Illinois Technology Conference for Educators

Connective Writing

2011-10-06T13:23:00.000-05:00

Connective writing is an important part of communicating.

Thinking about language

2011-06-02T11:01:00.001-05:00

I read this great piece in the New York Times and it made me think.........

IL-TCE 2007

2007-02-12T14:21:00.001-06:00

If you still, by chance, have this site bookmarked as the IL-TCE blog site, then you need to change the link and go to the new site for IL-TCE 2007.

You may also join us on our NING site.

R.I.P.?

2006-06-12T17:42:00.000-05:00

Over two months and not a post in sight! Perhaps it's time to retire this blog and start thinking ahead to IL-TCE 2007, "Think Outside the Box and Wires". But before that happens, I'd like to put in a plug for IETC 2006 in Springfield, Illinois in November. I'll be there, as will others from IL-TCE. If you missed it at Pheasant Run, you can catch the updated version of my session, "Keep It Clean!" in Springfield. You can check my previous post, Illinois Technology Conference for Educators: Handouts and Follow-Up, for a preview.

Luke Allen

Lost and Found!

2006-04-05T13:59:00.000-05:00

What once was lost, now is found! At the ICE office we have 5 (FIVE!) pairs of glasses found at the conference, as well as a nice pair of gloves and some miscellaneous power adapters. If you are missing one of these items, please send me an email (bburke@iceberg.org) or else call the ICE office (630-628-1088). Thanks!

Room 132

2006-04-01T21:34:00.000-06:00

Room 132

While researching vlogging (video blogging), I discovered this fabulous example of how to use blogging in the classroom. I thought I'd pass it on...

Anyone else stumble upon any other good blogs lately, particularly ones used with students?

Lucy Gray

The Value of Follow-Up

2006-03-31T16:06:00.000-06:00

It was on a whim that I had decided to create a quick follow-up site for my session, "Keep it Clean!", at IL-TCE 2006. I figured a few people who had attended the session might use it rather than trying to remember or copy down the web resources I had been demonstrating. In the the last month since the conference the site has had 200 or more pageloads, including many from return visitors. I was also surprised to see hits from California, Canada and Denmark. I guess it just goes to show you that a little follow-up can go a long way.

If you want to see the results for yourself, go to the site, Keep It Clean! and click on the "View my stats" link.

Luke Allen

The Competitive Voice

2006-03-25T20:32:00.000-06:00

With the rapid rise of digital storytelling as evidenced by the amount of play the process is getting at conferences and in the blogosphere, I've decided to fire up The Competitive Voice again. I'll be posting short posts about my perspectives about the process, while continuing to post other tech-related posts at The Strength of Weak Ties.

The Competitive Voice can be accessed here.

An Introductory Digital Storytelling Project

2006-03-23T19:19:00.000-06:00

Anyone who reads my blog knows I'm a big fan of Flickr and of digital storytelling. I'd like to share a project that one of our health teachers, Mr. Ted Glazier is doing with his sophomore health students. Ted's work has been featured before in this blog, and in David Warlick's.

Before I talk about the project, let me examine two criticisms of a digital storytelling project like this that takes advantage of the Web's best collection of digital photography.

1. it takes too long, and I don't have the time
2. Flickr is inappropriate for use in schools

Well, if you are concerned about time, especially as it relates to meeting curricular standards that are associated with high-stakes testing, go on to the next entry in your aggregator. However, you actually might want to stick around, because I'll be talking about basically a four period digital storytelling project, where a period is a 50 minute class.

And if you can't use Flickr in your district or you don't think it's appropriate, then you might want to move on. But wait-maybe not. I'll be talking about a resource of images, selected by the teacher, which students select from. Okay, here's the project.

It's called: Putting a Face on Statistics

Ted teaches about addictions and he talks about escalating drug use, and that entry level drugs (alcohol, marijuana) can lead to even more serious addicitions. The project began with kids doing some Flicktion. If you don't know about this, it's the intersection of Flickr images and fiction (see the Flicktion images I have selected on my Flickr page at JOL). People post a starter sentence in the comments window of a Flickr image, and others continue the story through the addition of more comments. We didn't do that, we simply showed this image (if you can't get it at school, be sure to look at home-it's heart-wrenching and one of the comments indicates that this person may have been a teacher) and had kids develop a story about the image. We did this to help them understand how to interpret a digital image to tell a story, a skill that will serve them well in the next part of the project. And we got great stuff.

So, the kids have researched these addictions previously as part of another assignment and have written a short paper on these. From this paper they will distill a 6-7 sentence script, and use about 10 images from the pool Ted has selected and that are delivered via a shared class folder on our network. The pool contains about 40 images-we decided not to wait for someone to develop an educational app for Flickr, we just did this simple thing ourselves. They then will use Photostory 3 to build a very simple digital story where they will include two slides of statistics, 10 images from the pool, onboard music from Photostory 3, and their voice that will tell the story of the addiction and the statitics, but now with a visual face.

It will be interesting to see how the same images get used in different ways.

The kids will then, as homework, be required to engage in a metacognitive evaluation of why they selected the images that they did.

All images selected for the shared photo resource have come from the attribution pool of Flickr. Ted saved the images, and when he did, he added the name of the photographer (Flickr screen name) so the kids can include an attribution image in their project. By doing this, Ted can also teach them about intellectual property rights and creative commons licensing.

We'll also be able to share them.

Writing. More writing. Critical Thinking. Composition. Visual Literacy. Empowering Creativity. Understanding intellectual property rights. Learning new software, that can be downloaded and used for other projects and for personal use to encourage the development of individual voice, and in fact, a competitive voice.

An appropriate use of digital storytelling that addresses the time issue? Yes. A safe use of Flickr that takes advantage of high quality imagery? Yes. A project filled with essential skills-YES! (don't look now-how many of these skills transfer to standardized testing?)

Good teaching? Absolutely.

Between the lines: Network neutrality

2006-03-14T22:30:00.000-06:00

Between the lines of the presentations I heard in which presenters dealt with the nature of information and information access in the future was an assumption: Having Internet access will allow a person to take advantage of all kinds of information and communication opportunities and we need to create learning opportunities for students that take this into account. However, if broadband companies have their way, when the Congress rewrites the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the concept of network neutrality--that the networks carrying the traffic of the Internet are non-discriminatory with regards to content--will be absent from the law. Instead, broadband companies will be able to charge the content providers for giving their content priority carriage on the providers' networks.

