Conferences pt.2

The TEP (Technology Education Partnership) conference on April 7 provided opportunities to see what was new with Smart, learn about Maine's 1:1 initiative, and ways that educators are using social network tools to stay connected. Of particular interest was a session titled "Connect, Collaborate, Create, Challenge – CHANGE" led by Gaby Richard-Harrington. Her perspective was fresh and thoughtful and I enjoyed her talk. One key point she made was that we are waiting too long as educators to teach our students about online tools. Being a"webizen" should start earlier with training in online protocol, civility and safety. By middle school it's too late. She also stressed the need to give back online--when we use an idea or lesson plan and create something of value, we need to share it back. I liked Richard-Harrington's delivery and message so much I attended her following session, "Design Your Professional Learning Community". I am comfortable with PLCs or PLNs but was sure there were things I could learn. Unfortunately the internet connection at this tech conference was unreliable and she couldn't demo live sites--oh, the irony!-but I did gather a handful of new ideas to use with students. We'll be checking out Edmodo and Primary Pad as possible safe online environments for student collaboration. Great stuff!

And the highlight of the day...the U28 tech team presented a session on our year-long tech initiative: Technology Professional Development – the Key to Mobilizing Integration. We had a full room and the reception was positive. Attendees were impressed with the level of administrative support we had for this undertaking and the time we were give. They like several of the ideas we shared-how we incorporate Tech Time into our PD, 28things, and had some new ideas to take back to their schools. This was our first time presenting and it fell in a week with a book fair, MCAS and Art & Technology show, but our nervousness was unfounded. We nailed it :>)

photo: Michael Wakefield