Musings from the Florida Educational Technology Conference -

The first time I attended FETC (Florida Educational Technology Conference) I was a beginning teacher. It was 1994. Exactly 20 years ago, I began my journey into #edtech. It has advanced much in that time, and some predict it is about to entirely transform education as we know it. I would like to take a team of teachers with me next year to attend this conference. We all have a lot to learn about #edtech in the coming year. The first thing I learned is that I am proud of how much technology our campus is using. We have students using email, Prezi's, Google Docs., BlendSpace, and more for writing. We have numerous teachers using Class Dojo to assist with classroom management. We have faculty with websites, and several of them have Voki’s. Cherry Street is using numerous technology tools to support elevated engagement by students. We use FaceBook, Twitter, Remind 101, and the MySchool App. to keep families involved in our campus events.

Here are some quotes from the great speakers:

“We are preparing our students for jobs that don’t exist with tools we have not made yet.” and, “Broadband is the new electricity.” or, “The best technology you have today is the worst technology your child will ever see in their lifetime. It will be a relic to them. Are our schools ready for that 5 year old?”

Jamie Casap, Google Education Evangelist  

“Schools have to be agile in the same way the world around them is evolving. There will be an eradication of the line between school/ and home/ and anywhere anytime learning.”

Lucien Vattel, CEO GameDesk 
     and Playmaker Schools








    

“The sum of all human knowledge is at our fingertips.” We used to go to a library or research in books. We have access to 100,000 libraries in our back pocket.

                 Will Richardson
           Author of Why School?  

                                     

In the session called "Run Your Classroom Like Google," Juan De Luca demonstrated the new virtual resume using the Vizify site. I made one in about 10 minutes that just pulled content from my various social media accounts. I have started an early version of it, and I will add to it over time.



Click here to preview MY Vizify Bio at:
   Enrjtk-educatr's Vizify

·  During the numerous TechShare sessions, I picked up multiple new tools. Here is one that is so EASY to use called Google Story Builder. It took me about 5 minutes to create: My Google Story about FETC

·   Also, check out this great YouTube video for a laugh that was shared in Adam Bellowes’ session: Font Conference. Caution, there are a few incidents of profanity in this, so skip this video if you prefer.

·   Here are several sites that I shared with our classroom teachers that I felt most valuable and worth exploring for classroom integration:

·   Class Badges

·   Fotor

·   eduClipper

·   Recite This

·   If This Then That     

The transformation of education is something I want to be a part of--the more personalized, engaging, interesting learning environments.