The TWAIN blog

A few more quotes from the staff I took to TCEA:

“…I found that becoming immersed with other professionals in the digital world was exhilirating! Just watching everyone move about the conference with their various devices communicating and recharging gave me a true sense of what our students have been born into. After 20 years of attending various conferences in education, I found myself rediscovering the joys of connecting with others who are excited to try new ways of engaging their students. But that’s where the similarities between conferences from then and now end because today’s methods go “outside the box” in EVERY direction! What an eye-opener!! So many news ideas swirling around in my head!”

“I would tell [my campus staff] to get on their comfy slippers and commit some time to traveling through a few Web 2.0 links, so they can begin to see all of the possibilities for connecting with their students and colleagues (even parents) in new ways. I also believe the library can act as a “medium” for promoting Web 2.0 and supporting the staff/students.
I think that [our principal's] persistence in starting the school news broadcast has been a great catalyst for getting our teachers and students to get their feet wet with potential for podcasting and vodcasting.”

“I learned so much I am about to explode. I can’t get it all out of my head and use it fast enough.”

“TCEA is great. You can go and see new technologies that are coming out as well as current technology you have. You can attend the sessions or visit the booths of various companies and find new ways to use current equipment and well as get a chance to talk directly to the vendors to get answers to questions you may have. No matter who you are, there is something of interest to go to and new things to learn.”

“I felt that my brain was totally saturated with new ideas by the time I left. The excitement for using technology in my classes was very elevated and it was well worth going.”

I posted an online form for my crew from Kerrville to fill out about their experiences at TCEA this year. The form is available online through Google Docs at: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pcJ_EAVrg90uwhN_UriPRUw.

Responses so far:

“Great wealth of information teachers, technologists and instructional integration. Don’t let time scare you away from integration. As many of the presenters share, these tools are free and easy to use and your students will love them.” This person also added that when I get ready to offer training, she would be willing to help offer some ideas and training too.

“There are so many sites for information and resources out on the internet for teachers and students that it is mind boggling. We haven’t scratched the surface in KISD. Other districts and teachers are doing some incredible teaching through websites, blogs, wikis; going paperless during meetings and other administrative types of activities; organizing information through paperless,searchable software (like ONE NOTE) that could save the district $$ in binders and paper as well as increase productivity and save time. I thought I was knowledgeable about technology and I realized how little I really know.”

“Wow! The amount of technology and resources that are available to educators is awesome and continually increasing. It is up to us who went to this conference to share our knowledge of the resources with others who can use it in the classrooms. Thanks to everyone who made it possible for us to attend!”

“This has renewed my creative energy in technology integration in my classroom.”

“It was invigorating! What a refreshing change to see all the integration being used. I would love to see our elementary school try some of the great integrations ideas that are out there.”

I think they liked it! And this isn’t everyone! Will post more as they come in.

Now….can you see why I have the greatest job in the world???

Today is Friday and it marks the end of summer camp….er…um…..TCEA 2009. It is sad to see everyone packing up their belongings and leaving us! The big group is gone and there are just stragglers left behind hoping to get one last mug or T-shirt from the vendors. And I am not casting judgment on them as I am in that group as well!

I am sitting by myself in the Blogger’s Cafe right now. It is sad to see the table empty except for the power surge protectors and discarded vendor pamphlets. But, it is exciting for me to be able to work on a form I am sending to my district participants so I can get their input about this conference.

I just made it on Google Documents which embeds the form online and then generates the spreadsheet behind it to gather all the data. Next week, I get to share their experiences with the district leadership team and we can start building our framework for technology vision for our district. It is exciting and motivational to be part of this process from the ground floor.

Though I am using this form only to gather data from my district, I thought I might share it with you all in case you would like to generate a similar one for your district/campus.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pcJ_EAVrg90uwhN_UriPRUw

Only a few more sessions for me to attend followed by the keynote address by Dr. Robert Ballard. I confess that I am a Titanic geek and Dr. Ballard was the discoverer of this great ship at the bottom of the ocean. I am really looking forward to his session and am sure it will be a great close to this awesome conference.

And then, I will raid that exhibit hall for any crumbs and leftovers I can find!

Ciao!

I am taking a break from the excellent TCEA conference to discuss a news flash that appeared on my Twitter feed.

I believe I wrote about this concept of “whitespace” a few months ago and how it applies to some really cool technology. The concept derives from the broadband spectrum used for broadcast television and the cable network. Now as you may have heard, the cable companies are trying to push to a completely digital environment and out of the old analog television spectrum.

So…what happens to that old analog spectrum?

Several large technology corporations (including Google) have paired up to develop a new whitespace network plan. Google has been the biggest proponent for this. They want to return the American Broadcast System owned by the people back to the people.

If we all move to this new digital signal, these companies want to team together to transition that analog line into free wireless broadband signals. In other words, the line goes down and they have complete access to convert it to a new wireless broadband network into each home. The access will be wireless and accessible by any device.

Free?

Free because the network is owned by the people and for the people. Google has been on the front lines with the FCC about restoring this system back to the power of the people. In November, the FCC did approve to keep the spectrum open so that they could continue looking into establishing this idea.

Microsoft, Google, and Motorola are all working on this now. In June/July, when we finally make the switch – they can start developing the new system without us interfering on their datalines. I am sure we may have streaming Google Ads on our new wireless and broadband access, though.

But = wireless broadband access streaming on that old analog whitespace system? How cool is that? And does this mean wireless access redundancy in every neighborhood? How does this play out for CIPA and content filtering now?

Today marked the first day of open sessions and the exhibit hall at TCEA. I had a full schedule laid out on my cheat-sheet (which keeps me from pulling out the booklet), and I completely disregarded it. I ended up visiting the Exhibit Hall and then going to the Blogger Cafe.

But this morning was incredibly awesome! I was really blown away to hear my blog post from a few days ago read out loud to the audience. How incredible was that?!?! I thought it was really cool and my row of Kerrvillites seemed to enjoy it as well. What an honor.

I did attend the TEC-SIG luncheon later and heard the speaker share about how the mood we project reflects the mood of our environment. It wasn’t a technology training talk as we usually get; but it was about how we can serve our stakeholders better. It was that component of learning more about how we can serve than just providing more tools and resources for us to gawk at. I really appreciated this presentation for just that reason.

After this, I was asked to be interviewed for a segment on SchoolTube. I asked for Kari Rhame to interview me and she did. I was hoping to embed the video here tonight but it hasn’t been uploaded to SchoolTube.com yet.

All in all, a great day. I hope to get to my sessions tomorrow and to have a good workshop. Tomorrow I am presenting a workshop for three hours on Web 2.0 Tools and I am about to assemble the presentation right now.

Also – great seeing everyone. Thanks for the handshakes and hellos!