cparris's blog

This morning's not quite as cheery as yesterday.  Could be that it's a little overcast, but more likely, it's a 7:30am breakfast call for conveners. 

I make it over to the Convention Hall at the end of the breakfast and grab some coffee and a few danishes. Then it's off to more sessions. 

It's a gorgeous morning!  I awake to sunshine, 70 degree temps and view a hot air balloon sailing over my view of the convention hall.  Quicky, I get downstairs for breakfast around 9am at the hotel.  Afterwards, I waited about 10 minutes and the Educause shuttle picked me up for a quick ride over to the Convention hall.

I saw a familiar face as I entered the building.  It was Valerie, with Educause.  She directed me to the left side of the booths, and I was able to login and print out my registration card.  I then showed my id and received the convention packet, complete with a blue Datatel bag.  Unfortunately, the design of this one doesn't really allow a laptop to fit in like last years. 

The little program book inside my name badge comes in really handy.  I take it over and preview the sessions and events to come for today.  Noting a few sessions of interest regarding E-learning and network security, I then head over to the Exhibit Hall to meet my Blackboard rep.

Upon entering, I don't see their booth immediately; but the gorgeous Apple booth (or is it an Apple theater center) is immediately in front of me.  I spend a few minutes...ok, so it was more like an hour.... viewing (or is it drooling over...) the new Video IPods and the nicely presented G5s with 22" flat panel displays.  I get a vision of my workstation, complete with two flat panels, and adorned with a G5 and video IPod....ahhhh...how nice it is to dream.....

Well...it's day one!  I've finally arrived in the evening and checked in to the hotel.  Grabbing a few bites to eat this evening, the news is full of one thing.....Hurricane Hurricane, Hurricane!  Everyone is watching Wilma.  Luckily if she hits Orlando, it will be Saturday or Sunday.  The conference is over Friday and I'll be long gone.....

The area surrounding the convention hall is beautiful yet very busy.  There are numerous hotels, most with great brand appeal: Peabody, Renaissance, Rosen, Marrriott, Sheraton.  There are trolleys, buses and taxis everywhere.  Everyone is moving about so quickly,  attempting to achieve their destinations.  In the middle of it all is the conference hall.

I contemplated taking the shuttle bus to the convention hall to register, or checking out one of the vendor events for the evening. But I am tired from the flight.  Instead, I grab some food at the hotel and go to sleep.  I can't wait to get to the exhibit hall in the morning...

The Day Before...Educause 2005.  Feels Hectic! 

There's alot of packing left to do.  Today is about taking care of all the last mintue details, and getting information from administration about who I need to make sure I see at Educause. 

This is the first year of representation in EDUCAUSE from APEX School of Theology!  We will benefit from the wealth of information we can gain from our peer institutions.  There are many technologies available for our use which will help us to broaden the reach of our distance learning initiatives.

This is my second year attending Educause (attended last year when I was at another institution), and topics of particular interest include:

• Learning Spaces
• Access Grid Node
• Wireless Campus
• Use of White Boards
• Campus Laptop programs
• New Features of Course / Learning Management Systems (and impact of Blackboard / WebCT merger)
• Enterprise Solutions