I had the pleasure to attend two days of technology infusion, the Tech Forum in Schaumburg and the DEN Virtual Conference. To be able to connect f2f with other techies is such a rush.
It started with a bang, (did you hear it) when I got to meet Meg Ormiston, which was a hoot. Believe it or not, she has more energy than me! Her excitement for moving education forward is breath taking. I love watching her present and show others “the way.” She recommended at new book “The Element,” by Sir Ken Robinson, I immediately downloaded it to my Kindle. I can’t put it down. This is the best book I have read since Randy Paunch’s “The Last Lecture.” It concerns passion, something I am always stressing in my students, parents, and administrators.
The afternoon was fabulous with discovering new web 2.0 technologies; I could barely keep up with diigo/delicious bookmarks. By this time in the conference, everyone is searching for a plug for his or her computers. That’s the thing about tech conferences, everyone is talking, twittering, plurking, checking email, writing notes on presenters, bookmarking, etc. Wouldn’t this be great if our own students could feel this free and be ALLOWED?
The DEN conference was another time to connect f2f with incredible techies. The virtual conference is education of the future, with screen-sharing and discussing all at the same time. We were ALLOWED to watch the conference via big screen, or simply connect with the group at hand, and twittering, plurking, checking email, writing notes on presenters, bookmarking, etc.
What did I get out of this? The word ALLOWED should be the first word students FEEL in the classroom. The freedom to learn, share, multi-task in order to have their learning ON FIRE. That is how I felt these last two days, completely ON FIRE.
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