ISTE 2014: Disneyland for Teachers!

I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the ISTE 2014 conference in Atlanta last week. What a conference it was! I have heard many great reviews, but it is definitely something you have to attend to really "get." I am calling it "Disneyland for Teachers" for multiple reasons:

• Excitement - I had the same feeling of excitement both in the days ahead of the conference and at the conference that I remember having as a child when we visited Disney World!
• Lines and Crowds - Don't let this discourage you from attending, but I had to wait in line for EVERYTHING - food, bathroom, to get into sessions, walking around... it was crazy with 16,000 people in the Georgia World Congress Center.
• Exhibitor hall - I compare the feeling walking into the ISTE exhibitor hall to a kid walking into a Disney World arcade... other people compared it to Las Vegas. 
• Too much to do! - Just like Disneyland, there were more options than time. Every hour you had the choice to attend a session, visit the exhibitors, collaborate, visit "playgrounds," and much more. I learned that you have to set 1-3 learning goals prior to the conference and hone in on utilizing your time to reach those learning goals. Otherwise all the options are too overwhelming and you spend all your time determining what to do next.

I focused my conference learning goals on the following topics:

• How to develop effective professional development experiences,  PLC development in schools, and effective change processes (these are all interrelated)
• Gamification
• PBL

I finally had a chance to reflect on the conference this afternoon. Below are the most important points, resources, and tools I took away:

• Mash-ups - I love unconferences. I have participated in both EdCamps and Open Spaces. I am on the NAMTC board - National Association of Media and Technology Centers - that has an institute every late November. This year the institute was all Open Spaces and everyone loved it; the only critique was that some wished to have some new information "front-loaded" to them so they could use this new information as a starting point to discussions and sessions. A mash-up does just this. It begins with several "topics" that participants can choose from. Participants learn a little and then build the unconference "wall" and the unconference begins.
• Differentiation and gamification are not just for students - I need to do a WAY better job of differentiating and gamifying my trainings. Below are some tools and ideas to do so.
• Blendspace.com - As I mentioned, two of my learning goals were to learn how to develop more effective and innovative PD opportunities and gamification. I attended a session that combined these two goals - how to gamify your PD. I learned about this tool https://www.blendspace.com/ that allows you to both differentiate and gamify learning.

• http://www.edtechchallenge.com - This is an amazing resource created by a collection of TIS's. I have been envisioning creating something similar to this to differentiate my trainings, so I need to review and determine if I should work of this or create my own or... 

• https://credly.com/  - Another tool for awarding badges

• http://www.worlds-of-learning-nmhs.com/  - combines PD and gamification and badges - I am envisioning something similar for my trainings...

• Badges - Digital Promise is working on making badges transferable and count towards professional learning credit.

• PLC development - Almost every session I went to emphasized the importance of building communities of practice of PLC's within schools. I would love to attend a PLC training... there is one in Denver in October... road trip?!

• http://contxts.com - Allows you to send links via SMS/text messages!

• SAMR model - Anyone who has attended one of my technology integration trainings knows that I am a huge SAMR model fan; therefore, you can imagine my excitement at attending a session by the SAMR model creator, Dr. Ruben Puentedura. There was a huge emphasis throughout the conference on using the SAMR model to analyze technology integration use and ensure technology is not becoming an expensive pencil. An "ah-ha" moment I had at the conference was that technology tools and strategies that reach the redefinition stage seem to have the following characteristics: they make learning VISIBLE, AUDIBLE, AND SOCIAL. For example, screencasting makes learning visible and audible. Sharing a screencast video on a blog makes learning social. This is a redefinition of the learning process.

• Moving through the change process - I attended a great session on the process of moving through change. They emphasized the importance of beginning with a vision (which seems obvious yet so often doesn't occur). Then, "chunk" that vision into smaller steps. This makes perfect sense when you compare it to brain research that shows the importance of learning in "chunks." Then, VALIDATE where you are in the process. Everyone needs to know the progress made and even if you haven't made it very far CELEBRATE each step. The validation and celebration were an "ah-hah" moment for me. So often we set a large goal and then get frustrated when it isn't met right away versus celebrating the progress that has been made in order to keep us motivated to work towards the end goal/vision.

• Tackk.com - https://tackk.com/ Great FREE resource for developing digital content and more.