EdTechTeacher iPad Summit Boston 2014

With over 65,000 educational apps in the App Store, how do you find which ones are best for your students? Learn about five essential skills that help you identify quality apps and incorporate them into your instruction, using the free resource Graphite by Common Sense Education. First, learn how to find quality educational apps by grade level, subject area, skill, and that support Common Core Standards, beyond just “Googling” it. Second, learn the different factors you should look for in order to evaluate whether an app is good for learning. A third essential skill is curating and organizing your favorite educational apps into useful, shareable collections. The fourth essential skill is being able to integrate apps effectively into your lesson design to reach learning goals. Learn how to reimagine your lessons as App Flows, a framework that weaves technology into lessons, while sticking with backward design principles and the SAMR Model. Lastly, learn practical tips on how to collaborate with others to share best practices with other teachers using apps for student learning. In a time where finding and integrating educational apps can be overwhelming, learn about these five practical skills you can use immediately. 

Far too frequently, Professional Development (PD) is synonymous with lecture. It seems we forget about pedagogy and good teaching and ask teachers to just Sit and Get -- even lecturing about the importance of avoiding lectures in our own classrooms! It is time to slay the "Sit and Get Dragon! This session will explore ways to develop a differentiated technology integration PD model, a model that recognizes the importance of accommodating your staff’s wide range of learning styles and of supporting their varying skills and experiences with technology integration. At the heart of differentiated PD is the assumption that teaching and learning, and NOT the technology itself, must form the core of all of our continuing education programming and that meaningful technology integration requires far more than dressing up the old factory model wolf in digital sheep’s clothing. Participants will leave the session with numerous practical examples of blended and differentiated PD models as well as with a wealth of suggestions about how to begin transforming PD organically and/or District-wide at home.

Come see what happens when we let students take control of their learning. We will explore the transformation of a classroom from almost no technology to a 1:1 iPad environment, from a teacher-centered instruction model to a student-centered, personalized model that has integrated topics into major projects. It is exciting, engaging and messy.

This presentation will explore how best to integrate iPad technology in the project-based learning (PBL) classroom. Tapping into powerful and cost-effective applications, educators can design projects in (and out) of the classroom to engage students with diverse learning styles. Any instructor can apply these strategies to achieve personalized learning goals and to challenge students to develop their writing, research, communication, and media skills. Resources covered include Google Drive, Blogger, Youtube, iMovie, Voice Record Pro 7, and more. This session will begin with a lecture but also feature an interactive workshop so that participants can experiment with these tools, receive immediate feedback, and network with others.

Sixth Graders at Edmunds Middle School in Burlington VT piloted Student-Led Conferences this past spring. Instead of a typical parent-teacher conference, parents were invited into the school for 20 minute meetings with their child and the teacher. Goals of student led conferences include moving our students to become self-directed learners, complex thinkers, and collaborative contributors. The students presented their parents with an annotated portfolio of class work reflecting on the collective goals of what students should know and be able to demonstrate in the 6th grade. Our students utilized #appsmashing techniques with Telegami, iMovie, Skitch, Pic Collage, Evernote, Explain Everything, and more (much more) which allowed students to collect and curate the best of their learning and creatively reflect on their process and accomplishments. Each student then harnessed the power of the iPad camera and Voice Recorder to annotate digital portfolios of their work in Book Creator.    

Learn how to review and evaluate instructional Apps. Participants will interact with rubrics, resources and tools for selecting, evaluating and utilizing Apps with students. This session provides foundational practices for reviewing, evaluating and implementing Apps into classroom instruction. As we design digital-age learning experiences for students, educators must review and evaluate all tools, resources and materials used in the instructional realm. Evaluating Apps prior to incorporating them into classroom instruction is critical to ensure that the App is applicable to the subject area, appropriate for classroom use, and information presented in the App is acceptable.  

As the educators enter, a video that compiles many of St. John’s PBLs will be looping. My opening statement will include a quick poll to see if the participants need more PBL information or if we can concentrate on the iPad’s role.
I’ve collected videos, photographs and other artifacts from nine different elementary PBL projects. As we discuss the different stages of planning and executing a PBL, we’ll look at slides & videos that exemplify that particular stage. These examples represent 17 different apps and iPad functions. There’s a lot of smashing going on! Teachers will walk away with a link that gives them a host of resources. These resources include a copy of the nine PBL lesson plans on the BIE lesson plan form. A copy of the Keynote presentation and other BIE resources are also included.
Participants will be encouraged to share their experiences with & resources for different PBLs. 

As education professionals we are in a unique position to influence the students in our care.  This presentation will talk about how to use Augmented Reality technology to create a learning environment to suit the the needs of Generation Z, the students who were born after 1995 and sit before us in our classrooms.

If you are a teacher who is a beginning or novice user of Augmented Reality then this session will provide an explanation of a series of content specific and age appropriate Augmented Reality apps.  If you are a seasoned or advanced user of AR then this session will provide information on how to leverage AR content creation tools to transform your learning environment to create "rock start" moments that lead to higher levels of student engagement and student achievement with AR.

This session will mark the United States debut of the BilppAR Educational Platform so get ready to have your educational reality augmented, modified, and redefined with this presentation.