NECC 2009 in Washington DC has come and gone. Going into the beginning of this week, I had mixed feelings about not being able to attend “the premier educational technology conference” this year. Kim and I had a great time in San Antonio last summer at NECC 2008. We were able to present a Model Lesson, attend a number of informative sessions and meet a bunch of great people, like Tim Holt and Ewan McIntosh.

As I was preparing my session proposals back in October 2008, I was really excited to get back to NECC and I promised myself that in 2009 I would actually take the opportunity to introduce myself to all the people I admire at the Blogger’s Cafe, like David Warlick, Dean Shareski and Dr. Scott McLeod. But it wasn’t to be this year. All the proposals I submitted were declined by the selection committee.

necc2008_plurk

After the initial disappointment, I realized that even if I couldn’t make the conference in person, that there would still be opportunities to participate. I was able to catch a glimpse of the Malcolm Gladwell opening keynote, thanks to Steve Dembo‘s Qik stream. Throughout the week, I also was able to stay up-to-date by following the NECC hastag on Twitter (#necc09). Because there are so many techy members in my PLN, I even felt like I was a part of the golf outing organized by Ben Grey and the Orioles vs. Red Sox game at Camden Yard that many people attended. As I sit back and list all the ways I was able to keep in touch with the goings on of NECC 2009, I am actually marveling at how connected I have become to an entire network of individuals I’ve never really met in just 1 year!

During the final day of the conference, I was able to participate in the most active manner to date when I joined a synchronous Elluminate web conference that was part of the NECC Unplugged schedule. What a great experience! I chose a session titled ‘Using Twitter as an Assessment Tool‘ that was facilitated by Shelly Blake-Plock. I’ve been a @TeachPaperless fan for a few months now, ever since Will Richardson began singing his praises in a session or two that I was able to catch on Ustream.tv. Let me tell you, Shelly didn’t dissappoint! A quick rundown on the topics covered during his 40 minute session from his blog:

We’ll be talking about using Twitter in assessment as a lifeline, for review sessions, as a collaborative bibliography tool, for collab assessment, using Twitterfall in open tests, and using Twitter to vet class Wikis.

There turned out to be between 15-20 people in the session as it went along, which led to a much more laid back and conversational tone. I was active on the chat portion of the Elluminate meeting and was also able to take advantage of the VoIP capabilities to personally ask a question or two. Apparently, I was asking all the right questions, because others who attended took notice of my interest in the topic. When it was all said and done, I had gained a lot of valuable insight in to how teachers can integrate Twitter into their classroom and I also expanded my PLN by adding a follower or two. Thanks to Shelly for being willing to share his knowledge and extend a look into his classroom to the Unplugged attendees. It was a great way to be involved in NECC 2009 without making the trip to D.C. That being said, I still hope to see everyone in Denver for ISTE 2010!