General observations:
This was my first TCC conference so I really didn’t go in with any expectations. I was surprised by the high quality of many of the presentations. Ironically, it seemed that there was a lot more interactivity (like polls) during these online presentations versus presentations at a face to face conference. Audience questions were thought-provoking and helped in stimulating the overall discussion.
Opinion about the value of a virtual conference for educators and for society:
I must admit I was a little skeptical about a virtual conference matching up to a face to face conference. During the duration of the conference I was on the East Coast at a face to face conference so I wasn’t able to attend all of the sessions that I had on my list. However, it was great to be able to tune into the web casts and watch them immediately after the session.
What I learned, including my tweeting experiences:
At the beginning of the class, I was pretty skeptical about using Twitter for anything. I’ve found a lot of use for it in both the context of our class but also the conference. Twitter pretty much gave me a pulse of what was going on in the conference at that specific moment. The Twitter feed was helpful as well, as I tailored some of my decisions on which archived sessions to attend based on the twitter feedback.
What would I do next time?
I would definitely clear my calendar during the TCC conference. There were so many sessions to attend, and even though I attended many of the archived web casts, being able to ask questions to the presenter really adds to the learning. It was great to have the discussion forum though to follow up with additional questions.
Suggestions:
Match up newbie conference attendees with veterans so they can give them some tricks of the trade. Setting expectations for what to expect at the conference is something that would help the newbies as well.
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