Ofcial The Newsletter of the National Educational Computing Conference
4
THE STAFF OF LEARNING & LEADING WITH TECHNOLOGY
Set Sail for 2006
JENNIFER ROLAND
Visions, Voices and Video
Wednesdays three keynote speakers touched on dening the vocabulary of the future, genuinely listening to student voices, and motivating at-risk youth through innovative uses of technology. Many attendees had a hard time deciding which of the three simultaneous addresses to attend. Its a hard decision to make, said Sister Mary Therese Freyman from Our Lady of the Westside School in Chicago, IL. You have to choose among three at the same time, and theyre all good. Fortunately, you can view the ones you didnt get to attend via posted Webcasts. Read Extend NECC Learning on page 7 for information how to access the videos. extremely optimistic visions of the future based on his TechnEcology concept. Each of these visions reect how our core values will aect the future we choose. To an almost capacity crowd in the PACC Ballroom, Barker quickly outlined his visions in a smooth, polished and easy-to-follow presentation based on his book Five Regions of the Future. His central assertion is that we need to be much more specic in describing technology. Rather than focus on the origin of a technology, he suggests it is much more useful to describe technology in terms of how it is used. Technologies can be divided into ve ecologies, Barker said. Each can deliver a strikingly dierent future. The ve technology systems he identies are super technology, limits technology, local technology, nature technology, and human technology. These ve visions are less about dierences in technological
See KEYNOTES, page 2
Todays closing session will mark the end of this whirlwind professional development and networking event we call NECC. The session will take place from 2:454 p.m. in the PACC Ballroom. In addition to the usual giveaways and previews of next years conference in San Diego, California, the closing session will also include videos taken by award-winning student videographers chronicling our time here in Philadelphia. These students are winners of the eSchool News and Discovery Channels Student Video Discovery Awards. They are part of NECCs extra focus on student voices this year, along with the students who presented lms at Tuesdays lm festival, staed The Doctor Is In tech support area and the free software center, and participated in sessions and the expanded student showcase. As ISTEs Deputy CEO and Conference Chair reminded us in her message to NDL readers in Mondays issue, Student voices are key. NECC 2006 focuses on Charting an Intentional Future, which continues the work ISTE has been doing with its Futures project and the work Joel Barker touched on in his keynote address Wednesday morning. California Computer Using Educators (CUE) is supporting ISTE in presenting NECC 2006. Their team has been shadowing PAECTs team at this years conference to gain rst-hand experience coordinating all the details necessary to put on the conference. CUE, founded in 1978, is one of ISTEs largest Aliates, with 7,000 members. The conference will begin on the Fourth of July at the San Diego Convention Center the perfect venue for viewing the 11 reworks displays in the harbor. Youll want to plan a family trip to spend this U.S. holiday in San Diego. Until then, NECC 2006 is looking for session proposals covering such topics as:
Author and Presenter Joel Barker.
Author Describes Five Visions of the Future Joel Barker presented ve remarkably detailed,
NECCs Philadelphia Freedom
A conference as large and multifaceted as NECC 2005 simply cant be evaluated on the y, yet some things seem obvious. People seem happy. Attendance was very good. Interest and excitement were strong in the exhibit hall, visitors enjoyed Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Convention Center is a nice facility. Ive been very busy at the conference, ISTE CEO Don Knezek said, but Ive seen a lot of people with big smiles on their faces. Ive seen large crowds and a lot of interaction. I think the conference has done very well. Paul Katz, Exhibit and Registration Manager, backs up Knezeks impression of smiling facing and crowds. Katz says more than 17,000 educators and exhibitors participated in this years conference, rmly ranking NECC 2005 as one of the best attended. The exhibitors are pleased, he said. Exhibit space selection for next years conference in San Diego is strong. Further supporting the evidence of a strong exhibitor performance was NexLearns Marty Boyzuck, who exclaimed, Its huge! Ive never seen anything like it. Initial and anecdotal evidence also shows the program section of the conference has been successful. Ive been getting amazing feedback from people, said Regional Program Chair Carol Teitelman.
