ISTE 2012 Highlights

To blog about ISTE or not to blog about ISTE?  That was the question.  It’s fun to share, so here are some of my highlights.  I selected sessions that can be watched or further explored via the links.

The two keynotes I attended were great.  What’s not to love about Sir Ken Robinson, his ideas and sense of humor?  I’ve watched so many of his talks over the past few years that it was nice to be there with him at ISTE.  Dr. Yong Zhao gave an impressive speech as well.  (See below and forward to minute 25 to get to his presentation.)  Here’s a link to these and other ISTE videos.

Google Slam was fun to attend.  I walked away with a few new ideas, particularly with the use of Google Docs and gadgets.  The vocabulary flash card gadget has potential.  Here’s a direct link to explore more.

Kathy Schrock is an engaging presenter who packed her session full of practical ideas.  Here is her presentation on Literacy in the Digital Age.  I particularly liked her section about global literacy.  Concepts such as how people from different countries react differently to the same text, the topic of news bias, and ways to promote global literacy supported by the use of technology was reiterated in other sessions as well.   If you are not familiar with Kathy’s work, take a look.  It’s near impossible to explore her site and not glean a new idea or inspiration.

Annette Lamb also delivered a session, Graphic Inquiry: Dynamic Differentiationand Digital Age Learning, filled to the brim with practical tips. I recommend watching the session here.  Here’s a direct link to her presentation handout and  Get Graphic site, two valuable resources with many applications for ESOL, differentiation best practices, etc.!  Some of her ideas for the use of infographics as a means of critical analysis and inquiry are interesting.  Since I use online comic strips, timelines, etc. in my own teaching, I liked her discussion of students generating both the physical and the online versions.

I could easily write a whole post on the larger ideas from the presentations of Alan November’s session, Empathy: The 21st Century Skill,  David Warlick’s session, Cracking the ‘Native’ Information Experience, Chris Lehmann’s session Beyond Googling: Using Technology To Build A Culture of Inquiry,  and Will Richardson’s session, The Steep Unlearning Curve: Rethinking Schools, Classrooms, and Learning.  Check out their work if you are not familiar with them.   

Renee Hobbs has some useful information on the topic of copyright and fair use laws that I have been exploring lately.  Judith Harris delivered an interesting session called TPACK: Will You Know It When You See It? I was a bit disappointed I didn’t see more, but caught the tail end of the presentation, Educational Blogging: Flattening the Classroom Walls!, by Linda Yollis and Kathleen Morris.  I’ve followed Kathleen’s tweets and work for quite some time.  Their site is  well worth exploring for elementary teachers interested in blogging and global collaboration.

As a fun side note, like many of the attendees, I used my iPad to record notes, capture pictures, etc.  Evernote was my go to app and I enjoyed participating in Today’s Meet backchannel.

There is a lot of useful information out there to explore on the ISTE 2012 conference site.  As I was writing this post, I ran across a few I took the time to watch, such as Cool Collaborative Activities with GoogleTools with TammyWorcester geared toward grades K-5 and The Wonderful World of Wikis with Viki Davis.  Watch recorded sessions and explore more presentation notes here.

Happy learning!