This was my first time attending Educause–what many call the premeir computer/technology event for higher-ed. I’m guessing there were about 5,000 people altogether. This may be a little high. I’m not sure. The sessions and hands-on labs seemed to be well attended, although I spent most of my time in the exhibit hall–either in the Tablet PC area in the Microsoft booth or walking the floor talking with people.
I did manage to see quite a few Tablets. There were probably as many Tablets as Apple computers. The various vendor booths had Tablets too, but not a lot of them. I keep expecting to see more–especially from the Tablet companies. But I realize most of them sell more than just Tablets.
I did get a kick out of seeing Toshiba’s demos. They were showing off their wireless projector technology. I seriously need to look into this. Their configurations run via an adhoc network from the Tablet to the projector over 802.11g and then if you want an Internet connection you can use EVDO, which is what I typically use anyway when I’m on the go. There were a slight lag when demoing ink, but it’s not terrible. I keep thinking that there needs to be better wireless presenter technology. A Tablet demo should be much more effective if the presenter can walk around holding the Tablet rather than being tethered to a podium. This is especially true at conferences. Someone mentioned that part of the problem going on here is that conferences may charge for any wireless networks that vendors set up. Hmmm. This would be terrible if this is the case. Sounds like technology is ahead of the business need, once again.
I demoed InkGestures quite a bit during the conference. Most people were enthusiastic. Many asked if it was a free download from Microsoft. Nope. You have to get it here. There is a 30-day trial though. After that InkGestures is $39. There are volume education discounts though.
I also heard quite a few rumors about future Tablets. Attendees would come up and say so-and-so in booth XYZ mentioned that they were going to have this or that new Tablet. And when I went over to the various booths, they’d say pretty much the same thing, but would add that none of it is public. Evidently if you want to know the inside scoup to things you need to go to a trade conference :-). I will add that just about any company can rightly say that they have a new Tablet or whatever coming down the road, but at the same time realize so much can change between now and then, that anticipating what these “6-month down the road” Tablets will actually be like can be a trap. One thing is for sure, though, the Tablet manufacturers are committed to fleshing out their Tablet offerings. That’s great to hear.
What was the big thing at Educause? From talking with attendees, I’d say most are interested in infrastructure to improve the student experience. For the most part they know that students are ahead of them from a technology standpoint and they want to figure out how to leverage technology best. They want to be savvy, but yet not get caught up in spending lots of money for things that will complicate things. There’s lots of interest in podcasts, blogs, wikis, evaluation management, Blackboard and other content distribution and sharing systems. Overall people were there to experience and learn.