See WRAPUP, page 4
NECC NOTES
Bag It Now Extra conference tote bags are now available for purchase for $10 each (goodies not included). Pick them up at the Softwear Booth in the Grand Hall, which is open today until 3 p.m. Last Day Luggage Storage Service NECC is oering last day luggage storage in the Grand Hall, 7:30 a.m.5:30 p.m. The cost is $2 per item. You can also check with the doorman or bell captain in your hotel to see if they oer this service. Lost & Found Missing something? Check the Conference Info Booth between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. to see if someone turned it in.
future learning environments, emerging technologies, technology planning and assessment, skills and knowledge students need to be highly successful in the future, and leadership skills.
Proposals are due October 5, so start planning now if the sessions youve attended here have motivated you to share your own experiences. If youre not planning to present next year, you can begin to think about the types of sessions you will want to attend next year.
INSIDE 6 Get Involved
ISTE leaders urge educators to advocate for funding
7 Extend NECC
Keep the spirit of sharing alive throughout the year.
8 Contributors Honored
Awards Gala celebrates the very best of NECC.
Thursday June 30, 2005
ISSUE
2 The Ofcial Newsletter of the National Educational Computing Conference
EDITORIAL
A Call for Action!
KURT A. STEINHAUS
Keynotes
Continued from page 1
As NECC comes to a close and we look ahead to the next school year, our conference experience has allowed us to put on a fresh pair of glasses. These glasses will allow us to identify new approaches for:
taking advantage of personal learning services, building high-quality connections with parents and administrators, developing intelligent instruction, and realizing the promise of oneon-one computing.
Looking through these new lenses, I can see the potential and need for new funding strategies. Here are some signs on the horizon. First, the executive summary of the U.S. Department of Educations National Education Technology Plan states, Over the next decade, the United States will face ever-increasing competition in the global economy. To an overwhelming extent, this competition will involve the mastery and application of new technologies in virtually every eld of human endeavor. A second reason for hope is reected in a shift in planning. Rather than developing stand-alone or separate ed tech plans, schools are including the application of technology as part of a single strategic plan for student success. Third, Texas leads the rising wave of state legislatures looking at learning technology in a new way. Instead of talking about Web access and integrating technology, they are talking about eective e-learning and how to leverage technology to deliver instructional materials. To fully fund ed tech, we need to dramatically increase the number of classroom visits from policy makers and business education leaders. We need to invite legislators, superintendents and principals into our classrooms not once, but many times. By bringing decision makers onsite, we provide the opportunity and motive for them to refresh their view of learning by seeing and hearing what the Millennials do and have to say. This is a call for action. During the visit, ask legislators, education ocials and business education leaders to answer the question, Exactly how does [ll in the activity, policy or practice] contribute to preparing our kids for real life, right now?
ISTE President Kurt A. Steinhaus serves as Deputy Cabinet Secretary of Education at the New Mexico Public Education Department.
sophistication than they are about values, and the forces that drive advances within these technology ecosystems. Barker identied the solutions oered by each of these visions of the future to many of the big issues confronting society, such as energy sources, population and housing each grounded in recent and projected advances in technology. Barker went on to challenge the audience as educators to take the new vocabulary he had presented and use it to frame our dialog about the future so that it reects our values. Otherwise, he says, the choices will simply be made for us.
An
Publication
The NECC Daily Leader publishes Monday through Thursday. Oces are located at PACC Rooms 308 and 309. You can contact the editors by phone at 1.215.418.2033 or via e-mail: [e-mail]. Editor-in-Chief ....................................................................... Jennifer Roland Art Director ............................................................................... Signe Landin Production Editor ..................................................................... Tracy Cozzens Conference Editor ......................................................................... J.V. Bolkan Exhibit Hall Editor .................................................................Davis N. Smith Reporter ................................................................................ Rachel Bannister Graphic Designers ............. Tamara Kidd, Elizabeth Scandalios, Ronwin Ashton Photographers ..................................................... Jean Marie Hall, Amy Miller Copy Editors ............................................................ Kate Conley, Scott Harter Oce Managers .....................................................Diane Durrett, Amy Miller Director of Publishing ............................................................Jean Marie Hall Contributors: Leslie Conery, Don Knezek, Paul Reinhart, Kurt Steinhaus.
