Ok….so it’s only a few weeks late. But I was able to truly let what I gained from my NECC 2008 experience sink in while sitting on a boat in the 1000 islands and enjoying family time while in Niagara Falls. It is a shame that vacation will come to an end for me tomorrow, as I fly back to Orlando tomorrow at noon. (ok, so I started this on Monday and finished it tonight)

As with last year, I spent most of my time in the Blogger’s Cafe’. It’s always nice to see many of the people that I feel are like-minded in our zest for improved student learning. I did have HIGH expectations/hopes leading into NECC with regards to sessions and the learning that I was about to embark upon. Being the procrastinator at heart that I am, I did not do any pre-reading of the conference schedule. That would have made too much sense, i.e. that’s not me. I started reading the conference schedule book received with the registration packet and was quickly dismayed. Like my FETC (Florida Educational Technology Conference) experience in January, I found that many of the sessions in my opinion were geared for the mid-ranged adapter to newer adapter. Please don’t misunderstand, there is a need for these types of sessions, however, they are not for me. I saw myself quickly going back to presenters that I’ve seen in the past, and enjoy learning from (i.e. David Jakes/Dean Shareski, David Warlick, Hall Davidson, Chris Lehmann). Not sure if this makes me a gomer or a homer or guilty of living inside a professional development bubble. I just know that many a session I snuck in on was not compelling.

My large goal for NECC this year was two-fold: How can I create better professional development opportunities for my teachers and how can I become a better TV Production Coordinator. I think I was successful on both ends. Having been told pretty much that PD for my teachers will be at a premium (read: non-existant), so I will need to be creative in my approaches. I will definitely be keeping to my working with specific teachers that express willingness to take the step towards tech integration. Through the DEN pre-conference event at the Enchanted Springs Ranch, I learned for the first time about Mogulus. Seeing it for the first time BLEW my mind away. What a way to have PDOD (professional development on demand). I’d been toying with a way to create an anthology of PD webcasts/screencasts of myself in front of my laptop and using screen capturing software to demonstrate concepts. This website takes it to the next level. Actual demonstration, rather than screen captures. And it can run continuously if I so choose.

The second great PD idea I’m going to borrow is Kevin Honeycutt’s Web 2.0 Keychain he gives out to his teachers. What a novel idea and a way to have not only web 2.0 tools, but traditional websites at the fingertips. I’ve started to create my own and will definitely share when I’m finished.

I was able to attend a session on building a better School TV production show on Monday morning. Still trying to get my hands on a copy of their resource cd, but did use google docs to type up some GREAT ideas that I can take back for the start of the school year. This will be my first foray into tv production of this sort, so it should be a VERY nice challenge for me. Heck, it’s already paying dividends, I was able to get out of my morning duty to work with the students during this time. YAY!

I am already looking forward to next year’s experience in Washington DC. Looks like the wife might be coming too. That should be a fun time definitely.

Seeking the Wisdom of the Ages…

Tom.