FETC 2010 - Outside the Lines

One day after receiving an invitation to submit a workshop proposal for FETC 2011, I'm sitting down to tap out what will probably be my final post on the 2010 edition of FETC.

In the months leading up to this year's conference - my first FETC - I waited in eager anticipation for the trip to the magic city. While I was eager to see what the workshops and concurrent sessions would have to offer, what I was really looking forward to were the personal connections that would be made "outside the lines" - in the exhibit hall, the restaurants, and, best of all, at the Thursday night Tweet-up. This came to mind this past week as I talked with colleagues at my school about reporting our FETC experiences for professional development points. Our school district offers points for time spent in workshops, and even time spent in the exhibit hall talking to vendors.

What is more difficult to document is time networking with fellow teachers that, until recently, you had only met online - through their blogs or their Twitter feeds. That's a real shame, because that is some of the most valuable time logged over the three days in Orlando. Though I enjoyed James Gubbins' session on Twitter, and the Teaching with Video session by Steve Katz; the lasting impressions of FETC came from talking edtech with these guys and Jerry Swiatek (@jswiatek) at TGI Fridays over a cold beer. Sitting through sessions with Jenna (@2sonsup) or Elizabeth from SimpleK12 (@SimpleK12) was as rewarding as the sessions themselves.

Even reconnecting with teachers from my district that I seldom see at home - folks like @artykel, @fernandezc4, and @educatore - provided added value to the conference experience.

So now, as I begin working on session proposals for FETC 2011, I am again looking forward to renewing those personal relationships - and making new ones. One thing that I'd like to see added next year is a more formalized "unconference" infrastructure - a blogger's cafe perhaps. What would you like to see changed or added in 2011?

Friday at FETC - A rundown of the good stuff

OK, on Thursday I woke up a little late, and so missed the Eye Opener keynote and the first concurrent session of the day. As you could see in an earlier post, that didn't prevent me from taking a lot away from the sessions that I did make. That said, I wouldn't repeat the sleeping in mistake again.

Choosing between the two early morning keynotes was tough, but I settled on child prodigy Adora Svitak (@flyingfingers) and A Kid's Eye View of an Innovative Classroom. For those that haven't yet had the opportunity to hear Adora speak, I suggest you rush on over to YouTube and check out some of her work. She is, to say the least, an impressive young lady (12-years old I believe) who offers a valuable message - once you look beyond the cuteness factor. She's able to articulate from a child's perspective what many of us have been trying to convince our colleagues of - that we need to engage our students with technology that will hold their attention, while providing those valuable 21st century skills (how long do I have to keep saying 21st century skills?). For half of the some 350 in attendance, she was probably preaching to the choir. For the other half - and for many teachers back at your schools - it was a message that needed to be heard. I won't try and repeat what she had to say here, but you can go on over to uStream to check out the archived video - http://ustre.am/:gKcz.

Next on my list was the VoiceThread session with Lee Kolbert (@TeachaKidd) and David Fisher (@davidfisher65). Lee and David used several examples of projects from their classes to explain the features offered by VoiceThread. I chose this session because I've been looking forward to introducing VoiceThread to my kids but have not sat down to figure it all out. Lee and David did a great job at clearing up many of my questions. As a bonus, Lee clued us into some new features that will be rolled out soon, like hard copy book versions of your VoiceThreads. The presenters created a helpful wiki to support their presentation - click here to go there now.

James Gubbins (@JMGubbins) presented on what became the most valuable tool of the conference - Twitter. The back-channeling that took place during FETC allowed attendees - and those following from anywhere in the world -to follow virtually a number of sessions at once. It was proof-positive of the value and importance of micro-blogging. James offered a rapid-fire session of Twitter related applications designed to locate people to follow, conduct interviews via Twitter, conduct polls, and a number of other useful classroom applications. Contrary to what many out there still believe, Twitter is a valuable tool that should become a fixture in classrooms and schools. You can find James' presentation and links to all of the apps that he covered by clicking here.

Tom Turner (@Tom_Turner) led a session entitled Field Trips 2.0. Expecting it to focus solely on virtual field trips, I was pleased that he also spent considerable time talking about the connection between Web 2.0 applications and actual field trips. I am fortunate that I have the opportunity to lead several field trips every year - from local museums to Washington, DC. I'm always looking for ways to integrate technology meaningfully into my time off-campus. Tom gave us much to think about, like using Google Maps, Glogster, VoiceThread, and other apps for pre-trip activities. Tom also talked a bit about using geocaching both on campus and off. For those that haven't given geocaching a try, I encourage you to give it a go. Your kids will love it. If you're in Florida and need help getting equipment and instruction together, contact me and I may be able to help make it happen. Tom's preso can be found here and the uStream archive video can be found here.

The final session of the day was with Hall Davidson of Discovery Education - Faster, Better, Shorter, Deeper: Editing and Capturing Video. I'll save Hall's presentation - and revisit Steve Katz - in a later post.

Well, I know that this is a long post but I wanted to make available many of the resources that the presenters provided. If there is something missing that relates to one of the covered presentations, please leave comments and share.


Adora pic from www.prometheanplanet.com/blog/?paged=2
Field trip pic is mine from SCMS History Club trip to St. Augustine

Getting ready for my first FETC

In just over 48 hours, I'll be leaving frigid Tallahassee for the somewhat less frigid Orlando. Since missing it last year, I have been looking forward to my first FETC. Funny thing is I not sure what I'm really looking forward to. Looking over the list of concurrent sessions is enough to give anyone a headache. Picking up freebies and checking out the latest tech gadgets in the exhibit hall should be interesting. But I think what I'm looking forward to most is meeting and making personal connections with people that I know only through words on their blogs. People that I've communicated with just 140 characters at a time.

The road to FETC 2010 has been bittersweet. Last year, when I decided that I would not miss this year's conference, I submitted a presentation proposal. I was excited when that proposal was accepted, and surprised when I found out that I had been given a 3-hour ticketed workshop. There's something about people paying an extra $100 to listen to what I have to say that added to the pressure of the whole thing. The bitter part came when I found out just a couple of weeks ago that the ticketed workshops were not attracting as many people as expected, and that mine was one of several that was being scrapped.

After a few days of being bummed over getting the ax, I decided that the role of attendee instead of presenter may be better for my first go around. So tomorrow I'll start packing for an early morning trip to Orlando on Wednesday. And when I get back on Saturday, I'll start putting together my presentation proposals for next year.

See you in Orlando.