The NECC Daily Leader is produced by the ISTE stas of Learning & Leading with Technology, Journal of Research on Technology in Education, Journal of Computing in Teacher Education, and books and courseware. Between NECCs, keep informed and involved in education technology through these periodicals and books by visiting http://www.iste.org/.
One-Woman Show Illustrates How Todays Students Think In Salon G/H of the Marriott, actress and author Deneen Frazier Bowen brought her audience face to face with the educational attitudes learners face and the digital natives who are overcoming them. In a one-woman performance that was alternately funny and touching, Bowen rst emerged in the persona of Dr. Priscilla Normal, a staid, by-the-book education researcher who used dry but relevant statistics and data to make the point that education is vital to the nations economic well being. However, her traditional PowerPoint presentation was quickly hijacked by enthusiastic and knowledgeable students who testied to the uses and possibilities of educational technology for learning. Acting as Edy, a cool, streetwise eighth-grader, she showed the audience her blog, and stressed the importance of discovering and respecting what students think. Todays students dont think with pen and paper, she said. Edy emphasized the importance of reaching every student. So,
95 percent of students are procient? Prociency is the minimum. And what about the other 5 percent? Thats me. Im the other 5 percent. Edys character then gave way to hyperactive sixthgrader Maria, who described her experiences creating her own Web site design company and presenting research on student technology use to her school board. Kids are way above the national average in all areas of technology use, Maria said. However, todays youth dont necessarily use technology in ways that researchers expect. For instance, although research shows negligible use of instant messaging among students, that only means theyre doing it on their cell phones, Maria said. Its important for researchers to actually talk to kids so that they correctly interpret their data. The last persona to be portrayed was Joanna, an entrepreneurial 11th-grader who honed her leadership and teamwork skills by playing multiplayer online video games. She later used those skills with other student leaders around the world in a project to provide used computers and software to impoverished countries. The presentation ended with Frazier Bowen re-emerging as herself to emphasize that the successful use of educational technology is not about data and demographics, but about nurturing and sustaining a genuine conversation with youth. First, you need to ask questions, Frasier Bowen said. Second, listen dierently. And third, act with students to promote learning.
Teacher and Author Erin Gruwell
Actress and Author Deneen Frazier Bowen
Teacher Uses Tech, Writing To Motivate Inner-City Kids Erin Gruwell told her story to a packed room in Salon E/F in the Marriott. Gruwell walked in to her rst day of teaching high school language arts full of lofty ideals with a syllabus packed with the classics, such as Homer and Shakespeare. She was greeted by 150 students thought by many of her fellow teachers to be too stupid to read a book. They sat in segregated groups: black kids in the back corner, Latinos in another section, Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees in the front. There was also one dyslexic white kid scared out of his mind, hoping that he had read the room number wrong and wouldnt be stuck in this
room, with these kids. Gruwells syllabus was met with disdain. One boy, Darius, folded it into a paper airplane, threw it to the front of the room and asked, Why should we have to read books by dead white guys in tights? The other students quickly wadded up their syllabi and threw them to the oor. This was in 1994. Today, these students are known as the Freedom Writers, taking their name from the Freedom Riders who fought for civil rights in the United States in the 1960s. Gruwell threw out the rejected syllabus and found books written by kids who experienced the same violence in their everyday lives that these students did, kids who grew up in gang-infested east Long Beach, California. She used money from her father to buy 150 copies each of Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, Zlatas Diary: A Childs Life in Sarajevo by Zlata Filipovic, and Night by Elie Wiesel. These stories mirrored the students own experiences, helping them understand their lives and the culture of violence in which they were growing up. Using donated computers, students were able to write up their own stories in a way that could remain anonymous. Each story was written using the assigned random numbers rather than the authors name. These stories were published as The Freedom Writers Diary in 1999. Paramount is in the early stages of bringing the book to the big screen, with Hilary Swank signed on to play Gruwell. Gruwell stayed to sign copies of the book after her keynote, then quickly left to y to Hollywood to help cast actors to play Darius and her other Freedom Writers.
