Tomorrow morning at around 10 AM a group of us from Franklinville Central School will be making our way down the highways and byways to the ISTE 2011 Conference in Philadelphia. It promises to be an exciting time and I hope one where I for one get some more insights on the use of classroom technology. I pray to keep a beginners mind and be open to all that I see and hear. The older I get the more I realize how little I know and that we are really only scratching the surface with classroom uses for computers, iPads, Androids, Smartboards, projectors and the like. I hope to see and hear some of the folks I regularly follow on Twitter and whose blogs I read nearly every day. Two years ago I attended ISTE 2009 in Washington, DC and it was there that I really began to use Twitter. At that time I had about 1200 tweets in the two prior years. Since that time Twitter has become a major part of my repertoire and it’s lead me to some incredible insights and information. My use of Twitter has increased exponentially and by the end of this week I’m sure I will have passed my 10,000th tweet. I say that not to brag but to offer tangible evidence of the effect Twitter has had on my learning.
I’m traveling light, carrying an iPhone and iPad2. I’m not lugging a laptop around the conference and I’m encouraging those I’m accompanying to do the same. I encouraged them to bring extra power cords. I thought of bringing a solar charger too. I saw a solar charger two years ago at ISTE. It was a novelty item them but they’ve become more mainstream. Most of our crew is bringing either an Android tablet or an iPad. We’ll be reading, writing and tweeting. It simply amazes me how much of an impact mobile technology has had on my own life and upon education and society in general.
I pray that we will have a safe journey, a fun trip, a great conference and that all of the conference attendees have safe travel to and from the conference. I pray too that I will keep an open mind and learn something from everyone there.