A Poor Man's Guide to NECC 2009

For those of us who are not fortunate enough to attend NECC 2009 (National Educational Computing Conference), this blog is for you. First of all, what is NECC about? NECC is all about educational technology. At this national (or should I say, international) conference, you can find information on virtual educational worlds that exist only in Second Life, the latest classroom gadgets, debates on 1-1 computing and cell phones, the latest on Doodle, Moodle, and Google and much, much more.

1st stop: The Official Website
Official NECC 2009 Website
Program Search allows you to browse over 1000 different sessions by audience, theme, among other filters. By clicking on individual program titles you will be presented with an overview of the event along with links to websites, Nings, handouts, and emails. You can also find research papers here.
ISTE Connects provides for live video streaming of NECC 2009 events using UStream technology that allows you to participate in a back channel conversation while listening/watching the live event. You can also participate in debate forums and follow Twitter feeds.

2nd stop: Social Networking
Blogs. At last check there were well over 100 attendees blogging about what they are finding at the conference. Some bloggers might wait till the conference is over while others might engage in live blogging. Check a variety of bloggers to find those who might be coming from a similar grade level or content area.
Twitter. Follow isteconnects on twitter. Then go a step further and follow some of the 1800 people who are following isteconnects. You can also search #necc09 to see all the tagged tweets related to NECC 2009.
Facebook. Join the ISTE group on Facebook. You might want to check out ISTE's related groups as well, for example, Classroom 2.0 would be a group to join. You won't feel the benefit of this group until you connect with members and participate in the discussion board.
NECC Ning. This online NECC community is a place to share ideas, videos, links, photos, and more. You maintain your own page, add to forums, and join specialized groups. Lots of contacts to be made here. And if you want video, check out ISTEvision to view popular sessions. If you want a year-round community then join the ISTE Community Ning as well.

3rd stop: Social Bookmarking
Delicious. Use the popular social bookmarking site to see all the shared links that have been tagged with "necc." At last count there were 4560 bookmarks here. Use the drill-down feature to find websites that connect to your subject area and/or grade level.