Friday, June 14, 2013

ISTEunplugged Update - Nexus 7 Giveaways, Hashtag, and Making a Business Pitch at the ISTE Edtech PitchFest

Just a quick reminder about the fun "fringe festival" events we run at the annual ISTE conference, which is in San Antonio, TX, this year. We start with the free all-day unconference "Hack Education" on Saturday, June 22nd. All information at http://www.ISTEunplugged.com.

Some quick updates:
  • Our Saturday night party is being sponsored by StudyBlue and Follett. Both sponsors have been terrific about supporting our low-pitch model for sponsors, so please pay them back by seeing if what they do is of interest to you. There is no RSVP for the party, but come early! http://www.isteunplugged.com/sat-night-622-party.html
  • StudyBlue is giving away two Nexus 7 tablets (to celebrate the release of their new Android app), one at the Saturday night party, and one to those who participate in an "Online Learning in the Classroom" survey which is at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGRHTU5sb3hzcTJwYXFwWU9PWkMyU2c6MA. If you participate in the online survey, you are also registered to win one of 20 $25 Amazon gift cards. Entries must be completed by Thursday, June 20th. Do it now, it's fast (I own a Nexus 7 and absolutely LOVE it).
  • Follett is unveiling a new educator community: "The Follett Community is a place for PreK-12 educators to grow, collaborate, share, learn, and communicate. Evolve with the changing world of education in this one of a kind education focused, online community. Follett Community will offer professional development and support, plus integration with Follett products and services. Sign up for a First Look at the Follett Community today and help make this the professional learning community you've been asking for. http://register.follettcommunity.com"
  • The hashtag for ISTEunplugged: #isteunplugged
  • The hashtag for Hack Education Saturday unconference: #hacked13
  • Many of you will remember the totally fun "pitchfest" that we did with Khalid Smith and Startup Weekend EDU last year at ISTE. This year edmix is hosting an ISTE EdTech PitchFest in collaboration with EdSurge, and they've asked me to be a judge. Now, knowing how strongly I feel about educational startups 1) really getting to know how to help students and educators, and 2) not falling into the data-testing-behaviorist mindset, I'm telling them I would love to participate! Come join the fun--more information and the schedule at http://www.edmix.com/competitions/2. There is also still time to submit an idea and get into the running if you can get your application in by Monday, June 17th, at 5pm (they don't say what time zone, so maybe play it safe and assume 5pm Eastern).


Monday, June 10, 2013

Wednesday Interview - Teaching for Self-Driven Learning with Larry Ferlazzo

Join me today, Wednesday, June 12th, for a live and interactive FutureofEducation.com conversation with returning guest Larry Ferlazzo. Larry will talk about his newest book, Self-Driven Learning: Teaching Strategies for Student Motivation.

From the publisher: "In this lively, research-based book, award-winning educator Larry Ferlazzo tackles everyday classroom challenges with creative instructional techniques to help middle- and high-school teachers develop self-motivated and high-achieving students. The practical tips, online resources, and mini-lessons in this book encourage students to take charge of their own learning, boosting their success in and outside of the classroom. Detailed lesson plans in every chapter align with the Common Core English Language Arts Standards and cover a variety of valuable skills, including personal responsibility and perseverance, social and emotional learning, standardized test-taking strategies, and much more!"
"I appreciate Ferlazzo's practical, well-organized, and research-based approach to this book. Reading it felt like a friendly tour through a toolbox of techniques teachers (and educators of all sorts) can apply and experiment with. I am left with practical suggestions I can put to use today to encourage intrinsic motivation in students of all ages." —Winifred Kehl, Blogger, Getting Smart
"Ferlazzo's book offers many valuable strategies to guide teachers to help students feel more positive about the learning process. Larry's book is filled with lesson plans that are so easy to adapt and personalize to one's teaching situation. It is a book that I highly recommend for all teachers. It should be a must read for all teachers in inclusion classrooms." —Elizabeth Stein, Teacher and New-Teacher Mentor, Smithtown Central School District 
Date: Wednesday, June 12th, 2013
Time: 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern (international times here)
Duration: 1 hour
Location: In Blackboard Collaborate (formerly Elluminate). Log in at http://www.futureofed.info. The Blackboard Collaborate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Blackboard Collaborate, please visit the support and configuration page.
Recording:  A full Blackboard Collaborate recording is at https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2013-06-12.1708.M.9E9FE58134BE68C3B413F24B3586CF.vcr&sid=2008350 and an audio mp3 recording is at http://audio.edtechlive.com/foe/selfdriven.mp3 and at http://www.futureofeducation.com.

