I attended a session presented by Dr. Ruben Puentedura on the SAMR model. Yes, THEE Dr. Ruben Puentedura that actuallly developed the SAMR model. If you are not familiar with SAMR, it is an abbreviation (yes, we have lots of those in education) for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition. It is a model that shows how technology might affect teaching and learning. As an ed tech coach, you need to understand the SAMR model as well as TPACK and how they work together. These models will help guide you and your teachers as you begin to integrate technology into the curriculum. If you are not familiar with these models, think of SAMR like how you use Bloom's Taxonomy. You can get more information about TPACK here. Here are my notes that I took at his session. They are cryptic, but you may find them useful.
Overall, some of the best information that I picked up at ISTE 2014 came from Poster and Ignite sessions. Typically I don't go to Poster sessions when I attend conferences as I find that they are mostly just informal Q&A sessions and there are always other sessions that I am more interested in during those sessions. However, at ISTE 2014, each poster session had somewhere between 50-100 table sessions at any given time. It was very easy to stop at the tables where you wanted to get more information from and talk to the presenters. I was able to get a lot of great tips and tricks that I could use in my new position as ed tech coach, as well as resources that I could use with teachers in the classroom. I will share the resources and the information that I gathered from the Poster sessions in future posts or in the Ed Tech Toolbox.
The Ignite session was also one of my favorite sessions. It featured 12 speakers in quick succession, each given just 5 minutes to present their topic. It was great because you were able to hear from so many great people and get tips and tricks from them. The notes from the Ignite session I attended are here.
It was quite an experience and I am looking forward to attending ISTE 2015 in Philadelphia. In fact, I am already planning on proposing a Poster session based on my experience as a first year ed tech coach and all that I have learned along the way. If you read this blog, and are planning on attending ISTE 2015, please stop by my poster session (if it gets approved) and say hello!