We’ve now updated the locations for the workshops and sessions. Space will be limited in the workshops, so we’ll be asking people to sign up soon. Check out the web site for more information.

I’m happy to announce that we can now accept credit card payments via the web! Check out the registration page.  While you’re there, check out the new schedule!

We have a tentative schedule in place. Registration is open. Soon we’ll all be descending on Philadelphia to share our knowledge. Keep watching this space for more information.

We’ve extended the deadline to November 15! Send a paragraph explanation of your presentation to lblanken [at] brynmawr [dot] edu or submit via our web site.

I thought I’d provide a little more context than my previous CFP. Here’s a portion of what I sent out to my faculty:

I’d like to invite you submit a proposal for a workshop, discussion, or presentation for the Philadelphia Area Educational Technology Conference (PAETC). Last year, I organized this conference to bring together faculty and staff interested in incorporating technology into the educational mission of their institutions, whether that was for specific courses or for institution-wide initiatives. We heard presentations on the use of video games in literature courses, the use of podcasting in a geology course, how to optimize your blog for search engines, and how to use online tools for cohorts of students to better communicate with each other and campus administrators. We had faculty, instructional technologists and K-12 staff and began a conversation about bridging the gap between K-12 environments and college environments.

This year, we’d like to continue to bridge the gap between the K-12 environment and college. We hope to foster discussions about the way technology is being integrated into the K-12 curriculum and how that creates certain expectations at the college level. We also hope to foster discussions about what skills students need to continue to develop at the college level and how technology can contribute to that development. To help begin this conversation, I’m happy to have as our keynote speaker, Chris Lehmann, principal at the new Science and Leadership Academy in Philadelphia. The Academy has fully integrated technology into the curriculum, providing students with laptops and working with teachers to help develop appropriate assignments that take full advantage of the technology available to them. Chris will share with us his experience thus far and will provide a valuable insight into what’s going on in the K-12 system.

Our theme this year is multiliteracies, the idea of developing literacy across various kinds of media including video, audio, web sites, and text. We hope that people with share theories behind teaching interpretation of multiple media, activities that have worked well in the classroom, or other work they have done to foster multiliteracy in their students. We especially want to think about reimagining technology not as a tool but as an aspect of the learning environment that requires us to rethink how and what we teach.

The conference will be held on February 22 and 23rd, 2007 at Drexel University. On February 22nd, we will have a half-day of hands-on workshops. We invite proposals for these workshops. If you have developed software or use a technological tool in your work that you find particularly useful and want to show others how it works, please submit your ideas. On the 23rd, we’ll have our keynote speaker as well as presentations and discussions. The submission deadline for workshops or presentations/discussions is October 31st. We ask for a brief description and preferred format. Complete panels may also be submitted. Submissions may be emailed to me directly at lblanken@brynmawr.edu. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

PAETC 2007 will take place on Thursday, February 22 and Friday February 23 at Drexel University. Thursday’s sessions will be more how to sessions and hands-on workshops while on Friday, we expect more discussion-oriented sessions that center around key issues in the incorporation of technology in education at all levels. This year, we are thrilled to welcome Chris Lehmann, principal of the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia as our keynote speaker. He will share with us his experience getting the first “Web 2.0″ school up and running.

This year’s theme is Multiliteracies. We conceive of that broadly, so be creative. Proposals might encompass the following:

• Assignments for teaching multiliteracy.
• Workshops on using the tools to develop multiliteracy.
• What does it mean to be multiliterate?
• Are students already multiliterate? Don’t they already multitask, use iPods, and blog?
• Theory behind multiliteracy.
• Institutional issues–DOPA, FERPA, digital divide.
• How does web 2.0 and networked learning fit into a multiliterate model?

These are just some places to start. Feel free to add suggestions in the comments. Send your proposals by October 31 to Laura Blankenship (lblanken [at] brynmawr [dot] edu.

Online registration is coming soon. Watch this space.

I know many of you are in the throes of the last week of classes, headed into the whirlwind of exams and grading. I wanted to begin finalizing plans for next year's conference.

We need a theme/topic. Suggestions so far have been Convergence and Multiliteracies. Those are both good topics and I think it would be find to go with either of those.

Second, I thought it might be nice to have at least one keynote speaker. Who we bring in might depend on the topic we end up with, but I'm looking for suggestions.

Third, we need to settle on a date(s) and then think about location.

There is now an email list. To subscribe, send an email message to majordomo [at] brynmawr [dot] edu with subscribe paetc in the body of the email.

Welcome to the Philadelphia Area Educational Technology blog!  I want to use this space for two things.  One, to plan for next year’s conference.  Two, to share resources and ideas among the many people in the Philadelphia region.

I’ll start by asking for suggestions for a theme for next year. Post your suggestions in the comments to this post and I’ll begin moving them to the top for discussion.

Also, if anyone wants to contribute to the blog, let me know.  The more the merrier!