Friday, June 24, 2011

Missing ISTE

One of the blogs I read is Cool Cat Teacher by Vicki Davis.  She just posted about missing NECC, the national technology conference, because of a family situation.  I can really sympathize with her situation.  (You can read more about that in my comment to Vicki's post that I linked above.)

I am going to try to attend virtually though.  Here is a link to some of the content you will be able to access on the Web, http://www.isteconference.org/ISTE/2011/glance/simulcasts_and_webcasts.php.   I am also thinking about signing up to do a virtual workshop, http://www.isteconference.org/ISTE/2011/program/virtual_workshops.php.  Remote ISTE is $99 for a whole day of sessions.  There are two tracks with lots of great sessions.  I am interested in the several - Google forms, mobile learning devices, iPads and I would love to see Steven Covey talk about his new book, The Leader in Me.  It also looks like you can observe the wiki (http://digiteacher.flatclassroomproject.org/) for a session Julie Lindsay will be conducting about digital citizenship.

Anyone else going in person or virtually?

2 comments:

Jerry Williamson said...

It would be interesting to compare the experiences of those who attend the conference in person and those who attend in the virtual environment. If anyone has attended in person previous years and is doing the virtual conference this year, his/her perspective would be valuable. Cost would be the obvious advantage to the virtual option. Also, it would be much more efficient because there is no lost time traveling. There does not seem to be any reason that you could not learn as much in the virtual environment as the in-person one. However, there is something to be said for being in a physical location where there are so many inspiring educators. Does the inspirational quality of conferences translate in the virtual environment? I have found that some of the best moments of conferences are not always the ones during sessions, but after when you get to bounce ideas off of other attendees.

Laura B. Fogle said...

Jerry, I think you are right that some of the best moment are talking with other attendees. I also think the focus of being in a different place where everyone is talking about one topic is impossible to replicate. I have only carved out an hour here and there to look at what is going on at ISTE because of all the distractions around me.

Maybe if a group of us attend virtually next year we could have time to share our experiences and get more out of it.