Cathy Nelson’s Professional Thoughts

Okay so some of you already know I’m a HUGE Alan November fan. Alan has been to SC’s Edtech Conference and SCASL’s Conference in recent years, as well as many times at ISTE’s NECC, so I’ve had many opportunities to see and hear him. He is even on my Skype contact list, and yes, there’s a story behind that here. I’ve had several opportunities to chat with him since then, so I’ve gotten to know that he really is a nice man, too. It is my goal to eventually attend one of his “Building Learning Communities” (BLC) Conferences one summer. It is so expensive though!! Generally my own summer learning opportunities are self-financed, and if this desire is to come to fruition, I’d better start saving now. Maybe in 2 years I’ll have the ability to send myself to Boston for a BLC. Why can’t there be a few grant or scholarship opportunities??

Which leads me to the point of my post, the BLC 2007 Conference, which began with pre-conference sessions today. Even though I cannot attend physically, I am able to track a lot of what is going on from right here at home, thanks to my network of virtual friends and Web 2.0 supporters. David Warlick (of 2 Cents Worth blog fame) has set up a website called Hitchhikr, and by searching for BLC on that site, I have been able to subscribe to an RSS feed of any blog posting that come from that conference (by way of tagging). Attendees have been given a workbook and guide on tagging posts and so there is already over 100 posts listed in my aggregator from BLC attendees who are writing and sharing about what is happening and how much they are learning. Other attendees (like Will Richardson of Weblogg-ed, David Jakes of The Strength of Weak Ties, and Ewan McIntosh of Edu.Blogs.Com) are “twittering” through Twitter about the conference, as well as blogging too. David Jakes has graciously offered to Skype with anyone interested in the sessions he is attending, and he posted his two-day agenda on his blog yesterday. It astounds me that I have so many opportunities and methods to track what is going on at this conference.

I am not alone in my helpless feeling that I am missing a great opportunity here too. David Warlick twittered just a moment ago that he wishes he was attending BLC. I’m right there with ya, David. But I am also ever so thankful for the ways that I can be there at least “virtually.”
Berger, Jutta. “View from our Window: Boston Skyline.” Ernie*’s Photostream. 22 February 2007. 17 Jul 2007 <http://www.flickr.com/photos/juttasfotos/399095639/>.