This is my "MACUL Wrap-Up" that includes my thoughts and takes on the sessions I attended as well as the conference as a whole. In the past at conferences, I spend quite a bit of time tweeting as a reminders for myself, but this time I decided to take a step back from the tweeting and really focus on the content. I feel that I was able to focus much more on the speakers and content and that when I did tweet, I could compose coherent thoughts!
Day 1 - Thursday, March 21, 2013
How can a person connect to the world and grow? How can we learn to market our talents while we cultivate them? How can we teach kids to do the same? With today's tools and adequate passion we can teach kids to build the life they don't know they want...yet. Join me for this fast-paced journey launching into the life you want and teaching kids to do the same.
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@kevinhoneycutt #MACUL13 Don't blame the tech if you don't know what kids are doing. That's a class management issue not a tech issue.
— Dan Spencer (@runfardvs) March 21, 2013
Sessions
Session: What We Have Learned About PD for the iPad
This school year Mercy High School transitioned from 1:1 HP laptops to the new Apple iPad. Quickly realizing that no cookie-cutter professional development program would prepare its staff for a challenging year, Mercy customized its professional development (PD). The first step was determining how the iPad would fit into the workflow of various curriculum areas. Additionally, a high priority was given to differentiating PD across a broad spectrum of staff tech mastery and interest. Achieving "buy in" to the new program was considered critical. Mercy ran workshops, drop-in labs and even a "boot camp". All these activities will be described in this presentation(warts and all). Mercy had to adjust and refine its efforts "on the fly" as the staff became better acquainted with apps and the iPad itself. How does a school provide meaningful PD when its staff possesses widely varied levels of skill and motivation? Find out how Mercy is doing it in this session.
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Session: PD Plus U: Professional Development Collaboration with School Districts and Universities
Our school district teamed with a local university to provide much needed professional development in technology. Teachers and technology staff designed the courses around the tools available to the teachers in the district. Teachers received graduate credit for the courses which could be used for recertification. The university offered the classes for reduced tuition and shared revenue with the district. This session will highlight the lessons learned from the first year of the collaboration.
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Session: Flipping Professional Development
The flipped learning concept is making a positive impact on teaching and learning in the classroom, but can the same ideas apply to educational technology professional development? Come see TPACK (Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge) methods EdTech coaches are using to "flip" PD and empower educators to learning and implement technology into their teaching in meaningful ways.
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Day 2 - Friday, March 22, 2013
Session: Boot Up! Creating Technology Professional Development for New Teachers
Teachers new to a building or district can feel overwhelmed well before considering how they'll use the technology that's available to them and their students. By describing one school's summer "boot camp" approach, this session will explore how to create meaningful professional development for new staff that is fun, engaging, and informative. Get your new staff off on the right foot!
Session: Developing a Synchronous Virtual Conference for
Learn how to develop a synchronous virtual professional development conference for your school district on a zero budget. This session will cover the experience of teacher educators at University of Michigan developing the 4T Virtual Conference (http://4tvirtualcon.soe.umich.edu), as well as the free online tools used for developing and marketing this free event. It will include lessons learned as well as feedback from the virtual conferencing experience. Any school district or individual educator can develop their own synchronous learning or professional development experience using free online tools.
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Session: Building Effective Professional Development
Have you previously attended MACUL (or even if this is your first time) and looked for ways to share what you have learned with others? Does your district have limited funds to send teachers to professional development conferences and opportunities? Come learn about how one district has used the MACUL conference as a model for providing district-wide technology professional development to teachers on a very limited budget. Learn about ways you can continue the technology learning experience in your own district to provide relevant and meaningful professional development
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My Thoughts...
I leave you with some random pictures that I took from my time at the conference and in Detroit.
Photo Contest
Two years ago at MACUL, I entered a photo in their photo contest and won in one of the categories. During the opening keynote, I received this challenge via Twitter.
| Well, as the meme states, challenge accepted. I submitted the picture below to the contest, and based on viewer voting, I ended up in 5th place. As part of being in the top 10, I received a sweet MACUL t-shirt, USB drive, and MACUL pin. Thank you MACUL! |
Some of My Favorite Tweets
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Learning is not optional for teachers #macul13 @kevinhoneycutt#EdChat
— Ben Gilpin (@benjamingilpin) March 21, 2013