Note: This is the first of a set of belated posts from the 2010 New Media Consortium Annual Conference. I’m finishing the posts based on drafts I did while the events were still going on, so don’t be misled by the present tense. This post narrates events that happened on Saturday, June 12, 2010.

Holly Willis, one of our USC hosts, praises the conversations she’s heard, the hybridity of groups here, the generosity and mutual support of the NMC culture. She’s feeling worn out, but not burned out–an important distinction, and one that the room endorses as it prepares for the climax of the conference..

Susan Metros offers her farewells and leads us in the Mickey Mouse Club song. See you real soon!

This moment encapsulates one of the many things I find fascinating and lovely about the tribe that is NMC: the group is sophisticated about Disney’s mixed and sometimes disturbing enchantments, sure, but it’s open to the genuine wonder and playfulness that’s in that world, too. It’s a privilege–and frankly, a relief–to be with people who can articulate and even revel in these complications, these paradoxes. (I’m strongly reminded of Steve Martin’s description of Disneyland in his recent memoir Born Standing Up. He spots Diane Arbus coming in to take photographs of what he can only assume she will see as a freak show. He fully understands all those layers of irony in their peculiarly strong American variety. Yet he also insists that Disneyland is beautiful.)

Then comes the first Center of Excellence Award: the Houston Community College System. HCC’s successes span all its years with NMC. Its CIT program, begun in 2004, aims to help faculty integrate teaching technologies into their practice. Around 1500 faculty have participated in these programs, and hundreds have been certified. A Teaching and Learning Excellence program was launched in 2008, with similar success. HCC now has a center for teaching and learning excellence, and a new director, both of which will take these development programs to the next level. ICT uses range from distance ed, to English composition (using podcasts, voice recorders, etc. via apps in an iPod Touch), to courses in computational science and computational thinking, to experiments in seamless integration between learning environments, pedagogical innovation, and learning technologies. Instructional design and technical support combine with user-generated content the instructors want to include in their classrooms. A Kindle study is underway (see Five Minutes of Fame account here). The Vocational Nursing Program has a sophisticated birthing simulation–and this part of the HCC video is especially witty. I refer you to the NMC website for the full experience. The end of the video was a point of some discussion afterward. Many of the men in the audience, including me, couldn’t decide whether it was okay to laugh at the mock-horror of the birthing scene. When we heard the women laugh, we felt we had permission to laugh, too. Maybe I was imagining things, but I could swear I heard a slight, high-pitched note of anxiety mingled with the men’s laughter. Perhaps I’m just projecting.

Chris Millett accepts the award for Penn State

Next: Penn State’s Educational Technology Services. In their video, Cole Camplese talks about the programs there, and PSU staff and faculty discuss the need to help students become information sharers in their digital futures. This group focuses on production of digital media as artifacts of learning. Cole speaks to the need for an instructional design intermediary that can support intelligent uses of ICT, and help faculty “get courageous” in an environment where it’s safe to try things out, fail, and learn. A lovely video, and Chris Millet comes up to accept the award, offering thanks to the entire team that’s behind this winning effort. Cole’s vision drives excellence. His team shares the vision and brings its many talents to the endeavors.  Best of all, the video itself is a great example of the very integration that it winningly advocates. (Postscript: Baylor University got a double shot of the Cole Camplese/PSU magic just a week later, when Cole himself visited Baylor for a series of presentations and conversations related to all things ICT in higher education. More on that anon.)

Now Tulane University’s Innovative Learning Center steps forward to receive its award, and their video tells the story. T.R. Johnson describes how he makes documentary films with students about their service learning work–work that has the power to spark a social movement. James McLaren, Dean of Undergraduate Studies, describes how ICT assists with new student registration each summer. Nick Spitzer, Prof. in Anthropology and producer of NPR’s American Roots, draws parallels between his archival work and the work the ILC does, Felicia McLaren, who teaches French culture and French cinema, tells how the ILC helped her in a course. And the examples keep on coming. Just when the list gets too long to take in: a surprise: “outtakes” that were slated for deletion but somehow “escaped.” Now we hear what the home folks truly think about the Tulane Innovative Learning Center–in multiple languages.

Derek Toten speaks!

Sheldon Jones did the video, ILC Director Derek Toten accepts the award, the entire team is on the stage. Tulane’s finale is brilliant self-mockery of the highest order, and a most entertaining conclusion to the awards parade.

And speaking of Sheldon Jones, a fellow traveler on this year’s NMC Photosafari, now we get the slideshow of each participant’s ten best photos. A perfect segue into John Seely Brown’s closing keynote on homo sapiens, homo fabre, and homo ludens … but that’s for another post.