Missing ISTE conferences

I attended (and usually presented) at every ISTE summer conference from 2003 to 2013. I served on the ISTE National Board from 2004-2008 and their National Education Technology Standards writing project in 2000. I was named a “Best of the Best” presenter in 2005. I was given “Making IT Happen” recognition in 2015. In other words, I was deeply involved in the International Society for Technology in Education. (See Why I Belong to ISTE)

So it was no small lump in my throat that I read Tim Stahmer’s recent blog post, “Not at ISTE”.  In the post, Tim reflects on his experiences at ISTE conferences in the past - and compares them to today’s state of both the organization and their conferences.

Like Tim, a major reason I attended the ISTE conference (really any conference) was the opportunity to see friends and associates and have discussions related to common work/tech/education issues we were facing. I often enjoyed the keynote speakers who were bigwigs in education or technology and it was fun to see some of the new and innovative technologies being used by fellow attendees. (I usually spent very little time the vendor area - usually just to say hi to Minnesota business reps.) 

Around 2009, the organization and the conference began to change. Tim reflects:

That was the year they dropped the old name, NECC (the National Educational Computing Conference), and moved their primary office to Washington DC. I think that was the start of the organization becoming more corporate and less of a community of educators. A big business that promotes the edtech industry, as opposed to one dedicated to improving the practice of teachers, helping schools, and enhancing student learning.

Maybe it was because 2008 was my last year on the board? Even while I was on the board, though, corporate voices played what I thought was an outsized role in ISTE’s policy making. Apple had a permanent seat and there were always at least a couple more corporate seats at the table. 

Over my final years of work and especially over my past four retirement years, I have drifted away from paying much attention to ISTE, AASL, and other educational organizations. At some point, we “boomers” need to loosen our grip on the reins of our profession, leaving visioning and problem-solving to younger, brighter minds. I admire Tim for staying informed. Sorry to say, I’m just not that interested.

I deeply appreciate the experiences afforded me through conference attendance. (I did fight for years trying to get ALA and ISTE to stop holding their national meetings at the same time each year, arguing that many of us swung both ways - techs and librarians!) Perhaps like Blockbuster and fax machines, physical conferences are indeed a thing of the past, to be attended only by those for whom change is difficult.

A few blog posts about past experiences at the ISTE conference:

• Policy and iPads: a few ISTE 10 impressions
• ISTE 12: Escalators, Apps, and Sitting
• Howdy from ISTE 2013
• Student focused ISTE 17

Visiting Yosemite - what could possibly go wrong?

Yosemite sunrise, Day One

Visitors are facing unprecedented traffic gridlock while attempting to enter Yosemite National Park this holiday weekend. Outdoor enthusiasts reported long wait times before making it through the world-famous park’s gates. One visitor said traffic ground to a halt 80 miles outside of Yosemite Valley, and continued crawling at a snail’s pace for three hours, before they finally reached a parking space. KRON 4, July 3, 2023

Highway 120 west entrance to Yosemite on July 11, 2023 at 5:50am. Crickets.

Canceled and delayed flights. Crowded venues. Extremely hot temperatures. Over-priced lodging and meals. Changed hiking plans. While it seemed that anything that could go wrong on our trip to Yosemite National Park last week did go wrong.

Our Minnesota hiking group

Had we known a year ago when planning this trip that:

• Extreme snowfall damage in the Sierra Nevadas would lead to park road closures and inaccessibility of many hiking trailheads.
• Pent up demand for travel would lead to record-breaking numbers of visitors to Yosemite’s limited areas that are open.
• A global heatwave would shoot temperatures up to near 100 degrees - even in the mountains
• Sun Country’s labor shortage would cause flight cancellations and delays 

we might have gone somewhere else. Still we managed to have a good time.

Typical view, Ho, hum.

Given the publicity around the excessive wait times for park entry (see above), we entered the park early - the first day before 6am - before the rangers manned the entry booths. I have the senior pass for National Parks (best $10 I ever spent), so payment was not an issue. It would waiting for others to pay and ask 300 questions of the ranger that I was worried about.

We found an early parking spot at Curry Village and left the car parked there for the day, taking a shuttle to see the iconic wonders of the park. The upside to large snow falls over the winter was is that the waterfalls were in full roar. Besides the shuttle, we walked a lot including a hike to Mirror Lake and did most of our sightseeing by early afternoon. We did all the “must-sees” on the first day in the park.

Our campsite in the park

The extremely hot weather and closed planned hiking trail led Heidi and me to decide to do day hikes instead of the backpacking trip we had planned. Our day hikes were in less popular areas of Yosemite - Wawoma’s Swinging Bridge Trail along the Merced River and the Grizzly Giant Loop in the Mariposa Sequoia area. Again, we finished by early afternoon and spent the hottest parts of the afternoon napping and reading in air conditioned comfort.

