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Live from the ISTE 2010 Conference (Denver, Colorado)
by Jim Vanides


The annual meeting of the International Society for Technology in Education is officially underway. The conference, now called ISTE 2010 (formerly NECC), is the place to be for anyone serious about teaching, learning, and technology. It’s huge (18,000 participants?), it’s overwhelming, and it’s well worth the time...
 
There is no way I can adequately describe the conference overall. It’s both a face-to-face conference with workshops and speakers; it’s a virtual event with webcasts and social media; it’s a tradeshow with all your favorite vendors. With hundreds of parallel sessions and thousands of people to talk to, there is no way I can do it complete justice. So, I’m only going to share my personal reflections so far.
 
I had the pleasure of meeting with representatives from the 2009 HP Innovations in Education grantees from US and Canada secondary institutions. Not only did we celebrate their first year accomplishments, but once again I’m amazed at the dedication and innovation that emerges from teams of motivated educators. As they met to share their experiences with one another, here’s what I learned:
  • Letting students do real science in the field is great – using technology to collect and analyze data in the field is a real winner. Why? Because IMMEDIACY MATTERS. The “teachable moment” hits when students think about their data and relate it to what they are experiencing right now. For example (from one project team), it’s one thing to talk about the trigonometry behind measuring rocket launch heights. Taking measurements in the field and analyzing the results right then-and-there is entirely more concrete and exciting. You know this when you hear students discuss, “Why is your rocket height different than mine? Does your spreadsheet formula calculate heights the same as mine?” Plus, immediate reflection leads to iteration. “Let’s try it again, but this time…”

  • Sometimes the most important outcome is a breakthrough in collaboration between teachers who previously did not work together. Innovation projects can stimulate conversations and teamwork between teachers, and “refill” the joy of teaching

  • Technology unleashes the capacity students have to do interesting, meaningful projects. When this happens, attendance increases, participation increases, and previously “recalcitrant” students rise to new levels of peak performance (these are common themes from MULTIPLE projects, not isolated anomalies)
 
Of course this is just the tip of the ISTE2010 conference iceberg. There’s more to come, and I will be tweeting as much as I can. You can follow me on Twitter @jgvanides. You can also search on the conference hashtag, #iste10.
 
MORE NEWS
  • Want to keep pace with the future of education technology? I highly recommend you download the latest free 2010 K-12 Horizon report published by the New Media Consortium. A companion Horizon Report Tookit (part 2) from CoSN will give you great “discussion tools” that will you facilitate important conversations with the stakeholders in your school (parents, teachers, administrators… and even students!).

  • HP Grants Deadlines are fast approaching for the HP Catalyst Initiative and the HP EdTech Innovators awards! Don’t miss out – and tell the international educators you know!
 
All my best from Denver…!

 

Jim Vanides is currently a Program Manager in Philanthropy for Hewlett-Packard, responsible for worldwide higher education grant initiatives (www.hp.com/go/hied-blog). He also teaches an online course offered through Montana State University for elementary teachers on the Science of Sound (www.scienceteacher.org). He holds a BS in Engineering and a MA in Education, both from Stanford University.