[TIPS] Greetings from PETE&C

The connectivity at the hotel has been spotty but the connections among the people have been great. Lots of excellent presentations from some very excited and talented people.

 

I want to share one story that I think sums up the conference (as people are currently fleeing ahead of the expected  weather). Some background, first. I taught a full day session on Sunday about Web 2.0 tools to a group of 15 people. Those are fun to  do. When folks haven't seen those kinds of tools before then anything they see is exciting. *I* might know how much I couldn't show them, but they didn't mind. THen I did two presentations on Monday, both well attended. One on  web 2.0 and another on Moodle as a student centered tool.

 

But last night when I arrived late for the dinner I was standing at the buffet table when a young woman from my Sunday session came over to me and with a smile from ear to ear said, "Jim, I just wanted to tell you how excited I am - I finally 'get it'. This blog and wikis and web 2.0 stuff... I finally get it, and I can't wait to get back to my school to try it out with my students." The "ah-ha!" moment. I was very happy to not only hear that bit of news but SO happy that she had made the effort to share it with me. I wondered later how many others experienced that same "ah-ha!" moment and had their teaching change forever as a result.

 

Such GREAT things come from these conferences. Sea-changing experiences. I DO hope that YOU will try to attend one next year. Maybe even NECC in June. It may just be YOUR "ah-ha!" moment.