Nebraska Change Agent
' I am entirely certain that twenty years from now we will look back at education as it is practiced in most schools today and wonder how we could tolerated anything so primitive.' John W Gardner
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Help Send a Newbie to NECC
Last year I was fortunate enough to be able to attend NECC for the first time. I barely had a half dozen people in my professional learning learning network (PLN) at the time, but by the end of the conference that number had grown to include a variety of people from around the country. Over the last nine months, I have created an amazing network that has taught me so much. In December I learned that my proposal to present a poster at NECC had been accepted. I started asking around to see who from my PLN was attending. The responses were disappointing. It soon became evident that many people were not going to be able to attend this year due to both personal and school budget constraints. I started feeling guilty because I was going to get to experience this amazing conference again. It hardly seemed fair that I was able to attend twice when there are so many people who have not ever attended once.
An idea for a project started to come together in my mind. I started wondering how much a PLN could accomplish if it came together to work toward a common goal. What if we came together to help send one of our own to NECC? Would it be possible to get several hundred people to donate a few dollars each to help send a “newbie” to NECC? My PLN is by far the most powerful tool in my toolbox, but there are some who are still skeptical of the idea of the power of social networks. The purpose of this project is twofold. First, I want to see someone who truly deserves to go to NECC get to go. Second, I want to raise awareness about the benefits of professional networking. I want us to show all of the doubters out there that social networking tools can make a difference in education.
I shared this idea with a teacher in my PLN named Jason Schrage (@oswego98). With his help I decided that Richard Byrne (@rmbyrne) was the “newbie” that I wanted to send to NECC. Richard is a Social Studies teacher in Maine who has worked tirelessly to help ensure his students and coworkers are able to work on a network that is as open as possible. He also maintains a blog called Free Tech 4 Teachers that recently won the 2008 Edublog Award for the Best Resource Sharing Blog. Mr. Byrne is a top notch educator who invests countless hours in compiling resources for teachers in all subject areas. He is truly a selfless educator who deserves the chance to attend NECC. Richard is far from being a “newbie” when it comes to using technology in the classroom, but he has never attended NECC.
Richard has told me that he wants to share his experiences while he is in Washington DC. He will be blogging and updating on Twitter to keep everyone informed about what he is experiencing. I imagine he will probably be open to streaming video once in a while when he is able to do so. If you have any suggestions for how to share this special event with the folks who could not attend please leave a comment on this blog.
So what do you say? Are you willing to donate a few dollars to help one of our own? I also need your help to spread the word about this project. Please tag any tweets associated with this project with the hash tag #neccnewbie so we can track the conversation. The goal is to raise $1500. Please add your information to the spreadsheet. You do not have to add your information, but it would be great to see the names of everyone who helps with this very unique and special project.
Donations are being collected using PayPal which is a fast, easy, and secure way to send funds online. All donations will go directly to Richard’s PayPal account. In the unlikely event that we do not raise enough funds you can elect to have your donation sent back to you or allow Mr. Byrne to put the donations toward improving his classroom. You can mark your option on the spreadsheet.
(Please note that this is a private endeavor which is not associated or endorsed by ISTE or NECC. )
12 Responses to “Help Send a Newbie to NECC”
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Recent Visitors
April 5th, 2009 at 3:37 p
Beth,
I can’t thank you enough for choosing me to be the beneficiary of this project.
Richard
[Reply]
Beth Still Reply:
April 6th, 2009 at 1:09 p
You have given so much to your PLN without expecting anything in return. You deserve this!
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April 5th, 2009 at 8:02 p
GREAT idea Beth! And your choice of recipient is amazing! Richard’s blog is my very favorite
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April 5th, 2009 at 11:13 p
One of the best online collaborative projects I’ve ever seen. It will work! I want to have a F2F with Richard at NECC in Washington. He is truly amazing and a huge part of my PLN. He has helped my professional development each time I read his blog. His was the first one I added to my Google Reader.
Beth, thanks for being such an innovative educator and for putting this together. Jason thanks for helping Beth.
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April 6th, 2009 at 4:15 p
Nice idea, Beth. I look forward to meeting you and Richard at NECC this year. ~Lee
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April 6th, 2009 at 5:47 p
I wish I could take credit for this idea, but I can’t. It all started last year with a blog post that Cory Plough wrote which was about bringing someone new to the “conversation” to a conference. Over the last few months as I have watched my PLN grow I started to wonder about the power that it actually held. If this does not prove the power of PLN’s then I do not know what it will take!
I would also like to thank Nic Mobbs (@mobbsey), Michelle Baldwin (@michellek107), and Nancy Pratt (npratt). These educators gave me some great feedback when I was not sure of the direction I wanted to take this project. I knew I could count on them for good advice.
I also want to thank Jason Schrage (@oswego98) for his role in this project. Over the six weeks we have come up with some great ideas! After looking at what you and I are able to accomplish as a team I could not help but wonder what we would be able to accomplish as a large group! I wish you were able to attend NECC this year. I hope you will consider the possibility of attending Edubloggercon on June 27.
Thank you so much to everyone who has helped by donating money or helping spread the word about this project. I urge you to leave just a dollar. Up to this point it appears that everyone has given more than that, but don’t let that keep you from giving a smaller donation. It is through seemingly insignificant contributions that we will reach our goal. We will get there one dollar at a time!
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April 6th, 2009 at 7:09 p
I am a principal in Tennessee, and I will be attending NECC this year for the fifth time (Atlanta, Seattle, New Orleans, Atlanta). It is by far the best conference for educators focused on improving student engagement and achievement through the effective utilization of technology. I hope our donations help fund Richard’s way to DC because his blog provides valuable resources for my teachers.
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April 6th, 2009 at 7:46 p
Even though I’m paying my own way to my first NECC I’m happy to make a small (wish it could be bigger) contribution to Richard going. I have gained so much from him, his blog and his tweets that my few dollars is but a small step in repayment. I hope to meet you Beth and Richard at NECC.
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April 7th, 2009 at 12:25 p
[...] Free Technology For Teachers (by the way, there’s an effort underway to help Richard Byrne, the author of this blog, to attend the NEEC Conference. I’ve already contributed, and [...]
April 19th, 2009 at 8:23 p
[...] The above message was gleefully received from Beth Still and our personal learning network (PLN). On April 5, 2009 Beth started an online project to demostrate the power of a PLN. She wanted to see if she could get 1500 people in her PLN to donate $1 each to help send a newbie to NECC in Washington, D.C. this June. She went on to say, “I decided that Richard Byrne (@rmbyrne) was the “newbie” that I wanted to send to NECC. Richard is a Social Studies teacher in Maine who has worked tirelessly to help ensure his students and coworkers are able to work on a network that is as open as possible. He also maintains a blog called Free Tech 4 Teachers that recently won the 2008 Edublog Award for the Best Resource Sharing Blog.” (Please read the whole story on her blog.) [...]
July 5th, 2009 at 6:20 p
[...] His willingness to invest his own time to attend the Colorado Conversation conference virtually told me that he possessed a sincere interest in learning. I began to follow his Twitter updates more closely and I noticed he had an insatiable appetite for learning and sharing. Over the second half of the school year he became an integral part of my PLN. He was one of the five people I consulted with when I was working on the original Newbie project. [...]
July 6th, 2009 at 7:01 p
[...] deep! Look for ways to contribute to others. I love what Beth Still has done in setting up the Help Send a Newbie to NECC project. What a great way to give back. There are many people who do this well that you can [...]