NECC 2009 (National Education Computer Conference) in Washington, D.C. this past week was the most upbeat and positive education meeting I’ve attended in some time. No doubt the anticipated impact of federal stimulus funds was the source of some of the optimism, but there was real electricity in the air as virtual colleagues from formal and informal professional learning groups and Twitter met in person after building online relationships over the past year. This was an interesting phenomena, not because it hadn’t happened before, but that it had so significantly increased its frequency that you could not walk very far without seeing or overhearing an enthusiastic meeting of virtual friends. The number of like-minded people breaking through school and district walls to find and collaborate with each other virtually will most certainly continue to increase creating additional learning opportunities for educators and students.

There was not one breakthrough technology that dominated NECC conversation. In fact, the greatest energy surrounded the battle of the interactive white boards. The inherent challenges in helping educators utilize white boards as more than a chalkboard replacement are detailed in this post from Lee Wilson who focused on a publisher’s comparison of the two leading companies - SMART and Promethean.

Another favorite topic centered on the challenges in engaging students with technology when we have them power down all their devices when they cross the school building threshold. Among the ed-tech community there is general agreement about the need to incorporate more virtual learning opportunities for students everywhere, but the challenges of championing a new learning model are manifold in schools and districts across the country.

Kudos to ISTE (International Society of Technology in Education) sponsors of NECC, for the integration of audio, video, and social media into the conference including an ISTE Connects blog that was launched in January. Keynoter Malcolm Gladwell wrapped up his presentation with a challenge to educators to use their energy, enthusiasm and creativity to make their individual learning environments as meaningful as possible.

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Kudos to Dr. Monica Rankin at the University of Texas for an outstanding implementation of Twitter in her history class of 90 students. She shares a critical insight when she said, “I just had to come to grips with the fact it was going to be messy.” Her goal was to create more opportunities for all students to participate in class discussions and interact about course content. 

Anyone know any high school or middle school history teachers doing the same thing? Thanks to Darren Rowse at Twitip for sharing this wonderful application of Twitter in the classroom.

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The age of the rugged individual is over. One of the new century’s essential skills is collaboration. Understanding what it is and how to do it effectively is one of the critical skills in our new marketing toolkit.

Here are four different perspectives on the importance of collaboration:

10 Ways to Collaborate in a Down Economy  - 21st Century work skills like collaboration have never been more important according to Mike St. Pierre.

Four Web 2.0 Collaborative-Writing Tools -  Although written from a teacher-student perspective, these tools are just as valuable for collaborative projects in today’s business environment according to Tech Learning.

A different perspective on building community with your blog -  Joanna Young discusses reasons why you would not want to create community and collaboration on your blog.

Are you Listening? Influence and Participation Above the Noise? - Liz Strauss believes that listening is the cornerstone skill for collaboration.

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Nicholas Negroponte deserves the credit for taking the concept of one laptop per child from ideal dream to reality. In our sometimes myopic focus on public K-12 education, some of us lose sight that there are dozens and dozens of countries where children still do not have access to even a substandard education. Addressing substandard education in the U.S. and supporting access to basic education across the world are not mutually exclusive goals.

The One Laptop per Child initiative makes inexpensive ($199/child) computers available to schools and communities around the world including the U.S. According to the group’s website, their mission is:

To create educational opportunities for the world’s poorest children by providing each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and software designed for collaborative, joyful, self-empowered learning.

Check  out their website and watch the following TED talk by Negroponte about the group’s work in Columbia.

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 In Seattle earlier this week…

“In a way, being Secretary of Education is less significant than being Bill Gates,” the education historian Diane Ravitch said, guessing that the foundation gives more money annually to education than the U.S. Department of Education has available in annual discretionary funds. “I’d rather be Bill Gates.”

“To me, the scary thing is that they have so much money,” Ravitch said. “From the point of view of, let’s say, the democratic process, it’s frightening. That one foundation should have this much power, more so than our federal government, is alarming.”

I would suggest that after 8 years of investment in schools where the opportunity for real reform was blocked by political issues – lengthening the school day, firing ineffective teachers, etc. – the Gates Foundation has uncovered the root of the problem in school reform. Everyone says they want it until they are personally inconvenienced by it. There is not enough political will power to make these kinds of necessary changes.

I would also suggest that it will only be when the business community demands school excellence and creates a path forward, that the K-12 institutional monolith will be forced to change.

For more of this fascinating report on the Gates Foundation’s announcements, check out the rest of this post from Gotham Schools written by Elizabeth Green.

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