TechForum is a series of educational conferences presented by Tech&Learning Magazine. Virtual TechForum is a free, online, virtual conference. It is being held on Wednesday, November 17th, 2010.

The virtual conference is a great way to attend a conference, for free, without cost or travel. The Virtual TechForum will have sessions on Web 2.0 in the classroom, 21st Century Literacies, Cool tools for communication and collaboration, administration topics, and some IT sessions. The virtual conference has live video sessions with chat, on-demand video sessions, exhibitor/vendor area where you can find out more information about products and chat with the exhibitors, and an area to chat with other attendees.

I have attended virtual conferences before and got a lot of information and resources and added some new people to my PLN. They are easy to "attend" and well worth your time.

Go here for more info or to register: http://techlearning.com/section/VirtualTechForum.aspx

Jason Bedell is a member of my PLN. He and I have similar views on education and he has recently written 21 articles on his blog entitled "Professional Development 2.0". These articles are informative, easy to read, timely, and very relevant to the needs of all educators. I highly suggest reading them. 


Professional Development does not have to be, and shouldn't be, a bunch of teachers sitting in a room being lectured by some "expert" who probably hasn't been in a classroom in 20 years. It should be educators sharing ideas, tips, resources, and how they have overcome obstacles. A PLN is part of your professional development network. Use it! 


Here is a list of the topics he has covered:

• Introduction to the New Professional Development
• Old and New
• What is a PLN?
• Parts of a New PLN
• What’s all that tweeting about?
• Why Twitter?
• Instant PLN!
• Investing in the Follower/Following Relationship
• Differentiating Development with the Educator’s PLN
• How Building a PLN Can Help Your Students
• What’s the Difference Between Social Media and Social Networking
• Introduction to Social Bookmarking
• How Social Bookmarking Works
• Characteristics of a Reflective Educator
• Writing to Grow – an Introduction to Blogging
• Why a Blog Instead of a Private Journal?
• Where to Start Blogging
• How to Find and Follow Great Blogs
• Comments – The Currency of Blogs
• Blogging With Students
• The Secret of Any Conference
• TweetUps – Meetings on Your Terms
• What is an Unconference?
• Find an Unconference Near You
• No Unconferences Nearby? Start your Own.