I need to start somewhere...

What an amazing two weeks. I am writing my first blog because events in the past two weeks that left lasting impressions.

First, I attended the Southeast Regional Technology and Teaching Conference (SRTTC). At this conference there were the usual tech vendors selling hardware for classrooms, and workshops promoting technology usage in the classroom. Nothing spectacular, and I didn’t expect much going in either. I am a computer science teacher and I am finishing my Master’s Degree in Instructional Technology, so going into this workshop I was a little over confident that I was on top of current trends in education and technology.

Then I met David Warlick, I sat in his presentations on blogging and podcasting and their applications in the classroom. David opened my eyes to web 2.0 and its many uses. I can not believe how much I have been missing. So I leave his workshop and I look at all of the new sites he told me about, and then set up my aggregator software and my netvibes.com, and my del.icio.us, and I feel empowered to bring this back to my classes and do great things.

As if that’s not enough, I sat with David at dinner that night and we chatted about what strangers at conferences usually chat about and the next day I sat through his program again. I actually learned about podcasting on the second day. Another important name is introduced on day two: Tim Tyson. After reading the linked interview, I will have to add his name to my hero list. His philosophy of instructional technology is the same as mine “Dr. Tyson believes that technology is neither "the answer nor the magic bullet" but a tool that, when appropriately leveraged, brings people together so that they can collaboratively create and share with unprecedented ease and facility.”

Before April 26th I thought I had a handle on technology and instruction. In just two days I was blown away at the possible applications of web 2.0. I really felt out of touch after that. So after returning home I have begun my own education blog, it will be my quest to use this new and effective medium as much as I can in my classes and my own learning. This is my entrance to the “global conversation” as David Warlick put it when we ate together in Greenville three weeks ago.