MassCUE: One Year Later

Sitting here at my second MassCUE conference, I can't help but think back to a year ago when I was walking the halls of the Sturbridge absorbing as much new information as is humanly possible in just two short days. Now, a year later I'm thinking about all that's changed for me professionally.

Since the '08 MassCUE conference, I've:

• become a regular user of Twitter.


• created a valuable PLN of educators from all over the world.


• used Skype to link my classroom to other classrooms across the country.


• become a regular (for the most part) blogger.


• created a classroom blog that is predominately driven by student content.


• set up all of my students on blogs.


• begun to manage and assess more than 50% of my students work virtually.


• created movies and have posted them online.


• allowed students to use cell phones in class.


• provided students opportunities to collaborate online to create new content for Wikipedia.


• done a lot more than I can think of right now...

My first pass at the '09 MassCUE program guide left me feeling like there wasn't much new that I didn't already know about or that I hadn't already explored to some extent. At first I felt pretty proud of myself and my colleagues. Relative to the rest of the education world, we're ahead of the technological curve. But, then I realized that just because I know about something doesn't mean that I've fully explored how to use it -- especially in the classroom.

So, for the past 36 hours, I've spent this conference attending sessions hosted by really smart people and picking their brains -- asking questions about how to use all these new tools more efficiently. While last year I felt overwhelmed by everything new, this year I feel focused and even more determined to make technology a seamless part of my classroom.