As I awaken very early on Saturday morning for which ISTE begins, some of my thoughts are gaining clarity for me. Is this ISTE once again going to be a call to action, a call to a Revolution? If so, what will be the call?
I think this as this is the third time that in my memory that the conference has been in an Eastern pre-Revolutionary War town steeped with such history.
In 1994, I was at NECC in Boston. It was the first indication that this concept called the Internet was becoming available to all and I signed our school up for our first Internet connection, a 56 Kb connection and installed the cool new program called Netscape which was the first step in the revolution.
In 2005, I did not attend the NECC conference in Philadelphia. I was on my sabbatical getting ready for my first trip overseas. I do recall connecting with the conference and really hearing about blogs, wikis, and podcasts. I filed that aside and when I returned from my sabbitcal, I can honestly say that my immersion using these tools has transformed my life and practice.
Now we return to Philadelphia in 2011. What will be the call? Are small, mobile devices going to provide the tipping point, now that we have the connectivity (Boston) to take advantage of the tools (Philadelphia 2005) that starts the Revolution?
We can only wait to see what unfolds.
My day at ISTE includes an all too brief stop at EduBloggerCon, a stop in the Special Interest Group Leadership Meeting, and then attendance at TEDxPhillyEd. This promises to be a great day.