Education Technology

Last week was the Upstate Technology Conference in South Carolina, which included an Administrator's Day of Discovery. Porter Palmer from Discovery Education just posted the link to all of the great resources from the sessions that day: http://bitly.com/bundles/ktschutt/8

There are some great resources there for administrators and educators, so take a look and see what's there.

Porter also did a presentation that day on anytime learning. The slides are available here:
http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/blog/2012/06/18/what-do-you-want-to-learn/

EdumodoCon is a free, online professional development conference being held on Wednesday, August 8th, 2012. Throughout the day, teachers will share ways they are using Edmodo and other digital tools in the classroom. It is scheduled for 10:00am - 9:00pm ET (GMT -5).

If you are interested in presenting, go to the Call for Presenters site.

You can register for the conference, for free, here.

Edmodo is a great resource for teachers and students, providing a secure social learning network for classes. Teachers can host online discussions, share resources, and assign work to students.



Related:

22 Great Tips on using Edmodo in the classroom

5 Great course management resources for educators

Which Social Network should you use? Infographic on which to use when.

Some more great Android Apps for Education (including Edmodo app)

Edcamp is a great series of free, unconferences for educators. The Edcamp model is unique in that attendees set the agenda the morning of the conference and the sessions are not led by one person, but are rather a collaboration of both the facilitator and attendees. It is a great way to learn, share, and connect with other educators.

I am a huge fan and user of Google's many apps, tools, and resources. I have an Android phone, a Chromebook, use Chrome as my browser and use Gmail, Google Calendar, Tasks, iGoogle, Reader, Docs/Drive, Blogger and Google Sites on a daily basis. I love the simplicity, yet functionality of these apps and I share my enthusiasm and knowledge with other educators.

This summer there is an awesome event in the Northeast USA about Google in Education: The Google Apps for Education Maine Summit. 

This is a two day event, hosted at Yarmouth High School in Maine, August 16th and 17th. The event focuses on using Google Apps for Education in your school and classroom to improve teaching and learning. Presenters include Google Certified Teachers, Google Apps for Education Certified Trainers, Google Engineers, educators that use Google Apps, and representatives from the Google Apps for Education Team. There are two keynote presentations along with breakout sessions, demonstrations, and hands-on workshops.

There will be free parking and WiFi, continental breakfast and coffee with networking time each day, access to Google employees, and early bird registration is only $199.

If you use Google Apps, or want to learn how to implement them in your school, you should attend this event. Register at the site:  http://me.gafesummit.com/

That area of Maine is beautiful and one of my favorite places to visit. LL Bean's flagship store, along with other great attractions, are minutes away in Freeport. So after learning all day, you have plenty of opportunities for fun in the evening.



Related:Why I use Google's Products as an Educator (and how)
Android Smartphone and Apps I use as an Educator

ISTE (International Society of Technology in Education) puts on a great, huge, educational conference each year. I was lucky enough to attend ISTE 2011 in Philadelphia last year (thanks to winning a Discovery Education contest that paid for it for me) and had a great time, learning, sharing, and connecting with educators from around the world. Philadelphia is also a great town!

Attending ISTE is a great experience for any educator, but can be a tad expensive. Travel costs, meals and expenses, hotel, conference fee, etc. I was lucky enough to get my paid for by Discovery Education. Beth Still (@bethstill), a great educator that's part of my PLN thought every teacher should have a chance to attend the ISTE Conference. Back in 2008, when it was the NECC conference, she decided to see if she could use Twitter to help raise $1500 to send a teacher to the conference. It worked! And she's doing it again.

This year's ISTE Newbie is Jerry Blumengarten, better known on Twitter as @cybraryman1, who has an incredible website (http://cybraryman.com/) with thousands of great resources for educators (500 pages and 30,000 links). He's very active on Twitter, helping with various educational chats and also helping teachers out with resources and ideas. He's also a nice guy. His generosity to other educators is incredible.

So, let's help send Jerry to ISTE 2012 in San Diego this summer. You can go to the ISTE12 Newbie Site to donate. As of 9am today, over $700 had already been raised towards the $2000 goal! I donated because I think its a great idea and cause, and I think that Jerry truly deserves it.

https://sites.google.com/site/istenewbieproject/





Related:

ISTE 2011 A great experience!