Larry Ferlazzo teaches English and Social Studies at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, California. He has written three previous books, Helping Students Motivate ThemselvesBuilding Parent Engagement In Schools (with co-author Lorie Hammond) and English Language Learners: Teaching Strategies That Work.

He writes a popular education blog at http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org, and has won numerous awards, including the Leadership For A Changing World Award from the Ford Foundation. He also was the Grand Prize Winner of the International Reading Association Award for Technology and Reading and was given The Education Partnership Award by the College of Education at California State University, Sacramento.

His articles on education issues appear regularly in the Washington PostTeacher Magazine and The Huffington Post. In addition, his work has appeared in The New York TimesEducational LeadershipSocial Policy, and Language Magazine.

Larry was a community organizer for nineteen years prior to becoming a public school teacher. He is married and has three children and two grandchildren.

Related FutureofEducation.com Interviews:

Jun 14, 2011: Larry Ferlazzo on Helping Students Motivate Themselves
Apr 21, 2010: Larry Ferlazzo on English Language Learners: Teaching Strategies that Work
Feb 21, 2012: Maurice Gibbons on Self-Directed Learning

Friday, June 07, 2013

The "Unplugged" (and Free) Community Events at ISTE 2013 in San Antonio

Each year hundreds of educators interested in social media, technology, teaching, and learning gather to build and participate in "unplugged"-style activities as a part of the ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) conference.

 All of the ISTE Unplugged events are free, thanks to the support (and latitude!) given us by the conference organizers, so please come join us. You do need to be registered for ISTE for all activities except for Hack Education unconference and the after-party, which are open to anyone, registered for ISTE or not. A HUGE thanks to ISTE for making this all possible!

Saturday, June 22rd - HACK EDUCATION: 8:00am - 4:00pm in the San Antonio Convention Center, Room SACC 103A. Audrey Watters of HackEducation.com co-chairs our all-day flagship event this year, as we yet again rebrand our "unconference" on teaching and learning (for years called EduBloggerCon and then called SocialEdCon last year). In our seventh year, this event typically draws 200 - 300 participants from around the world. We start by building a session and topic schedule together, and then spend the rest of the day in engaged conversations around what are always amazing topics. More information and a sign-up page (not required) at http://www.isteunplugged.com/sat-622-hack-education.html.

Saturday, June 22nd Evening - HACK-ED AFTER PARTY!: After a banner inaugural partner last year, we'll again have an unconference "After Party" from 7 - 9pm the Marriott Riverwalk, 2nd floor, salons A/B. Generously sponsored by StudyBlue and Follett, the first 150 to arrive get a drink ticket (and maybe something else!). Munchies will be available, but plan to eat dinner before or after depending on what time zone your stomach is still in. (StudyBlue is also inviting a small group of classroom educators to dish and dine with them at 5:30pm. Get a sneak preview of new technology and brainstorm ideas for teacher/student use, while enjoying dinner and drinks with fellow educators. To learn more contact info@studyblue.com.)

Sunday, June 23rd Afternoon - GLOBAL EDUCATION SUMMIT: Another return event, the Global Ed Summit is a 3-hour mini-conference organized by Lucy Gray and Steve Hargadon (well, actually, organized by Lucy with Steve as support staff) for those interested in globally-connecting students and teachers, and is a physical followup to the hugely popular online Global Education Conference. All welcome! More information is at http://www.globaleducationconference.com/group/gec-summit-at-iste.

