Sunday, July 3, 2011

#iste11 - ISTE 2011 - Trends I noticed

I've been going to ISTE since about 1998 or so, have presented at maybe 7 or 8. It has been interesting seeing it grow and change and to take note of what seems to be trending every year.

This year I noticed back channels in just about every session (oh except that one where they gave us pieces of paper from a notebook to write down our questions which were then collected), hashtags to follow, QR Codes (which I am particularly intrigued by), iPads everywhere used by attendees and as raffle items, BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) discussions rather than just providing laptops, flash mobs, and pretty good to excellent keynotes. The Blogger Cafe was cramped and too small imho but still where great things were discussed, the poster sessions with students was bigger than previously (yay!) and had great presentations such as by Kristin Sigler and her awesome students, the book section was larger (yay!) and comfortable shoes were de rigueur because of how many buildings were involved and how long it took to walk from one place to another (passing time needed perhaps!) I saw some great sessions including a panel of PA coaches from the Classrooms for the Future project and it was wonderful to see Holly Jobe from PA and lead of the aforementioned CFF, who is so talented and experienced yet ever gracious and humble, take the stage as ISTE president.

I am continually inspired by the energy and innovation of my fellow educators. It is why I stay in this space and why I am continually inspired.