Report from NECC, 2006

Eschool News reported that “An estimated 17,000 educators, administrators, and company and nonprofit executives gathered July 5-7 in San Diego for the 2006 National Educational Computing Conference where attendees had their own opportunity to take part in any of 100 hands-on workshops, sit in on any of 300 concurrent sessions, visit with more than 500 exhibitors--and even preview the $100 laptop that has ed tech abuzz."

This event was certainly memorable and most informative. Click on full report for more detail from our cluster delegates. The movies which follow may help staff gain an insight into the keynote speakers, and also some of the latest developments with Web 2.0 and some ICT pedagogy. We encourage you to look at these and forward any comments/reactions by email. There is no doubt that recent online environments such as Wikis, My Space, Blogs and Podcasts are encouraging a more socially interactive web space. How these could be, or even should be incorporated into our Secondary classrooms and intranets is much cause for discussion. I encourage you to do contribute to this debate and also invite feedback from your students.

These movies are in Quicktime format and are approximately 10MB in size

	NECC Highlights, including National Geographic Photographer Dewitt Jones who inspired all ICT teachers to put vision, passion, purpose, and creativity back into the classroom. He urged teachers to "transform the ordinary into the extraordinary." In one example, Jones came across a field full of dandelions, but waited a day before returning to take the photo He was disappointed to find a field full of puffballs instead. However, he managed a stunning photo by photographing from underneath the puffball. His point? That there is more than one right answer and, "If you lose the fear of mistakes and setbacks, then you begin to embrace change, rather than fear it."
	Nicholas Negroponte, former MIT professor is founder of the One Laptop Per Child initiative and architect of the $100 computer. His goal is no less that the elimination of global poverty. "You're not going to have peace if you have poverty", he said. Negroponte added that "Kids learn not by being consumers of knowledge, but by creating it."
	WEB 2.0 is a move from "read only" web to a "read-write" internet, using a range of new tools such as blogs, podcasts, wikis and "My Space". These new online environments allow interaction with content and could transform traditional e-learning. Teachers need to be aware of how Web 2.0 works and appropriate its potential, if any, for their classrooms and online learning spaces. Web tools mentioned here include elgg, flickr (see also the Wikipedia link), RSS feeds, etc. The three presenter websites are at: The Savvy Technologist | webblogg | Tom March Herald article on Web 2.0 and also the excellent O'Reilly site.
	The Power of Differentiated Instruction with ICT - Part I focuses on the use of different ICT with challenges in classroom management, etc. What ICT tools do these educators really like? What can ICT do to add learning enhancements? For example: 1. read write think 2. Dave Edyburn's website 3. web math formula site  4. ReadPlease
	The Power of Differentiated Instruction with ICT - Part II which looks at instructional design with ICT. Carolyn McGuire from Rock Our World mentions the power of digital movies (for writing, reading, oral history, sequencing, timing, etc.). Dave Edyburn discusses "cognitive prosthesis" and also asks, "What does an educated person look like?'