The K12 Online Conference , with this years theme “Bridging the Divide” is an exciting way to network and facilitate your own professional development. The conference is free and includes the weeks of, December 7-11 and December 14-17, encompassing over fifty presentations. This is a conference filled with innovative ways to use Web 2.0 , reflect on best practices, and learn about technologies that can be used to facilitate 21st century learning. Events and their scheduled times are posted ,and as an added extra, they all remain on-line to serve as an archive. In fact, an archives’ page serves as an outstanding permanent resouce and includes over 122 presentations from 2008, 2007, and 2006 . Check out and join the conference Ning to interact, and read the conference blog for good information. The conference wiki is a great place to get started. All of these serve as a place to view, download, and discuss ideas from the conference. There are also three live events presented as “Fireside Chats” and they are listed on the events page of the conference Ning and Facebook fan page. Live events will even continue in 2010 through twice-monthly “K-12 Online Echo” webcasts on EdTechTalk. You can also follow the K12 Online Conference on Twitter and Facebook! There is a great first timers page that provides some helpful information on how to get the most out of this conference. For those interested in PD credit , there is a page that can give you more information. You can even make one or more of the presentations a school professional development event. Get together with colleagues to view the conference sessions and discuss. There is sure to be a session that fits your interests and school ‘s goals. Remember, the conference and all past conferences are mostly asynchronous (not happening in real time), so you can catch up with the conference at anytime using the archives. I have included a link to different PDF files that can be printed or emailed (select the one for your time zone). Make sure you check this out and I hope to see you on the Ning! – Mike
21 st Century Educational Technology and Learning 