Student Voices Are Key

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ISTE believes that actively listening to what students have to say is key to revolutionizing education and the learning process. Come see what we can learn from these digital natives as we visualize the future. Look for this icon to denote presentations that address the Special Program Emphasis: Student Voices throughout the Sessions & Workshops listings and Program Search results. And be sure to check out our expanded Student Showcase and the Student Voices Are Key page!

Join a global gathering of education and technology leaders for refreshments and networking. Share your experience using information and communication technology to improve teaching and learning in educational institutions with colleagues from around the globe. Brainstorm ways to develop collaborative opportunities over the next year to share at NECC 2006. Hosted by iEARN and the ISTE International Committee. Free to all registered attendees interested in international networking. For more information e-mail

Gather insights about how to build your plan for a successful NECC by integrating workshops, concurrent sessions, special forums, the exhibit hall, handhelds, e-mail stations, the online planner, and more ... all while networking with other NECC Newcomers. Also learn more about Philadelphia, our host city.

See Internet 2 in action! Experience a multi-city piano duet, visit with the manatees, chat with Lewis and Clark live from the field, and much more via live demonstrations hosted by MAGPI (Mid-Atlantic GigaPop in Philadelphia for Internet 2) with infrastructure support from Sunesys.

See the Internet 2 Demonstrations page for details.

The PT³ Community, past and present, is invited to a "Jam Session" at NECC 2005. Join us for a breakfast and a hearty discussion of new opportunities, outcomes, and synergies as a result of your PT³ grant.

See how Pennsylvania schools are integrating technology to support learning through a special series of sessions and events hosted by PAECT. Check the daily session listing for specific session times and descriptions. Use the Program Search, choosing "Pennsylvania Showcase" as category, to find titles and schedule information.

Hosted by Yorktown High School (Arlington, VA), Technology Rescue, and Manheim Township School District (Lancaster, PA), the Linux E-mail Garden/Open Source Lab features K12LTSP thin-clients and a wide range of free software. Students and educators will be presenting mini-workshops hourly on open source software and its uses in the curriculum. Stop by, check your e-mail, and learn about Linux and other open source software including K12LTSP, GIMP, OpenOffice, Mysql, Firefox, Moodle, and more.

NECC has partnered with GCI SchoolAccess, I2 Commons and TANDBERG to support a variety of Concurrent and IVC Showcase Sessions featuring live, two-way IVC activities in this year's program. These sessions highlight best practices and groundbreaking applications for IVC within the K–12 community and showcase exciting and innovative programming content available to the classroom.

Our Student Showcase is expanding to 10 projects per time slot. See how students from Pennsylvania as well as students nationally and internationally are using technology for learning. Host affiliate PAECT has played a special role in coordinating this year's effort. Visit the Sessions & Workshops page for a complete listing of Student Showcase Sessions.

Come and play in the NECC Playgrounds! Each station at each playground will have hands-on activities and demonstrations. The Playgrounds are for all educators including specialists and include software, hardware, and activities for all grade levels, PK–12. Educator specialists (K–20) for each area will demonstrate and guide hands-on activities.

Assistive Technology
Tuesday, 10 am–4 pm, Bridge Hall
Explore AT stations for mild disabilities, young children, sensory impairments, and AT resources/organizations/accessible design. See suggestions for using many of the same technologies for non-disabled peers in inclusive settings.

Physical Education
Tuesday, 10 am–4 pm, Bridge Hall
Explore heart monitor, electronic dance, and interactive fitness stations, plus a health-related Web site.

Visual Arts
Wednesday, 10 am–4 pm, Bridge Hall
Explore stations for digital photography, graphic design, animation, video, and Web design.

Music
Wednesday, 10 am–4 pm, Bridge Hall
Explore stations for composing and creating music, learning about music, performing music, and integrating music in the curriculum.

Handheld won't sync? Application won't load? File incompatibility? A youth team of fabulous tech-doctors will be available for questions and troubleshooting support. Docs won't open cases or use tools—but almost anything else goes! The Thomas Edison High School MOUSE Squad and Americorp Digital Fellows has recruited tech-savvy students from the Philadelphia area and New York City to take care of whatever's ailing you!