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Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaJune 2730, 2005
3
EXHIBIT HALL HIGHLIGHTS
Vendors Vie for Attendee Eyes and Ears
before you leave the conference today for your chance to win one of three large gift baskets. (One of the baskets is on display in the ISTE Booth.) The drawing will be held after the conference closes Joel Peterson (left) and Laura Hannah (middle) are the down, and ISTE netTrekker prize patrol. Here, they are photographing one 100 representaof the lucky winners. tives will contact Get Benjamin the winners and ship their prizes Attendees who visit the to them. You do not need to be netTrekker d.i. booth and present to win. view their session receive a T-shirt that could be their Tools for Teaching ticket to a quick $100. AnyPublic television and radio one seen wearing the T-shirt station WHYY oer myriad by the netTrekker prize patrol resources for educators to use, will receive a crisp new $100 including: bill. You simply have to stand PBS TeacherLine online still long enough for them to professional development photograph you wearing your resources; shirt and holding the bill. streaming video content to integrate into classroom A Chance to Win instruction; Turn in your ISTE 100 CourseStream, which allows Trac Driving Tee (inside your users to integrate WHYYs Guide to the ISTE 100) to the video and that from other ISTE Booth in the Grand Hall sources into online course management systems; GED Connection, which makes GED preparation materials available through online and datacast video; and custom television programming for schools and tools to help schools create their own programming. They are currently translating GED Connection into Spanish; the Spanish language version will be available in the next scal year. WHYY and other partner booths are located in the PACC West Concourse, just inside from the transportation area.
Reaching Out Mentoring experts My eCoach announced that their Web-based product My eCoach Online will be the primary online telecommunication resource between students and teachers in an ISTE Aliate classroom environmental project involving Aboriginal students in Queensland, Australia, Maori students in New Zealand, and Lummi Nation
native American students in Washington State. The company will work with teachers in ve classrooms in each location to provide communication, coaching and curriculum tools, allowing students to share images and stories about their history and culture with each other. Find My eCoach in booth #73.
Compiled by Davis N. Smith and Jennifer Roland
Bursting with Resources Sunburst Technology introduced MyTeacherAssistant. com, an online portal oering 30,000 classroom tools and resources for teachers. The company says the new site is perfect for teachers who are new to the Internet and need to build condence in their navigation skills. Visit Sunburst Technology in booth #1822.
In addition to the usual pile of pens, forest of notepads, feast of candies and mountains of free software, this years NECC exhibit booths featured a wide variety of stress sponges, from race cars to building blocks. T-shirts also featured prominently. The folks at HotChalk gave away 2,240 black tees during the rst three days of the show.
Runners Breeze to Finish Line
A cool summer breeze greeted 159 runners and walkers Wednesday as they gathered by the Schuylkill River in Fairmount Park for the annual NECC 5K Fun Run/Walk (top left). After the starting signal (bottom left), runners departed the Lloyd Hall area and raced down Kelly Drive past historic Boathouse Row to the nish line.
Winner of the mens race was Mike Horan of Eastern High School, Louisville, KY (bottom right), while the womens winner was Emily Rimas, Microsoft, Seattle, WA (top right). Second place in each race went to Johnathan Leavitt and Crystal Smith. Third place was won by Tom Korta and Kala Flentie.
