K-12 Online Conference

After complaining a bit about the gadgetry of the sessions at NECC 2008 and calling out ISTE to focus more on pedagogy, I decided I needed to practice what I was preaching. That is, move away from focusing on simply telling teacher about all the free web 2.0 tools that are out there and really honing in on what educators can do with them so that they can serve as powerful educational tools in teachers’ and students’ efforts to achieve 21st century literacy.

Having recently read about the keynotes for the 2008 K-12 Online Conference and hearing that the conference organizers extended the call for proposals deadline to July 11, 2008, I decided what better place to start then this wonderful event. I attended the conference last year and gained many valuable insights from the other participants, furthered my professional learning and deepened my understanding of web 2.0. This year, I'm hoping to contribute to the network in a different way. So, if you're on the proposal review committee and you think those attending the conference could benefit from a demonstration of how to use wikis to promote collaborative, independent, and differentiated learning by taking advantage of multiple modalities to deliver content in order for all students to achieve their full potential, give Pedagogy to Practice: Putting Wikis to Work in the Early Elementary Classroom a close look. If you're not on the proposal review committee, then I'd encourage you to attend the conference whether I end up as a presenter or not. It really is a unique conference format that will benefit all that participate.