We arrived in San Antonio two days ago for the annual ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) conference, and I was immediately overwhelmed. I had done my research, packed what the "experts" (those who'd been to the conference many times) said to pack, laid out a plan for the sessions I really wanted to go to (and back-ups in case those sessions weren't what I needed), and arrived at my first session half an hour early. But what no one had mentioned was that for Apple, Google, and Microsoft sessions (my first one was an Apple session) you needed to get there REALLY early, and by REALLY early I mean that what I thought was the line for the 1:00pm session was actually the line to get tickets for the 2:30pm session; the 1:00pm session tickets (no one had mentioned tickets 😞) had all been given out ninety minutes ago! Luckily, I wanted to go to the 2:30pm Apple session as well, so I stayed in the line and got a ticket for that session.
After that I wandered a little bit and found myself in one of the Ignite sessions; these are the ones where presenters have twenty minutes and twenty slides to present their passion in rapid succession. I was blown away that two of the first four presenters were children! Little elementary school kids presenting about how they found a way to build a passion for learning through the use of technology! I had to duck out after just four presenters because it was time to head back to get in line for the 2:30 session again (even with tickets we were advised to get there at least 15 minutes early, because when it got closer to the starting time there were going to fill seats with people from the standby line).
This session was on using Swift Playground. For those of you who don't know what Swift Playground is (don't worry, I didn't know much about it either two days ago), it's an iPad app to help students get an introduction to coding in Swift coding language. We started with a different app (I can't remember the name) that used block coding- where students pick pre-designed actions (the blocks) to happen in the order they want and drag them to create a sequence.
After that I wandered a little bit and found myself in one of the Ignite sessions; these are the ones where presenters have twenty minutes and twenty slides to present their passion in rapid succession. I was blown away that two of the first four presenters were children! Little elementary school kids presenting about how they found a way to build a passion for learning through the use of technology! I had to duck out after just four presenters because it was time to head back to get in line for the 2:30 session again (even with tickets we were advised to get there at least 15 minutes early, because when it got closer to the starting time there were going to fill seats with people from the standby line).
This session was on using Swift Playground. For those of you who don't know what Swift Playground is (don't worry, I didn't know much about it either two days ago), it's an iPad app to help students get an introduction to coding in Swift coding language. We started with a different app (I can't remember the name) that used block coding- where students pick pre-designed actions (the blocks) to happen in the order they want and drag them to create a sequence.
Here's what block coding looks like.
This would be a great tool for little kids to use quite a bit, to get familiar with logically thinking and progression. After letting them explore making their own codes for a while, you could even challenge them to create a specific code, or to reach a specific goal (with or without telling them how many blocks they should use). As a high school tech coach I would suggest only spending thirty to sixty minutes on this with older kids; it would be a great tool for them to come back to- if they're struggling with the next level- but something they'll probably get bored with quickly if you spent too much time on it. I really wish I could remember what app we used for block coding, because it had this awesome feature where students could view their block coding in Swift.
After playing with that a bit we jumped into Swift Playground (SP), and my techie/math side had a field day with this! To start with I'll answer the question I know everyone is wonder: yes, this is free! SP would be a great resource for letting middle school and high school students get a solid foundation with beginning to code; it took block coding to the next level. In SP students try to move an little monster guy around to reach gems and accomplish other goals. To do this, students start with three basic commands: turnleft(), moveforward(), collectjem(). They can type these commands out, like they would in true coding, or they can click on them from a list of recommended commands at the bottom of the screen. After doing that a few times students are given a screen that is pre-coded, but has a "bug"; students need to look at what sequence of actions the monster should do, then find the part in the code that's wrong! Then they move on to other intricacies of coding. I loved playing with Swift Playground, and hated giving up the iPad at the end of the session. This would be a great way to introduce students to coding, and allowing them to work at their own pace. The program provides enough guidance and support for students that it's not necessary for a teacher to teach anything, the teacher can focus on walking around to help those who need it, as they need it.
After that was the opening keynote speaker- Jad Abumrad. He had some good points, but none of them had stuck with me :( I wish I had taken notes! Keep an eye on the ISTE website (if you're a member) or YouTube (if you're not) to see the speech.
After that we headed to the poster sessions, and it didn't go well for me. I quickly discovered what would've been better for me would've been knowing exactly which posters I wanted to see and written down specific questions. Some poster presenters were great about sharing ideas and resources that were usable the next day, a lot of presenters were vague and I didn't get anything I could use.
So my first day was a bit of a bust, but I climbed the steep learning curve, spent time that evening re-evaluating my plan for the next few days, and it's made a world of difference. Over the next few posts I'm not going to break down what I did each day, like I did with day 1, instead each post will be about one of my focuses: badging, personalizing learning, and preparing to be an EdTech Coach.
After that was the opening keynote speaker- Jad Abumrad. He had some good points, but none of them had stuck with me :( I wish I had taken notes! Keep an eye on the ISTE website (if you're a member) or YouTube (if you're not) to see the speech.
After that we headed to the poster sessions, and it didn't go well for me. I quickly discovered what would've been better for me would've been knowing exactly which posters I wanted to see and written down specific questions. Some poster presenters were great about sharing ideas and resources that were usable the next day, a lot of presenters were vague and I didn't get anything I could use.
So my first day was a bit of a bust, but I climbed the steep learning curve, spent time that evening re-evaluating my plan for the next few days, and it's made a world of difference. Over the next few posts I'm not going to break down what I did each day, like I did with day 1, instead each post will be about one of my focuses: badging, personalizing learning, and preparing to be an EdTech Coach.
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