bradshreffIGNITE sessions are always my favorite part of ISTE. Seeing these typically polished, organized, and fast presentations are perfect for my general lack of focus.
Dr. Virginia Duncan presented on The Edge of Epiphany. She spoke about how flawed the term “think outside the box” is in professional learning. In her terms, there is no box for professional learning, and when we use or hear this phrase, our brain immediately creates the image of that box. Instead, we need to build professional learning that accepts ideas from inside and outside of education, where we come up with new experiences with our peers, or where we define a problem and then ask for and build solutions to those problems. Find Dr. Duncan on Twitter, @DrGinnyD.
Another great session came from Josh Feinsilber, talking about Gamification That Works. He really talked about his experience creating Gimkit, a quizzing and gaming like Kahoot! or Quizlet Live. The fascinating thing about Gimkit is that he wrote this in his project learning school and graduated from high school a few weeks ago. Gimkit is now used by over 3 million teachers and students, and started as a school project. It is one of those student stories that gives you hope as a teacher that there can be value in what we do. And, a reminder that we need to keep trying to develop our classrooms in a way that is real. Find Josh on Twitter, @JoshGimkit.
Douglas Konopelko presented on considering the quality of screen time for students instead of the quantity. He believes that we should not vilify the screen, but instead ask what is the content and behavior while on the device. I could not agree more with him here. If students are creating content, demonstrating learning, learning new skills or knowledge, that can’t be bad. “Education technology is almost all gray area. There isn’t a right answer.” So true! Great presentation. Find Douglas on Twitter, @dkonopelko.
Jennifer Casa Todd presented on mentoring in the digital world, specifically mentoring students in the use of social media. Jennifer, along with others, started a student twitter chat, #ONEdSsChat. It is a once a month chat run by students, with questions generated by students, with teachers and adults mentoring them in appropriate use. You should definitely checkout the chat at the hashtag, and Jennifer @JCasaTodd.
As always, loved the IGNITE sessions. I’m presenting during the second round tomorrow, but will be back for the Young Educators IGNITE session on Wednesday.