NECC Day 2: Nothing New Under the Sun?
So at the end of a long day of tromping around the exhibit hall and running from presentation to presentation, I was having a very overpriced drink at a reception with some of my friends yesterday and the question was, “did you see anything good today?” The answers were a pretty unanimous “not really.” Unfortunate. Is there a lull in innovation, perhaps the result of tough economic times? From the exhibit hall to the concurrent sessions, it felt to me like there was a malaise about the place yesterday. A couple of quick notes, though:
- Patrick Ledesma and Lara Long of Fairfax County Schools gave a very tight presentation on blogs and wikis in Special Ed. This was the best I saw today: organized, knowledgable, lots of examples, and a diversity of tools. What I learned wasn’t earth-shaking, but it was helpful.
- I spent a lot of my time on the exhibit floor talking to document camera vendors. For a few years now, I’ve considered the Samsung document cameras a well-hidden secret, due to their excellent hardware and reasonable price point. But I’m seeing a lot of strong competition from other vendors like Elmo and AverMedia. Where they beat Samsung is in software: come on Samsung, let’s clean up that interface and add some features.
Further updates as events warrant…
