Using technology as a tool to prepare students for the challenges of the global economy was the focus as more than 2,000 educational technology stakeholders met Oct. 26 to 28 in Denver for the National School Boards Association's 2005 T+L² (Technology, Leadership, and Learning) conference.

Returning to the Colorado Convention Center for the second straight year, this year's event stayed true to its official theme: "Build the energy. Share the momentum," mobilizing school stakeholders at all levels to embrace change by pursuing innovative uses of technology while building on a national conversation about the benefits of project-based learning in schools.

Technology is "a gateway to closing the achievement gap and creating 21st century learning environments," said Joan Schmidt, NSBA president, in welcoming attendees to the annual event, now in its 19th year.

But, as several speakers and other conference attendees pointed out during the show, simply acknowledging the importance of technology isn't enough. In an age when eMail and internet access are as essential to many students as paper and pencil, educators need not only embrace technology as a tool for learning, but also must understand how these devices are changing the way we receive, process, and use information in the digital age.

Neil Gershenfeld, director of the Center for Bits and Atoms at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), encouraged attendees and educators everywhere to embrace what he believes is the start of an entirely new technological revolution: The age of "personal fabrication."

After years of harping about the coming of the "digital revolution," Gershenfeld said, the time has come and gone. The new revolution, he claimed during a morning keynote address, isn't happening on the internet, but in the classroom, where teachers and students are using a newfound understanding of technology's potential to create ... almost anything.

Imagine an alarm clock you have to wrestle to prove you're actually awake, or a wearable container that works as a portable stress reliever, capturing your screams of frustration in silence and recording them for release at a more convenient time. Want something more practical? How about a device that eliminates red-eye from photographs, or low-income houses made from snap-together parts--giant Legos constructed to revitalize struggling downtown neighborhoods?

These and other innovations are all concepts that evolved out of Gershenfeld's latest class at MIT. The course, called "How to Make Almost Anything," surrounds students with millions of dollars of lab equipment, computers, and high-tech machinery designed for what the professor has dubbed "personal fabrication."

The ultimate in project-based learning, the course brings students together to create personalized products designed to meet their own individual needs. Whatever they can imagine, Gershenfeld says, the idea is that, with the help of technology, they can build it.