NECC 2007

My first event at NECC 2007 was the Advanced Blogging workshop. I created a blog in WordPress during that full-day seminar and I'll continue to put my notes from the other sessions there... Enjoy!

Usability Uber Allis

OK, so my German is rusty (euphemism for non-existent) but the idea is solid:

If the technology isn't EASY to use and RELIABLE, no one in education will be interested.

So why are there no sessions at NECC on this?

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Does a blog like this already exist?

I spend a lot of time in Google but I have not been able to find a blog or website that addresses the questions that I have about purchasing educational technology. I am not talking about opinions on whether technology has a place in the classroom. I'm talking about, given that we are offering digital video editing in the High School, which headphone will survive the year? (SchoolPhones: trust me, the headphones are constructed a lot better than their website).

If anyone knows of a site/blog that I missed, let me know. Meanwhile, I'll blog my experiences as a starting point...

TED is my God

I do not have TV reception so when I experience that undeniable human need for an alpha-wave fix at the end of a long day, I turn to my computer and TED Talks: Inspired Talks by the World's Greatest Thinkers and Doers. Once available only to the first 1000 people willing (and able) to spend $6000 to attend the annual T.E.D. (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference in Monterey, TED Talks are now online and available to the world.

These 5 to 25 minute videos are where I first learned about Jeff Han's multi-touch interface (goodbye mouse and keyboard!) and the new software, Photosynth, that automatically combines photos on Flickr into a composite, 3-D image that can be navigated and zoomed. It is also where I heard Sir Ken Roberts discuss whether schools killed creativity.

TED is one of the other reasons I want to blog; so I can point my teachers to really COOL STUFF, in very digestible little packages. We'll see if anyone bites!

Why Will Richardson made me think of Bob Dylan

Will Richardson spoke at my school district and because I was part of the support staff I watched from the back of the auditorium. He was talking about Web 2 and generally covering all the things I am interested in so I was surprised when I noticed that the teachers were fidgeting and muttering among themselves. Finally one of them interrupted Will to question whether technology is a good thing in education. (I believe she used the phrase "instrument of the devil"). (Will blogged about the experience).

When I spoke with teachers the next day, many said that they felt so overwhelmed by the requirements from our Education Department that they don't even want to HEAR about anything else. Web 2 was the LAST thing they were interested in hearing about. I understood what they were saying, but the line from Dylan's Ballad of a Thin Man kept going through my head:

...something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?

I think you would characterize our school district as progressive, liberal and supportive of technology. The teachers in the room were young. How do other schools get their Mr. Jones excited about this brave new world that our children inhabit?