PHOTOS BY DAVID FALVO, UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN COLORADO
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4 The Ofcial Newsletter of the National Educational Computing Conference
SESSIONS & WORKSHOPS
From Rhymes to Ancient Rites, Showcasers Strut Stuff
Native Dancers Excite and Inform
Trac came to a standstill in front of the Student Showcase area as kids from the Theodore Roosevelt School in Fort Apache, AZ, performed the Crown Dance. Technology Educator Michael LiPira teaches a unit on computer graphics with a Native American slant. LiPira, who has studied Native American art extensively, believes it is important to integrate technology with culture, especially for Native American students. During the course of the four- to six-week unit, LiPira found out that some of his students were Crown Dancers, who are chosen by their tribes medicine man to represent the mountain spirits, known as the Gaan, aid and protect the Apache people. The students began capturing photos of their resident dancers, all the while making sure not to break the Apache traditions involved with the dance. LiPira and his students presented their project at NECC 2005 in New Orleans, LA, using just multimedia. They decided to bring the dancers this year to augment the presentation. The dancers, sixth graders Zhan Bourke and Dustin Little, eighth graders Toby Adley and Daniel Altaha and sponsor Sterling Goseyun, also performed at the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian September 21, 2004, in Washington, D.C. After the dance was over, the students came back to the presentation area to edit the photos LiPira took of their dance. LiPira described his students as Photoshop wizards; they are such visual learners, they picked it up really fast, he says.
Carolyn Gerber (left) and Alyssa Adams show o their Student Showcase display, which they spent two weeks creating.
PA Showcases Its Best and Brightest
One of the groups highlighted in the Pennsylvania Showcase in PACC Room 203B Wednesday was St. Andrew School. Its fourth-graders participated in a week-long handheld computing project, and they presented the results at NECC. Students Carolyn Gerber and Alyssa Adams and teacher Barbara Smith described the project to attendees. Gerber says they started by learning the basics of the handheld, how to charge it, how to use the apps, and how to use the Graffiti handwriting-recognition software. We played Giraffe to learn Graffiti, she
said, which made it funner. Their teacher beamed a book to them that described limericks, then asked them to write a limerick and illustrate it as their home work. They used Sketchy to draw pictures to illustrate their limericks and beamed them to the teacher. Adams says she thinks handhelds are really good for learning. Both Adams and Gerber said they enjoyed using the handhelds. As our world gets more advanced in technology, it is good for us to use different things, Gerber continued. Adams said she wants to have them back in the classroom. She asked her parents to buy her one, but they said no, much to her disappointment.
The Crown Dancers from Theodore Roosevelt School drew a crowd of onlookers as they performed their sacred Apache dance.
Small-group activities were a key part of the Chief Tech Ocers Forum hosted by Lynn Nolan and Mila Fuller, held Wednesday morning in Loews Commonwealth Hall.
Shes our winner!
Wrapup
Continued from page 1
They tell me they are blown away and overwhelmed, but overwhelmed in a positive way. One lady said she now needs to go home and take three days o to rest her brain. National Program Chair Anita McAnear added, Im really pleased with how the conference has gone. I think the keynotes all went really well. I think weve been
successful at conveying how important it is to listen to students. Mostly, Im excited by all the excitement coming from the people. Much of the excitement generated in Philadelphia can be directly attributed to highly motivated volunteers stang the Ask Me booths, directing attendees, and carrying out countless behindthe-scenes tasks required to host a conference of this side. Volunteer coordinator Holly Jobe was happy that all their
hard work paid o. I have seen a lot of smiles. People have told me that they have gotten a lot out of NECC. They also said its well organized and the facility is beautiful. I also heard them say they love Philadelphia! That seems to be a common feeling. The Convention Center and the whole city have been great, said Conference Director Donella Evoniuk. I cant wait until we can hold another conference in Philadelphia.
Sherry Rasmus of West Point Public Schools (NE) is the winner of an Intel QX3 microscope. To win, Rasmus tracked down J.V. Bolkan of the NECC Daily Leader, received his signature on his business card, then entered the special drawing. Congratulations, Sherry! Attendees move through the Pennsylvania Convention Center as the Conference winds down.
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Pennsylvania Center, Convention Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaJune 2730, 2005
5
TODAYS EVENTS
Inuence Future Research
8:30-9:30 a.m. PACC Room 108 A Join two Learning & Leading with Technology columnists and the editors of the Journal of Research on Technology in Education and the Journal of Computing in Teacher Education to discuss future directions in ed tech research. The session will focus specically on making research more relevant to K-12 schools.
stories. Part of the Global Gallery and addressing the Student Voices theme, this presentation shouldnt be missed!