The idea is not that broadband providers will charge you for higher bandwidth connections and access to premium content--they already do that and will continue in the future. Rather, Comcast or SBC or Verizon will charge Google or CNN or Britannica Online for priority use of their networks. Think about it: In this scenario--the so-called "tiered service" model--if the Wikimedia Foundation can't pay up, your ability to connect to the Wikipedia could be limited because the provider could allocate a larger fraction of its bandwidth to other, paying, content or service providers. Streaming video from Disney or Viacom or Fox could be given preferential treatment over Wikipedia, your local newspaper, your favorite blogger, or your school's website. It's not that these sites would be blocked outright, but rather that they would be coming to you over what amounts to a slower connection. If this bandwidth limitation is significant enough, though, the practical result is that your use of the site is hindered. You have to wait. And you know what we all do when the wait is too long. Right, we stop waiting and click to somewhere else.

The question we, as educators (and consumers), need to ask is "From where does the content we value come?" If it comes from the big content providers, then we should join the baby Bells and cable companies, who are largely opponents of network neutrality, and lobby for excluding this principle from telecom legislation. If on the other hand, we believe that the value of the Internet comes from the Long Tail--those millions of smaller content creators comprising independent publishers, schools, universities, non-profits, and individuals (like David, Will, and Susim and Susan to mention only a few--who probably won't be able to pay for access to the fast lane of the Internet, then we should align ourselves with content providers and creators who, by and large, support writing the principle of network neutrality into law. We should lobby our representatives (soon!) to tell them how important it is to us that the plumbing of the Internet continue to be content agnostic.

Here are just a few starting points to learn more:

Wikipedia article on Network neutrality
Washington Post: A Gated Internet: The companies who build and control the Internet's pipes want to control the content over those pipes, too.".
CNET: "Without 'Net Net neutrality,' will consumers pay twice?".
Washington Post: Verizon Executive Calls for End to Google's 'Free Lunch'.

A quick Google search will turn up a bunch more.

Technology Integration Workshops at Harper High School

2006-03-13T21:01:00.000-06:00

For the past three months I've been experimenting with Wiki spaces, so when I saw that the Conference had a number of workshops I jumped at the opportunity to listen and learn. I attended Charlene's, Will's, and David's presentations, and all included discussion of wikis. I'm not given a lot of PD time by my administration, but last Thursday, I had the entire 2 hours of in-service time for Technology Integration, so I set up workshops (password: harper) that I had hoped would interest the staff. I enlisted the aid of those teachers at Harper who have been using technology in their lessons. I asked them to share their expertise with their colleagues. I ran one of the workshops and focused on wikis. I borrowed from Will Richardson and began with Wikipedia and then had all 8 teachers who signed up for my workshop create a Backpackit account. Some of the teachers who would have taken the workshop were facilitating in other labs in our school, so my group was small. Several wanted to know what they could do with wikis? But a few were fascinated by its simplicity and how it archives all changes. Generally, the feedback that I received was very positive. All the workshops were engaging and gave even novices (we have an embarrassing sizeable number of tech novices) an opportunity to find a level of comfort at the computer. Unfortunately, technology based in-service time is usually no more than 3 hours per school year. My Administration doesn't quite get the correlation between technology and all other aspects of education in the 21st century.

More on Wikis, Collaborating and Conversing ...

2006-03-11T09:33:00.001-06:00

In my breakout session on Social Technologies for the Classroom, I presented the idea of collaborating in a Wiki, using the very easy to create PBWiki.. For this session I created a "Classroom Ideas" wiki, to provide a place for those attending the session to continue the conversation (see Lisa Toulon's post below) by posting ideas and thoughts for classroom use of social technologies. It's been a week since our conference, and this too, seems to be a "Wiki Wasteland" (see Dave Jake's post below).

There is a long list of contributors (68) to this blog (see the sidebar), but not everyone has posted ideas or thoughts here either. There are people paying attention, as the stats at the bottom show over 2500 hits! But, it seems that this is currently only a spectator sport. Dave is "right on" in his statement that "more work needs to be done in preparing teachers to become collaborators."

At Adlai E. Stevenson High School, we are "known" to be a model of a "Professional Learning Community." As such, more than 100 visitors come to our campus each month. This did not happen overnight. We work extremely hard to maintain a collaborative environment. We are committed to contributing to high-performing collaborative teams. But, even here, while we are doing great things collaborating within, only a handful of us are extending our conversations into public online forums. Don't get me wrong, many of us have contacts beyond Stevenson, and continue to share and draw from others in our respective "fields." But even so, the public forums of blogs and wikis are not always present in the conversations.

So, let's do it here! I challenge all readers of this blog to join the conversation! Add your comments to this forum. Visit Dave's wikis, or the "Classroom Ideas" wiki. Be a part of the conversation.. not just a spectator!

Wiki Wasteland?

2006-03-08T21:50:00.000-06:00

At the recent IL-TCE conference, I had the opportunity to present on Flickr and the classroom use of wikis. For both presentations, I created wiki pages to give participants a venue for contribution and collaboration about these topics while at the conference and after the conference. My intent was to take advantage of the enormous expertise that was present in the audience (cumulatively, about 350 people in three presentations) to extend the conference experience, and begin building community. I also posted the wiki addresses on my weekly Techlearning.com blog entry to invite their readership to contribute as well.

I got one response. Thanks, Charlene.

I was certainly disappointed but I guess the outcome should not have been unexpected. Wikis are new-not many in my presentations knew what they were or how they worked. So, I think this might be how it has to start-you've got to throw it out there, get it in front of people, and see what happens. And do it again.

The potential power of the tool to take advantage of what we know collectively, and share it for the benefit of all, is compelling. Yet more work needs to be done in preparing teachers to become collaborators. I sometimes think that this is an unnatural behavior, or act, for many educators, especially those in the secondary arena. As a former high school teacher myself, it was difficult to work together-how many hurdles do teachers face on a daily basis that prevent collaboration? Schools aren't exactly set up for that, are they? So, perhaps a digital environment that is available on a 24/7 asynchronous basis might address this issue.

IL-TCE offered a blog for the first time this year and invited many to contribute. That was a powerful first step-and it was very successful. How many will contribute next year? And even more important, how many posts will be made to the blog after the conference this year? We'll have to see.

What if the conference organizers were to add a conference wiki next year? After the numerous presentations on the topic this year, people may be ready to begin contributing next year.

The sooner teachers do, the sooner the tool will be in the hands of the kids.

