#FETC Spreading the #EdTech Virus

Well, this year's FETC Conference was another amazing experience. I was exceptionally lucky to add to the richness of the experience this year by bringing three teacher leaders with me. Three of my Cherry Street teachers joined me in Orlando for FETC 2015, and I do believe they came back with the #EdTech Virus!

Valerie, Stefanie, Me, and Tiffany (all pictured here) got our #FETC Mojo going and have been on fire since our return. I am sure that each of these ladies could write their own BLOG entry on the amazing ed. tech. they have been integrating in their classrooms since their return. I hear wonderful stories about their use of Plickers: https://www.plickers.com/ and Kahoot: https://getkahoot.com/ as well as many others. 

Some of the sessions I attended this year were:

• TechShare Live
• Advanced Twitter Tips and Tools
• Give a Kindergartner an Ipad
• Kathy Schrock's Telling the Story
• Augmented Reality and Mind Blowing Student Engagement
• Neurological Benefits of Gaming
• Advanced YouTube

...and as always each of the keynote speakers was fabulous. 

The hottest topics in Ed. Tech. are, of course, the gamification of learning and the maker movements. I, personally, get excited by all the augmented reality that is out there on the market. There were several augmented reality demonstrations I attended, and the Elements 4D app from DAQRI was crazy amazing: Elements

The elements from the periodic table are in wooden blocks. But when you use the app. via your tablet or SmartPhone, it turns the blocks into three dimensional cubes that contain the elements being represented. It is difficult to even describe this sort of technology, but the crowd was "oooo"ing and "awwww"ing constantly. A cube containing oxygen and a cube containing hydrogen, when paired together, became a cube containing water!

Here is a tweet from Tiffany during one of the keynote speaker addresses that shows 3D printing and several augmented reality examples. 

Here is a tweet from Stefanie during one of the sessions she attended.

Part of the greatness of attending the conference is not only what you learn while you are there but also the fun you have trying out the programs you learn about once you get home! I started using TweetDeck at the conference, and I was able to use it during our Inaugural #EdChat at Cherry Street this month. With TweetDeck, you can monitor multiple timelines, topics, lists and accounts. I love it! The multi-tasking fool that I am has three different Twitter accounts. It can get overwhelming without these amazing tools: TweetDeck

AND, most exciting of all, my three teacher leaders hosted our very first #CherryElem #EdChat. We followed the lead of one of my favorite BLOGsters, Amber Teamann, and her suggestion to modify the parameters of a regular Twitter Chat by allowing for 24 hour posting so folks can see the process and get initiated slowly. Here is that BLOG entry: Technically Teamann

I got to use another super cool program, Storify, at https://storify.com/, when we finished the #EdChat. I posted a summary of our #EdChat here: Storify.com/Enrjtk_Educatr/first-twitter-edchat-for-cherry-street-elementary

Lastly, I appreciate the comradery and the fun that I was able to have with my awesome team in Orlando. We created some great memories! I have been attending FETC off and on for twenty years. I have seen Jim Lovell from Apollo 13 and the lauded science fiction author, Ray Bradbury. FETC is the best!

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.