I was blown away at the usage of technology at the NECC 2008. While I was at EduBloggerCon two Saturday’s ago, everybody had their laptops open or cellphones turned on and were twittering, blogging, or streaming the sessions over the web. While most presenters cringe at the thought of all of this technology and would consider it as “distracting”, everybody was contributing to the sessions and making them more meaningful. I remember looking up at one point to see Steve Dembo video streaming a session from his cellphone!

I finally met with Karen Montgomery. She’s been a huge proponent of Poll Everywhere in education circles and communicating the pedagogical benefits of cell phones in the classroom. Liz Kolb, who is publishing a book about cell phones in the classroom, gave a great talk (I ended up in the “standing-room only” section because she packed the house) on some of the education applications that are available today. It really struck me how few mobile education apps are out there. With the all of the hype around the iPhone, I would expect the tide to turn over the next few months. We’re very happy to be one of the first applications to reign in the use of cellphones in the classroom. I can’t wait to read Liz’s new book to learn more about mobile education technology.

I met a lot of new faces at NECC and learned a tremendous amount about the problems educators face with bringing technology into the classroom (mission accomplished!). Wes Fryer publishes a blog and a series podcasts that discuss these problems as well as the new technologies that are available for educators. I highly recommend adding his blog to your RSS aggregator to learn about the new technologies that are coming out as well as their implications in the classroom.