We Know We Have to Change. What Will You Do Next? My Experience at #gafesummit

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We Know We Have to Change. What Will You Do Next? My Experience at #gafesummit

I had the fortunate opportunity to present at this weekend’s Google Summit in Kitchener. My session was the usual – pedagogy, assessment, making and coding. I call it “the usual” but it is never delivered the same twice. This time around I even added four new slides thirty minutes before I was up. You can download them here: http://brianaspinall.com/?page_id=66. But isn’t that education? Self-refection, tweaks from feedback, adjusting to different audiences. I was short on time, but confident with my content.

In the true EdCamp form, we had a matrix of sessions happening in parallel in multiple rooms. You can review the sessions here: https://sites.google.com/a/edtechteam.com/ontario-schedule/ I learned quite a bit on the technological front about Google Apps that I didn’t know before. I re-connected with old friends and even made some new ones.

Sylvia went to to say I look like Ryan Reynolds. I went home and did push ups.

I also met David for the first time f2f. We have been twitter colleagues for years but never could seem to find each other at these events. We made a point of it this time.

I even photobombed a selfie!

I got very close to meeting Jamie. Sad it didn’t happen f2f.

Robert eventually found me. It was a little game of Hide and Go Seek.

However, there was something different this weekend. A kind of buzz and energy I haven’t felt at a tech conference before. It may have just been the Spring like weather, but I think it was something more.

In attendance there were students. There were teachers. There were principals. There was also MoE folk. It didn’t matter who you spoke to or what session you went to – the underlying idea of change seemed consistent. As educators we know we have to change and we know why. It won’t be easy, but that’s OK.

The question is how.

What matters most is what we do next.

What will you do next? If you attended this weekend as a participant, I encourage you to share back at your school. Send an email. Write a blog post. Host an after school session. Like George Couros says “a teacher choses to live in isolation in this connected world.” Sharing has become incredibly easy. Don’t isolate yourself.

I learned about EdPuzzle for diagnostic assessment and I look forward to sharing it on Monday’s PLC and Tuesday’s TLLP sessions. I am sharing how to use the app for assessment for learning – not the app itself – and I think there is a big difference. Pedagogy before technology.

What will you share?

Go outside and play. It’s beautiful… Thanks Poppa for getting me through another one.

 

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5 Responses for this post

  1. Robert
    Robert
    | |

    It was great learning with you this weekend, and finally meeting face-to-face. I look forward to further adventures.

    Reply
  2. Michelle Cordy
    Michelle Cordy
    | |

    It was great seeing you this weekend Brian! Thanks for your post reflecting on the weekend. The energy at the conference was certainly fantastic and I am so proud of the amazing educators here in Ontario that are super dedicated. There were so many outstanding sessions and even more wonderful people. Truly an honour to be part of the event and to have attended.
    Thanks for writing about your experience. Yes, let’s share! Let’s keep moving forward and thinking about what *next*.

    Next, this girl has some planning for the week ahead!

    Reply
  3. David Fife
    David Fife
    | |

    Hey Brian,

    Thanks so much for your tweets and blog post about the #gafesummit this past weekend. It was interesting following along with the hastags as the conference rolled on, I’m bummed that I missed it. I spent 2 and half days last week at an OPC Math conference with your VP. We must get that tour bus rolling!

    Thanks again for all your tweets, posts and effort to move our thinking forward.

    Dave

    Reply

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