RUMINATIONS & ILLUMINATIONS
How will you put what you have learned at NECC to use?
Ted Sakshaug
Wheathead Chili Schools Scottsville, NY
Julynn Tanaka
NES Wendover High School Wendover, UT
Keynote Luncheon
11:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m. Marriott Salon E/F Game designer and author of Digital Game-Based Learning Marc Prensky discusses how we can use games to educate students. Games engage students, and they are our best bet to ensure that our students are interested in learning, he argues. Preregistration and additional $30 fee are required; check at Onsite Registration for availability.
Ive been going to leadership sessions, and I am going to take some of that information and see if I cant help my district use technology better than I have been.
The thing Im going to use the most is the programs that show you how to put your digital cameras to work and make movies with your students in the classroom.
Elizabeth Buckley
Belvedere Elementary Falls Church, VA
Carolyn Bushman
NES Wendover High School Wendover, UT
Technology Leadership 2005: Roadmap for Systemic Change
8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. PACC Room 201B Administrators and technology coordinators: expand your leadership capabilities while working toward systemic school improvement with technology. You will hear how educational technology leaders develop a road map for achieving school and program goals through integration of ISTEs National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) and how they address goals of the National Education Technology Plan (NETP). All participants receive a copy of ISTEs new Technology Coordinators Handbook. The cost for this event is $50. Space may still be available at this event. Check at Onsite Registration.
Debate: Can We Use Games to Educate?
1:30-2:30 p.m. Marriott Liberty Ballroom A/B Marc Prensky and Wendy Petti debate the question, Do computer and video games have a role in 21st-century education?
Im a second grade teacher and Im here with a fth grade teacher, so we represent the whole school. Basically, weve gotten mini-training on a lot of things. So I have a lot of extra tips I can take back and use in my classroom.
Ill use the interactive math sites I learned about that make math more visual for my students. Ill also use digital cameras in my math classroom using techniques I learned in the two-day workshop I took.
Susan Halligan
School District of Haverford Township Havertown, PA
Tina Loveland-Smith
Rose Tree Media School District Media, PA
Closing Session
2:454 p.m. PACC Grand Ballroom End your NECC experience with a student-created highlights video, then nd out all about NECC 2006 in San Diego. Next years conference will straddle the Fourth of July holiday, so plan now to bring your family to one of the biggest parties of 2006. Attendees are eligible to win a lot of cool prizes, including an airfare/hotel/registration package for NECC 2006. Be sure to bring your registration badge and your photo ID; you must be present to win.
From the keynote speaker [Wednesday] morning, I got that we need to think about the students perspective more instead of about our perspective. And we need to get them engaged in creative ways.
First and foremost, Ill share what Ive learned. Then Ill take some ideas from the student showcases. Theyve been great for inspiring new ideas to integrate into my classroom.
International Students Digital Reections
10 a.m.-noon PACC Grand Hall, Table G04 View students digital stories, in which they reect on their international experiences. Find out more about tools and processes for telling digital
Doug Caldwell
eMINTS National Center Columbia, MO
Jeannine Klaassen
St. Mary Magdalen School Media, PA
Im taking pretty detailed notes and when I get back, Im going to type up a summary and share it with sta members who werent able to come. There have been a lot of innovative things in the last few years since we were all able to attend.
dinator at a small school, but Im also the technology teacher in grades K-8. Ill share everything with my faculty, and Ill share with my students in the classroom. There are a lot of good ideas.
Im the technology coor-
ROOM & SCHEDULE CHANGES
Cancellation
Due to unforeseen circumstances for presenters, the following sessions have been cancelled.
