I noticed last night at the opening reception in the Exhibit Hall a couple of trends in what is “for sale”.  Many companies are selling software that “protects” students and teachers from getting to the “bad” parts of the Internet.  Why is it that NO ONE in education can see that EDUCATING students on what is appropriate and not appropriate is a much better way to deal with this than overfiltering the rich content the Internet provides.  As I get ready to do my workshop this afternoon on Web 2.0 tools, I wonder how many teachers will fall in love with free tools that they (and consequently their students) will not be able to access at school or use for lessons. 

The other trend I observed was that everyone sells a test-preparation program “guaranteed” to work.  What does it mean if it works?  That the kids pass the test, but don’t have the skills that working in the 21st century will require?  Something to think about.  How can we use standards to help us integrate technology and engage students rather than use it for drill and practice for passing tests? Okay, I am stepping down off the NCLB/testing soapbox now.

Another trend I saw was mini-computers/word processors–AlphaSmarts have some real competition now and I can’t remember the names of the other products, but they are certainly on the exhibit floor.  Lots of devices with only a few functions so that they are easy for students (and teachers) to use in classrooms.  Durability has also improved a great deal in the last year.  I do wish that we were to the point of selling the OLPC laptops in the US, but hopefully, if the Birmingham City schools in Alabama get to use them, maybe I will have the opportunity to work with that platform with teachers and students in my region.

Finally, I am looking forward to meeting folks from around the country as we do concurrent sessions.  I know I will learn things and hope that I can make some valuable network connections, too. 

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I downloaded the Women of the Web 2.0 December 18, 2007, podcast to my iPod this morning before my walk. Now I understand the power of podcasting in discussing relevant issues in technology and education. While I got my fresh air and exercise, I also got fresh ideas about technology from people who are passionate about it.

The episode of the podcast had Jon Pederson and his wife Jessica as guests. In addition, they had several other women from around the US and Canada talking via Skype and chat in a conversation about technology. Very cool! It began with WOWs of the week and I am interested in them, but I can’t remember them so I will have to go to the chat archive to find the web addresses of what the WOWs were. One thing that I already knew about was that you can share your Google Reader faves with other folks in Google mail and/or Google talk. I was able to share a post with Katie that will be relevant to our book, but it was a month ago so I am not sure how I did it. I will go back and look at it.

Jon is the person who got Twitter on the map at NECC 2007 at the Bloggers’ Café. I missed this so I didn’t get what Twitter was all about so I signed up for my account today when I got home and I still don’t quite get it. I am going to email my more tech savvy friends and see if they twitter and figure out how to follow them etc. I really didn’t get the whole points thing that Jon and Jessica were talking about, but I’ll figure it out.

Also, there was discussion on how to deal with administrators and IT folks who, as soon as a new and innovative technology appears, believe it is their job to block it from our students for safety (read liability) issues. Several of the folks in the podcast discussed their frustration with administrators who don’t want to open their networks to anything that they don’t understand or that they cannot control. Jon made a good point that the BEST place for kids to learn what to do and what not to do on the Web and in Cyberspace is at school in a somewhat protected and guided environment rather than having them out there on their own in Cyberspace without any guidance. I agree wholeheartedly.

I was very interested in the discussion of whiteboard presentations at NECC 2008 which was apparently shot down by the ISTE powers that be. I think having a forum to teach and learn in 20 minute segments in a public forum is a great idea. My attention span is about that so it would be more productive for me to be exposed to 3 different tools/sites/ideas in an hour than just one. But maybe that is just me. I want to find a way to bring this idea to the Alabama Educational Technology Conference if I can. Hmmm, need to think about that.

Right as I was ending my walk, they changed topics to Scrabulous and World of Warcraft which are games I think. If these tech girls and guys like this, then maybe I need to look at them too. Do I have time to play games or is this really field research?

So finally, I finished my walk before I finished the podcast episode so I am sure there is more good info to be found. Can’t wait til my next walk now that I can see clearly why I need to listen to podcasts on a regular basis! If I don’t, I might miss something!

PS I also posted this on my other blog, Fresh Fowlers.