On-Line Conference in PJs

The on-line conference I attended was

Leading the Change
Teaching Web 2.0 – Everything you need in one place

This on-line conference was presented by Wendy Drexler, a teacher and instructional technologist from St. Petersburg, Florida. The on-line conference was quite short and dealt with the site http://teachweb2.wikispaces.com/ which lists and reviews Web 2.0 tools.  The conference also included suggestions for getting a “revolution” started in one’s own school to see teaching in a new way and to use new tools to instruct our students.  One of the important pieces of advice she gives is to include skeptics in the revolution because “holdouts are our best critics and they get us thinking.”

After I attended the conference, I checked out the site and it is pretty awesome.  It lists a multitude of Web 2.0 tools and the reviews are incredibly helpful.  For each tool, users can write about the particular tool’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT).  This gives the educator a way to get to know what they are getting themselves into.  Some of the tools have quite a bit of information on it and others—not so much.  As Ms Drexler states, this is a collaborative site, so though it is monitored, the information comes from the actual users of the tools.  All are encouraged to contribute any information about the tools.  Agian—collaboration its best.

I liked the confernce, because I could watch it in my pjs.  Though the presentations were short, there was quite a bit of information included in it.  The presenter also gave her email address, skype name, and blog site so that the conference attendee could ask questions or make comments.  Of course, there was also a section on the K-12 On-Line Conference page to make comments.  Overall I thought this was great and I can’t wait to attend another conference.  I’m thinking of making it a point to attend at least one a week.  It is defintiely something worth sharing with other teachers, especially those who are reluctant to use teachnology in the classroom.

There are a number of advantages of attending the on-line conference, most important of all CONVENIENCE.  As is the mantra of Web 2.0—there are new ways to learn.  This is clearly one of them. The conferences are available anytime and anywhere.  Of course, there is something lost in not being there face to face.  And the energy of being in a room full of excited teachers is not present either, but when youlive on GUam and the nearest conference is thousands of miles away, this is the next best thing.