On-Line Conferences

I am becoming a fan of on-line conferences ... firstly they don't demand that I travel long distances putting my carbon footprint all over our unique planet; secondly they don't cost me travel time (although travel time is often thinking time so there is a trade off to be had there) nor do they cost me real money; thirdly I can decide the time to listen and follow up that suits my learning patterns ( and those who know me will know how bizarre they are) and lastly (for now) I can be International ... my learning is not tethered because of geography.

There is, of course, so I am told a downside to all of this. No F2F networking, no bar until the early hours, no making new 'real' rather than virtual acquaintances but, as I said, it is growing on me.

All this is leading towards the fact that I spent time early this morning ( I really am a very early in the morning person!) following the K12 Online Conference 2007 subtitled 'Playing with Boundaries'.

The Conference schedule is awesome with many top thinkers in the field of education and the potential of ICT tools to support and enhance it. Better still it is not a conference where I will get all of the superb input in one day so that my mind goes numb and I can't cope with the innovation of it all ... the conference goes on daily until Friday 26th October.

I won't attempt to 'Readers Digest' the presentations ... they stand on their own feet and, anyway, the summaries are there ... on the site.

David Wallick's 'Inventing New Boundaries' ... 'The borders have gone ... they have been made transparent' sets a pattern of thought that challenges and inspires.

One of the main things that impresses me is that the technology is in place to secure interest in the conference in a variety of ways ... you can Twitter, go to the wiki, listen to the presentations in many ways and/or watch the videos. Everything is there to take account of taste and time.