First official day of ISTE 2014 was today. Holly and I woke up early and went to a satchat featuring Jerry Blumengarten the "Cybraryman". It was worth getting up for, let me tell you. Here is the link for the morning session, http://youtu.be/Bk4X5vIkkTo .
The ISTE Ignite Round 1 was awesome. In this sessions there were 13 presenters who each had 5 minutes and 20 slides to present their topic. Believe it or not, it can be done. :). It is sort of like a smack down. I will just select a few to blog about.
Rafranz Davis talked about the concept of passion and innovation through creativity and talked about Braedon's Art Planet http://braedensartplanet.blogspot.com. I recommend you check it out. My favorite thing she said was, "Never underestimate the power of a kid driven by his own passion".
Matthew Newton talked about Google Glass. I love the whole idea of wearable technology. It takes me back to the days when I read my brother's Popular Science and Popular Mechanics magazines.
Lastly, Pat Yongpradit spoke about code.org at learn.code.org and code.org/k5. Pat stressed the importance of three tenets: educate, advocate and celebrate. Code.org was responsible for the hour-of-code that many classrooms participated in. This coding hour introduced the concept of basic computer coding and was a big success. Some school systems are adding this to their educational curriculum now.
I went to the Community Network Fair where I was able to talk to ISTE folks that are representative of specialized networks within ISTE. A few of those are the ISTE Librarian's Network, the 3D Network, the Mobile Learning Network and Online Learning Network.
Poster sessions came next and that was so much fun. It is sort of like when you browse booths at conferences or window shop. Groups have tables set up and you go to the ones you are interested in and get information, watch something informative about their session and then move on.
For instance, EduSlam Eduslam.me gives you short 5 minute presentations from other educators doing best practices on varied subjects. Minecraft in Education http://minecraftedu.com puts this very popular game in the hands of the students in a pratical way and let's the teacher control what the students can do.
Global Nomads Group http://gng.org is really neat and offers twinning with classes internationally, plus it is free! This group Is all about fostering dialogue and understanding in kids around the world. Last but not least is the International Virtual Schooling http://website.iveca.org. This table had actual students presenting at their table and they reminded me of some of our student leaders at my school. Polite, able to converse well and shake your hand. Awesome!
In between the Community Network Fair and the Poster Sessions was the Keynote with Ashley Judd but unfortunately many of us did not get to be present since it was completely packed.
It was such a good day and thank you for letting me share my amazing experience with you.
Until later.
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