The Strength of Weak Ties

2006-03-08T12:32:00.000-06:00

The Strength of Weak Ties

Education is a Conversation not a Monolog

2006-03-07T12:10:00.000-06:00

On January 16th, I ordered the book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms from Amazon. I have been anxiously waiting its arrival as I am very interested in these topics. Imagine my suprise when the author, Will Richardson, was scheduled to present at IL-TCE. I had never heard him speak before so I decided to go to his first presentation "The New Read/Write Web: Transforming the Classroom". I loved it so much I decided to stay for his second presentation "What's up with Wikis?" For both of these presentations, he has a website with support material at http://webloggedlinks.pbwiki.com/. As an educator who practices what he preaches, this is created using a wiki, of course. (pbwiki)

There was so much great information that I have decided to just list comments which he made which resonated with me:

Education is a conversation not a monolog. (I think this is my newest favorite quote.)
Teachers will say "publish it" not "hand it in".
Just because we don't get MySpace, it will not stop students from using it. (as a mother of 2 teenagers, this hit home)
Wikipedia is a passonate community contributing to a resource.

Thanks, Will, for an enlightening day. Still waiting for my book... Guess I should of ordered it directly from you instead of Amazon!

Comments from a teacher

2006-03-07T08:34:00.000-06:00

Hi!

Just finished up! Today was so incredible. I got so many ideas and
I'm SO glad I'm going back tomorrow because I didn't get to half of
the vendor booths I wanted to, or any of the poster presentations.
There are some great ones tomorrow! I wrapped myself up in the
breakouts today and found an awesome use for PPT/kidpix that I'm
going to try and use for my Unit Framework on Animal REsearch. It'
s SOOOOO COOL.

Thanks for giving me this wonderful opportunity!

Technorati Tag Generator - Dashboard - Blogs & Forums

2006-03-06T19:43:00.002-06:00

Technorati Tag Generator - Dashboard - Blogs & Forums

Earlier in this blog, I was pondering adding Technorati tags to blog posts. Here's a widget that generates the code that you just paste into your post. Very handy!

Handouts and Follow-Up

2006-03-06T12:26:00.000-06:00

For those who attended my session, "Keep It Clean!", and for those who wish they could have attended, the handout is available on the IL-TCE site, or you can use the direct link here. Keep It Clean!

The follow-up website is also up and running now and can be found here... Keep It Clean!

There's a chance this site may be blocked in your school districts as it is hosted on a free public server and I'm too cheap to pay for a regular web-hosting service. In any event, I hope you find it useful!

Luke Allen

Thanks to All

2006-03-06T10:15:00.000-06:00

It's Monday and I've had time to digest the events of last week! What a conference!

I'd like to first thank all of the conference volunteers. I helped coordinating volunteer efforts, and I was so pleased with the collective effort of such a great group of people. Community service is an essential component in making organizations like ICE thrive, and I really appreciate the enthusiasm of our volunteers!

The dedication of our volunteers made me reminisce this week. Their efforts reminded me of Pat Tomasek, the woman who first introduced me to ICE circa 1995. Pat was the kind of person who threw herself into everything that she did, and she particularly loved volunteering for Illinois Computing Educators. She had seemingly unlimited energy and understood the power of community service. I will always be grateful to Pat for introducing technology and ICE to me. She set the standard for living life to the fullest and I miss her presence dearly as she passed on about four years ago.

For me personally, this conference was all about connections. I could not walk from one end of Pheasant Run to the other without running into someone I knew and invariably, I stopped to chat. It was great to meet volunteers that I had only corresponded with via email as well as chat former colleagues from the Web Institute for Teachers, former students from NLU, colleagues from previous schools, a vendor or two, and other Apple Distinguished Educators. I guess I hadn't realized how many relationships I have formed over the years and I liked catching up with people.

Most people probably do not realize how busy conference committee members are during the conference. I think it's fair to say, at least in my case, that we do not get to see a lot of sessions. Thursday was completely hectic for me and as much as I wanted to see Will Richardson and Tim Lauer amongst other speakers, I realized that I probably will be able to catch them at NECC. I also read their blogs on a regular basis. Thursday was just an overwhelming day for me with the start of the conference and two presentations of my own.

On Thursday, I particularly enjoyed a conversation with audience members after my RSS presentation. We got on the topic of MySpace and how schools are handling the latest rage among younger people. I think we are going to hear more and more about this in conferences to come.

Also, during the course of many conversations with other Illinois teachers during the past few months, not just at IL-TCE, I have become aware of alarming trends that make me appreciate my current position teaching in a private school. I've heard stories related to funding.... teachers not allowed to travel to out of state conferences.....technology no longer being a priority due to budget restraints....blogs being completely blocked at schools... computers locked down to limit student access.... schools that used to be cutting edge with tech and now are sorely lacking technology-wise. It's sad for me to hear these stories, but I'm also encouraged that so many teachers clearly believe in the power of technology as evidenced by IL-TCE attendees and presenters. I think it's important that we carry a message back to our schools that technology empowers our kids and that it is vital that we teach them to harness emerging technologies in a meaningful and positive way.

On Friday, I did get to attend a couple of sessions. I heard part of David Warlick's keynote and attended his accompanying session, Riding the Edge of the Wave. He did a much better job of explaining RSS than I did in my preso, and I liked the newaggregator, NewsFire, that he demonstrated. I also learned that you can drag and drop an RSS button into certain news aggregators to subscribe to that feed. This method works with my newsreader of choice, NetNewWire. Usually I just click on a blue Safari RSS button and I'm subscribed via NetNewsWire. I have NetNewsWire set as my default newsreader via my Safari preferences. Sorry if I just lost you... you should try RSS and find out what all the fuss is about!

I also had a chance to see Tony Vincent and he had a very engaging presentation style and a great PowerPoint presentation. He kept it very simple with great graphics. I think he must be a fan of Presentation Zen.

After the conference ended, I saw Tony and David intently huddled over their laptops about five feet away from each other in the elevator area of Pheasant Run. In hindsight, I wonder if they were iChatting with each other... I read in this blog that David had a chance to mingle with Tony and Tammy Worcester aprés conference. Maybe they sat their chatting with each other via instant messaging just like many of our students do, I suspect! :)

And finally, I am very pleased with the level of participation in this blog. As I write this, we have had almost 2200 hits on this blog, 45 posts and approximately 70 people signed up in order to contribute to the blog. Thank you to all who posted, particularly all the presenters who gave another dimension to the conference experience by adding their thoughts and links. Keep the conversation going... this blog does not have to come to a standstill now that the conference is over.

