Autumn is EduConferencePalooza Time

Leaves are falling (somewhere) and it’s time to get the luggage out and truck off to an educational conference. Or not, stay at home, put your feet up, and jump into an online conference! This dog’s bowl is a bit full the next few months of conference, and conference-like activity.

Sorry, but I am likely the one ed tech NOT going to the EDUCAUSE annual conference in Dallas. Eeek, crowds of 10,000 scare me. Maybe someone can send me a conference bag or some Blackboard swag.. No, there is too much going on, and the big show is… well so big.

So let me toot some horns for some other events, especially ones I am associated with 😉

The NMC Online Conference on Digital Media October 24-25, 2006 is associated with our work for the MacArthur Foundation’s Series on Digital Media and Learning, a project involving the heaviest of heavy hitter academic authors. Our 2-day event wil feature sessions associated with the series’ themes: Identity and self-image, Credibility and the reliability of Information, Civic and social involvement, The arts, creativity, and design, Social networking, and Pedagogical potentials and implications. But look at our headlines! We will ave keynotes from Harold Rheingold and danah boyd, not too shabby! Look for the online registration to open in the next few days. There might be a semi-parallel quasi related event in Second Life, but you need to check out the NMC Campus to learn more.
K12 Online Conference — a completely grass roots effort conference, run in a blog, totally free to participate. I easily fell to flattery from Darren, and I am slotted for a keynote session in the “Basic/Advanced Training” Track. What it will be… hmmmm, the cookies are still in the oven, but I will say it will be a widely distributed presentation 😉
The 2006 NMC Regional Conference hosted at Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas is November 8-10, 2006. This smaller size conference, where you can actually sit and talk to colleagues, has three tracks- The Future of Scholarship, Bringing Virtual 3-D Worlds to Reality, and Embracing the New Web. Keynotes include “Steal This Avatar! Civil Disobedience and the Digital Revolution” by Aaron Delwiche (Trinity University); “Reflections on the Challenges of the New Scholarship” by Joan Getman (Cornell University); and “Virtual Worlds, Real People and Learning” by John Lester a.k.a. Pathfinder Linden (Linden Labs). Beyond that are some smashing sessions by some of my fave colleagues Brian Lamb, Bryan Alexander, Gardner Campbell, and Cyprien Lomas. And how cool is it to be in San Antonio? I don’t know, I’ve never been there, but the photos are awesome. Or check out the conference promo video. If you’ve never been to an NMC conference, this would be an inspiring taste test.