Posted by Amber Coggin | Posted in Professional, Reflections | Posted on 01-07-2010
I’m sitting here in my hotel room at the end of my first ever ISTE conference. I thoroughly enjoyed the sessions I attended, as well as the networking I did through Twitter and in person while in Denver. Before I head back to Alabama tomorrow, I thought I’d share with you my thoughts about my experience.
Vendors
The vendor/exhibit area was overwhelming for this newbie, and honestly it took us a good 2 days to get through it. I enjoyed visiting booths of vendors/websites of products and sites I use and of those I knew nothing about! My students will get a kick out of the picture I took with Moby from BrainPop.com! Also, I never dreamed there would be so many great giveaways at the booths (I am most thankful for my SMART t-shirts). Unfortunately, I wasn’t the winner of any “big” prizes, but a principal from my district did win one of the new SMART Document Cameras that integrates with SMART’s upcoming Mixed Reality software.
Sessions
Before coming to ISTE 2010, a few of us gathered to create a game plan of what sessions we wanted to attend by using the ISTE Conference Planner (thanks, Dawn!). I’m really glad I did this, because the actual conference program was a little overwhelming (although it was put together beautifully). Some of the sessions I planned to attend filled up before we arrived. Plan to arrive at least 30 minutes in advance if you want to get a good seat (or a seat at all). Of the sessions I did attend, I most enjoyed the session by Bret Gensburg entitled “SMART Boarding in the Classroom: Document, Develop, Deliver!” He is a wonderful presenter and knows a heck of a lot about SMART Notebook. I also enjoyed the Personal Learning Networks session about using Twitter, Ning, and other social networks as professional development and collaboration. Which leads me to…
Twitter and #ISTE10
I seemed to drain my iPhone battery twice a day due to my tweeting. I never would’ve known about half of the happenings going on at ISTE (and after) had it not been for Twitter. I highly recommend following the conference hashtag closely next year (#ISTE11 possibly?). It was cool to meet/see people in person that you follow on Twitter, and it was great to be around so many other Twitter users in one place! I would love to know how many educators joined Twitter as a result of ISTE 2010. I’m hoping to get more teachers on board in my own district, because everything I’ve learned about Educational Technology I have learned through my PLN.
Thank You
Of course I experienced more than what I wrote about above, but I’ll end with this. Thank you to the ISTE conference planners and staff that made this event a success for me and so many others. I would also like to thank the Mobile County Public School System for giving me the opportunity to attend such an amazing conference. I can’t wait to bring this new knowledge back home to Mobile’s teachers and students!