Remember that next year's theme is Thinking Outside the Box and Wires... and hopefuly we'll see some of you at the National Educational Computing Conference in San Diego this July!

technorati tags : iltce

Handouts and Observations

2006-03-05T15:18:00.000-06:00

What a wonderful conference! Congratulations to all involved, from planning to technology support, to the awesome network, to the wonderful participants SO full of energy, enthusiasm and expertise!

My sessions were full of passionate educators who are eager to learn and to share, thank you all so much for sharing with me. I have posted materials from my sessions "Early Reading and the Net" and "My Word, What's the Point of PowerPoint?" on my website for those participants who couldn't move the files via flashdrive. In addition, I have posted a few more samples there too.

Go to www.GailLovely.com and then select the "Resources" tab. The newest resources are all labeled as NEW!

Enjoy, and thanks again for a wonderful conference!

Gail Lovely
glovely@aol.com

New Guy Walkin'

2006-03-05T13:52:00.000-06:00

That's what I was, for just under a week.

But rarely did anyone make me feel like it. My deepest thanks to Mindy, Luke, Christine and everyone on the tech staff for the opportunities. A couple of brief observations:

Friday morning it occurred to me for the first time, as I loaded my car prior to check out, that I hadn't been outside for more than a minute in just under a week.
It was a hugely energizing pleasure to be surrounded by people passionate about what they were doing, and to work with people who only know one speed -- full tilt boogie; who don't stop to worry about the extra workload before offering to take on a task in the quest for better customer service, and the simple goal of just doing the job right.
Have you ever been to a major museum or an amusement park and spent the entire day completely immersed in the experience, having a blast, only to find out after you got home that there was an entire wing of the museum, or three awesome rides you missed? Thanks Lucy for the pictures! But that's what they did for me. There are rooms pictured in them that I never even saw, people I didn't meet, and more reasons to come back next year.

My thanks to one and all.

Butch Wilson

David Warlick's podcasts

2006-03-04T15:12:00.000-06:00

I, too, would like to thank all the good people who go into into making IL-TCE such a wonderful experience: presenters, speakers, volunteers, vendors, AND attendees! If you liked what you heard from David Warlick on Friday and would like to hear some more just go the the iTunes music store and do a search on "Warlick."
--Joe

Behind the Scenes

2006-03-04T14:28:00.000-06:00

On behalf of the "Red Shirts", I want to publicly acknowledge two people who really play a major role in giving focus and direction to our efforts at IL-TCE. Not many conference attendees are aware of the amount of coordination it requires to make sure that everything is in the right place at the right time and working properly. Chris and Mike have had the task of managing the on-site duties of the Tech Support crew for several years now and the simple fact that they are so well organized makes the rest of us who are dealing more directly with presenters and attendees look good. It's because of the dedication of people like them that my task of recruiting tech staff is such an easy one.

Thanks, Chris and Mike!

Geeky?

2006-03-04T12:48:00.000-06:00

I enjoyed being "stuck" at the Pheasant Run Resort with David Warlick and Tammy Worcester. After conference-goers went along their merry ways, the three of us had time to spare before our rides to the airport fetched us. We chatted about travel experiences, luggage, podcasting, television, and how much we adore the IL-TCE. Each of us considered the conference to be outstanding.

My car arrived before David and Tammy's, so I sported my ScottEVest jacket before braving the elements. I happened to show Dave that my jacket has built-in cord management and plenty of pockets for my iPod, handheld, and other essential gear for an airport expedition. David confirmed what I’ve always suspected. He blurted out, “Tony, you really are a geek!” with a chuckle. If being a geek means that I have my electronic tools and information constantly within arm’s reach, then I'm a very proud geek.

ILTCE Photos

2006-03-03T20:23:00.000-06:00

Photos

Hi All -

Click on the link above to view photos from the conference.

I plan on adding my reflections to this blog as soon as I recover from all the excitement of this week. I am TIRED!

It's still not too late to join the blog... in fact, it's a great time to join the blog, so that we can continue the conversation. Think of this as an ongoing professional development tool. And... those of you too shy to post, be brave and share with us your reflections! To join the blog, shoot me an email at lgray@ucls.uchicago.edu and I'll issue you an invitation.

Thanks for the...um...Blogeries

2006-03-03T14:50:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to say how much fun it was to be able to meet so many of you and have some great conversations about blogs and wikis and all these other neat tools for teachers and students. Thanks for letting me be a part of it. But I wish someone would have told me that according to the Trib, blogs are already on their way out. So much for coming back next year. ;0)

I keep thinking something about Dewey and Truman...

Best, Will Richardson

PS...Go Cubs!

Illinois Technology Conference for Educators

2006-03-03T00:24:00.000-06:00

Illinois Technology Conference for Educators
IL-TCE
Oh, we're exhausted now. I arrived last night, too late for the kickoff reception, but just in time for a rousing post-reception party at the atrium bar. The synchronicity of computing educators and water garden designers/installers led to some interesting conversation at the old watering hole.

We were up early, to work off our fees as volunteers, greeting conference-goers at the door and sending them of in the general directin of breakfast. Such a pleasure to greet the ICE bunch, even when they are half awake (or was it me, half awake).

The IL-TCE leaders and committees have done such a fine job of lining up presenters, that I couldn't decide which to attend each session. Not only that, but I never got to the exhibit floor until 4pm, just in time to visit 3 or 4 booths before the lights went out.

The most exciting presentations I attended were Susan Chaplik's "WebQuest Makeover". I can't wait to show my teachers how to use Bernie Dodge's web site to get those webquests up and running fast and free.

The other great one was Patti Fleser's "Web Based Tools for ESL/ELL Students". Her web site at Highland Park HS is a treasure trove of resources for both students and their teachers. I can't wait to point my students to the great skill-building games she has rounded up.

The free resources I've learned about in these two workshops would pay for my registration, if I hadn't already worked it off!

Overheard: They thought they knew everything about Word and PowerPoint, but Gail Lovely wowed them with her presentation on unique ways to use them in the classroom.

I really, really have to go to bed earlier tonight, so I have the stamina for another day of all this enrichment and empowerment.

Reflections from the first day.

2006-03-02T22:10:00.000-06:00

This was one fantastic day. From Chris Dede's keynote all the way through the DEN reception to close the day off, IL-TCE was just one great experience after another.