Program Change
Thursday, June 30 ISTEs SIGTE Session Features Susan Patrick: U.S. Department of Education Funding Opportunities for Teacher Educators The director of the U.S. ED Oce of Educational Technology will discuss ed tech funding opportunities. (Sponsored by ISTEs SIGTE) 10:30-11:30 a.m., Room 112B
Thursday, June 30 Concurrent Session Data-Driven Instruction through Math Software Robyn Silbey, 10:30-11:30 a.m., Room 108A
Miss a great session?
eSchool News has you covered!
Read educators session reviews in the eSN Conference Information Center.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/cic/
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6 The Ofcial Newsletter of the National Educational Computing Conference
ISTE Leaders Urge Educators To Become Funding Advocates
JENNIFER ROLAND
ISTE NEWS
ISTE Booth Stocks Popular Educational Titles The ISTE booth in the Grand Hall has seen brisk business throughout the conference, with several books selling out. Many of our authors led workshops, which brought customers to the booth seeking their books, said Amy Miller, book production coordinator. For instance, one title that drew a lot of interest is Teaching with Digital Images by Glen L. Bull, who led a session on using digital images in the classroom, and Lynn Bell. The book will be published in three weeks. Sold-out titles include Concept Mapping Companion, Second Edition; Web Searching Strategies, Second Edition; Spreadsheet Magic; NETSS Curriculum Series: Multidisciplinary Units for Grades 6-8 and Multidisciplinary Units for Prekindergarten through Grade 2. Numerous other titles are still in stock for convenient purchase at the conference. Customers can take advantage of a 10% discount when they purchase two or more books on site (bundles excluded). Anyone interested in purchasing books can visit the booth today until 2:30 p.m. Visitors can pick up a coupon worth $5 o of online Bookstore purchases at www. iste.org/bookstore. The coupon is valid through July 15. ISTE book sta is on hand to answer questions about the titles, and Marketing sta is available to answer questions about ISTE membership and programs. Forecasting the Future ISTE released some results from its groundbreaking Futures study in a session Wednesday. Launched in February 2004, the Delphi study helps ISTE better plan its role in preparing for tomorrow. The goal of the Delphi study is to better position ISTE for success in the future, said ISTE CEO Don Knezek, and to support other associations in education as they navigate the future. The study is progressing in multiple phases. First, ISTE surveyed education futurists and selected the top 10. Then, in the second phase, ISTE sent the Delphi panelists broad questions around ve broad topics regarding the future of education, including the role of technology and education/business partnerships. The panelists sent anonymous responses to the questions, and all panelists were able to view all responses. They used the collected responses to create event statements and scenarios based around the statements. In Phase 3, panelists assessed the event statements and responded whether they were likely to be true in 2010, 2020, or 2030. For example, when given the event statement, Students will be adept in using information technology tools to access, analyze, process and communicate information, 87.5% said this would be likely in 2010, and 12.5% said in 2020. Members Get Business and Vision Information At Wednesdays ISTE Membership/Business Meeting, board and sta leaders presented the business picture for the 2004-05 scal year and forecasted for the coming year. Treasurer Trina Davis showed the nearly 10% growth in revenue from 2003 to 2004 and then presented a graphic showing how the seeds planted by early grant investments in the NETS Project have helped the NETS grow into ISTEs most successful endeavor to date. President Kurt Steinhaus then shared the vision for the future. ISTE will focus on three major areas in the coming year: leadership and innovation, advocacy and building the strength of the organization. Finally, CEO Don Knezek reported on the initiatives ISTE has become involved with, including ISTE India, a partnership with FutureSchools. As part of the partnership, ISTE India will be holding a symposium in 2006 and a NECC-like event in 2007 in Delhi. Knezek then reported that ISTE intends to crank up the CARET Web site, because it is important that ISTE has a strong research arm. Finally, the 12 ISTE SIGs presented their goals and ideals.
