You are Never Alone

Today’s conference began again bright and early at 8 am and already I’ve been to 2 sessions and the trade show, and now I’m waiting for the 3rd session.

The first presentation on Interactive Technologies was actually about how one school system installed 1200 Promethean interactive whiteboards, one in every classroom, over the summer holidays 5 years ago, and the difference that has made to classroom pedagogy.

Each classroom also has 4 or 5 stand alone computers with Promethean software available so students can prepare materials for use on the IWB. The presenter talked about how some existing technologies quickly became obsolete, the changes that have occurred in classroom dynamics, and how the IWB has become the de facto standard for instructional delivery.
He also talked about the effect he is noticing on the text book budget where spending is dropping quite dramatically.

The second session I participated in was with Steve Hargadon, whom some of you will know from Classroom 2.0. His topic predictably was Social Networking in Education.
Steve’s premise is that Social Networking provides an excellent platform for collaboration and professional development. The audience was mainly district and school administrators who are considering “the next step” in providing web 2.0 tools for their systems.
Steve’s advice is to provide for their teachers first and then think about their students. Steve talked very persuasively about what social networking can do for teachers. He warned that you can manage the process but not the outcome. There will often be a power shift once the network is established.