I wrote this piece for our ESU10 Board meeting in August, 2014. I thought I would share it here.
ISTE 2014, ATLANTA, Georgia
16,000 plus registered attendees from 60+ nations! 500+ exhibitors with 1,300+ booths! 900+ sessions and 3 powerful keynotes over 4 days! What an awesome experience in Atlanta, GA at the end of June!ISTE's (International Society for Technology in Education) annual conference is a huge and impressive EdTech conference held each year. Educators come from all over the world to immerse themselves in educational technology and I was fortunate to have been one of those 16000 people this summer. It was my third ISTE but my first as an ESU 10 Teaching and Learning Coordinator! It was the best one yet!From the opening keynote to the last session I spent several days drenched in technology and inspiration! I didn’t want to miss a thing so I did not even break for lunch or attend the vendor expo, and I managed to attend 13 exceptional hour-long presentations with some some poster sessions tucked in between! One of the sessions I went to was called Ignite, which featured 20 educators sharing their passion in 5 minutes or less. The brain overload over the four days was so worth it!
In recent years, there has been a shift in the focus of EdTech conferences, and I noticed this phenomenon especially at ISTE. The sessions have become less about a specific “tool” and more about having students create something that teachers can use to assess learning. At ISTE, I attended quite a few sessions on Project Based Learning, Literacy and basic tech integration. But in most of the sessions I went to, and all of the keynotes, one thing I really noticed was that nobody was really pushing a specific technology! Instead it was about student creation and forming relationships.
I believe students learn best when they take ownership in their learning. Creating projects, regardless of the device, is a marvelous way to get students to own their learning! Instead of having students all do the same worksheet, teachers can have them create a unique project that can be shared digitally to an authentic audience! Students are certainly more engaged and because they create their own project, they can’t “copy” someone else! And if the students get to choose the tool, they own the learning even more!
Many of the presentations I attended, and especially the keynotes, had another message that I found reassuring: “It’s all about the relationships between teachers and students.” Even at the NETA conference last April I heard a similar theme. Technology is a fantastic tool to provide your students with the resources needed, but technology is definitely not “IT.” However, a great teacher is! And if you look around at schools to find the best teachers, you will find those teachers who, while possessing great skills in their content areas and classroom management, more importantly, have a way of connecting with their students--making relationships.
ISTE 2014 had a lot to offer me and others. But of all the opportunities that were presented, I think that Kevin Carroll's keynote on day two inspired me most. In his keynote, Kevin inspired me to make sure to “work hard, play harder, and inspire hardest.” I want to inspire teachers in the ESU 10 district to give their students the very best experience they can and to realize that they are the biggest asset in their classrooms. Technology gives students experiences far beyond we ever imagined, but the teacher is truly the best “app” in the room! (Thanks Mr. Badura for that quote!)
In addition to the big picture of creativity and relationships, I also learned a great deal from all of the breakout sessions I attended! I can’t wait to delve further into some of my favorite presentations which include “Mastering the Common Core with Project Based Learning,” “Untangling the Web,” “Digital Storytelling for the YouTube Generation,” Animation,” and “Getting to the Common Core--Technology Integration and Literacy.” I’m even more excited to share my learnings with my colleagues and with ESU 10 educators!
ISTE 2014, ATLANTA, Georgia
16,000 plus registered attendees from 60+ nations! 500+ exhibitors with 1,300+ booths! 900+ sessions and 3 powerful keynotes over 4 days! What an awesome experience in Atlanta, GA at the end of June!ISTE's (International Society for Technology in Education) annual conference is a huge and impressive EdTech conference held each year. Educators come from all over the world to immerse themselves in educational technology and I was fortunate to have been one of those 16000 people this summer. It was my third ISTE but my first as an ESU 10 Teaching and Learning Coordinator! It was the best one yet!From the opening keynote to the last session I spent several days drenched in technology and inspiration! I didn’t want to miss a thing so I did not even break for lunch or attend the vendor expo, and I managed to attend 13 exceptional hour-long presentations with some some poster sessions tucked in between! One of the sessions I went to was called Ignite, which featured 20 educators sharing their passion in 5 minutes or less. The brain overload over the four days was so worth it!
In recent years, there has been a shift in the focus of EdTech conferences, and I noticed this phenomenon especially at ISTE. The sessions have become less about a specific “tool” and more about having students create something that teachers can use to assess learning. At ISTE, I attended quite a few sessions on Project Based Learning, Literacy and basic tech integration. But in most of the sessions I went to, and all of the keynotes, one thing I really noticed was that nobody was really pushing a specific technology! Instead it was about student creation and forming relationships.
I believe students learn best when they take ownership in their learning. Creating projects, regardless of the device, is a marvelous way to get students to own their learning! Instead of having students all do the same worksheet, teachers can have them create a unique project that can be shared digitally to an authentic audience! Students are certainly more engaged and because they create their own project, they can’t “copy” someone else! And if the students get to choose the tool, they own the learning even more!
Many of the presentations I attended, and especially the keynotes, had another message that I found reassuring: “It’s all about the relationships between teachers and students.” Even at the NETA conference last April I heard a similar theme. Technology is a fantastic tool to provide your students with the resources needed, but technology is definitely not “IT.” However, a great teacher is! And if you look around at schools to find the best teachers, you will find those teachers who, while possessing great skills in their content areas and classroom management, more importantly, have a way of connecting with their students--making relationships.
ISTE 2014 had a lot to offer me and others. But of all the opportunities that were presented, I think that Kevin Carroll's keynote on day two inspired me most. In his keynote, Kevin inspired me to make sure to “work hard, play harder, and inspire hardest.” I want to inspire teachers in the ESU 10 district to give their students the very best experience they can and to realize that they are the biggest asset in their classrooms. Technology gives students experiences far beyond we ever imagined, but the teacher is truly the best “app” in the room! (Thanks Mr. Badura for that quote!)
In addition to the big picture of creativity and relationships, I also learned a great deal from all of the breakout sessions I attended! I can’t wait to delve further into some of my favorite presentations which include “Mastering the Common Core with Project Based Learning,” “Untangling the Web,” “Digital Storytelling for the YouTube Generation,” Animation,” and “Getting to the Common Core--Technology Integration and Literacy.” I’m even more excited to share my learnings with my colleagues and with ESU 10 educators!