The #140Conf In New York City Day 2

You know, Day 1 was really amazing. I went to sleep that night thinking how could Day 2 top what I had witnessed at the famed 92nd Street Y? In all honesty, Day 2 was a continuation of the awesomeness that is the real-time web and showed how social media (mainly Twitter) reaches every aspect of our lives. From what we already know like social searches on Google and Bing to using social media to memorialize people who have passed away to how the United Nations is using social media to eradicate Malaria. Social Media is powerful. But it is only made powerful by the people who use it. Twitter, Facebook, Friendster, Diigo, Ning, none would be what they are today without the voices of the masses using them to propel their message. We are truly apart of something special. These are special times and we as educators have to embrace this movement.

But I digress...

There were 2 awesome education focused talks yesterday. The first was George Haines, a technology educator on Long Island. In another class his students are reading Animal Farm. When they come to George's class they hop on Twitter and act out the parts. But they also have discussions about the deeper meanings of the book. They took the stage to do a short performance of the book and to talk to the crowd about why they want to use social media and moreover, technology in their classes.

You can view their video here.

Right afterwards was our panel with myself, Tom Whitby, Eric Sheninger and Kyle Pace. We had the opportunity to talk a little bit about our different perspectives in education and how we see the effects of the real-time web taking a hold in our classrooms and schools. I was very honored to be a part of it and hope you enjoy the discussion.



Once again Jeff and the whole #140conf team out did themselves. Thanks to them, the other education panels and everyone who came out and listened to all the characters. And I want to give a special shoutout to the people and city of New York. for my first visit there I could not have asked for more. I hope to return real soon!