To be honest, this conference was like a homecoming for me. I've been to quite a few conferences in the last few months and ICE definitely has a different flavor to it. It may not be the biggest conference in the country, but it more than makes up for it in quality. There was a ton of great sharing going on, both inside the conference rooms and in halls, lounges and lunch tables.

Personal highlights? Seeing some of my old co-workers from BZAEDS and finding out that Faith Shabat (lower school technology) won one of the video awards! Meeting Tim Lauer face to face for the first time was also a hilghlight since I'm a huge fan of what he's been doing. I didn't get to attend his workshops, but I heard great things from those who did. I also met Meg Ormiston face to face finally, when I popped in to do a quick little podcasting overview for the administrators she was bombarding during her full day hands on workshop. Gotta tell you, that group of administrators looked like they were having WAY too much fun. Lest I forget, I also got a chance to chat with Will Richardson for a few minutes between sessions. Bought a copy of his new book and had him sign it for my 'friend' who happens to be named Steve. What a coincidence, eh?

Too be honest, looking back on the day I realize that most of the highlights were the conversations that occurred throughout the day as I met people in the hall or at the lounge and heard what exciting session they had just attended. Or what speaker just blew their mind (I heard a ton of great stuff about David Jakes' session on wikis). Regardless, it was really the connections being made between educators that highlighted the entire day for me.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend most of the day tomorrow. I'm going to pop in to catch David Warlick's keynote and then I'm going to have to leave. But I have to admit, the IL-TCE crew did an amazing job once again. Fantastic and energizing way to spend the day. Unfortunately I've got so many ideas buzzing around my head that I don't think I'll ever be able to get to sleep!

Well, if you are attending any workshops tomorrow, do me a little favor... Blog about them!

See you next year!

Apple - iLife - iPhoto - Photocasting

2006-03-02T17:31:00.000-06:00

Apple - iLife - iPhoto - Photocasting

For those of you out there who are into subscribing to RSS feeds, try taking a peek at my ILTCE photocast. While photocasting is something new to Apple's iPhoto, subscribing to the feed is crossplatform. I have been taking pictures around the conference which will be published in this feed:

http://photocast.mac.com/lucygray1/iPhoto/il-tce-photos/index.rss

Copy and paste the above link into your favorite news aggregator (aka a news reader) and you will see the pictures I've taken. Try Bloglines for example.

Lucy's Handouts

2006-03-02T12:26:00.000-06:00

Handouts

Hey everyone -

For those of you attending my session on RSS, here's the link to my handouts. The link on the presenter handout page was not working earlier, so try this!

I hope everyone is having fun... I'll have some pictures up on Flickr later.

Lucy Gray

Can't get enough of the blogging sessions at IL-TCE

2006-03-02T11:18:00.000-06:00

I know, I know, I really don't need to attend any more sessions about blogging. I think I have a pretty passable understanding of how blogs work and such. However, I had to attend this presentation. Susan Switzer and Susim Munshi both work for the Chicago Public School system and are sharing their experiences with blogs and how they feel blogs are revolutionizing the world of education.

They shared quite a few stastics from the Pew study that many bloggers refer to on a regular basis. From there, they did a good overview of the different needs that schools are faced with that can be addressed with blogging. I really liked the fact that he made point of saying that the entire process begins with reading. You must learn to walk before you learn to run.

"The nature of a blog is to build community" He suggests that schools leave the visibility open (don't keep it behind the firewall) and restrict the comments to registered members. However, be sure to provide an email link to the moderator so that outsiders have an avenue through which they can join the conversation. Part of the power fo making learning visible to the outside world is allowing visitors to participate, albeit in a controlled manner.

I just spent a few moments exploring their site, Learn2Blog. They have some great resources there, well worth exploring. In particular, the Activities section looks like a great pracitcal way for many teachers to get started.

Lots of people buzzing as they leave the room. I wish I had thought to grab a photo, but I thought it was pretty darn funny how many people were creating blogs on Blogger during the presentation itself. On a related note, the wifi that I've experienced today has been exceptional. Major kudos for ICE (and whoever is providing it obviously) for that.

got Wikis and Flickr

2006-03-02T08:14:00.000-06:00

Welcome to IL-TCE 2006!

What a great lineup of keynote, spotlight and breakout speakers. My contribution to the conference will be two sessions, one entitled got wikis? and the other Using Flickr in the Classroom. I'll be presenting both today and then the wiki presentation on Friday.

I've got resources posted on my website for both presentations. got wiki? resources are here, and you can access Flickr resources here.

I've also posted wiki pages about both presentations, so if you have used a wiki before or would like to learn how, visit the wiki pages and contribute your ideas about flickr and the use of wikis in the classroom. In addition to this blog, it's another way to learn from each other and extend the conference experience.

Finally, check out my post in the Techlearning.com blog today that addresses "The Changing Face of the Conference."

I'm looking forward to meeting many of you and have a great conference!

Participate!

2006-03-02T06:20:00.000-06:00

Don't forget that you can contribute to the conference blog! To join the blog, send me an email and I'll issue an invitation from Blogger. Be aware that I will be issuing updates as soon as possible, but there may be a slight delay as I'm running around the conference today in various roles today!

Thanks,

Lucy Gray
lgray@ucls.uchicago.edu

Read, Write, and Blog

2006-03-01T20:15:00.000-06:00

I had the pleasure of spending the day with Susim Munshi and Susan Switzer at their Read, Write, and Blog workshop. They have a wonderful support website using 21publish.com at http://learn2blog.21publish.com/ Excellent blog examples are included under the Blog List drop down menu - see "Learning from Reading Blogs" and "Learning from Participation in Blogs". Also under the Blog List, are some Case Studies. These are scenerios which will be very familiar to teachers. Questions are listed below each to guide the teacher in utilizing blogs with a more constructivist approach to teaching and learning. We then got the opportunity to explore a free blogging publishing community called 21publish. Individual student blogs can be set up under a main umbrella blog like the North River School Blogs or topics for students to comment on like the Learn2Blog site.

Thanks for a wonderful day Susim and Susan.

Technorati Tags: conferences, IL-TCE, blogs

Happy Birthday ICE! - It's our 20th birthday!

2006-03-01T18:43:00.000-06:00

Another great day of full day workshops has ended with a birthday party for ICE. ICE is now beginning its 20th year. Over 150 exhibitors partied with all the attendees tonight at the IL-TCE 2006 Kick Off reception. Raffle prizes were won, appetizers and caker were enjoyed by all.

