It’s been particularly warm here on the east coast of Canada, one of the two or three weeks during each summer when the temperatures and humidity get together and run the outdoor humidex scales upwards of 40C.  The temps usually break quick, but this year the heat will be extended for me and 9 other staff of Nashwaaksis Middle School as we leave Friday for Laptop Institute in Memphis, Tennessee, where this weather is normal fare for the summer.

This will be my third trip to Lausanne Collegiate School’s wonderful 1:1 gathering, an event that has played a huge role in the fundamental shift of my own personal vision of learning.  I am looking forward to returning and, with four presentations/workshops scheduled, providing some ideas for others to chew and grow on.

I am busy this week getting the presos ready.  The first offering on Monday morning will be a two hour workshop entitled “Ten (not-so) Secrets About Wikis“, where we’ll spend some time exploring not just the mechanics of building spaces, but also looking at some examples of effective uses of wikis and how they can play a role in shifting learning, especially as student content platforms.

After a general one hour session on Web 2.0 Tools in the classroom (many teachers are still unfamiliar with the term, let alone the variety of tools available) on Monday afternoon, I’ll be leading another workshop on “Learning to Blog, Blogging to Learn” Tuesday morning.  I intend to focus on not just blogs, but a couple of other conversational tools (e.g. twitter) and how they can be used within the classroom and as a means of developing a Personal Learning Network.  On Tuesday afternoon, it’ll be a one-hour presentation on RSS and it’s powerful application as web content filter.

This is a great event.  The folks at Lausanne are generous and well-organized, the keynotes are first class (I am very excited about seeing Gary Stager for the first time and chatting with Denise Frazier-Bowen again) and the more intimate nature of the gathering really promotes teacher connection and collaboration.

I am particularly excited about having nine members of our staff attending this year.  It’s an investment in ideas, vision and leadership that I believe will have a huge impact in moving our 1:1 program into the future.

tags: technology, education, whipple, learning, laptopinstitute, wiki