TIC Conference Highlight Reels!

On June 12-13, 2012 was the 2nd Annual Technology Integration Conference (TIC) held at the Upper Iowa University Campus coordinated by our local AEA.  There were approximately over 400 people in attendance this year which, doubled from last year.

#KeystoneTIC Backchannel Archive

Photos from the Keystone AEA TIC Conference

Here are a few Highlights of the Conference:

On Tuesday our opening keynote speaker Tammy Worcester has been an educator for twenty-five years, both in and out of the classroom. She has developed numerous software applications for teachers and is the author of several best-selling technology resource books. Tammy presented 3 sessions on Tuesday which entailed Creating and Collecting Digital Work, Google Activities for Students and Tammy's favorite tech tips, tricks and tools.

Here are some of websites she shared with us take some time to explore of the summer:

• Drawzit: Is a web-based drawing application were you can create your drawings and share them with the world by sending them in email or publishing them in blogs.
• JamStudio: Free online music mixing and songwriting tool.
• Zooburst: Is a digital storytelling tool that lets anyone create his or her own 3D pop-up book.

On Wednesday our opening keynote speaker Dan Meyer taught high school math for six years. He is currently a doctoral candidate at Standford University in the field of math. Dan's message was about perplexity and how to capture evidence of this and utilize it within our teaching. Check out some of his perplexity links.

Followed by our keynote speakers I went to several different sessions and talked with some colleagues who visited other sessions at the conference. 

Twitter Highlights presented by Karla who walked some of our staff members through setting up a twitter account, helping them find people to follow, and learn how to navigate twitter. If your not connected just remember that twitter provides you with endless educational opportunities. 

iPad Shout Apps presented by Deb were a hit too: They were fast paced with a huge list of apps for all grade levels with tips and ides for using them with students in the classroom. Most of them that were shown were free and some were paid. All of here sessions were standing room only.

Check out the links for Apps:

• iPad Shout Out PreK-5th
• iPad Shout Out 6-12

Another topic Deb presented on was Cyberbullying and Digital Citizenship. Her session focused on 21st century issues of cyberbullying and the role of digital citizenship in education. It lead for great discussion among educators that day. Check out the wonderful resource and see what questions might come to mind about cyberbullying. 

Google Docs for beginners presented by Julie. This was a great refresher for some people to review the basics of Google docs, spreadsheets, and more.  

Check out the handouts:

• Google Docs
• Google Docs Training Agenda

The last question on your mind; yes Helen and I performed at this conference too.  After visiting several sessions we were thinking we would do good if there were about 20 participants, wow were we wrong. The room was packed we had people sitting on the floor and out the door.  Our session was Smartboard in the Classroom for PreK-12. Here are a couple resources if you would like to update some of your notebook files over the summer.

Smartboard in the Classroom PreK-12

• Smart Exchange (You must join to download but its free)
• TEQ Education Resource Center

What type of new technology or Web 2.0 tool resource have you been exploring to implement in your classroom for 2012-2013?