Well, going to NECC in Atlanta was already a given… the good news is I’ll also be presenting. Two (of the seven) sessions I submitted were accepted:
With Power Comes Responsibility: Online Awareness, Ethics, and Safety (Session) Accepted
Wiki While You Work: Best Practices for Educational Wikis (Poster) Accepted
These sessions are on Wednesday June 27th, from 10:30 to 11:30 and 12:00 to 2:00, respectively. If you’re at the conference, I hope to see you there.
I’m grateful that I was selected to present two topics, especially on account of this explanation at the end of the email from the NECC 2007 Program Committee:
Every effort was made to balance the program in the areas of content, topic, grade level, focus, and audience. Due to space limitations, many presenters with multiple submissions could only be accepted once. We appreciate the time and effort involved in preparing a proposal, and thank you for offering to share your expertise with other educators.
The wiki session was originally submitted as a breakout session and was “downgraded” to a poster session… so I could present a second session, I suspect (or would like to think).
The bummer is that this session was among the one’s that were cut:
Learning to Game, Gaming to Learn: Video Games in Education (Session) Declined
I’ve written back to ask if there is any way I can contribute to that topic at this year’s conference. It was something I presented to a lot of interest last year, and a topic which I expect will be gaining increasing interest at the coming conference and in the years that follow. Also, my dissertation will be completed by that time and I’d love to share my research. I hope to hear back from the Program Committee, but in the meantime…
If anyone knows of a “video games in education” birds-of-a-feather, round-table, or other event I might be able to contribute to at this years conference, please let me know. (I’ll be making more of an effort to contact last year’s organizers and participants as well, of course.) Though I am also passionate about the issues I will be presenting, I’d most like to be a part of the games in education events at the conference.
Also on the chopping block were the following sessions I submitted, all of which I presume someone else will be presenting:
Google More: An Introduction to Google Applications in Education (Session) Declined
What More Could You Want? Open Source Software in Education (Session) Declined
It Really Is Really Simple: Introducing RSS for Educators (Session) Declined
Blog if You Love Learning: Best Practices for Educational Weblogs (Session) Declined
I hope many of you had sessions accepted as well and I look forward to seeing even more of you at the conference!