eTech09 Reflection Part 1
Posted by: Toby Fischer in Iphone, PD, etech09, future, issues, tags: etech09 technology reflectionI am very fortunate to have one of the largest technology conferences in the US only 15 minutes from my front door. The unfortunate part is the lack of technology available at this conference. We have some of the best minds in the country keynote every year. This year Wes Fryer was the opening keynote speaker. He brought a great message of bringing change into the educational world. With thousands of educators in the audience he tweeted a message that he was going to have a back channel open using chazzy. As the introductions were made, he chatted with those of use that were in the chat room. WOW, chatting with the keynote speaker 2 minutes before he walked on stage, this is cool use of technology. This could have been a powerful conversation, but!
There is no wireless Internet at this conference. Ok, there is a coffee shop with one small hotspot. The only people in this conversation were those of us with smart phones (as if I needed a reason to love my iPhone, it gave me another). What about all the people in the audience who could have benefited from the conversation?
So what does this mean? Every negative has a lesson. The lessons I learned are:
• Make sure you have the connectivity to support your audience. In schools, the wires, servers and other network hardware are more important than the computers. Feed your funds into the backbone of your network!
• It is productive to have a digital background conversation during a lecture. I was engaged in the lecture (which is what a keynote really is). Our students can text, chat, IM during class and be productive. There need to be rules and guidelines though. I need to ponder this one a bit more.
• Even the tech people evolve. A year ago I would have never said “let them use their cell phones I class.” This showed me as a learner how it can be done productively.
Those are lessons I have the ability to affect. One lesson I can’t affect is regarding eTech Ohio. I’ve been told for years about the dysfunction of eTech. This conference displays the dysfunction. Hopefully new leadership in the state of Ohio will bring new life to the governing body of technology in the state.
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February 12th, 2009 at 11:45 am
Toby!
You are absolutely right about the availability of internet at the conference. It very much helps us, the conference team, to hear your (and your colleagues) voices on this subject. Please know we value your input and participation in the conference. Continue the dialogue with us and feel free to share your suggestions on both content and logistics.
Thank you for attending and providing this valuable feedback. We’re working on it!
February 18th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
Will Fryer during his keynote asked how many people were on a laptop at the time. I think he was hoping to get something going in terms of a backchannel. I had to laugh at that as the conference center has very little wireless. What year is this?
I can’t imagine our conference is the only one that would be helped by having wireless access.
I can get free access at McD, my hotel, my coffee joint but not where the conference is happening.
What year is it?