TIES 2014 Education Technology Conference

I'm at the TIES 2014 Conference the last couple of days.  TIES is an Education Technology Conference that I have not been able to attend for the past 3 years.  This year, back in the elementary school, I was allowed to go.  I ALWAYS get a ton of good information from this conference.  I can't wait to share the lessons I will be developing and bringing to my school because of the learning that has happened in the last two days.

Here is a couple of highlights so far...

One of the featured speakers was Yong Zhao.   He has a couple of books that I will be exploring soon because he is so PRO CREATIVITY!  He also happens to be funny and real!  I think his message would be another resource for Arts advocate.

George Couros (@gcouros) is described on the TIES page as a... 

An international leader in innovative student learning and engagement, George Couros is the Division Principal of Innovative Teaching and Learning for Parkland School Division, Alberta, Canada. He is passionate about distributed leadership and believes in a collaborative environment with all stakeholders. 

I was truly impressed with his presentation style.  He seemed to not only have a great way of connecting to his audience, but also a true heart for education and people.  Some of the inspiration from his presentation that you will see me referred to in future posts was; 1 Second Everyday App, incorporating experienced adults into my students learning (perhaps from a local assisted living facility in our community), and asking students to interview their future self... more to come in the future, I'm sure!

Lockie Chapman was one of the few Art specific presenters.  She presented on stop motion animation in the middle school.  She has a lot of great resources that I will be exploring but more so, I was very impressed with her TAB choices that she incorporates in her classroom.  Follow her on Twitter (@lockiechapman)

Angie Kalthoff (@MrsKalthoff) and Holly Nelson (@hollynelson20) taught me more about Augmented Reality.   I was introduced to two years ago at the MN state conference in Duluth.  I have an app to create A.R.'s but I didn't implement them at that time.  I think this was a GREAT refresher to start looking into it again.  The parents of Hassan Elementary would love to see the power of Augmented Reality.