The countdown has begun for this year's free, 3-day online conference, The Reform Symposium!  In its third year, this awesome event runs nearly 24 hours a day for 3 days, with keynotes from highly respected educators and presentations from all over the world. Whether you're in Texas or Taiwan, there are presentations happening for your time zone.

Thanks to the organizers, Shelly Terrell, Christopher Rogers, Kelly Tenkely, Lisa Dabbs, Melissa Tran, Mark Barnes, Cecilia Lemos, Clive Elsmore, and Jerry Blumengarten! You can read more about them here. 

A big thanks goes to Steve Hargadon as well for setting us up with the Elluminate rooms!

You can tune into the sessions, which will be held using Elluminate, by checking out the schedule.  To see what's happening in your time zone, use the tabs on the bottom of the spreadsheet. Links to each room will be posted on the first day of the conference.

You can also follow the hashtags #rscon3 or  #rscon11 (people seem to be using both).

To learn more about the presenters, you can check this out.

We are also in need of Elluminate moderators. You can sign up to help here: http://is.gd/ZhnDuj

I will be presenting on Friday, July 29th at 5:00pm EST. I will be discussing video games and what we can learn from them to better plan instruction and design learning experiences.

Come check it out! It's always a good time!

My recent post on whether or not we should be teaching keyboarding skills invoked a lively conversation. As a follow up, here is a survey to gather some data on who is teaching it and who is not and why or why not. The results will be published in an upcoming Technology Review article by Anne Trubek.

This form is now closed. Thanks for everyone who responded!

Next week I begin teaching LEGO Robotics for the first time. I was lucky enough to be able to borrow a kit for the weekend to play around with.

Here is short video I quickly pulled together (I apologize for the quality!) of my day. I spent about 45 minutes building the first robot, but spent most of my time struggling with the install of Mindstorms on OS X.

Here's how I spent my day!

This post is way overdue, but it's been on my mind for a while. I wrote a post for my mother a month or so ago and it's only fair that I express my gratitude for my father as well.

I have been blessed with two wonderful parents, and each have played a large role in who I am today.


I am thankful for having a father who always believes in me, who supports me and always wants to the best for me. A father who worked hard to give me as many opportunities as possible and from whom I probably inherited my insane work ethic.

I enjoy discussing politics and history with my father. (Though the chances that we'll agree are slim.) He is a highly intelligent person with a great sense of humor.

Thank you, Dad, for your unending support and for helping make me who I am today.