The Good stuff from #GaETC17

I was fortunate to spend three days last week learning, sharing and connecting with educators during the 30th annual Georgia Educational Technology Conference (GaETC). This was my fourth time attending GaETC and I always look forward to learning from the educational technology gurus and champion educators from across the state as well as from around the country.

My goal when attending the conference is to gain new knowledge, strategies, best practices as well as tools and resources to share with the teachers I support.

I was so excited about what I learned I couldn’t wait to share so as soon as the conference ended. I highlighted several tools and resources in my Tech Tips 411 newsletter I send to teachers every Friday. More importantly, I am an eager to collaborate and plan with teachers on lessons to incorporate the new tools shared as well as other new resources.

The conference kicked off with an inspirational and timely key-note from astronaut Leland Melvin (@Astro_Flow) about “The Right Stuff is the Never Give Up Stuff.

Session Takeaways  - What did I learn? 

The session Gobs of Goodies from Google from Certified Trainer and Innovative Educator Wanda Terral (@wterral) was packed full of great tools, extensions and tips for any aspiring Google guru. Check out her list of tips and tools.
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One of my favorite sessions was 40+ Edtech Tools That Will Make You the ‘Cat’s Pajamas' of Your School with Randy Norman (@english_maven). It was a fast-paced crash course of various tools. Many I was familiar with, however I enjoyed the refresher, and I was thrilled to add some new ones to my #edtech tool belt. Here's the full list of resources.

I was excited to see Tony Vincent (@tonyvincent) in-person after finishing his online #ClassGraphics course. I learned about the benefits of Instagram for Teachers. So I will be trying my hand at Instagramming soon. The session Get Creative With Google Slides reiterated some of the great ideas I learned in the Classy Graphics course and the highlight of the conference was having Tony share the digital sticky notes I created as an exemplar. I ❤d  Tony’s An Emoji Education 😜  session and got some great ideas of ways to incorporate emojis including using them in your Google drive folder names.

I always enjoy the high energy presentations from Leslie Fisher (@lesliefisher) and she shared some awesome resources and tools in this year’ sessions: Tools You Can Use Tomorrow, Creating Virtual Reality, Exploring Google Classroom, The Google You Might Not Know About and iOS 11 Tips & Tricks and Leftovers with Leslie.

She had a number of great takeaways including:

• URL shortener www.shoutkey.com
• www.flippity.com (interactive Google templates)
• QBall from http://peeq.us (a tossable microphone)
• Seeing AI app from Microsoft that “reads your environment”
• 360 Panorama iOS app
• www.padlet.com new shelf command
• www.quivervision.com   ​

Chris Craft (@crafty184) had a great session on Screencasting - Moving Beyond the Basics which included some ideas for using screencasting to engage and enhance instruction.

Chris’ Top 10+ Uses for Screencasting
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  1. To record your screen
 ​ 2. Give quick feedback on assignments
  3. Record prompts to put in Google Classroom
  4. Send a parent message
  5. Leave plans for sub & students
  6. Flipped class lessons (lecture, demo, etc.)
  7. Student introductions
  8. Student reflections
  9. Student narration of slideshows and gallery walks
10. Recorded speech
     (debate/public speaking, ESOL, or foreign language)
11. Movie making

Exhibit Hall & Networking

The conference would not have been complete without spending time in the Exhibit Hall, catching up with colleagues and meeting new educators. 

I of course had to stop by and show my love for Tim & Moby at the BrainPOP booth. It was great to meet up with fellow CBEs (Certified BrainPOP Educators) from Georgia.

As seen on Shark Tank

I had the opportunity to meet the creative mind behind QBall, a toss-able microphone, featured on Shark Tank. This is such a brilliant idea and I would love to have this in my teacher tool box. If you haven't already hear of it, you should definitely check it out. 

APS IT Department Represents

I was thrilled to support my colleagues Natasha, Robert and Rosalyn as well as  our department's Executive Director, Aleigha Henderson-Rosser during their session Focus on Excellence & Equity: Atlanta Public Schools’ Tab2Read 1st Grade Literacy Initiative. It was a great opportunity to learn about the successes and struggles implementing the pilot program.

Until Next Year ... 

It was three days full of learning about educational technology as well as networking with passionate educators. I am already looking forward to next year. ​