You Know Him, You Love Him, You Can't Live Without Him!

In addition to hosting The Constructivist Celebration, I will be part of the following sessions during NECC:

Student-Centered Laptop Integration into the Classroom

Ron Canuel, Eastern Townships School Board (Canada) with Susan Einhorn, Sylvia Martinez, Scott Parker and Gary Stager

Monday, 6/30/2008, 2:00pm–3:00pm; HGCC 211

Successful integration of laptop technology into the classroom focuses on having students be active participants in the solution-building process.

What Effective Computer-Using Educators Know about Teaching: An International Perspective

Geoff Powell, St Hilda's School (Australia) with Peter Skillen and Gary S. Stager

Tuesday, 7/1/2008, 11:00am–12:00pm; Grand Hyatt Lone Star Ballroom E

While focusing on increasing their technical fluency, we run the risk of assuming that all teachers understand foundational learning theory and child-centered classroom practice.

Transforming Technology Projects from Good to Great

Melinda Kolk, Tech4Learning, Inc. with Sylvia Martinez, Peter Reynolds, Adam Smith and Gary Stager

Wednesday, 7/2/2008, 12:00pm–1:00pm; Grand Hyatt Lone Star Ballroom E

This panel discusses strategies educators can use during project design, implementation, and evaluation to help ensure that student technology use inspires creativity and improves achievement.

With any luck, these discussions will be Web 2.0 free zones :-)

Should I Attend Edubloggercon?

I love conferences. I've attended and spoken at hundreds of them. I relish the opportunity to spend time exchanges ideas and catching-up with old friends while meeting new ones. I welcome any opportunity to discuss powerful ideas with colleagues.

A large part of me would like to attend the upcoming Edubloggercon before NECC. I know that I am welcome there, but are my ideas?

The problem is that although I understand and use Web 2.0 tools, I am less sanguine about their potential to revolutionize education. I believe that the emphasis on using computers as information appliances represents a tiny portion of the computer's power.

This and other important issues are worthy of debate, but I am not sure that Edubloggercon is the right venue for questioning the educational assumptions held by a good number of participants. Some colleagues identify so closely with the ethos of the blogosphere that any criticism of the software tools or classroom applications is interpreted as a personal attack. One educator wrote the following about me today,

I just believe the criticism, even if justified, was not done in the spirit and manner of a what I was taught an educator should do.

Really?

I respect Steve Hargadon and his efforts on behalf of Edubloggercon too much to generate unwanted dissent or be the skunk at the Edugarden party.