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:

• Smoke and Mirrors: A great session about cool magic-like techy tips and tricks from Missy Feller.
  
• YouTube video of the 11-year-old who kicked off the Greater Clark Connected Conference with a FANTASTIC speech.
• QR Codes in Class Guide from Vicki Davis (www.coolcatteacher.com)
• Symbaloo mix of great general ed and Spanish resources from Spanish teacher Abby Schmiesing
• Higher Order Thinking Skills for Bloom’s Taxonomy from Kathy Schrock
• 60 iPad apps in 60 minutes session from Jenna Cooper
• Smart People I Know session from Dean Shareski: Examples of how to do educational technology well
• Digital Citizenship session from Alec Couros
• What if everyone …? video from Dean Shareski‘s session on creativity
• Creating digital portfolios from Paula Neidlinger
• Long list of digital tools from Brian Bennett
• Flipping the English classroom from Troy Cockrum
• “A funny thing happened to me on the way to the future” presentation from Adam Bellow (notes via Tim Kasper)
• Wiki on Personal Learning Networks from Will Richardson
• Digital Toolbox LiveBinder from Angela Hamblen
• Digital Tools to Support Reading and Writing from Nick Provenzano
• Handouts from all of Vicki Davis‘s great sessions
• Video creation tools from Richard Byrne of Free Tech 4 Teachers
• Compilation of resources from Center Grove iPossibilities conference by Jenn Brower
• Web 2.0 tools to enhance 21st century learning from Kim Hendrick

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!

• Keynote session by George Couros
• Information literacy/leadership session by Will Richardson
• Flipped instruction session by Christy Diehl

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:

• From “blah” to blog: Online writing for students and teachers
• Ditch that textbook!
• Broadcast with podcasts: Engaging students with digital audio
• Engaging world language students with My Big Campus
• 8 digital tools for 21st century language learners (with Paula Neidlinger)

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