FETC stands for Future of Education Technology Conference
The name says it all! Where is Edtech headed? Of course, no one has a crystal ball except possibly FETC leaders like Jennifer Womble, or is this conference magical because it is so close to Disney World? I’m not sure what it is, but FETC has succeeded in their selection process of speakers, workshops and vendors. This conference never disappoints! The preparation and information is always amazing. As a presenter at this conference for concurrent sessions and workshops I have always been highly impressed with the emails of information and the accuracy of the website. The Orange County Convention Center is gigantic and literally full to the gills of supreme presenters on an array of interesting and helpful educational technology topics. I don’t normally have FOMO (fear of missing out) but at FETC it occasionally gets the best of me. So many excellent presenters and creative workshops with several of my favorites each day like Dr. Monica Burns, Leslie Fisher, Jennifer Williams, David Lockhart, Kathy Schrock, Adam Bellow-Oh My! So many to choose from and let’s not forget my family of Apple Distinguished Educator presenters over in the Learn with Apple wing located on the north side of the conference center. Apple had sessions all day, every day, on all new topics and implementation of ideas to make adding these to your classroom a simple process. And if that wasn’t enough Apple also offered an Apple Support Desk, assistance with any Apple question you might have, or just hang out with your favorite Apple fangirl or fanguy. It was the BEST! Over on the south side of the conference center which was full of my friends from Cherokee County School District, the Microsoft learning area. Microsoft offered a wide selection of sessions and certification testing and much more. Another favorite activity of mine from the week was an edtech chat with the EduTechGuys. They have a fabulous live show all about everything Edtech and then they have the shows saved as podcasts so you can listen to them later as well. They are super informative and fun to listen to and chat with about all things educational technology related. It was an honor to be on the show and a highlight of my FETC week. Here is a link if you would like to listen in on my interview about teaching with iPads and creating clever content with students. The vendor hall is high energy and always full of all things innovating and it is easy to navigate and well organized. When you need to eat, and there are plenty of options in there as well. If you are new to FETC or just want to see what’s new, be sure to go to the session created just for you each year. I attended my first year and it was super informative, helpful and entertaining. My 3 best conference tips: 1. Plan ahead! Use the app or catalog and make a plan complete with backup sessions so you get to see everything possible. (plan time for the vendor hall) 2. Wear comfortable shoes, that you can keep on from sun up to sun down. 3. Bring snacks in your backpack or bag. I get in the life-long learner zone and I don't want to stop for lunch. Everyone attending the conference and working at the conference is happy to be there, and happy that you are there too. The weather is beautiful and so is the Orange County Convention Center. It is well maintained and extremely clean. Each session I attended was well organized and the speaker was well prepared and excited to share their area of knowledge. The workshops are interesting and thoroughly planned so that valuable time is never lost or mis-used. FETC is also full of games and activities to encourage teacher collaboration to win prizes, and meet other teachers, to grow your own Personal Learning Network or PLN. In the vendor hall I enjoy visiting companies that I have developed a relationship with, by using their product to increase the students' interest in learning and creating. BrainPOP Osmo Flocabulary Wonder Workshop Brenthaven (my favorite iPad case) TabPilot Learning Systems Coding with Root (a new coding robot) From workshops, tech labs, startups to poster sessions there is always something for everyone in every area of learning at FETC. You can teach littles or seniors and be tech savvy or serious about adding innovation and technology into your lessons. Either way you should add FETC to your conference list for next year. It will leave you pleasantly fulfilled but yet wishing it wasn’t over at the same time. Thanks for the amazing memories FETC! Big Hugs until next year, when we all meet again January 27-30th, 2019!
1 Comment
Keynote is another favorite app of mine because all of my students K-5th can create using it. I have presented on Keynote at conferences and led trainings and workshops throughout my district and I use it in my K-5th classes. So many uses for so many educational areas. We began using keynote as a presentation tool but then I realized why not show my students all of the things I use keynote for and see what interests them. So we went through creating traditional slide presentations and how to add in transitions. We discussed how presenters in real life don't put all of their facts on the slide but rather very few words and use their facts as their presenter notes. We moved on to the students creating and presenting for their peers. The peer feedback is so helpful and inspiring to the students. Always 2 compliments and 1 wish. It definitely means more than any feedback I would give. We continued on with Keynote creating 'All About Me' projects like the one pictured below. I have a simple set of directions with pictures in my resources tab. The All About Me project was created by Apple as part of their Apple Teacher program. Apple Teacher is a free program for teachers to learn about ways to use iPads and MacBooks in the classroom effectively. If you would like to see more example of the 'All about Me' projects like the one my Kindergarten student did below please go to the Apple Teacher website or follow #ShowandTell on Twitter to see more. Next, we went on to creating animations with magic move. This was honestly so intriguing to my students. After they were well practiced at creating keynote animations using shapes and magic move I showed them how to screen record using the new feature in iOs11. After they screen record, the iPad creates a movie file of their animation. This can then be shared with their parents using our Seesaw Learning Journal accounts. Please note *Students must hold their iPad in the portrait mode for the recording to transfer into Seesaw correctly.* My students are so creative and were thinking of so many uses for keynote animations that I hadn't thought of yet. They suggested book reports, author studies, math examples, history reports, science experiments, the list could go on and on. The next area we will be exploring is using our keynote animations with green screen to add to the learning possibilities. Be on the look out for another post later this year. I would also like to show my students how to create digital media about an upcoming event and save as a PNG or JPEG. So many cool ways to use Keynote in your classroom as tool for learning and creating but only so many days of school.
|
AuthorK-5th Technology Teacher in our iPad Lab. I love what I am blessed to do each day! Archives
February 2018
Categories
All
|