NECC from the Exhibit Floor
One more time, this is my first time at NECC! One of the things that is very different from my state educational technology conference is the size of the exhibit floor. It is immense and the displays are the size of small stores that I might find in my hometown. Clarence Fisher, over at 
Remote Access posted his reaction to the exhibit floor. I felt compelled to report my reaction to the exhibit floor, as well as my reaction to his reaction. Mr. Fisher suggests the exhibit floor has no meaning for him, because he can manage his classroom using free tools in a DIY manner. I applaud his efforts…I share his blog with teachers…I share his practices as best practices.
If I had a district full of DIY teachers, an IT department of a size that could support the DIY efforts and federal guidelines that didn’t tie teachers down, I would agree that the need for vendors of products would be greatly reduced. However, after meeting teachers at NECC that had never heard of google docs and seemed confused about what type of computers were being used in their district - it becomes obvious that some teachers need a packaged product. Visiting booths like Fablevision, Tech4Learning, Discovery Education, Kerpoof and VoiceThread should not be missed. In fact, visiting the booths new to NECC this year gave me the chance to talk with many products that would otherwise have escaped my attention.
Many of my teachers are enthused to teach with technology and engage students in learning using technology tools. If the available tools are not reliable or require technical tinkering, teacher confidence plummets and often techniques revert to tried and true methods. The big vendors are giving away big prizes. If a teacher at NECC chooses to sit down for the 8 minute Plato presentation and wins and iPod or PSP to use in the classroom, who can blame them? It’s true that the content these vendors demonstrate can often be replicated with free tools. However, if attending one of those well packaged presentations excites a teacher and sparks desire in that teacher to talk to someone that recommends a free product to do the same thing, then that’s a winning situation in my eyes. I visit the exhibit floor because my district has funded me to attend the conference and one of my roles is to evaluate tools and products, for good and bad.
Technorati Tags: necc2008 mkrill mmkrill exhibit
Filed under: Reflecting... and
While I may not be of the $25 Tech Budget crowd, I do believe that the commercialization of technology rubs me the wrong way and I wish it weren’t so. I almost a realist and where there is interest, there is bound to be marketing and commercial products.
I think DIY is the best route, but I know it is not for everyone.
Kevin
Kevin~
Sounds like we may be on the same page here. I tried to visit the less commercialized vendors on the exhibit floor to hear what they had to say. The loud, nearly Disney like presenters, were not for me!