In preparing submissions for the 2008 National Educational Computing Conference, I'm keenly aware of one great flaw inherent in the submission process:

• NECC 2008 submissions are due nine months before the conference!

In any other field, this nine-month gap may not be detrimental. In our field, however, nine months is an eternity. In the field of educational technology, the landscape changes, our attitudes change, and our students change.

Nine months ago, for example:

• There was no retail version of Windows Vista, no Feisty Fawn, and we all thought that Leopard would be out sooner than later.
  
• There was no iPhone, no iQuiz, and no iPod Fatty.
• There was no Google Presentations, no TeacherTube, and no Skitch (still in Beta, but definitely a must-have).

Nine months ago:

• The EduBloggerCon concept was still in its initial stages.
• There was no such thing as a chatcast backchannel.
  
• Very few people used Twitter.
  

Nine months ago:

• Virginia Tech was just another school.

And finally, just nine months ago:

• Very few teachers knew that Shift Happens and none were yet able to Pay Attention. : )
  

Indeed, to say that it's been a wild ride would be an understatement. I just hope that we can all write our NECC proposals in such a way to allow for even more change in the coming months.

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