I am attending the New Media Consortium conference for the first time. And technically the conference hasn’t started for me; all I did today was arrive, register, and attend the opening night social. But it’s been an interesting day so far.
First, you know it is a posh hotel when the shower stall is separate from the bath tub. And I’m seriously considering pulling a super-girly move and taking a bath. But enough of that…
Second, the hotel is connected to the local hospital and a research institute via skyways (and according to one of the hospital employees underground tunnels too. It’s a fascinating maze of buildings and walkways.
Third, I love fate and karma. After writing the blog earlier today about laptops in the classroom (in response to a story about a faculty member who banned them from her classrooms) the Apple folks had a brief video with students talking about their initial experiences at college. The 30ish second video ended with a student saying only “lectures limits my learning.” That quote couldn’t better support my brief discussion about how and why letting students have their laptops in the classroom is beneficial and supports their learning. Now I’m evening beginning to think about the fact that it is important to support what the students learning needs are, not what the faculty member’s teaching needs are (not that we can totally ignore them though).
Fourth…
I won a copy of Apple of Aperture for being social. Surprise surprise there…Shelley, social; however, cool! Isn’t that a great way to start the conference.
Fifth, and the best, there were these two HUGE slabs of carcus at the social. These must have been the sides of cows…I guess the tech guys and gals are definitely not vegetarians. I should be getting a picture of it later…I’ll post it when I do 
