President's Report	by James McConville
Fall Conference 2006: Teaching to the Multiple Literacies	by CUE Executive
Top Ten Reasons to Attend the Fall Conference	by CUE Executive
List of Presenters	by CUE Executive
Keynote Speakers	by CUE Executive
Students and Teachers Agree that Digital Tools Make Schoolwork More Fun	by Alan Zisman
Teaching History in a Time of Change	by Chris Kennedy
Comparison of Inexpensive or Free 3D Animation Programs	by Dennis Wong
ISTE NECC San Diego Conference Highlights	by Dave McCristall
Teachers Pay Teachers Website	by Chris Rozitis
CUEBC Chapters	by CUE Executive
Financial Statements	by Glen Holmes
AGM Agenda	by CUE Executive
Get Published: become a CUE newsletter contributor	by CUE Executive
Renewing your CUEBC membership	by James McConville

ISTE NECC San Diego Conference Highlights

By Dave McCristall

Over the summer break I had the opportunity to attend the National Education Computing Conference, the second largest conference of any professional group in North America. NECC was held in San Diego this year at the beautiful San Diego Trade and Convention Centre with around 18,000 people and 545 vendors in attendance. This year’s NECC theme was “Explore, Dream, Discover,” a theme I believe can really enhance our classrooms.

Day 1 : The first day of the convention I arrived early and managed to catch several different sessions. Podcasting and Podcatching for the Absolute Beginner and was hosted by 4 pioneers in the podcasting world, Larry Anderson from the National Center for Technology Planning, Ted Lai,  David Warlick and Tim Wilson. Since attending this session and talking with David Warlick, I have become an avid reader of his Blog on technology in Education. I strongly believe that podcasting has value in education, and should be explored by teachers of all subjects.

Dewitt Jones a world renowned photographer for National Geographic was the first keynote of the conference. He discussed how as educators our goals should be to celebrate achievements and look for opportunities when facing challenges. Jones explained what he considers the four keys to creating a meaningful existence: vision, passion, purpose, and creativity, examples of how we may not always “see” the opportunities that obstacles we face can provide us with. Thinking outside the box often opens up possibilities. The afternoon and evening session was spent looking at Photoshop. I learned a lot of excellent teaching techniques that will be very helpful in my classes.

July 6th

Today started at 6am with a cab to the convention centre, I went to see the Birds of a Feather and poster sessions, sessions designed to promote discussion amongst peers. The mini sessions on podcasting and blogging were interesting.

At 8:30 Nicholas Negroponte, the director of the MIT media lab and the man behind the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative began his keynote address to the over 17,000 people. He explained the rationale behind the OLPC plan and how it would help enhance the learning of students around the world. Costs associated with the laptop program when purchased in lots of one million would be about $100 per child. I had the opportunity to play with one of the hundred dollar laptops and talk to some of the engineers behind it’s development and all I can say is that it was amazing. It has to be the fastest computer I’ve ever used. Much faster than anything that you can buy today, this can be attributed to it’s lean, open-source operating system based around Redhat linux. Negroponte believes that laptops will enable students to learn at their own pace without being dependant on their teachers.

Following the Keynote I had some time to wander the exhibit hall and check out all of the various products offered for sale. Many caught my attention as some real trends seem to be forming in the educational technology arena. At the last NECC I attended four years ago I noticed a big move towards handheld computing and multimedia integration. At this year’s conference it was all about Electronic Whiteboards,Web 2.0 (Blogs, Podcasts, Wikis) and laptops (one to one).

July 7th

The final day of the conference I attended an all day workshop on Adobe Indesign.

NECC 2006 was an outstanding event. Representatives from all over the world attended and shared their thoughts on technology in education. I believe that technology can assist in student learning and sharing, if we choose to embrace what it has to offer. We need not fear the unknown, things like blogging, podcasting and Wikis are becoming common place. These technologies can greatly enhance the learning opportunities we provide our students by allowing them to become explorers and contributors instead of just students.

Sites of interest:
davidwarlick.com
http://laptop.media.mit.edu

Podcasts from NECC 2006

http://center.uoregon.edu/ISTE/NECC2006/program/podcasting.php

Video Podcast 2006
http://center.uoregon.edu/ISTE/NECC2006/program/video_on_demand.php