Let us your know your opinion entering the debate, we’ll poll you again afterwards to find out if you changed your mind based on the panel members’ arguments.

Don’t forget to submit and vote on questions that will be asked by the moderator, Robert Seigel. You can also weigh-in on what you think about the Brick and Mortars by participating in our poll.

Just as I was yesterday, I’m embedded among the teachers and technologists at ISTE Central, reporting from the front lines of the ed tech festivities here in Washington, DC.  I promise to be a tireless correspondent, so be sure to check in frequently for new posts.  And, as always, if you’d like to reach me with questions or comments, I’m @zbgoodwin on Twitter.

(For those who are tuning in for the first time, the briefest of bios: I’m a writer, designer and technologist based in Washington, DC, and a member of the iStrategyLabs family.)

With introductions and formalities out of the way, let’s get down to business: This morning has been busy!  The @ISTEConnects team and I arrived at 7:30 to set up our scores of MacBooks, and our workhorse of a videocamera (a Sony PD170 for any A/V nerds out there) in preparation for today’s live-streaming.  At 9 am, Joe Corbett — who oversees the ISTEConnects universe — began interviewing a long list of NECC attendees.  Check it out:

After a few hours of interviews with the ISTE faithful, I headed off to the Conference Room 146B, to hear one teacher’s reflections on teaching to the “digital generation.”  (My plan was to live-blog the presentation, but an over-burdened wi-fi connection made that impossible!)  The session documented the experience of Camilla Gagliolo, a Jamestown Elementary School teacher, who has been experimenting with employing the Nintendo DS in her daily instructions.  She began by purchasing 12 Nintendo DSs, using a BestBuy grant for teachers, and creating a ‘classroom kit’ which could circulate around the school as needed.  She found, from the very beginning, that kids were extremely enthusiastic with the notion of playing “games” in class.  From the looks of the video Camilla played during her presentation, the kids couldn’t believe their good fortune.

The programs Camilla used were right off the shelf: BrainAge, BrainBoost, MyWord and a few others.  She seemed to suggest that the math games were most sucessful — though the language-arts oriented games were used as well.

The networking function of the Nintendo DS is likely its most important feature.  The DS allows for teachers to create chat rooms, which can hold up to 12 student on their own DSs.  For larger classes, each teacher can create four chat rooms of 12 students.  The chatrooms allow one teacher to get real-time information about how each student is grasping new concepts.  What’s 12 * 56?  The DS will allow one to teacher to figure out which of his or her 30 students knows — and, more importantly, which are struggling.

All in all, it was a fascinating presentation — and one that prompted a lot of great questions from the audience.  And with that, I’m off to my next session!  See you in a few,

Zach

Live Poll results from the audience 30 minutes into Malcom Gladwell’s talk:

Live Poll results from the audience at the end of Malcom Gladwell’s talk:

I arrived this morning at about 10 am, highly caffeinated and ready to type.  I spent first few hours walking the cavernous halls of the Washington Convention Center looking awestruck, unable to comprehend the epic scale of the place, and the enormous number of NECC attendees.  It is truly a sight to behold.  Everywhere there are hundred-foot ceilings, brighly colored banners, and scores of genial volunteers in lime-green t-shirts.  For such a large place, it feels immediately welcoming.

Beginning at 1 pm, our team kicked off the live-streaming for ISTEConnects.org.  The much-loved Joe Corbett (@ISTEConnects) interviewed members of ISTE’s marketing team, as well as a few passers-by — you can check it out here.

At that about takes us up to the present moment.  I’ll be reporting on new developments as they happen, so just keep hitting refresh!

See you in a few,

Zach Goodwin