EdTech conferences persist without funding: The K-12 Online Conference
August 19, 2010
BY DAN FROELICH
With the budget issues that have plagued schools over the past two years, educators have found themselves without opportunities to attend education conferences. Sadly, they miss out on the perspective of subject-area experts that can reinvigorate one’s teaching. Thankfully, a group of dedicated individuals decided to create the K-12 Online Conference. The 2010 conference, as with past conferences, is FREE, run by volunteers, and open to everyone. Co-convener Wesley Fryer is an adjunct instructor at the University of Central Oklahoma and blogger for “Moving at the Speed of Creativity.”
Given its online environment, sessions are asynchronous and available via archives for years to come. This means you don’t have be online at any particular time and can, in fact, miss the conference altogether and take in the content at a later time.
For those new to the K-12 Online Conference, there is a First Timers section to get you oriented to the particulars of the conference. Directions to presentations, handouts, videos, and a social-networking hub are all included in your tour of the K-12 Online Conference.
This year’s theme is “Cultivating the Future.” As William Gibson said, “The future is here. It’s just not widely distributed yet.” The conference sessions, keynotes, and conversations will focus around how we should carefully map out our professional-learning connections so that we may reap the benefits from our work. A recent announcement from Wes Fryer, “Keynote speakers will be announced on September 1, 2010.”
So what’s stopping you from attending? Is the cost? (It’s free.) Is it the schedule? (It’s on your time.) Is it the relevance? (There’s something for everyone.) Head over to k12onlineconference.org and start reading more about the K-12 Online Conference coming this year. While you’re there, take a look at the 140 past presentations archived from 2006-2009. Finally, follow the conversation on Twitter, continue the conversation with #k12online10 and become a fan on Facebook.
