Dear Commons Community,

I arrived in New Orleans yesterday for the EDUCAUSE – ELI Meeting.   I must say that “The Big Easy” continues to recover from Katrina well.  In the taxi ride from the airport, I did not see any hurricane-ravaged neighborhoods as I did the last time I was here about five years ago.

I was with my colleague, Chuck Dziuban, from the University of Central Florida at Drago’s Seafood Restaurant last evening where with dinner and wine, we also could keep an eye on the Super Bowl.  What a blowout!  Renee Fleming was spectacular singing the national anthem and the Seahawks defense was awesome.

The program for ELI today looks interesting with a couple of sessions on “The Learning Brain”.  The keynote is being delivered by John Medina, Developmental Molecular Biologist and Researcher at the University of Washington.  His session is described as:

“Having brain science consort with education is the professional equivalent of a blind date, yet there are exciting reasons for them to grab a dinner and a movie. Our understanding of how the brain processes information increases every week with data surprisingly relevant to education. This fascinating exploration into how modern neuroscience can influence the way we teach will show how to integrate the science of learning with the practice of learning.”

I will let you know tomorrow how it goes.

Tony