k12 Online Conference 2006

Time to plug an important event that’s just getting started – the k12 Online Conference 2006. “The “K12 Online Conference” is for teachers, administrators and educators around the world interested in the use of Web 2.0 tools in classrooms and professional practice! This year’s conference is scheduled to be held over two weeks, Oct. 23-27 and Oct. 30- Nov. 3 and will include a preconference keynote. The conference theme is “Unleashing the Potential”.” (More details on logistics, etc., and the full agenda). This conference is entirely online, entirely free, and incredibly important if you want to learn how to use Web2.0 social tools to work with today’s students, meet your curricular objectives, and enjoy a whole new world of opportunity in teaching & learning. If you’re already using technology, this conference will give you ample opportunities to advance your knowledge with: “(a) advanced technology training (eg. how to write your own blog template or hack existing ones), (b) new tools to make use of in your classes, (c) teaching ideas on how to mash tools together to create “something new,” (d) a pedagogical understanding of how technologies such as Weblogs, wikis, podcasts, social bookmarking sites, RSS feeds and others can deepen learning and increase student achievement, or (e) use of assessment tools to measure the effectiveness of Read/Write Web technologies in your personal practice and with your students. (more on conference tracks here).

Vicki Davis, a teacher for whom I have incredible respect, and who is a key participant in my new project, is leading a groundbreaking session that will immerse you in a collaborative experience using a wiki – I guarantee you’ll be so excited by the wiki after this, and eager to use it in your own courses! Here’s her description: “I’m so excited about my part of this, I’m going to give you a little “heads up.” We’re going to have a live wiki option for my presentation. I will release the URL next Monday and you can sign up on Monday and Tuesday. Then, on Wednesday, registration will close and I will pair you up by subject area to wiki (according to the wiki guidelines I use in my classroom) on a topic that hopefully most of you KNOW NOTHING about with 4 other teachers from around the world! Then, next Thursday through the following Sunday, October 29th, you will take time to post.

I want to demonstrate to you how rapidly you (and your students) can become an expert on a completely new topic! It will be fun and I’m asking that each participant only wiki in 2 – 10 minute sessions — no more! That is the format I use in my class and I want to show you that wiki-ing doesn’t have to take long.

I will be using the model that I have in my wiki classroom and will have some “volunteers” helping you and answering your questions.” Full details are in this post on Vicki’s blog. I’m serving as a judge for Vicki’s session, so I look forward to working with everyone who participates!

IMPORTANT: If you want to participate in Vicki’s session, please watch her blog for a lik to signup next Monday and Tuesday. The conference is free, but you’ll need to sign up on the wiki so she can create pairs: “Then, on Wednesday, registration will close and I will pair you up by subject area to wiki (according to the wiki guidelines I use in my classroom) on a topic that hopefully most of you KNOW NOTHING about with 4 other teachers from around the world! Then, next Thursday through the following Sunday, October 29th, you will take time to post.“