Monday, June 24 - EdTechWomen at ISTE 2013 Dinner: For the first time at ISTE, EdTechWomen will be hosting a dinner and community networking event for women and their supporters in education technology. The mission of EdTechWomen is to connect women across sub-industries and to leverage women's influence in education, now and for the future. More information at http://www.isteunplugged.com/mon-624-edtechwomen-dinner.html.

Monday, June 24 - Wednesday, June 26th - THE BLOGGERS' CAFE: Also in it's seventh year now, the Bloggers' Cafe is an informal, couch-chairs-floor gathering area in the conference center for bloggers, social media mavens, and anyone else who wants to find and connect with others. A beehive of constant activity and conversation, the Bloggers' Cafe makes it hard to go do anything else once you discover it. All are welcome, and if someone doesn't notice you or introduce you to a group you want to meet, please introduce yourself! More information at http://www.isteunplugged.com/mon-624---wed-626-bloggers-cafe.html.

For those wanting a little history of these events (including the really fun 2007 first EduBloggerCon photo) see http://www.isteunplugged.com/about--history.html. For those paying close attention, we will not be holding the ISTE LIVE sessions this year because of conference space constraints. And our plans for a series of "unkeynotes" never really materialized. So sorry!

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS THIS YEAR!


Wednesday, June 05, 2013

Thursday Interview - Online Book Clubs for Education and What Ben Rimes Has Learned

Join me Thursday, June 6th, 2013, for an live and interactive FutureofEducation.com conversation with Ben Rimes, creator of the virtual Book Club 106. Please note that this show is 30 minutes later in the day than usual (so that Ben can be a good dad!).

Book Club 106 is an open online book club for educators that has been meeting weekly and so far has covered two books: Switch and What Video Games Have to Teach us About Learning & Literacy. In this community conversation (meaning, please join us both to ask Ben questions and to brainstorm together), we'll look at the whole idea of virtual or online book clubs: do they make sense, how do they compare with in-person book clubs, and are they catching on? We will also drill down on the changing forms of writing (many of us are reading more short-form material, like blogs and e-books), the role of reading in education and society, and how the Web invites participation in the great conversations of humanity (and are we taking advantage of that?).

Ben can also give us an overview of the lessons he has learned about holding online book clubs, from inviting participation to the technology he has used. I'm particularly interested in this, having held a virtual book discussion or two myself and having been somewhat unsatisfied with the outcome--which I think may reflect my own lack of organizing appropriately rather than the potential of online conversations. I hope you'll join us.

Date: Thursday, June 6th, 2013
Time: 5:30pm Pacific / 8:30pm Eastern (international times here)
Duration: 1 hour
Location: In Blackboard Collaborate (formerly Elluminate). Log in at http://www.futureofed.info. The Blackboard Collaborate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Blackboard Collaborate, please visit the support and configuration page.
Recording:  A full Blackboard Collaborate recording is at https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2013-06-06.1746.M.9E9FE58134BE68C3B413F24B3586CF.vcr&sid=2008350 and an audio mp3 recording is at http://audio.edtechlive.com/foe/benrimes.mp3 and at http://www.futureofeducation.com.

From Ben's self-description at his website:
"As someone who works closely with teachers integrating technology in my school district I am constantly blessed with teaching students that are always in awe of the amazing creations and connections made possible with computers and the internet. As a graduate of Western Michigan University, I knew very early in my educational career that I was passionate about technology and how using it allows for student-centered learning to flourish. I continue to look for new ways to enhance my own understanding of educational technology as a member of MACUL (Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning).

"As a graduate of the University of Michigan – Flint’s Technology in Education: Global Program, I've been able to work with some amazing educators from around the world in leveraging technology to connect learners and explore the possibilities of social networking in the classroom. If you have a cool project, I’d love to know about it, blog about it, and even introduce my students and teachers to it!
When not blogging, presenting, or advocating for the use of technology in education I enjoy catching up on Saturday morning cartoons, and romping around the house with my children."