Merced River on hike to Mirror Lake

Besides the hiking and good company of Heidi’s daughter, son-in-law, and a couple friends, I especially enjoyed driving the constantly looping roads through the mountains around the park. I had not realized just how big a park Yosemite actually is in square miles and driving time! With the exception of a motorcyclist who passed us doing about 100 mph on a blind, sharp curve, most drivers were pretty good. 

Along the Grizzley Giant Loop through a sequoia grove.

The canceled flight that delayed our arrival in San Francisco by a day meant that we did not get to see the city as we had planned at the beginning of the trip. We did, however, get to spent most of our last day before our evening flight home, driving through the town, viewing the Golden Gate Bridge, and touring the military remnants of The Presidio. I was hoping to see Dirty Harry or Steve McQueen barrelling up and down the city’s hills in fast cars, but no such luck.

A small forest fire within the park made for hazy skies but great photos

Trips (like most of life) don’t always go the way they’re planned. But we stoics manage to have a good time anyway. Good memories and on to the next adventure!

A visit to Golden Gate Bridge and the The Presidio before the flight home.

More photos can be found here.

A thank you to Frank Birmingham

I was informed by his son Rick that professor emeritus Dr. Frank Birmingham passed away last week. Below is my tribute to him...

“You have a fax machine in Saudi Arabia?”

I did not know it at the time, but those words changed the course of my career. Let me explain…

In the spring of 1989, I was finishing five years of teaching for the ARAMCO schools in Saudi Arabia and looking forward to moving back to the States. While I appreciated the opportunities for travel and financial rewards the expatriate experience afforded me, I wanted my toddler son to be closer to his grandparents and for me work where technology and libraries were beginning to merge.

I wanted to relocate to the Twin Cities but first I needed that Minnesota teaching license. In order to get that, I had to have my credentials examined and approved by a professor at a Minnesota library school program. I somehow got a hold of a Dr. Frank Birmingham at Mankato State University (now Minnesota State University, Mankato.)

Frank was rather gruff when I asked him to review my transcripts and Iowa teaching license on a phone call I made from Saudi. “It’s the end of the semester here and I have a lot of work to do. How soon can you get this stuff to me?” he asked.

“How about if I fax it to you within the next half hour?” I replied.

With both incredulity and delight in his voice, he exclaimed, “You have a fax machine in Saudi Arabia?” 

I discovered later that Frank had lobbied for a fax machine for the library school which until that time, sat unused. (Takes some time for modern technology to become accepted.) My faxes justified his purchase and made me his friend. 

So in mid-July when I moved back from Saudi with my Minnesota teaching license in hand, I drove to Mankato to met Frank in person and take him out for lunch. While eating, he asked if I had applied for the secondary library position in St Peter, a small town just north of Mankato. 

“That job is filled, I believe.”

“No,” Frank informed me, “the guy they hired backed out, so the position is back open.”

I has a spare resume in the visor of my car, so on drive back to Minneapolis, I stopped in to the office of St. Peter public high school. The principal was on vacation, but I got a spur of the moment interview with the Assistant Principal and the Curriculum Director. I got the job. They were desperate.

This was just the first of many helpful suggestions Frank gave me as I was starting the Minnesota episode of my career.

• He encouraged me to join the state school library association (MEMO at the time) and attend their fall conference that first year I taught. I remained involved in MEMO for 25 years, serving as president, conference chair, newsletter editor, and legislative chair.
• He published my first professional article in library school's newsletter “The Virtual Librarian.” I went on to publish 148 more articles during my career (along with columns and books.)
• He hired me as an adjunct professor, teaching School Library Management and early internet courses. The materials I created for those classes became the framework for my first book, The Indispensable Librarian.
• He recommended me for the AV Director position in the Mankato Schools in 1991, which morphed into the Technology Director job title. I held that job for 23 years. He had earlier suggested I get my supervision license by taking administration courses.
• He got me and the other librarians in the school district email accounts on the university’s vax computer. This made our librarians early tech specialists and allowed me to join LM_Net, a discussion list of school library leaders from around the world.
• He suggested I join the local Kiwanis organization where I served as president and in other roles.  This large service club had members that were influential in the community = government workers, business leaders, etc. I semi-jokingly like to say that I kept my job with the school district since I convinced the community I was a technology genius because I could hook almost any laptop up to the club’s projector. 

Frank each summer hosted library school get-togethers at his home on Lake Jefferson to which I was always invited and always enjoyed. He made me feel a part of the library school department with Fran McDonald, Ken Pengally, and Don Descy. I got to know his sons. I visited Frank in his retirement home in Florida. We would get together at least once during the summer when he returned to his lake home.

To my regret, we mostly lost touch after he retired and moved south, remaining there during the summer as well as winter. I should have made more effort to see how he was doing. I should have told him how much his guidance and encouragement helped me in my career and my life. I should have just been more grateful.

My guess though is that Frank’s “payment’ for his mentorship was the knowledge that he helped me, and many others. Why is it that we often get more satisfaction and pleasure from the achievements of those we care about than we do our own achievements?

Thank you, Frank. You made a big difference to me and I am sure to many others. You made the world a better place.