ISTE 2011 Virtually: Day 2

What I Learned

I’m a night owl so getting up for a 9:30am EDT ISTE Unplugged session (that’s 6:30am my time) wasn’t easy but that was my plan for the day & I did accomplish it. So what did I learn?

Edmodo is … a Social Learning Site by Paula L. Naugle – I hadn’t been in Edmodo for awhile and Paula had some good tips on setting up groups. I had posted about possibly using this next year and was still wavering back and forth. I think I have decided that it’s worth trying but I’m still trying to come up with how exactly I want to implement it and which grades I want to use it with. If anyone in a Computer Lab environment is using Edmodo, I’d love to talk about what you’re doing.

Virtualizing your 3-Ring Binder by Dean Mantz – I love Dean’s use of Live Binders and the winners of Top 10 Live Binder Contest have some amazing content as do all of the nominees. I almost presented using a Live Binder last year but then chickened out and used something else. I think I should revisit that idea or present on Live Binders itself. I’m also kicking around the idea of having my Middle School students use a Live Binder as a portfolio or their work.

Strategies and Tools for Teaching Better Web Research Skills by SymbalooEDU & Sweet Search – I am always looking for good tips on teaching Web Research Skills. I try to work on this from at least Grade 4 and it always amazes me when students take the very first link as the one that must be correct or use one of the question and answer sites as the truth. The top tip that I took away from this session was to add student or kid to your searches to get content geared towards students rather than adults. For example, don’t just search for presidents but search for presidents kids (or presidents students).

What I Wish I Hadn’t Missed

I always learn something new from the sessions I am able to attend via virtually and from the Twitter stream but there are some things that I really wish I hadn’t missed:

Learning Tools Family Feud: Crowdsourced Edition – I really wanted to see this one and heard it was a lot of fun. My PLN came through with the top 5 answers in many of the categories so I have the resources but I would have loved the experience of being there.

ISTE Flash Mob – I would have loved to have seen (or participated in) this in person. It looks like it was fun!

You can see the whole song on the ISTE Connect’s Video.

I heard that the Google party was amazing and that the DigitalJam with Kevin Honeycutt rocked! The social activities are something you just can’t get virtually.

Oh, and something else I learned today … I didn’t get into the Google Teacher Academy that is being held this summer in Seattle. I have to admit that even though I didn’t expect to get in, it was disappointing especially since some good friends of mine are going and I’d love to have the experience with them. On a brighter note, since I didn’t have to pay for a trip to Seattle, I signed up for RockStar Teacher Summer Tech Camp!

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