My Summer of eLearning

Ed Tech

Ed Tech | Tuesday, August 6, 2013

My Summer of eLearning

Summer of eLearning

The Indiana DOE made 17 eLearning conferences available around the state.

This summer, I had the privilege of participating in seven of Indiana’s Summer of eLearning regional educational technology conferences.

They were amazing: nationally (or internationally) known speakers alongside great local educators presenting useful, innovative tools and information to hundreds of Hoosier educators at a time. I really commend the Indiana Department of Education, its eLearning office and the host school districts for making these available to teachers with affordable registration fees!

I learned a lot this summer and was challenged by some great speakers. There were top-quality nationally and internationally known presenters all over Indiana. Here’s a sampling of it:

I took notes in Evernote in some sessions. I encourage anyone who attends conferences to use Evernote or Google Docs and to share links to their notes. It’s a great way to extend your learning to others!

Twitter was huge in my learning, sharing and reflecting this summer. Here are some of the best tweets:

  • Webster’s says “rigor” = “brutal.” Challenging is OK, but learning doesn’t have to be hard. — Dean Shareski (@shareski)
  • Modeling social media with student is crucial to responsible social media in school. — George Couros (@gcouros)
  • Kids often defy expectations if you give them the opportunity. — Shelly Wright (via George Couros @gcouros)
  • Learning is CREATION, not consumption! — George Couros (@gcouros)
  • Computers, if not utilized well, can be a $1000 pencil — George Couros (@gcouros)
  • If this was your last year in edu, how would you want to be remembered? — George Couros (@gcouros)
  • The change we are in the middle of isn’t minor and it isn’t optional. — Clay Shirky (via George Couros)
  • Educators need to take educators under each other’s wings. Support! — Nick Provenzano (@thenerdyteacher)
  • Classrooms today are built like silos — disconnected from others. We don’t have to be hermits. — Nick Provenzano (@thenerdyteacher)
  • Transforming education is tough when we have content a mile wide and an inch deep. — Philip Pulley (@philippulley)
  • Teach like skiing: don’t look for cliffs and rocks, look for powder in between them! — Murray Banks (murraybanks.com)
  • Filters were created to keep districts safe, not to keep students safe. — Adam Bellow (@adambellow)
  • If you want your classroom to be connected, YOU have to be comfortable w/ being found by strangers on the Internet. — Will Richardson (@willrich45)
  • Today, the price of information is almost zero, but cost of higher ed is skyrocketing. — Will Richardson (@willrich45)
  • Many of the reasons we built schools are no longer reasons. Information is abundant. — Will Richardson (@willrich45)
  • It’s no longer powerful work if nobody sees it. — Chris Wejr (@chriswejr)
  • We need to grow as teachers. We have to prepare students for tomorrow, not yesterday or even today. — Nick Provenzano (@thenerdyteacher)
  • Communicating w/ tech can unleash students’ hidden abilities. — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher)
  • Feel overwhelmed at conferences? List only top 3 things you want to do/master/learn when it’s over. — Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher)
  • Substituting tech for the same activity does not change the game for students. SAME experience! — Becca Lamon (@ENSCCurriculum)

I was privileged to present at eight different conferences this summer to an attendance of more than 550 educators! Here are the sessions I presented:

What was your summer like? How did you grow as a professional? Share what you learned in a comment below!

 

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  • It was a busy summer, indeed- definitely a summer of eLearning. It was an honor to present with you- I hope to co-pilot with you again!!!

    • Matt Miller says:

      Indeed an honor and indeed hope to co-pilot again! It was great to have a familiar face this summer to sit with and bounce ideas off. We’ll just have to do it again next year!

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