Conference tote bags and programs will be available to all registered attendees in the Expo Center lobby on Thursday morning. If you A continental breakfast will be available in the Atrium.

Join us in Salon 11 at 8 AM for announcements and the Keynote presentation by Chris Dede.

Check out the large "At a Glance" posters in the Registration lobby and Atrium to see all the updates to the schedule. There are some additions and cancelations. The exhibit hall will be open at 9:30 AM and sessions are available all day throughout the conference center. Volunteers and maps are available to help you find the rooms.

Join us at the Kick Off Reception Wed at 3:30 PM

2006-02-28T17:14:00.000-06:00

The conference is well underway. There was a whole lot of learning going on today in the full day workshops. We were blogging, creating moodles, songs, digital stories, digital tools, surfing great resources, learning about excel, forms, adobe, how to improve websites, solving mysteries and so much more. Thanks to all the tech staff who installed and set up all the computers and solved those tech issues and the volunteers who helped stuff the conference bags, and set up the registration area today. Wednesday will be more full day workshops. Don't forget to join us in the Exhibit Hall for our Kick Off reception from 3:30 PM to 5;30 PM. Come celebrate ICE's 20th birthday will appetizers, birthday cake and a chance to visit with the exhibitors. You can also pick up your conference bag and program to start planning your Thursday an Friday choices. Please check back here and check the large at a glance charts that will be around the conference center for any changes.

Do you feel that 'buzz'?

2006-02-28T07:58:00.000-06:00

It's 8:00am in beautiful, historic, St. Charles Illinois (I'm not sure what specifically is historic about it, but there must be something). It's quiet right now, but in half an hour this convention center will be buzzing with the sounds of keyboards clacking, mice double clicking and most of all, educators learning.

Today kicks off the first pre-conference day of the IL-TCE conference. I'll be presenting a full day workshop about getting started in the world of blogging. This is actually going to be my first time on the 'other side' of the projector, as a presenter rather than an attendee. Considering how many years I've been going to ICE and how much I enjoy it, I can't help but wonder why I never signed up to present before. Regardless, this will be a rather fun way to kick the conference off. An entire day devoted to blogs, aggregators, RSS and a few surprises here and there.

What's also amazing is how well the blogging community is represented amongst the keynote and spotlight speakers. David Warlick, Will Richardson, Tim Lauer, Tony Vincent and the team of Susim Munshi and Susan Switzer are all highlighted speakers who are either well known for their blogging endeavors or addressing blogging directly in their presentations. Certainly a timely subject.

Enjoy the conference, more to come!

There's lots to like about handheld computing!

2006-02-26T15:09:00.000-06:00

You're probably familiar with the notion of providing students with handheld computers as a way to achieve a 1 student to 1 computer ratio. Common reasons for equipping students with handheld computers are their affordability, mobility, reliability, versatility, accessibility, and usability. It's no secret that I, Tony Vincent, like handhelds, but I will give you other reasons (and none of them contain the suffix -ity) why I'm enamored with handheld computing in schools. I will present I Like Handhelds Because.. Friday at 9:45 and 11:45 in the New Orleans Ballroom. I will convince you that tiny computers running the Palm and Windows Mobile operating systems are full-blooded computers that can improve learning. I've designed the presentation so that whether you've never touched a handheld before or if you are an avid user, you'll learn about software and activities that motivate and engage students of all ages.

Oh, and if you bring your Palm handheld to the conference Friday, I'll fill it with all sorts of goodies!

Technorati Help: Tags

2006-02-26T13:33:00.000-06:00

Technorati Help: Tags

This post is for newbies! Technorati is a blog search engine. If you tag (assign categories) to a blog post, people can find your blog in Technorati. See Tim Lauer's post below as well as David Warlick's post preceding that.

For instance, if everyone that writes about IL-TCE in their own blog added the tag "il-tce" to the post, then interested people could search on Technorati using the term "il-tce and find all relevant posts. You can add multiple tags to posts, by the way. Neato! So to repeat David's suggestion, use the il-tce tag if you blog about the conference!

After reading Tim's post, I was curious as to how one actually put a Technorati tag in their blog. Click on the link above for instructions from Technorati. Perhaps the tagging gurus at IL-TCE will explain this better this week!

In the meantime, here's a homework assignment for you:

Visit Technorati and do a search using the tag "teachers" (or another tag of your choice) and see what you come up with!

Program Changes for Thursday and Friday

2006-02-26T09:33:00.000-06:00

Please make a note of the following program changes.
Check out the online and searchable schedule for more information on the sessions added below.

Thursday, March 2
Poster Session added - 2:45 PM Table 1
Title: 5 Year Report, 5-Year Plan - Mac OS X in Education
Presenter: Dean Shavit, Mac Tech Magazine Columnist

Thursday, March 2
Poster Session added - 2:45 PM Table 6
Title: Web Quest and Bronzeville Project: Chicago's Neighborhoods and Landmarks
Presenter: Rita Dunn

Thursday, March 2
Poster Session cancelled - 2:45 PM Table 2
Title: Using your student recording system to create workflow databases
Presenter:Â Ellen Chappe

Friday, March 3
General Session cancelled-Â 11:45 AM - Broadway C
Title: Am I ready for an Online Degree?
Presenter: Dr. Eileen Gallagher

Friday, March 3
General Session added - 11:45 AM - Broadway C:
Title: Passage to Adventure: Using eZediaMXÂ®
Presenter: David Spearman

Friday, March 3
General Session change:
1:45 PM - Saphire room
Presenters: Bonnie Thurber and Gary Greenberg
Title: Safe Social Bookmarking: a Personal Knowledge Management Tool
changed to
Title: Preparing High Quality Teachers: Online Ongoing Professional Development in the Collaboratory

Sharing our Work With Our Communities

2006-02-26T08:51:00.000-06:00

I am very happy to have been asked to participate in IL-TCE, and look forward to the opportunity to meet, and learn from, teachers and administrators attending the event.

My workshop, and my talks, at this years IL-TCE will focus on how schools can utilize Web 2.0 technologies to tell their stories, old and new, utilizing the web to facilitate this conversation. Tools such as Word Press, Instiki, Flickr, del.icio.us, Google Earth, and RSS now make it very easy for educators to inform and enliven their instruction and to communicate about that work. From my experience, there is exciting and powerful work taking place in schools throughout the world. Web 2.0 technologies give teachers, principals and and superintendents, the power to share learning resources and ideas, and the opportunity to tell their stories.

Technorati Tags: conferences, IL-TCE, Tim Lauer

Social Technologies for the Classroom?

