AUSSIE

Blog entry posted July 22nd, 2008 by Daniel Storchan

When I arrived at the annual NECC (National Education Computing Conference) in San Antonio a sense of excitement was brewing in my mind. NECC is considered the Mecca of educational technology conferences, featuring a broad spectrum of interactive and hands on content (workshops, lectures, podcasting stations, and much more). One can also find numerous vendors showcasing all the new tools teachers are using to transform their classrooms. As I roamed through the massive exhibit hall on day 1, I tried not to get too excited by all the new gadgetry being touted as the next great savior for the classroom. And even though there was a crowd of onlookers oohing and awing about the new AVerVision SpB350 document camera and SmartBoard's Senteo interactive response system--I kept reminding myself that the curriculum should always drive the technology, and not the other way around.

Another reason why my heart was pounding, perhaps a bit too rapidly, was because I was doing a poster presentation on day 3, and this was my first time presenting at a national conference. My presentation, “Indy Bloggers: Creating Personal Networks in the Blogosphere” was based around how I worked with several teachers at Marta Valle Secondary School this past year to develop a portal based blogging community. The teachers and I started with the overarching goal of wanting to allow students the opportunity to create personal spaces for authentic exploration of topics in new and engaging manners. The next step was finding the right platform to host our community, and that came into play one evening last fall when I happened to come across a blog entry written by Konrad Glowgowski, in which he detailed how he worked with his students to develop personal learning spaces using the blogging tool, 21Classes. A key selling point is that 21Classes is set up in such a way that each student is able to maintain his/her own blog that they can personalize and use as their own learning space. Feeling energized by Konrad's post, I presented this idea to the teachers, who were sold before I could finish my first demo, and then we were off. My presentation at NECC explored how the teachers and I constructed the classroom portal and student blogs, as well as the framework we used to infuse and align the classroom portal with each teacher's curriculum map. Overall, I was really pleased with how well my presentation was received. I had the opportunity to speak with educators from all across the world, and have a feeling a few might even try adapting the model for their own classrooms.

Some other highlights from NECC was Steve Hargadon's workshop entitled, "Free, Open Source and Web 2.0 Software for the Classroom". This was one of the only sessions I attended that really embodied the spirit of community, while the majority were teacher-centered "sage on the stage presentations". But Hargadon, who is a major thinker in the blogosphere, turned the paradigm upside down and placed the ownership of the workshop on the particpants. Essentially, he handed over the microphone and posed the simple question: "What Web 2.0 and open-source tools are you currently using in the classroom, and why?" The rest of the session was a free wheeling share-a-thon in which particpants shared out one great resource after another. Throughout it all, Hargadon acted as the facilitator, pushing the rest of us to get out of our seats and join the conversation.

Another high point of NECC, was having a chance to witness two teachers I work with at PS 62 in Queens present their ideas about how they have been integrating the virtual learning environment, MySuite into their classrooms. MySuite, is a web-based platform developed by the Austrailian software provider, Editure, which allows students, teachers and administrators the opportunity to work within a protected and collaborative setting that supports teaching and learning. PS 62 began the rollout of MySuite this past January, and have all ready embedded the tool as an integral system within the school's culture. I watched in awe as the PS 62 teachers spoke with passerby's, at the Editure booth, about how MySuite has greatly expanded their practice, while building greater capacity for whole school communication.

Overall, I found NECC to be a rewarding experience, and a great opportunity to network and gain a larger picture of what’s happening in the field of educational technology. The River Walk and Alamo weren't half-bad either.