharing experiences. If you have an issue or something you are passionate about, step into the center of the circle, make your announcement (title, time, and place), and be ready to engage in a stimulating exchange of ideas and perspectives. At the end of each session the group leader or a volunteer recorder from the group will word process a summary of what took place so that by the end of the conference the ideas generated in each session will be available to all the conference delegates. THE FIVE PRINCIPLES OF OPEN SPACE Whoever comes are the right people. Whatever happens is the right thing to happen. Whenever it begins it begins. When its over its over. Follow the Law of Two Feet (Be there when you need to be) There are, of course, many more aspects to An Open Space conference, but the realization you will likely come to is that the best things in life are surprisingly simple and obvious. CONFERENCE GOALS Through the activities of this conference we look forward to recreating ourselves and our connections with each other. We hope this will be a time when each of us can feel comfortable in expressing our questions, challenging each other in friendly discussions, and probing ideas not usually possible in a more formal workshop setting. The open-space format allows all participants to identify what they would like to talk about and to find others interested in that discussion. Small groups may be initiated to address issues of cooperative learning relative to a particular constituency, eg.:  mathematics teachers  pre-school educators  community college teachers