2006-02-26T01:43:00.000-06:00

On Thursday (10:45, Broadway C) , I will be presenting "Social Technologies for the Classroom?" We will explore some of the popular Web 2.0 'social technologies' such as Furl, del.icio.us, Flickr, Wikipedia, and Writley. Discover how these might be used in your classroom.

Participants will be invited to share their ideas beyond the session using a wiki at: http://il-tce.pbwiki.com/Classroom_ideas.

Resources for this session will also be posted on the web at: http://homepage.mac.com/charlenechausis/social_technologies.html.

Technorati Tags: conferences, IL-TCE, Charlene Chausis

Telling the New Story

2006-02-25T09:15:00.000-06:00

It will be a pleasure to return to Pheasant Run Resort, and to see lots of old friends and make some new ones. This year, I will be talking about stories -- big stories -- the stories that we tell and retell about classrooms. These old stories owe their roots to a bygone time, yet they continue to paint our vision of schools and schooling. The old stories tell of seats in rows, stacks of textbooks, compartmentalized subjects, and an information-scarce world where gatekeepers control the content, and it flows in only one direction.

In this year's keynote address, I will suggest some new stories, the issues they must address, and how we might start to tell them. If we believe that we need a new kind of learning, a new kind of teaching, new classrooms, and forms of assessment, then we need to go out and tell a new story -- one that is so compelling that it will force people to forget about their classroom experiences from decades ago.

Come by and say, "Hi!"

Technorati Tags: education, il-tce, stories

The Read/Write Web in Education

2006-02-25T07:36:00.000-06:00

First let me say this blog is a GREAT idea and just one more sign that we're all starting to understand the many changes that the Web has in store for our classrooms, our students and our practice. I'm really looking forward during my presentations on Thursday to having a conversation about those changes and the potentials that I see for us all now that we can easily create and share information and content with wide audiences. There is so much we can learn from one another when we become a part of a community of learners and practitioners using the tools like blogs, wikis, podcasts, RSS, social bookmarks and others. They are truly transformative in the ways they connect people, content and ideas, and I'm really hoping to articulate that promise when we meet this week.

Having said that, I'm envious that the rest of you will get to see Tim Lauer and David Warlick and Tony Vincent and the other great speakers who will be teaching about these ideas as well. I've learned a great deal from reading their blogs and following their work, and I always love to see and hear them in person. So I guess the big question is, is anyone blogging their sessions???

Looking forward to a great week...
Will Richardson

2006-02-24T05:41:00.000-06:00

I'm looking forward to sharing ideas in my keynote at the conference:

“Neomillennial” Learning Styles: From Websites to Distributed-Learning Communities

This session will help participants anticipate the challenges and opportunities posed by students of any age with “neomillennial” learning styles. Emerging digital media are shaping motivations, attributes, and social patterns into types of learning styles quite different than those based on sensory, personality, or intelligence factors. "Neomillennial" learners seek distributed learning situations that interweave face-to-face interactions with communication and shared experiences across distance and time. The talk will demonstrate and discuss examples of middle and high school distributed-learning communities based on immersive game-like educational simulations.

The two spotlight sessions that follow will have some new content, but are primarily "meet the speaker" sessions to allow the chance for extended discussion. Hope to see you there!

Radio For Kids, By Kids

2006-02-23T16:37:00.000-06:00

I hope that conference-goers can find time to attend one of my Friday presentations of Radio For Kids, By Kids. It’s all about podcasting, the trendy way for people to subscribe to audio content that can be automatically downloaded to a computer or mobile device.

Students at my elementary school have been making their own podcasts for over a year. The podcast is called Radio WillowWeb and it is an online audio program by students in grades two through five. Each podcast is about a different topic of study. There are shows about subjects like Japan, electricity, Native Americans, the Constitution, space, and respect. These fun and informative programs are engaging to listen to because Radio WillowWeb follows a format where a host introduces a variety of segments. Before attending Radio For Kids, By Kids, it will be helpful if you have listened to at least one episode of Radio WillowWeb. The episode are all good, so take your pick.

There are several different ways to listen to a podcast. You can listen right in your web browser by clicking on an episode from this page. You can listen directly in iTunes by clicking here. Once in iTunes, you can sync and listen on an iPod if you like. Or, if you use one of the many programs to "catch" podcasts, then here is the RSS feed. Really, you can listen to a podcast on anything that can play an MP3 file.

Radio For Kids, by Kids will be presented Friday from 10:45 AM to 11:30 AM in the New Orleans Ballroom and repeated from 1:45 until 2:30 in the same location. I hope to see you there!

The Headless Tech!

2006-02-23T11:39:00.000-06:00

And just who is that mysterious headless tech in the post from February 12? Keep your eyes open next week at the conference and see if you can spot him. Who knows, there just might be a prize for the first person to correctly identify the headless "Red-Shirt" .

New!! Augusta Rooms I and II will have sessions.

2006-02-22T18:11:00.000-06:00

Something new this year! The Augusta rooms will be used this year on Thursday and Friday for several great General and Exhibitor break-out sessions. Please check your maps, these rooms are located just past the hotel lobby and down the hall towards the Golf course room wing. There will be volunteers to help direct you around the indoor/outdoor pool and lots of directional signs to follow.

Presentation Zen

2006-02-22T06:11:00.000-06:00

Presentation Zen

Presentation Zen is a must read blog for those of us who present regularly to groups. I thought people might find this helpful as they prepare for IL-TCE next week!

Blog - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2006-02-17T22:17:00.000-06:00

Blog - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I've noticed that many of the people signing up to particlpate in the conference blog are new to this phenomena. This article might be helpful who are trying to get handle on what blogging is all about!

Audioblogger: Speak Up!

2006-02-17T22:13:00.000-06:00

Audioblogger: Speak Up!

I first learned about AudioBlogger in David Warlick's NECC presentation last June and I was reminded of its existence today while browsing the blog of Dr. Larry Anderson. Larry blogged about the recent Mississippi counterpart to IL-TCE, the Mississippi Educational Computing Conference Association Conference. Three of out of his four posts were traditional text posts, but he also included an audio posted with his cell phone. Check out Larry's blog at http://nctpcast.blogspot.com/. I've never tried this before... maybe I will at IL-TCE!

Blogger Web Comments for Firefox

2006-02-13T09:17:00.000-06:00

Blogger Web Comments for Firefox

Here's a very cool tool for more advanced bloggers who use the Firefox web browser. From this web site:

"Blogger Web Comments for Firefox is an extension that makes it easy to see what bloggers are saying about a page you're viewing in Firefox and even make your own blog post about it, all without leaving the page you're on."

