When I arrived in Austin, TX, the weather was absolutely beautiful and I felt the immediate excitement from fellow attendees who participated in the TCEA 2009 Conference. After dropping off my bags at my hotel room, which I shared with Lorena, I headed out to the conference center to register together with the YISD group. Day One was filled with figuring out the fastest route to get to the conference center by walking and avoiding areas where traffic will most likely be bigger in number. I also had to prepare myself from figuring out how to carry all my technology gear, particularly my DSLR camera, as I walked up and down the hilly roads of Downtown Austin.

On Day Two, I was ready to refocus on my objective. My goal in this conference was to focus on Web 2.0 tools. Now, you may wonder what Web 2.0 tools are and how these tools can be implemented effectively for technology integration. According to Howie DiBlasi, who was one of the astounding presenters I have witnessed during my entire 4-day stay in Austin, our students are part of a generation where more complex tools are developed and introduced to them frequently. They have immense knowledge on how to create blogs, text hundreds of messages with their cell phones, twitter short phrases or brief sentences among friends in order to share what they are currently doing, produce audio or video podcasts in a few minutes, chat endlessly, and the like.

Some of the sessions I was able to attend included the following:

• 8:00 – 8:45 What is Web 2.0 and What’s in it for me? (Room 18C)
• 9:00 – 10:45 Keynote Speaker: Lisa Ling (General Session)
• 11:00 – 11:45 Vroom with a Voki (avatar; Room 14)
• 1:00 – 2:30 Lost in Cyberspace: Teaching Brock to Search (Ballroom G)
• 3:00 – 4:30 Web 2.0 Create – Communicate – Connect – Collaborate (Ballroom G)

The experiences I have obtained all throughout the first day had been very meaningful and very productive. The various presenters have shared many thought provoking ideas and interesting views with regard to the present and future implementation of web 2.0 tools in changing our outlook towards our educational system. It is quite exciting thinking that our students can look forward to a more interactive and collaborative way of learning!