Monday, July 7, 2014

ISTE 2014 Reflection

I have now had a couple of days to reflect on ISTE2014 in Atlanta.  One thing that ISTE makes me do is think about new ideas and rethink old ideas.  This is a good thing for me, as it should be for everyone from time to time.  If you don’t reflect on what you are doing, how are you going to get any better at what you do!

Most of the information that I gleaned from ISTE came from poster sessions.  This gives a person an opportunity to see over 40 different presentations in the same amount of time that you could see just two lecture sessions.  It also allows you to see students presenting what they are doing in their own schools with technology in a variety of ways.  Don’t get me wrong, there are some good lecture sessions, but for the time poster sessions are the way to go!

Another great part of ISTE is the networking.  Connecting with those that you already know and meeting new people to add to a PLN.  This was the case for me.  I connected once again with those that I already knew, those I only knew through twitter, and met MANY new people.  Part of the reason I met so many new people was having the opportunity to present a poster session with Beth Kabes from ESU7 and Kristina Peters from NDE.  We saw over 70 people in two hours!  We shared what we are doing at ESU7 and in Nebraska with BlendEd and Blended PD.  We talked with people from five countries outside the US!  This is truly an International conference!  All three of us are now hooked on presenting poster sessions at ISTE!

If you ever have the opportunity to attend ISTE, you should!  If you are in Nebraska and don’t want to travel to Philadelphia for ISTE2015 all you have to do is wait until 2016 in Denver.  I don’t have enough time or space to tell you all about the trip.  However, you may be seeing some posts come up in the future about my new ideas or rethink of old ideas.  It is great blogpost fodder!