Who would have thought that so many things would be different in the year 2020? Not me for sure! New Year’s Eve held the usual promises of a new year to come. New goals, new adventures, new learning! Nobody knew how quickly things would change in just a few weeks!
The education world faced extraordinary challenges in March with classrooms going to remote learning with very little notice! In our ESU world, we had a lot of Zoom meetings within our Teaching & Learning Department, our ESU 10 districts, and even our statewide ESU partners. The increased collaboration that happened during this stormy time was a silver lining.
In addition to providing support and training for our districts this spring and summer, the T&L Coordinators also spent time learning new things and fine-tuning existing skills. Like others, I had several workshops and conferences planned for the summer. Fortunately I didn’t have to miss a single one because creativity and innovation prevailed and the conferences still took place….just differently!
The education world faced extraordinary challenges in March with classrooms going to remote learning with very little notice! In our ESU world, we had a lot of Zoom meetings within our Teaching & Learning Department, our ESU 10 districts, and even our statewide ESU partners. The increased collaboration that happened during this stormy time was a silver lining.
In addition to providing support and training for our districts this spring and summer, the T&L Coordinators also spent time learning new things and fine-tuning existing skills. Like others, I had several workshops and conferences planned for the summer. Fortunately I didn’t have to miss a single one because creativity and innovation prevailed and the conferences still took place….just differently!
My first virtual conference for the summer was our own Strategic Leadership Conference in May. We had two days of engaging presentations from Keeth Matheny and Thomas Murray, two outstanding national presenters. They did not disappoint! We knew they were going to give our school leaders great content, engagement, and motivation, but the two presenters did a fabulous job of accomplishing this through Zoom, our go-to video conferencing platform.
Next up was the Future Ready Conference in June. This conference had evolved from an ESU 5 conference, to a more regional conference in that area, and eventually to a partnership with the Nebraska Department of Education for a statewide event in 2019. This year it had to be held virtually, but what a blessing that turned out to be! All sessions were recorded for future viewing, and the entire conference was FREE!. Also, instead of the normal 200 or so attendees, this conference had 1500 attend all or part of the two day conference using Zoom! I was part of the planning team this year for this conference, so seeing the impact in terms of the numbers of teachers who attended is very satisfying!
My other major virtual conference this summer was the Great Plains Summit. It has been held annually in July since 2013. This conference brings in national Google presenters and normally has about 500 in attendance in Lincoln, NE. Since it went virtual this year, the planning team was able to bring in MORE presenters than usual, at a reduced price, making it very affordable for teachers to attend. Registration this year was almost double than last year. The convenience of joining the sessions virtually ended up being an added bonus for our busy teachers! |
Finally, as part of our statewide ESU group, the Teaching and Learning with Technology affiliate brought in another national presenter for a Blended Learning Coaches training. Due to the COVID-19, Catlin Tucker had to present virtually. Catlin did a fantastic job of engaging her learners in a remote environment. The feedback from the two days was very positive, with at least two participants saying it was the best virtual workshop they had attended this summer!
While everybody wants this virus to go away due to the missed interactions and opportunities, we can at least look to the silver lining in our world of education: increased collaboration and innovative opportunities to learn.
While everybody wants this virus to go away due to the missed interactions and opportunities, we can at least look to the silver lining in our world of education: increased collaboration and innovative opportunities to learn.