Reflections on #ISTE12

I sent this out to the Leadership Team in my District. Maybe it will spark some discussions.

I was lucky enough to attend the ISTE conference inSan Diego last week. Three main themes stuck out for me. iPads were everywhere, Social Networking was being used to collaborate and share and Google Apps has finally come of age in the classroom.

Many sessions were dedicated to iPads in one way or another. There was a lot of focus on specific Apps and how to use iPads in the classroom.

iPad resources:

http://flippingwithkirch.blogspot.com/2012/06/iste12-real-apps-real-classroom-ipads.html

http://www.scoop.it/t/ipads-and-tablets-in-education

http://macdonaldtechforteachers.wikispaces.com/iPad+Apps+for+Education

http://smartclasstech.blogspot.com/2012/06/there-app-for-that.html

This is the first conference that really showed me how social networking tools and the power of being connected can really leverage a Personal Learning Network (PLN). Adam Bellow, creator of http://www.edutecher.net/ used a tool to tweet out his presentations from Keynote in real time. Teachers were sharing links and resources on twitter so the ability to see what was happening in many sessions was greatly expanded. It was very powerful. Also, I sat in on a global classroom session where the flat classroom folks talked about connecting classrooms around the world. I listened to two elementary students from Mexico present their digital news letter on their iPad and saw many other examples of students showing off their work to the ISTE audience.

http://www.flatclassroomproject.org/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w2j1vJmEIs&feature=autoplay&list=PL8A5F88F3A2E9A7DC&playnext=7

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyoafgmUhis&feature=autoplay&list=PL8A5F88F3A2E9A7DC&playnext=8

The keynotes were about change and what our Education System should be striving towards. They are available on YouTube.

Opening Keynote – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mleHwdP_2ds&feature=related

Tuesday’s Keynote – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFIkkmaBD9A

Personally I think Sir Ken Robinson is better in these videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

Someone tweeted out this link on iBook Author student publishing – http://www.cultofmac.com/169745/these-7th-graders-have-already-published-their-first-ibooks-author-bestseller/

Some other general resources that were shared out via twitter:

A collaborative Notes document – https://docs.google.com/document/d/1c9cpBaUqfPne9y6B9kJIkr1LyPUYb2qXGQqQXnYQgEQ/edit#

The Official Diigo group – http://groups.diigo.com/group/diigo-iste12

ISTE YouTube Channel – http://www.youtube.com/user/istevideos

Blogs:

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/

http://www.patrickmlarkin.com/

http://www.thethinkingstick.com/

http://www.stevehargadon.com/

http://blog.iste.org/

The conference was overwhelming and it was impossible to see everything but the themes were clear to me; Mobile (iPads), social networking tools and the rise of Google with everything pointing towards students and teachers as content creators who use technology to facilitate collaboration, engage in project based learning and deliver individualized instruction.