… and gives us a really nice write-up on his blog.

David has been one of those "Friends of Beacon" who I’ve managed to meet in my techie travels over the years. He’s a wonderful, progressive technology educator who, well, just gets it.

He gave me a copy of the new version of his book Raw Materials for the Mind which is a wonderful guide for any educator who wants to explore how technology can open up their classroom. I’m about halfway through it, and while there will be a full review of it soon, suffice to say, it’s a must have for the technology educator’s bookshelf.

Although the visit was too short, and I got pulled off in too many directions while David was there, I love the opportunity to one — show off Beacon to folks who do get it, but two – and more importantly – I love to get that chance to talk, real-time, with people like David who understand the power we can harness.

Don’t get me wrong, I love blogging and iChatting and emailing and list-serving, but for a techie educator, I also find that I love the real-time, face-to-face interactions with the people whose brains I enjoy. David is one of the brains. He’s a fantastic edu-tech policy guru, and I imagine that he was, when he had his own classroom, a fantastic teacher. Read his books and his blog.

And David — come back soon!