(November 20, 2007) Earlier today, Will Richardson and I engaged in a discussion to close the terrific annual NYSCATE Conference in Rochester, NY. Although the keynote was being promoted as a "steel cage grudge match with two men, one stage and only one man left standing," many found the honest civil exchange of ideas to be refreshing at conferences where ideas seem to be at a premium, but that may not be the most interesting aspect of the event.

I love watching smart people speak. I do not care if I agree or disagree with them. I pay to attend well-moderated public lectures where passionate partisans, world leaders and experts share ideas in front of an audience that gets to participate by listening.

I'm a giant fan of Charlie Rose and love the way he can engage neuroscientists and Jerry Seinfeld in stimulating provocative conversations. Unfortunately, when the subject turns to matters of education, Mr. Rose seems to shed a good 80 I.Q. points. Few members of the mainstream media can ask a good follow-up question after the canned nonsense about standards, teacher pay and accountability are recited from some secret hymnal every policymaker clutches to their bosom.

I attend and speak at dozens of conferences each year. Many of them have become boat shows while too few provide the intellectual stimulation and inspiration that I've experienced hearing Seymour Papert, Cornell West, Oscar Arias, Newt Gingrich, Bill Clinton, Carol Gilligan, Jonathan Kozol, Alan Kay, Vivian Paley, Mr. Rogers or even Mr. Wizard speak.

When conferences do feature dynamic speakers, the speakers are too often shot by pneumatic tube from the airport to behind the podium and then back again without having the courage or respect for the audience required to answer questions, clarify, extend or defend their views.

For years, I have begged the conferences I frequent, including NECC, to feature more conversations between intelligent, passionate and accomplished educators. I am not talking about panel discussions in which each of 123 speakers get 24 seconds to respond to one question before time runs out and I am certainly not talking about panel discussions in which corporate managers tell educators what XYZ corporation believes.

Amy Perry-Del Corvo and the NYSCATE Conference are the first edtech conference to take my suggestion seriously; hence today's keynote conversation with my colleague, Will Richardson.



I am not surprised that the conversation was civil and at times interesting. I'm not even surprised that hundreds of educators stayed until 3PM two days before Thanksgiving. I knew that the audience would enjoy "participating" in a moderated conversation as much I do.

Where's the Technology?

The biggest surprise was how technology factored into this closing keynote. Neither Will or I had a computer on stage. No slides were shown. No bullet-points used. Yet, technology transformed the event.



NYSCATE features one of the best A/V crews in America. They capture the keynote seesions with professional video cameras and have giant screens flank a stage suitable for any Fortune 500 event. Yet despite that talent, expertise and investment it may take weeks for the conference video to appear online as a podcast or streaming video.

However, our mutual friend, Illinois educator David Jakes, decided at the last minute to broadcast our keynote. He did so with his PC laptop, a $100 USB camera and a free web site called UStream.tv.



You may watch the entire NYSCATE keynote here!

David and Will had used UStream before to provide color commentary on a Cubs game while enjoying tavern provided Wi-Fi.

Moments before broadcasting the closing keynote, Will and David told their social network, via Twitter.com, about the upcoming event. 54 people were able to drop everything (or multi-task) and watch the keynote live. Countless more will now watch the archived version.

Most significantly, those 54 viewers were "chatting" (discussing) the keynote while it was happening. In fact, the transcript of those "back-channel" conversations is more than 20 single-spaced pages long. During our five hour drive, my partner was reading "tweets" to me sent by colleagues using Twitter. These educators were debriefing our keynote from the comfort of their own home, classroom or office anywhere in the world. Google keeps alerting me of people who have blogged about what Will and I said. I will take the time to respond to some of their questions or concerns via those blogs.

Think about it. Every kid with a laptop is now a broadcaster capable of sharing experiences, work, thoughts, concerns and comments with the world. Every faculty meeting may be archived. More importantly, conversations may emerge and engage "participants" where they are at the moment or when time allows.

Many of your schools invested large sums of money for videoconferencing equipment capable of watching a lecture from another location. Like in a traditional classroom, students in videoconferencing settings are expected to sit down and shut up (SDSU). After all, it's rude to talk when someone else is speaking - even if such conversations help you understand what is being presented. Chatting allows the social construction of knowledge while others are speaking without those conversations being disruptive.

All sorts of technology is being purchased to "capture" what happens in classrooms, but I've seen very little that is as elegant, easy-to-use, effective and affordable as what David was able to do with his laptop this afternoon.

As I said during the keynote, it's possible to appreciate the coolness of the technology, even if it has no educational value. We should not be setting educational policy by whatever the "next" technology happens to be. However, this UStream.tv stuff may be cool and useful too.