I recently returned from this year's Resnet Conference in Fredericton, NB.
Resnet is a conference of college IT professionals, with special focus on student computing. It's a great place to network with other computer professionals and pick up ideas.
Fredericton is a beautiful city. I spent my free time wandering in the city. It dates from the 18th century, when New Brunswick became part of British Canada and the main downtown is on the Saint John River with a beautiful park on the river side. In the center of town is the garrison district, which used to be the British garrison in colonial days.
I went on the free tour of the district. I was actually the only one on the tour, but there was the tour guide, her supervisor (it was her first tour), and a few of their friends. They showed me the city hall (which has burned down three times), the courthouse (formerly the teacher's school, and which burned down once), the old barracks (now an arts center), and everything else. I also walked across an old railroad bridge that is now a hiking trail (part of the Trans Canada Trail), saw a the arboretum, and generally enjoyed the city.
But the conference was a good one. I went to sessions on using Web 2.0 in teaching, on Facebook, how to use thin clients in labs, and other technical topics. The best was a "Birds of a Feather" session where we got together and swapped information about our favorite software. I'll be testing out a few of these and writing about them in upcoming blogs.
The conference ended with a dinner and a concert. Actually, we were supposed to be seeing a public outdoor concert by a local Celtic music group, Bottoms Up, but there was
a threat of rain, so they moved everything into the dining tent. After dinner, they opened things up so anyone could come in and listen to the band, or just listen from the lawn. There was even a changing of the guard ceremony.
A great conference in a wonderful city.
