I enjoyed a great day yesterday here in Southeast Texas. TCEA’s region five folks put on a fabulous conference. The biggest complaint that I heard was about the sessions that people couldn’t attended, the hard decisions they had to make in what presentations to see, and which ones to leave behind.
The keynote on the new shape of information seemed to be well received. At least most of the audience stayed awake. The blogging session that followed was overwhelmingly attended. I am getting the sense that an overflow of interest in blogging as a school/classroom endeavor is about to be reached. People have a sense of what blogging is, and, consequently, are realizing its value as a communication and literacy tool. However, barriers remain:
- over filtered school networks
- lack of time to retool lessons to integrate classroom blogging
- media induced negative impressions about blogging in the public
- impending legislation that threatens to ban social networks from the classroom
- insufficient technical staff to support software installations and maintenance
- the overwhelming burdens of standardized tests
There is much work to be done — much conversation to be had.
Today, I’ll facilitate day 2 of the Southeast Texas Web 2.0 summit. The participants will include teams of educators from area schools, including librarians, administrators, teachers, and technology specialists. I hope to include a podcasted discussion in one of my upcoming Connect Learning podcasts.
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