As you know, Cemetech has been forming a closer relationship with our long-distant ideological ancestor, Texas Instruments. Without their nearly ubiquitous graphing calculators, we would lack both the tools and the massive audience of students and teachers for the graphing calculator programs we write. Even though Cemetech was born from ideas about hardware inventions rather than software camaraderie, the past thirteen years have seen Cemetech grow and flourish as a community for talented and new programmers alike to teach and learn from each other. I am thrilled that it is less than 48 hours until the kickoff of Texas Instruments' T³ International Conference in Philadelphia, and that Cemetech will be there. I am even more excited that I will be teaching a seminar on the pedagogical value of graphing calculator programming, and that my esteemed friend and fellow Cemetech administrator Shaun "Merthsoft" McFall will be joining me for the entire conference.



To quote from Texas Instruments' official press release: "The 25th annual T³ International Conference brings together education experts, thought leaders, and math and science teachers with more than 400 sessions covering the most relevant topics in education today. Educators can also participate in sessions about integrating TI’s math and science learning technology and content into their classrooms, including the new TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition and the recently-announced TI-NspireTM Apps for iPad. " Rumor has it that close to three thousand teachers, administrators, and students will be attending the conference this year, and we're eagerly anticipating bringing you all the highlights. From the opening keynote with former astronaut and NFL player Leland Melvin to the closing event with actress and neuroscientist Mayim Bialik (whom you might know as Amy Farrah Fowler), we'll be bringing you the educators, the seminars, the calculator news and highlights. Although I can't promise anything, I even hope to have interviews from some important TI and celebrity personalities.

In addition, Texas Instruments has announced a special price for their new TI-Nspire Apps for iPad. Normally $30, each App will be only $5 until March 10th, certainly an attractive discount to anyone curious about the new apps who doesn't want to fork over the full sticker price. We will get a hands-on chance to try the Apps at T³, so Shaun and I will give you our candid impressions if you're still on the fence. You can grab the TI-Nspire App for iPad and TI-Nspire CAS App for iPad from iTunes. If you're attending T³, there's a free T^3 Conference App to help you find your way around.

Wish us luck, and keep your eyes on Cemetech for the latest breaking news from T³. Be sure to let us know if you have any questions for the various people we'll be meeting at the conference. If you're coming to T³, be sure to let us know so we can say hello, and don't forget to swing by "Teaching Beginner Programming Concepts With the TI-83 Plus/TI-84 Plus" in Room 116 at 11am on Saturday, March 9th.


From a previous Cemetech retreat in Vermont, Shaun (far right) and Christopher (center), who will be at the T³ 2013 conference, with fellow administrator Thomas (far left).

Being one of the few with Apple products around here I'll pick up the apps as well, so we can have a local Cemetech resident who has the apps to test on if need be.

Wait, you're an Apple product?

On a more serious note, I'm quite excited for this little excursion. Hopefully we can learn more about the future of technology within the classroom. I think a valid point that some of your friends have brought up is "why should [a student] buy a ti when they can get a tablet and use w|a for less". There are some obvious answers involving standardized tests and school policies, but I still think it's a valid thought, and something they will need to answer in the near future.

I thought the same thing, but there's a 'with' in there so he's not an Apple product.

I don't think that was there before--I think he added it!