Convergence between the ET/IT World

ATLE Convergence Conference 2012

From November 14 – 16^th this year I had the opportunity to once again attend the ATLE (Alberta Teacher Leaders Conference). It was different this time since I had the opportunity to be a Member-at-Large on the Conference Committee and also co-created the pre-conference Day of Discovery PD with Discovery Education and ERLC. This is a time for both educational technology enthusiasts and information technicians to gather together under one large roof and examine what’s been happening in schools, where things are heading and sharing the success and challenges as well.

Yes, there is the swag that is offered once registrants come to the conference, but more so, there’s the time to meet with people face to face, learn something new, make new connections and get excited about what is occurring in the educational context within Alberta.

 

PreConference – Day of Discovery

After the all the planning, the stage was set to have Dean Shareski, Darren Kuropatwa and Hall Davidson present. It was a day filled with laughter, engagement and a lot of energy. Take a look at Dean’s great blog write-up for the day HERE.

Keynote:

The Wild Ride from Trees to Bits: What Going Digital Really Means

Sessions:

50 Ways and the Collective Brain

Telling Photo Tales

Making Mobile Media Meaningful

Panel Discussion with Alberta educators and organizations

Resources Smackdown/Demos

Great gift giveaways!

Conference

Balancing my time this year between keynotes, registration desk, sessions, my own presentation, ATLE ProLearn mtg and vendors was a feat in itself. But it takes a huge crew of dedicated people to pull off this huge event and I am very proud to have joined in on all the fun! Here are some brief snippets of my experiences over the few days:

• Drew Dudley’s view on everyday leadership was brilliant. In a previous blog I mentioned that I was excited to hear him in person. His TED talk was brilliant, especially the piece on “lollipop moments”.
• The twitter chatter using the #atle12 hashtag both in and outside the conference
• The QR code game involving participants and vendors was a great way to have people visit and get to know the vendors and bring out a little competitiveness too! (Over 8000 scans, 160 dedicated players.)
• Samuel’s keynote providing much food for thought and discussion among ET and IT.
• Learning about the three stages of technology via Steve Dembo which were: technology is at first ridiculed, then its subverted and finally it’s considered. Lots of great ideas shared for use in the classroom.
• Sharing my thoughts in my session titled – Accessibility to Learning: Removing Barriers for Students
• The use of a completely digital daily schedule from sched.org

(I assure you that every teacher should experience an ATLE conference at least ONCE in their career. Next year’s conference is November 20-22 at Northlands Expo Centre in Edmonton.)

 

Accessibility to Learning: Removing Barriers for Students

My purpose for this PD session offered at the ATLE (Alberta Technology Leaders in Education) Conference was to share the many resources and tools available for students and staff to allow diverse learners to

learn,

explore and

create in their learning environment.

I have three categories of accessibility resources that I am sharing: software, mobile devices and online. For software one can look at Windows 7, Office 2010, Read & Write Gold (v10), Audacity, Dragon Naturally Speaking (v11). With mobile devices, I am showcasing iPad, iPod and smartphone capabilities. And finally, in the online world, Internet Explorer 9, Google Chrome, and Phonecasting.

Please check out my presentation notes at http://bit.ly/ATLEaccess.

I hope that my information gives you some assistance and ideas in supporting students within your schools. And that this support doesn’t have to be expensive, time consuming or difficult.

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Leveraging Learning – ATLE Keynotes

This past week I made my way down to Red Deer, Alberta to the annual Alberta Technology Leaders in Education (ATLE) Conference. It’s a tech-packed 2.5 days of meeting, greeting, exchanging, learning, creating and connecting of educational technology and information technology leaders. In my current role as a Curriculum Educational Technology Facilitator in Parkland School Division, I work closely with administrators, teachers and our I.T. department. And, this conference really showcases the complementary work that both the IT and ET departments/people do together to have jurisdictions and schools working in a 21^st century environment. The other piece that ATLE does well is to bring in some great, thoughtful and relevant keynote speakers.

 

This year, the three keynote speakers were Scott McKinney, Stephanie Hamilton and Michael Furdyk. Each of their immense biographies are found HERE. Scott gives an overview of “Moving Learning Beyond the Book” with an ET/IT perspective. It’s well worth the one hour watch. Stephanie takes us around the world and back discussing the impact that educational technology has had on student achievement. Finally, Canadian phenom Michael Furdyk walks us through the impact that technology has had on his life and the work that he is involved in getting the youth of today involved in many socially relevant online learning opportunities.

 

Each of these speakers have an amazing keynote speech and well worth the time to watch! Some suggestions would be to have a group of teachers eat lunch together while watching one of the keynotes, sharing bits of the videos with staff, or even sharing a clip with parent groups. You do need to log in to the ATLE streaming site and there you will find each of the Keynote videos.

If you are interested in seeing one or all of these videos, feel free to get a hold of me through email or twitter for the URL and username + password.