What an experience! Talk about being in my element. I found myself in San Antonio, Texas for the first time and it didn't disappoint. Not only did they have great food on the River Walk, I was able to tour the Alamo and best of all, this was for a technology conference. Three of my favorite things, eating, history and technology/education!
ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) 2017 began on a Sunday evening and wound down on Wednesday afternoon. I had the opportunity to explore from top to bottom and I didn't waste time.
Upon arrival we were able to walk around the conference center and get acclimated to our surroundings. Getting the lay of the land is crucial at this massive conference.
I took in a Power School "Classroom of the Future" presentation (pictured to the left). It was a bit bizarre, their angle was "the future is here now" but it was just strange the way they moved us around the space. Like Power School usually does, it claims it can do a lot and then doesn't roll things out for months or YEARS!
The next few days were spent attending sessions on technology in education. Hundreds of sessions were offered and you
could choose almost any session you wanted to go to save for a few "paid" sessions.
They also offered several "poster" booths were everyday professionals like your or I would set up shop and discuss one topic and you could pick their brains. This was something I found really valuable for networking purposes.
Pictured above you can see I was at the Google Exhibit in the Exposition Hall. This place was massive with approximately 500 different companies involved in education. I was able to play in the "Breakout Box" challenge and our team ended up having the second fastest time at the conference. Breakout EDU is a great tool to get students to work together to problem solve and can be tailored around all kinds of content.
There are probably another 100 things I have taken away from ISTE this year. If anyone is interested or has experiences they want to share, please comment below and let's start a discussion. I'm really looking forward to collaborating and working with the staff and students here in the Epping School District but also want to connect this small rural NH town with the rest of the world.
~Tyler Nekton