Jan 27 2007
FETC Roundup
I’m back from FETC! For some reason I find that every other year the pickings are lean for me……let me repeat that FOR ME. I’m not in any way, shape or form saying that FETC was not up to it’s usual par. Last year I found tons of stuff for me, software and ideas, so naturally, this year I only found a few things. But they were good things!
I have wanted a Mimio Interactive Whiteboard for years – the price is right and my Media Specialist, who was with me this year, has agreed to purchase one for me 
I showed it to the math teacher who was with us and he wants one too – I’ll share mine with him for the rest of this year and we’ll try to get him one next year.
I also got some good info on making Digital Stories better. Just some small tips to take them up a level. I did some workshops on podcasting, which is something that I want to do, but haven’t felt that I have enough knowledge to do. Too bad we don’t have Macs because Garageband is the coolest thing! I will do podcasts with audacity and other tools.
Did you know that headphones use the same technology as microphones? If you plug headphones into the microphone jack you can use them as a microphone! My students are doing that to narrate their digital stories. The quality is not as good as if you used a microphone, but until I figure out how often I’ll podcast, I’m starting out with headphones (Note: I didn’t learn this at FETC – I learned it from my friend’s 14 year old son)
I didn’t win an ipod 
as a matter of fact I didn’t win anything. But I have decided that I NEED a video ipod, so I’ll be buying one next weekend
I have a ton of stuff to go through and new websites to visit – I’ll post any other good stuff as I find it.
2 responses so far
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I’ve attended 3 FETC’s and did attend the past 2. I’ve found that they were too focused on technical stuff and not enough on classroom change. I thought this year’s lineup featured far too few web 2.0 type sessions. There were some but too many hardware/software focussed sessions for my liking.
I’d love to see them adopt a more “unconference” approach that would enable some more networking among all the great folks that attend.
I would like to see more sessions focused on things you can do in your classroom without buying anything! After attending 5 FETC’s, including the last 4, I am pretty good at picking out which sessions are selling a product. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I like the ‘make and take’ type sessions best.