There’s only a couple of days left before thousands of ed-tech experts, administrators, and industry officials (13,000 last year!) converge on Washington to attend the 2009 National Educational Computing Conference. Of course, several of us from Education Week and Digital Directions will be on-site covering the conference with stories, blog posts, tweets, videos, and photos. Stay tuned to the Digital Education blog for the latest coverage of the conference. Or follow us on Twitter @digidirections.
Lots of high-profile ed-tech folks will be there, including Chris Dede, Elliot Soloway, Susan Patrick, and ... Malcolm Gladwell? Aside from being an internationally famous author, I’m not sure what his connection is to education. And yet, he’s the one delivering the opening keynote at the event. The NECC Web site explains it this way: “As part of ISTE’s three-keynote series on digital citizenship, Gladwell will deliver his unique perspective on the ways that intentional practice today influences expert-development of the future.” That seems somewhat jargon-heavy, and I’m not really sure what to expect.
At least the closing keynote will be delivered by an educator. Erin Gruwell, the founder of Freedom Writers, an organization that encourages underprivileged students to write, certainly has a stronger tie to education, although her connection to ed-tech is a little unclear.
Regardless, I have to admit I’m excited to hear what both Gladwell and Gruwell have to say. We’ll be blogging about both right here at Digital Education, so stay tuned.
Photo by Brooke Williams/Little, Brown and Company/AP-File