I participated in the 2012 MACUL Conference last week.  This was a state-wide ed tech convention attended by 4,000 educators.  Though Susan Smith, Ann Lusch, And I presented (Free Multimedia Activities for Secondary Students That Don’t Gobble Time!)  during one session, most of our time was spent attending other presentations.  

While they are fresh on my mind, I wanted to share some general impressions:

* Presently, the Michigan Ed tech world is for better or worse, being swept by iPad mania.  The sessions about iPad were jammed or even closed (like the one on assessment that I really hoped to attend)..  My colleagues and I agreed that at least half of the educators carrying devices were carrying iPads.

*One such jammed session was hosted by the Zeeland Public Schools who are a year ahead of us in 1:1 implementation.  The planning and integrity of their implementation impressed me greatly.  But I also found myself reassured that our own Mercy 2.0 is addressing the key challenges that we will be facing.

*Zeeland pointed out that no longer is a “business” model being held up to educators as they seek to integrate technology.  With the iPad, schools like Zeeland (us!) are ahead of businesses.

*The iPad instructional apps that I found most interesting took advantage of the camera or microphone.  These clearly were game changers.

I came back more excited than ever about Mercy 2.0