"Sparking a revolution in learning" was the theme of the 2005 National Educational Computing Conference (NECC), the nation's largest annual ed-tech event. Held June 27-30 in Philadelphia, where patriots such as Benjamin Franklin helped spark another revolution 230 years ago, this year's NECC was one of the largest in its 26-year history, with some 16,000 educators and ed-tech executives assembling in the Pennsylvania Convention Center to explore how technology can transform today's schools.

If there was an overall message that girded many of the sessions and keynote speeches at this year's conference, it was that student voices hold the key to this transformation.

From student showcases, or student-led sessions in which kids demonstrated how they are using technology to enhance learning in their classes, to a Student Voice Film Festival sponsored by Philadelphia public television station WHYY, this year's NECC featured many opportunities for attendees to hear students' perspectives on a variety of issues facing educators today.

And that's increasingly important in today's digital age, many speakers and conference organizers said, because this generation of students has a whole new set of needs and skills that most schools so far have been slow to address.

Student voices might be key to igniting a revolution in schools--but it was educators' voices that Kurt Steinhaus, president of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), which organizes NECC, sought to encourage in his rousing call to action during the opening general session.

Steinhaus began his remarks by noting that more than 40 countries were represented by NECC 2005 attendees, and that the future of educational technology is as bright as ever on an international scale. In the U.S., he pointed to numerous achievements over the past year, including those by 2005 ISTE Outstanding Teacher Award winner Donna Roberts of Liverpool Central School District in Liverpool, N.Y., and 2005 ISTE Outstanding Leader Award winner Joe Hairston, superintendent of the Baltimore County Public Schools in Towson, Md.

But Steinhaus' tone quickly turned to one of caution, as he spoke of the growing threat to federal ed-tech funding. Focusing on the Bush administration's proposed elimination of the $500 million Enhancing Education Through Technology program in its 2006 budget plan, Steinhaus urged educators to become true ed-tech advocates, asking them to sign up with the grassroots advocacy initiative known as the Ed Tech Action Network (ETAN).

"We may be strangers to advocacy, but let me assure you that it's learnable and doable--even empowering," said Steinhaus. "I urge you to commit to this effort today ... this week ... at this conference."

Exploding old notions of 'knowledge'

Opening keynote speaker David Weinberger, a fellow at the Harvard Berkman Center, also took an anti-establishment approach in a lively and humorous keynote speech titled "The New Shape of Knowledge." Few scholars have as much insight into the internet's revolutionary impact on society as Weinberger, and he demonstrated this expertise by tracing conventional notions of knowledge from the ancient Greeks, through Descartes, and up to the modern technology-infused era.