Meet and participate in discussions about the role of technology in differentiated instruction and understanding by design and share insights via telecommunications with participants at the ASCD Making Regional Connections Networking Breakfast.

Join Prensky, game designer and author of Digital Game-Based Learning, for an entertaining and informative luncheon keynote focusing on engaging today's digital natives through their video games. Ticket price, including meal, is $30 per person. See Keynotes for more details, and be sure to get your ticket via Registration.

Sponsored by NECC's Tier Two corporate partners, BlackBoard, CDW•G, Discovery Education, and InFocus.

Winning student videographers from the 2005 eSchool News/Discovery Channel video journalism contest will share a video summary of NECC 2005 highlights collected throughout the week. Then enjoy a short preview of NECC 2006: Explore, Dream, Discover, brought to you by our hosting committee from ISTE Affiliate California CUE.

We'll wrap up 2005 with a robust giveaway program, including an airfare/hotel/ registration package for NECC 2006 in San Diego and many other cool items donated by conference sponsors and exhibitors.* Your registration badge is your drawing ticket; you must be present and have photo ID to win (guest registrants are not eligible for prizes). All Closing Session attendees receive a special 2006-themed giveaway!

Meet your colleagues before you come to Philadelphia through NECC Blackboard Online Forums. Collaborate with a variety of top tech gurus in various online discussion groups, and whet your appetite for the topics that matter most to you.

NECC is pleased to provide live Webcasts and video archives of the keynote sessions and a selection of concurrent sessions, brought to you with support from Kidz Online. A complete list of sessions to be Webcast is available here.

Help fellow educators around the world by volunteering as an eSchool News "Conference Correspondent" while in Philadelphia. Send eSchool News informal reports during the conference, describing what takes place at the sessions you attend, and your analysis will be featured throughout the conference on the eSchool News Online web site. These reviews let you keep colleagues at home informed while helping us program sessions for future years.

Just let eSchool News know which sessions you plan to cover, and you'll be eligible to use a Neo by AlphaSmart ® computer companion for all your reporting. As an added bonus, 50 randomly selected volunteers will take these machines home after the event—free of charge.

To learn more about the Conference Correspondents program and what educators are saying about it, visit the eSchool News Conference Information Center, where you'll find links to past conference reviews.

The deadline to volunteer is 5 pm Eastern Time on June 17. Selected correspondents will be notified and given their schedules no later than June 22. Even if you don't win one of the Neo by AlphaSmart ® computer companions, we hope you'll be able to help cover sessions by e-mailing your reports directly to the eSchool News editors.

To volunteer as a correspondent, just fill out the eSchool News NECC Conference Correspondent Registration Form. The form includes a list of sessions and lets you choose those you might wish to cover.

Conference participants may qualify for their state's professional development credits. See the Registration page for more details.

Presenters have the option to post their handouts to the NECC Web site. The deadline for presenters to submit their handouts is July 18. All handouts are automatically posted to the Web site when received.

 Looking for a handout for a particular session?

• Use the Program Search to find the session you're interested in; you can search by title, presenter last name, keyword, and more. Once you've found the particular session, click on the title to get to its Search Details page. The handouts, if provided by the presenter, will be posted to the Search Details page in PDF format.


• Some presenters prefer to post their handouts on their own Web sites. If the session you're interested in doesn't show any handouts, be sure to check the presenter's own site—the URL (if provided) will be posted on the Search Details page.

• Go to the Program Search page and click on the "Show More Search Options" text link. In the "Other" section, there's a checkbox for Handouts. By clicking on that box, you'll get a Search Results page showing all workshops and sessions whose presenters have submitted a handout or Research Paper. You can browse the Search Results page until you find a session that interests you, then click on the title of the presentation to get to its Search Details page, where the handouts are posted in PDF format.


• You can limit your handout search by any of the search fields available on the Program Search page. For example, if you want to find handouts on this year's conference theme, click on the Student Voices checkbox in the "Special Emphases" section and click on the Handouts checkbox. The Search Results page will show you those presentations designated as fulfilling the Special Emphasis on Student Voices and whose presenters have submitted handouts. Click on a title to get to the corresponding Search Details page, where the handouts are posted in PDF format.