ISTE Session Review - Extreme Web 2.0 Makeover by Steve Dembo

EdCamp is a great series of free, unconferences for educators. The Edcamp model is unique in that attendees set the agenda the morning of the conference and the sessions are not led by one person, but are rather a collaboration of both the facilitator and attendees.

Tech Forum is Doing It Live! (free online) Again!




Join us tomorrow, Friday, May 4 to Tech Forum Live Online, Tech & Learning's live broadcast stream direct from Tech Forum Chicago. Join this preeminent group of education leaders as they tackle some of the most pressing, and promising, issues for today's schools. Watch both sessions as they happen and even participate with a live chat session.

The schedule includes:


• The Flipped Classroom in Action: What is it, How do you Manage it, and Should you Support it? - 9:45-11:00 am
Presenters: Jon Bergmann with Justyna Kalinowska, Allison Drew, Elisabeth Lebris and Robert Bialk
The Flipped Classroom has become a buzzword in recent education news. Is it a viable and effective option for delivering instruction? Is it too burdensome for school technology staff? Join the staff of the Joseph Sears School as they provide a background on the flipped class; then hear from teachers and technology staff who have been involved in implementing this new model of teaching and learning.

• Understanding the Challenges and Opportunities of Emerging Learning Environments - 2:15-3:30 pm
Presenters: David Jakes (moderator), Jon Bergmann, Dean Shareski and Jennie Magiera
Join us for a lively discussion on topics ranging from the pros and cons of digital textbooks to the disruptive impact of mobile computing, online learning, social networking, and the flipped classroom. David Jakes will challenge panelists to share their thoughts about the issues and opportunities that arise as we evolve from the traditional classroom to anytime, anyplace, any path learning spaces. Then it's your turn -- to weigh in, ask questions, and engage with virtual audience members who'll be tapping into this session.

Simply visit this link during those times, tune in and participate. You can submit questions to the presenters using the Livestream chat feature or by tweeting:#TLTF12. It's the next best thing to being there!



Tech and Learning Magazine is an excellent, free resource, for educators.

Tech Forum is Doing It Live!

Tune in tomorrow, Friday, April 27 to Tech Forum Live Online, Tech & Learning's live broadcast stream direct from Tech Forum Boston. Join this preeminent group of education leaders as they tackle some of the most pressing, and promising, issues for today's schools. Watch both sessions as they happen and even participate with a live chat session.

The schedule includes:

• Understanding the Challenges and Opportunities of Emerging Learning Environments - 9:45-11:00 am
Presenters: David Jakes (moderator); Chris Dede, Cathy Swan, Tony Baldasaro
Join us for a lively discussion on topics ranging from the pros and cons of digital textbooks to the disruptive impact of mobile computing, online learning, and social networking. David Jakes will challenge panelists to share their thoughts about the issues and opportunities that arise as we evolve from the traditional classroom to anytime, anyplace, any path learning spaces. Then it's your turn -- to weigh in, ask questions, and engage with virtual audience members who'll be tapping into this session.

• iPads in the Classroom - 2:15-3:30 pm
Presenters: Shawn Rubin, Grace Magley and Patrick Larkin
In the past two years, iPads have made their way into numerous K-12 classrooms. We have invited educators who are involved in elementary, middle and high school implementations to share their stories. How are students, teachers and administrators using the devices? What apps are proving most helpful? What lessons have they learned as they explore the pros and cons of iPads as devices for teaching and learning?

Simply visit this link during those times, tune in and participate. You can submit questions to the presenters using the Livestream chat feature or by tweeting: #TLTF12. It's the next best thing to being there!




Tech and Learning Magazine is an excellent, free resource, for educators.

The Social Learning Summit was a great, free, online educational conference hosted by Classroom 2.0 and Discovery Educator Network last Saturday. There were over 70 great sessions, led by some great educators and now the archives are available for those who missed it or who want to review things.

