Intel Visionary Conference

Last week, thanks to the fabulous Diana Laufenberg, I had the opportunity to attend Intel's Visionary Conference. Diana was there as one of four master teachers presenting to a host of district-wide tech folks, policy education people, and educational technology vendors. Diana, Darren Kuropatwa, David Jakes, and Sara Martin presented tech-infused lessons in each of the core subject areas.

Meredith and I (the other two flanking Diana in these photos) supported Diana. We were there to trouble-shoot, put things in context for participants throughout, answer questions, and give middle school and elementary school perspectives.

I appreciate that Intel hosts this conference and provides this opportunity for people who have been out of the classroom for a number of years (or who have never been classroom teachers) to get insight into power classroom technology use. They couldn't do better than the teachers they invited to present.

It seems to me that it is not exceptionally common for these two paths (policy people/vendors and teachers) to cross. Most conferences are aimed at one of the other. And, to be honest, this conference is not aimed at teachers. But the teacher voice is important and valued here. I wish that were true a lot more often.

My two regrets are that I had to leave before the bitter end (the problem with being local to a conference is that family life often cuts in) and that I didn't get to see any of the other sessions. Being with Diana was an amazing experience (and one I hope to write about soon) but I think being with David or Darren would have been too.