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| Jason Riberio and I. |
I had the pleasure of attending the Florida Educational
Technology Conference (FETC) this past week in Orlando, Florida. I was given
this opportunity from Dr.Camille Rutherford, my edtech internship advisor and
was happy to be able to represent Brock University at such a large conference.
I travelled to FETC with Dr. Camille Rutherford, Kyle Tuck and Jason Riberio of
Brock University. Also in attendance was William Zhou from the educational
technology start-up company Vetica, with who I am completing my edtech internship.
FETC was held at the
Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. Not only did this trip
give us all a slight break from the cold winter in Ontario, but it also gave us
the opportunity to network with passionate edtech people from across the
world. I was thankful to get the chance
to engage in edtech conversations with many people and learn about the
different experiences they have had with technology in education.
The conference
offered numerous concurrent sessions for the attendees to go to and there was
something of interest for everyone, no matter if you were a teacher, IT
specialist, business owner or administration. I focused my attendance in these
sessions on the theme of iPads in the classroom and technology leadership. It was reinforced that it is not too late to
become a technology leader within your school and to embrace the possibilities
edtech has to offer! To go along with my research interests, I attended
sessions that discussed iPad tips and tricks, deployment projects and popular
iOS applications. The biggest take away from these sessions was that it is
important that teachers understand that there is not necessarily one
application that will answer all your questions or solve all your problems. You might have to use more than one at a time
in your instruction! Simple K12 outlined 40 top free applications in their session which was very beneficial for my research.
The exhibit floor hosted over 1,500 booths of technology gadgets, programs,
companies, publishers and start-ups. A little overwhelming at times, I was able
to engage with many companies which have created applications I have included
in my research (which was really neat!). I quickly realized there is SO MANY
different areas of technology and numerous companies that support those. A few
of the big names on the exhibit floor was Google, Lenovo, Samsung, Pearson,
SMART and Edmono. I also attended TechShare Live, a presentation of the latest
and greatest technology devices, gadgets and programs – drool!
The team from Brock University had the opportunity to
connect with Canadians attending the conference at the O’Canada Tweet-Up hosted
by MindShare Learning. Also, we attended different events hosted by Lightspeed
Systems and Remind 101. Over the week at FETC, I learned some important information
to take with me to shift our thinking when it comes to technology in the
classroom. Devices, like the iPad, should not drive your instruction in the
classroom, but support the learning of 21st century students.
Thanks again to Dr.Camille Rutherford and Brock University
for sending me to FETC, I had a blast!
