ISTE 2010

Greetings from Denver. I have invaded the Mile High City for the ISTE 2010 conference (it wasn't just about the baseball game). This is the largest education technology conference in the US, with attendees coming from across the country (and even a few international visitors as well). This is the 7th time I've attended the conference, but this was the first time I've presented some of the great things we do at UEN. Tim and I were able to present two different sessions at the conference - here's a quick recap.

Our first presentation was entitled Creating a Google Enhanced Classroom. We focused on six specific tools: Google Squared, Google Forms, GMail, Google Calendar, Google Earth, and Google Wave. With only an hour to share, we had to move quickly. Still, the Google tools are so popular we knew people would be clamoring for all the information we could share. The two biggest "Wow" moments from the audience came in illustrating data captured in a Google Form and building a virtual tour using Google Earth. I think our presentation was well received as we heard from the staff that over 100 people weren't able to get in (I think it has more to do the "Google" title than anything to do with us, but hey....).



Yesterday we presented another Google session - Google Wave for the K-12 Classroom. Once again it was standing room only. We weren't totally sure what the interest level would be in this tool, since it really hasn't taken off yet - but people came in droves. The presentation went well. The participants were "hands-on" as we created a wave for them to ask questions and share ideas. You wouldn't believe how many comments people added to the wave - it was awesome!

Presenting at a national conference has been a goal of mine ever since I got my job at UEN. It may have taken 7 years to check that one off the list, but it was totally worth it. The best part was some of the terrific feedback we received from our sessions. Before the conference I would have said the highlight would be the presentations, but something kind of interesting took place on the final day of the conference.

It seems a book publisher learned of our Google in the Classroom session and they were interested. That's right I met with an agent from their education division about the prospect of writing a book for teachers. Wow! Who knows where this will lead, but I have to say - I'm very excited about the chance to publish some of our ideas.

All in all, it was a great conference. I had fun getting more involved this year by presenting and I love the challenges I've been presented as a result.