ISTE Newbie Project

[Beth Still]

In June of 2008 I traveled to San Antonio, Texas to attend the National Education Computing Conference (NECC). Don't let the name fool you; NECC is not just for computer geeks. It is an annual conference, which will be called ISTE from now on, to reflect the growing global audience that attends. It truly is an international conference drawing well over 15,000 educators from around the world. My love for technology drew me to the conference, but I discovered something far more wonderful once I got there. For many people the conference is about finding the latest software or hardware, for others it is about making connections with people. For me, it was the latter. Meeting the people who I had only "known" online for six weeks or so was truly an amazing experience. I made up my mind before I left San Antonio that I would attend this conference whether my school was paying for it or not. It was THAT important to me.

In the fall and spring of last year I was busy planning my trip to NECC 2009 which was held last month in Washington DC. It was hard to hear that so many of the great educators in my PLN would not be attending due to

Last March I had a crazy idea. I wanted to see if my PLN could pull together to raise enough money to send one of our own to NECC who had never attended. It only took us two weeks to raise $1500 to help send Richard Byrne (@rmbyrne on Twitter) to NECC>. I really thought the project would be a one time thing, but it caught the attention of a few people. I was interviewed by one of the editors at Leading and Learning with Technology, ISTE's bimonthly publication. I was asked if I would do this project again. I had not really thought about it until I was asked. That is when the wheels in my head started turning.

I selected Jason Schrage to be the Newbie for 2010. He has been part of my PLN since last fall. During this time I have been able to work with him on some projects and I have seen him come up with some fantastic ideas for how to break down the walls in his classroom. To give back to his PLN who will donate the funds to send him to Denver next summer he will blog frequently about his experiences. The idea is for teachers who are brand new to blogging to follow his progress throughout the year. If the project works as it should he will be a virtual mentor for so many educators. Please help support Jason and this project by subscribing to his blog or following him on Twitter.