I've tried it and it's a neat way to see how the other bloggers in the "blogosphere" are responding to certain web pages. And, it's another quick method of posting to a Blogger blog if you have one.

Quick tip: Make sure you have your status bar activated under the View menu in Firefox in order to see this extension work!

Blogger Help : What is BlogThis! ?

2006-02-13T08:48:00.000-06:00

Blogger Help : What is BlogThis! ?

We hope that blog participants will write about preconference workshops, keynote and spotlight sessions, general conference sessions, the exhibition hall and the like. Additional information about certain topics, reflections on what you've discovered during the conference, or follow up questions are just a few examples of things you can write about here.

That said, here is one tool that might help you if you're bringing your laptop to the conference. You can install the BlogThis! tool in your web browser's toolbar so that you can quickly post something to a blog on the Blogger service. This elimates the need to actually visit the Blogger web site in order to post.

Hope this helps!

Lucy Gray

New this year at IL-TCE - Breakfast in the Atrium on General Conference days

2006-02-13T08:31:00.000-06:00

When you arrive at Pheasant Run this year, if you haven't had time to stop for that first cup of coffee, don't worry. After registering in the Mega Center lobby, and picking up your conference bag and program head over to the Atrium by the pool. There will be a continental breakfast available, and tables to sit down to look over the program and plan your day. With the new exhibit hall hours this year, we've had to move breakfast on the General Conference days.

Breakfast will be available for registered conference attendees in the Pheasant Run Atrium (near the pool) at 7:30am. Coffee will be available until 10 AM.

Pre-conference Workshop days, a continental breakfast will still be available in the Mega Center lobby where registration takes place. Coffee kiosks will be available in several locations as well.

This years Exhibit Hall hours are different than in the past. The exhibit hall will be open Wednesday, March 1 from 3:30 pm to 5:50 pm, Thursday, March 2 from 9:30am-4:30pm, and on Friday, March 3 from 9:30am-2:30pm.

IL-TCE SURVIVAL GUIDE is available for download. Learn about the top 10 tips for having a great IL-TCE experience, get a listing of local eateries and this years optional Pheasant Run Dinner Theater informaton.

For more information on making the most of your IL-TCE 2006 conference
experience, please download our IL-TCE 2006 Survival Guide at:
http://www.il-tce.org/gen/genSurvGuide.pdf.

A Reminder About Joining the ILTCE Blog

2006-02-13T06:24:00.000-06:00

To join the blog, you need to send me an email at lgray@ucls.uchicago.edu. Within a day or so, I will send you an invitation to join the blog. This invitation includes instructions on how to do this. Please remember that you will not be able to post or comment unless you accept this invitation. FYI, about 40 people have joined the ITLCE and there are another 30 invitations pending! So if you already have received an invitation from me, make sure you accept the invitation by responding to that email.

Invasion of the "Red Shirts"

2006-02-12T13:58:00.000-06:00

Are you a presenter and you're having some technical difficulties? You say the network in your session room isn't working quite the way it should? The solution is simple! Just look for someone wearing one of these bright red shirts. We're pretty easy to find and there should always be one of us within shouting distance of your session room. If we can't solve the problem on the spot, we'll find someone who can! Our goal is to be like the Maytag Repairmen, the loneliest persons at the conference. If you see a "red shirt" looking lonely, just say Hi. It helps to keep us awake and alert!

Shiftin' Paradigm Blues > Blogging of Inservice Day Feb. 17

2006-02-10T21:29:00.000-06:00

Shiftin%u2019 Paradigm Blues � Blogging of Inservice Day Feb. 17

Hi All -

For those of you new to blogging, here is an interesting way one educator is using a blog to promote professional development. Bob Irving is a middle school tech coordinator at Lancaster Country Day School in Pennsylvania. He will be blogging about his school's inservice activities next week and you can follow it here ( http://www.e-lcds.org/wordpress/?p=20 ). Bob emailed me about this today and is interested in having others teachers from around the "blogosphere" join in this virtual conversation.

As IL-TCE attendees, vendors, and presenters, I hope that we will be able to do the same in this space during the week of February 27. Our goal is to provide some interactive reflection so that we can process all that we learn during the week of the conference. A collaborative blog is also a great way to fill in others who might not be able to make various keynotes and sessions. Please feel free to offer resources, make suggestions, and ask questions in this forum, too.

Don't be shy! Join in the fun!

A Handful of Volunteers Makes the Conference Go On

2006-02-04T23:09:00.000-06:00

Thanks to the many people who have generously offered their time to help staff the 2006 Illinois Technology Conference for Educators. We couldn't do it without you!

We still have a few volunteer positions that need to be filled. If you volunteer for a three hour shift on Thursday, March 2, or Friday, March 3, you will receive free registration for that day. If you volunteer for bag stuffing on Tuesday, February 28 or pregistration duties on Wedneday, March 1, you can use your free registration to attend either Thursday or Friday of the conference. Bag stuffing duties will take place in three hour shifts between 10 AM and 5 PM on Tuesday.

If you are interested in volunteering, please contact me via email at lgray@ucls.uchicago.edu.

Thanks,

Lucy Gray

Technorati

2006-02-03T08:55:00.000-06:00

Ignore the link at the bottom of this post...I had to post this link in order to claim this blog in Technorati. I've added tags that are relevant to the conference by claiming the blog. So if anyone is specifically searching for something in the blog search engine Technorati, they might come across our new little blog!

Here's more info on Technorati from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technorati

Technorati Profile

Variety of Conference Offerings

2006-02-02T22:24:00.000-06:00

I'm just curious if you all feel that there is enough variety in sessions (workshops, breakouts, posters, etc.) being offered for IL-TCE 2006. If not, what would you like to see more of next year? Less of? If you haven't had a chance to see the conference schedule, take a look at it at http://www.il-tce.org/schedule.

Creating Online Forms

2006-02-02T15:52:00.000-06:00

I'm really looking forward to this seminar. Do most of you already have Front Page or any of the other software? Will it be necessary to be advanced at using these programs? Any thoughts?

Welcome to the Illinois Technology Conference for Educators!

2006-01-12T18:43:00.000-06:00

Welcome to the 2006 Illinois Technology Conference for Educators! If you are interested in contributing to this conference blog, send an email to lgray@ucls.uchicago.edu.