Sometimes when you think as publicly as I do, you make a mistake publicly and have to apologize publicly. My post earlier this week about ed tech conferences is one of those times…

I stand behind what I said in my post. Most of our ed tech conferences could use a lot of rethinking and many folks agree with me (96 comments and counting…). That said, I wasn’t thinking about ITEC, Iowa’s ed tech conference, in particular but rather about ed tech conferences more generally based on a bunch of experiences that I’ve had over the past year or so. However, because 1) some of the things I mentioned that occur at conferences elsewhere also were occurring at ITEC, and 2) I blogged halfway through the ITEC conference because that’s when my back brain bubbled up my post, and 3) I used the ITEC hashtag several times to share my post (along with other hashtags too), many of the hardworking educators and volunteers here in Iowa thought I was slamming our conference specifically. They’re absolutely correct. At the very least, I should have waited a few weeks to gain some distance.

I am deeply regretful. I hurt some folks’ feelings and angered others, people that I care about greatly and who have been tremendous allies in our state’s journey toward meaningful technology empowerment of students and educators. I’ve apologized in several other less-public places but am also doing so here for anyone in our state that I haven’t reached yet. It was never my intent to single out ITEC or any other conference. But my timing was abysmal and then I compounded the error with my tweets.

I have a tendency to blog what’s in my head and in my heart… Most of the time it’s fine. Sometimes it’s even great. But sometimes it isn’t. This time I didn’t do it in a way that worked, not here with my friends and colleagues in Iowa.

I’m sorry.