7 Thinking Back, Looking Forward

I was recently asked to write a follow up blog post on my experience at ISTE13 highlighting the most compelling ideas that I took away from my time in San Antonio.  By far, the ideas that have impacted me the most are the role of Design Thinking and Gaming in Educational Technology.  These two themes were certainly supported through the keynote speakers, Steven B. Johnson and Jane McGonigal, who spoke passionately about their respective topics.  Their passion clearly inspired me as I wasn't back for more than 2 weeks that I've already implemented many ideas based on what they Begdiscussed!

In the weeks since the conference we've:

• Sponsored a Kickstarter project on 3D printing to support our fledgling Design Thinking curriculum
• Began our first Innovation and Design Thinking Unit with our 9th grade students by exploring where Good Ideas Come From by Steven B. Johnson
• Held our first Imagine It! Post It challenge to kick off our innovation unit
• Purchased an educational mod for Minecraft to explore the use of gaming in educational technology

Each of the links or pieces of information above were shared with me while I was at the conference through keynotes, workshops, and one on one meetings with other attendees.  While these are only small actions, they are huge leaps forward in getting the vision of Design Thinking and Gaming in Educational Technology noticed in my school and in our area.  With so many valuable ideas at my fingertips during the conference, it was hard to decide which ones to share and implement first!

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1 What ISTE13 Taught Me

It's been a week since I left #ISTE13 and I'm just now starting to process all of the information and experiences that I had while I was there.  It was a great experience to share with my colleagues that went with me which you can read in my blog post for the official ISTE blog here.

Along with that initial post, there is another view that has been shared by many that I feel compelled to expand upon.  I've been reading many "ISTE reflection posts" this week and they all have a common theme: relationships.  Amanda Dykes (@amandacdykes) mentions in her refection blog post that the most important tool she found was people.  Steven Anderson (@web20classroom) in his guest blog post for the ISTE Connects blog highlighted the fact that connections matter more than the information that we gain.  Todd Nesloney (@techninjatodd) and Drew Minock (@TechMinock) both list the amazing people that they met at ISTE in their reflection blog posts and how it has inspired them to continue to build their personal learning networks.  And Maggie Hos-Mcgrane (@MumbaiMaggie) explored in her ISTE post the information from the Steven Johnson keynote on liquid networks and how that connects with the relationships that we develop online through twitter.

And yes, relationships and connections do matter long after ISTE is over.  This year at ISTE I was able to organise possible projects with many different people as a way of continuing our learning through relationships.  We're hoping to have skype chats with my colleague Sofia (@sophiesofiamb) and some of the teachers she met like Erin Klein (@kleinerin), Heather Davis (@heatherd1951), and Martha Lackey (@lackeymartha).  I've volunteered to help test the new augmented reality app that Drew Minock (@TechMinock) and Brad Waid (@TechBradWaid) helped create with our 3rd grade teachers.  I made connections with gamification experts like Rory Newcomb (@roryelieen) and Diane Main (@dowbiggin) to help my colleague Julie (@TechGeekFest) get gaming and minecraft started as an afterschool project and inspire our science team.  I introduced my other colleague at ISTE, Renato (@rhamelalonso), to middle school teachers like Lisa Butler (@srtalisa) to try and build social studies connections using our geographical distances as a platform.  And for me, I was able to make many personal connections with leaders like William King (@wkingbg), Jimmy Casas (@casas_jimmy) and George Couros (@gcouros) to help me bring the message of connected leadership to my school via future skype sessions.

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4 ISTE13: Catalyst for Change!

In my last blog post, What makes ISTE different, I mentioned that I was going to have a meeting with past ISTE attendees at our school and have them give "feedback to feedforward" to the two #newbies I am bringing with me this year.  I expected the conversation to be engaging and interesting but it was so much more!  It was such an inspiring moment to hear these three teachers explain how going to ISTE has actually CHANGED the type of teacher that they are!  What a powerful statement for a conference!

All three mentioned that going to the ISTE conference helped them realise the following 3 essential points:

• They are not alone- they all arrived at ISTE with different levels of technical knowledge but talking and sharing at the conference helped them realise that EVERYONE starts as a beginner but EVERYONE can move forward in embedding technology thoughtfully
• There is a worldwide shared vision for educational technology- All three mentioned that ISTE helped them realise that the rest of the world is engaging in and using technology to develop student skills and concepts in a depth that they hadn't realised.  Seeing those examples helped them realise what is possible for our school.
• That personal learning is necessary- Two of the three teachers hadn't used twitter before the confrence but through the discussions and examples provided (and a little from me pointing out some of my favorite #edtech "rock stars"!) they realised how powerful a PLN can be.  After the conference all three teachers have become active members of the #edtech and #edchat communities on twitter.  They all mentioned that ISTE inspired them to continue reading and engaging in learning as part of their personal professional development.  

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