DigCitCommit Virtual Congress - Febr. 11-12, 2020

Last week, I had the opportunity to travel to Facebook Headquarters for the first ever DigCitCommit Virtual Congress, sponsored by ISTE and a number of other educational partners. We are still overwhelmed by the people and the mission of this initiative.

The importance of "flipping the narrative" around digital citizenship in schools is necessary now more than ever. Instead of scaring our young people into being safe online and sometimes over-encouraging them to "put away their device", we instead should be promoting positive usage and healthy presence in online spaces for all. 

The DigCitCommit competencies include the following:

• Inclusive - I am open to hearing and respectfully recognizing multiple viewpoints and I engage with others online with respect and empathy.

• Informed - I evaluate the accuracy, perspective, and validity of digital media and social posts.

• Engaged - I use technology and digital channels for civic engagement, to solve problems and be a force for good in both physical and virtual communities.

• Balanced - I make informed decisions about how to prioritize my time and activities online and off.

• Alert - I am aware of my online actions, and know how to be safe and create safe spaces for others online. 

I can truly say that because of the DigCitCommit Virtual Congress event, I am inspired by student activists, fueled by positive change agents, and surrounded by new friendships.

Watch some video highlights from the event here:

Resources to join the DigCitCommit efforts in your school:

https://digcitcommit.org/virtual-congress - Full schedule of presentations and topic focus for the two day event

https://digcitcommit.org/resources - Wealth of DigCit resources from DigCitCommit partners

from ISTE’s YouTube channel - 

• Day 1 Live Stream recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL34LM0Gteo
• Day 2 Live Stream recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcRDJW0VIMY

Additional Fun

Drew’s project - “Be the Change” video - grand prize winner in the inaugural DigCitCommit Challenge. 

Photos from the event - a Flickr album

Quick Peek at Facebook HQ:

Building Word Wizards with Creation Apps (NETA 2018)

Building Word Wizards with Creation Apps (NETA 2018)

Use the power of iPad to transform students into vocabulary wizards in the K-12 classroom. Learn about 10 creation apps that will move your students from consumers to creators and empower them to expand their word wizard skills. Walk away with ideas and apps to use immediately in your classroom. Bring your iPad and create some ‘magic’ along with us.

Capture Your Journey: Digital Storytelling for Schools

LEARNING IS A JOURNEY, AND IT IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO SHARE THAT STORY. CAPTURE HIGH-QUALITY MEDIA WITH LOW-COST TOOLS. EXPLORE TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES THAT ANY TEACHER CAN USE ANY DAY TO CAPTURE BETTER IMAGES, MAKE MORE POWERFUL MEDIA, AND REACH MORE AUDIENCES. PHOTOGRAPHY, AUDIO RECORDING, VIDEO CAPTURE, EDITING, AND PUBLISHING TIPS WILL BE DEMONSTRATED, ALL WITH DEVICES READILY AVAILABLE IN MOST CLASSROOMS.

(from STI 2016)

Capture Your Journey: Digital Storytelling for Schools from Katie Morrow

Impact Your Audience: Presentations that rock!

Are students disengaged with your traditional presentation design? Are staff members turned off by your presentation delivery? Find out ways to improve your next presentation, whether for professional learning experiences or everyday classroom instruction. Explore concepts in layout & design, strategies for engaging your audience, and presentation techniques used by some of the world’s best speakers. Make your next presentation rock!

Resources to accompany “Impact Your Audience: Presentations that rock!”

Curated by Katie Morrow

Impact Your Audience: Presentations that Rock! from Katie Morrow

Books

• Brain Rules by John Medina
• Resonate by Nancy Duarte
• Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds
• The Pin Drop Principle by Lewis & Mills
• Start With Why by Simon Sinek

Free for iBooks

• Design Secrets Revealed by Keri-Lee Beasley
• Keynote for Mac Starter Guide from Apple Education
• The Joy of Professional Learning by ADEs

Presentations About Presentations!

• The Art of the Presentation (Sound of Music references)
• 10 Things Your Audience Hates About Your Presentation

Recommended Media Sources

• Pixabay (CC0 licensed content)
• Unsplash (CC0 licensed content)
• Noun Project (icons)
• Open Clipart
• Slides Carnival (free slide themes & templates)
• Dafont (fonts)

Additional Resources

• 15 Golden Principles of Visual Hierarchy
• 7 Best Public Speaking Tips from the World’s Best Speakers & Presenters
• 7 Storytelling Techniques Used by the Most Inspiring TED Presenters
• Why your tech-obsessed presentation stinks- and how to make it better

Tools for Audience Interaction

• Formative
• Tricider
• All Our Ideas
• Padlet
• Twitter hashtag & schedule Tweets
• Mentimeter
• Todays Meet
  

  
  

NETA 2016

Another NETA Conference is officially in the books, but as always, the learning doesn't stop at the Century Link Center.  Here is a quick collection of how my time was spent learning this year at NETA 2016. 

I presented three sessions this year and have linked the slides and resources for each. 

So, You Want to Publish a Book? (NETA 2016)

Learn about the process of publishing on the iBooks Store from start to finish including topic and project ideas for both teachers and students, content development in iBooks Author, and the submission and approval process from iTunes. Whether for classroom use or personal professional use, anyone has the ability to become a published author on this powerful platform!

Do More With... Keynote (NETA 2016)

If you thought Keynote was simply used to create slideshows, you will be amazed! See creative ideas for alternative uses of Apple's Keynote app for either Mac or iOS. Coding, animation, holograms and more... and all experiences are easy enough for beginning users. Learn and apply innovative ideas to do more with something you already have access to: Apple's Keynote.

GameShowification (NETA Ignite Talk 2016)

Learn about lessons for education gained from my personal experiences playing a TV Game Show -  Family Feud! Google slides with notes: https://goo.gl/R7aJRU 

   

As always, the NETA Keynotes were first-rate.  This year they featured "NebEdTalks" - shorter style Nebraska Education "TED Talks" - from 4 different presenters.  Leading off was Bob Dillon, Director of BrightBytes Institute who reminded us to slow down, notice and appreciate more.

Jennie Mageira, however, encouraged us to get motivated to let go and take risks with her talk centered around "Courageous Edventures."  

Day 2 Keynotes included Rafranz Davis on Diversity in Education and Nebraska native, Tony Vincent, who encouraged us to "Reset the Presets." 

Tony Vincent’s sessions:

http://learninginhand.com/reset   

http://learninginhand.com/centers

http://learninginhand.com/infopics

http://learninginhand.com/live2016  

For me professionally, there were too many valuable sessions to even begin to list. However I did see many common themes. Over and over again, we were reminded in the power of failure- both for our learners and for ourselves professionally. "Play" and gamification, both in teaching and in PD were repeated frequently. Google Cardboard and the MakerSpace/Maker movement were also a common interest for participants. Blended Learning continues to be an important topic for schools as well, and NETA provided numerous sessions and resources for it.

Additional personal highlights for me came from secondary experiences related to NETA. I participated in a BreakoutEDU session and thoroughly enjoyed the collaborative challenge of breaking out of Dr. Johnson's Lab. The educational opportunities that exist with this concept excite me for schools. Learn more at breakoutedu.com.

NETA also sponsored its first ever 5K fun run/walk. We woke up early on Friday morning to take a short run across the bridge into Iowa with fellow NETA participants. Again, sometimes it is the peripheral experiences that provide the richest learning opportunities.

To follow some of the many tweets from #NETA16, check out this Twitter archive - rich with links and commentary.