Some good resources via NECC

Ten Great NECC resources:

Microsoft

Edtech

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-12200-Dallas-Educational-Technology-Examiner~y2009m6d28-5-cool-tools-I-discovered-without-going-to-NECC

http://www.iste.org/AM/PrinterTemplate.cfm?Section=NETS

http://www.angelamaiers.com/2009/06/chalk-talk-62609-edubloggercon-and-necc-edition.html

http://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2009/06/23/digital-age-assessment-learning-in-web-2-0-necc-09/

http://classtools.net/

http://www.toolsfortheclassroom.com/

http://www.education-world.com/a_issues/school_doodles/school_doodles61.shtml

http://www.istevision.org/channel.php?c=d52812b13bda39b37f8b0ec4a9c299ed32fc9752&v=1

3 interesting blogs to follow:

http://www.isteconnects.org/ Discusses keynote speaker from NECC conference (contains live poll results); includes links to PBS teachers and Digital Directions sites

http://www.speedofcreativity.org/ Mentions engaging the current generation, which is used to technology, in the classroom and how to use these tools to the fullest; assesses various parts of web 2.0

http://www.stevehargadon.com/ Making the most of social networking and discusses the uses of technology and technological communication in the classroom and amongst educators

NECC blog commentary:

http://www.neccning.org/profiles/blogs/some-takeaways-from-malcolm

http://www.neccning.org/profiles/blogs/raising-the-bar

http://www.neccning.org/profiles/blogs/favorite-and-not-so-favorite

http://www.neccning.org/profiles/blogs/1997968:BlogPost:36019

http://www.neccning.org/profiles/blogs/1997968:BlogPost:36870

In summary…

Overall, the NECC conference is a myriad of technological information that is honestly quite overwhelming. I didn’t really know where to begin when looking at this information. It seems you have to dig fairly deep into the different sites to find some good stuff, as it seems to be scattered all over the place. The Ning site did provide a fair amount of good blogs and links, though–many of which I bookmarked for later use during my student teaching and then teaching days.

There was so much information to take in about NECC and all that it was about. I don’t really get what this conference is about though. What did they do there that couldn’t have been done online? Isn’t that kinda what it’s all about? If they’re going to have speaches and rave about how great technology is, especially for educational use, why not have the whole conference online by means of streaming videos to people’s computers at home? It almost seems a bit hypocritical in a way. Still, I guess there needs to be some social, face to face interaction amongst people–perhaps not everything should be done by means of technology. Otherwise I think you lose that human interaction needed to prevent everyone from becoming hermits living by means of their computer or iphone.

But with all this new found information NECC scattered all over the internet, I did find quite a few useful tools and materials. There were many I know I can use in the classroom, whether it’s just for my use as the teacher, or an aspect of Web 2.0 that can be used by the students in class. There are a wide range of possibilites to incorporate into my lesson plans that will broaden the technological knowledge of the students.

With this type of conference attendance, there are pros and cons. Unless you really know what you’re doing and where to look, it’s hard to find exactly what you’re looking for and trying to get info about. The sessions are scheduled at specific times, so you have to be at your computer right then (but sometimes they’re available for viewing later). Because of the massive amount of scattered information about the conference, it doesn’t seem like there one good organized location to get all you need to know. On the other hand, there are some benefits to being able to access a conference like this online. It does make it much more available for virtually anyone. Sometimes people may not have the funds, time, or means to get to the actual conference, so they are able to view it for free from their homes. People can still talk/chat with one another via comments sections and blogs about various topics. In this manner, the virtual conference is probably almost as rewarding as the real one just held in D.C.

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