Penn State One-to-One Conference - Dave J's Recap

Last week, I attended the One-to-One conference at Penn State University. The keynote speakers and session presenters provided so much information, I found myself a victim of cognitive saturation.

Below are some of the thoughts and tools that stood out:

The Tools

1. Tabbloid.com - This site allows you to create a PDF newsletter based on the RSS feeds of your choice. The newsletter is e-mailed to you on the day(s) and time(s) you select. This is potentially a huge timesaver if you need to frquently find current articles on a particular subject.

2. Diigo.com - This site is the next generation of social bookmarking. Not only can you make a list of bookmarks available, you can also higlight text on the site, and add "sticky notes." This ability to bookmark and annotate provides a unique way for students to collaborate on a project, or just share what information was important to them.

3. Netvibes.com - This is similar to Tabbloid in that it provides a way to collect and manage all your RSS feeds. Instead of creating a PDF newsletter, Netvibes helps you to create a completely customized start page, based on all your feeds.

4. Prezi.com - This is the next...next...next generation of PowerPoint. It is visually stunning, creating presentations that use a range of motions to proceed from item to item in what can only be described as one large dynamic slide. The only potential problems with this site are (1) the presentation can overwhelm the content and (2) an overly complicated presentation could cause vertigo.

5. DeepDebate.org - This site is an "online conversation tool" that provides the ability for students to debate a particular subject. The order and organization of the information is designed for ongoing conversation, making this a much more effective tool than a wiki or a blog for a debate.

Some Random Thoughts and Questions

* "Technology is anything that was invented after you were born." -Alan Kay

* "The blogosphere is the exhaust of the human experience." - David Warlick

* How can you continue a class discussion after the school day ends?

* How do you make the shift from teacher created Wikis to student created Wikis?

* How do you plan and prepare for a complete failure of all technology in a class? (The internet was down for almost the entire third day of the conference.)

Blogs to Follow:

tipline.blogspot.com - Jim Gates

davidwarlick.com/connectlearning/ - David Warlick

www.practicaltheory.org/serendipity/ - Chris Lehmann