RJ Stangherlin, a DEN blogger, live blogged many presentations and you can find her posts here.

Every session was recorded and you can find them all here.

This was a great resource for all educators and now anyone can view the presentations.



Related:

Discovery Educator Network - great resource for all educators

Free Resources from Discovery Education 

Edcamp is a great series of free, unconferences for educators. The Edcamp model is unique in that attendees set the agenda the morning of the conference and the sessions are not led by one person, but are rather a collaboration of both the facilitator and attendees.

Carolyn Jo Starkey has created an excellent Livebinder about Edcamp.

In the Livebinder, she has binders on what Edcamp is, how to plan one, how to finance one, presentations about and from Edcamps, participant feedback and links to articles, blogs, and webpages about Edcamp and improving professional development for teachers. It's a great resource for anyone wondering about, attending, or planning an Edcamp (or other PD ).

SimpleK12, a great resource for educators, is sponsoring a great free online Education Conference Wednesday, April 25th - Thursday, April 26th, 2012. Topics include Google Earth and Maps, Free Web Tools, Google Plus, Social Networking, Blogging, Student Projects, iPads in Education, Digital Writing, Curation, and much more. The conference runs for 24 hours so you can attend at anytime, from anywhere.


Learn something new without the need for travel or money.


(And don't forget that the Social Learning Summit - free virtual conference is April 21, 2012 )


View a full list of topics and register here: http://simplek12.com/tlc/webinars/#OEC


Conference Flyer:




Related:

Social Learning Summit - free virtual conference April 21, 2012

Education on Air is a free online educational technology conference from Google that will be held May 2nd, 2012, from 12-10pm (Eastern). It will be held using Google+ Hangouts on Air.

There are some great sessions planned on topics such as paperless classroom, assessment, robotics, digital citizenship, portfolio's, and, of course, using different Google Apps in the classroom. The majority of the presenters are educators, many of whom I know of.

Check out the site for the schedule, list of presenters, and how to participate.
https://sites.google.com/site/eduonair/home

Edcamp is a great series of free, unconferences for educators. The Edcamp model is unique in that attendees set the agenda the morning of the conference and the sessions are not led by one person, but are rather a collaboration of both the facilitator and attendees.

Edcamp is a great series of free, unconferences for educators. The Edcamp model is unique in that attendees set the agenda the morning of the conference and the sessions are not led by one person, but are rather a collaboration of both the facilitator and attendees.

This is a great opportunity to connect, share, teach, learn, and expand their personal learning network. Edcamps are excellent resources for teachers and offer some of the finest professional development around.

Here is a great article by Mary Beth Hertz on Edcamp and the unconference idea.

Find an Edcamp near you and attend, learn, share, and collaborate.

Edcamp: http://edcamp.wikispaces.com/

Upcoming Edcamps:

Discovery Education's Discovery Educator Network runs a variety of professional development sessions each year. These are usually online sessions with live meet-ups also planned. For this Spring, they are doing something different instead of the normal Spring Virtual Conference. The DEN is partnering with Classroom 2.0 to present the Social Learning Summit. Steve Hargadon, of Classroom 2.0, and the DEN are working together to organize the event which will be held Saturday, April 21st. The event is free.



More information can be found on the DEN blog and Classroom 2.0 sites, including how to submit a presentation proposal. Stay tuned for more information.

The conference theme is the use of social media and Web 2.0 in teaching and learning, and we are calling for proposals immediately at http://www.SocialLearningSummit.com. To be kept informed of the latest conference news and updates, please join the Classroom 2.0 network. This will also allow you to correspond with the presenters and other members, and to comment on sessions and discussions. 

Sessions will be 30 minutes in length, and can focus on practical classroom application or pedagogical frameworks or both. Please do not submit a session if your are a vendor or a vendor representative. Whilepresentation proposals will be accepted through April 7th, session acceptances will start to be issued on March 26th, at which time presenters will be given a chance to use a scheduling calendar to pick an available time to present. All sessions will be held in Blackboard Collaborate (previously Elluminate), and training sessions will be available both "live" and in recorded form.

Related:Discovery Educator Network - great resources and great addition to any PLN