Compiled by Tracy Cozzens, Amy Miller and Jennifer Roland
There is no question that funding for educational technology in the United States is at risk. ISTE President Kurt Steinhaus issued a challenge to all attendees at Mondays opening keynote to join the Ed Tech Action Network (ETAN) and become active in ghting for funding. ISTE CEO Don Knezek believes that with ETAN, which ISTE founded with the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), Weve got a support tool that will help any educator interact with their elected ocials in the area of educational technology. As ISTE was working with statelevel advocacy committees on creating the federal advocacy tools contained on the ETAN Web site (www.edtechactionnetwork.org), Knezek continued, they began to see the value of the Web site and of the tool and asked if we would consider building a similar tool specically for their state. As it turned out, the engine we had developed was fairly easily enhanced with statespecic pages. Knezek says
that in January ISTE will offer that as a full-blown service to the states. On Tuesday, Lisa Woodard, Director of Education & Outreach at the Alabama Supercomputer Authority, CoSN Board Chair Sheryl Abshire and outgoing ISTE Board member Amy PerryDelCorvo presented a session to give the more than 50 attendees the tools they needed to get started with advocacy. The rst thing they did was try to break down the barriers for educators. Abshire says that when confronted with the idea of becoming an advocate for ed tech funding, educators usually respond, Im not a politician. Im a ll in the blank, teacher, superintendent or whatever. But, Abshire continues, we have to work with politicians to secure funding; we simply have no choice. Woodard gave specic tips to help make meetings with elected ocials productive. She has posted these in the session handouts section of the NECC Web site (www. iste.org/necc/). Use the Program Search page to nd the
ISTE Board President Kurt Steinhaus urges action.
session and its accompanying PowerPoint presentation. Finally, Perry-DelCorvo ensured that all attendees got a good overview of ETAN. ETAN is not the only answer, though. During the ISTE membership meeting, Steinhaus focused strongly on advocacy, reminding ISTE members and leaders that advocacy does not end with securing funding. For ISTE, it also means engaging Aliated associations, visiting schools to see their needs rsthand, and ensure that decisions we make and issues we advocate for are driven by solid data.
MY NECC OF THE WOODS
High Speed NECCworking
J.V. BOLKAN WITH JENNIFER ROLAND AND DAVIS N. SMITH
After walking from one end of the center to the other countless times, talking to more people in four days than Ive probably talked to in the past six months, and doing everything I can to nd out what you think this NECC is all about, I nally got it. Everyone is quick to point to the dual concerns that dene NECC: education and technology. Thats true, but it isnt the thing that makes NECC such a vital event for so many. A few folks came close, telling me that this conference is special because the people are so passionate. The people are passionate, they want to be here because they believe, but that isnt all of it. It is the connections, the networking. I realized this when one of our outstanding artist/photographers
asked where I wanted to be photographed today and I had no topic in my head yet. Instinctively, I wanted to be at my temporary NECC workspace, in the midst of my co-workers. All day long Id been processing the clues, but suddenly they all clicked. After working with Glen Bull for ve years through e-mail, I met him face to face for the rst time this afternoon. It was a chance encounter, which was almost immediately interrupted by
another chance encounter as an old friend of his literally bumped into us. Networking, teamwork, sharing a vision, and a commitment to reaching that vision are what makes this convention special. We are a community. All those connections give us lots of ways to keep in touch. Lets keep talking until we meet again in San Diego.
ISTE Senior Editor J.V. Bolkan serves as conference editor for the NECC Daily Leader.
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Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaJune 2730, 2005
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Extend NECC Learning with Technology Tools
Today is the last day of the conference, but that doesnt mean NECC is over. NECC oers many ways to extend your conference experience in the weeks and months ahead. NECC oers four technology tools to help you continue your professional development and networking: webcasts of selected sessions, Blackboard forums, VNECC and attendee reviews of many sessions. Use the webcasts of the keynotes and sessions to catch pieces of the program you missed. This is especially useful for the Choose-Your-Own Keynote, where you may have had to choose between two interesting speakers, or the keynote of your choice was sold out. Check your Final Program to see which sessions will be archived on the NECC Web site (http://www.iste. org/necc/). ISTE is partnering with nonprot organization Kidz Online to bring you these webcasts, which will be posted for up to one year after the conference. The Blackboard forums oer NECC-goers a chance to discuss various issues, read related materia...