Saturday Fun (ET)4ALL

This Saturday I spent yet another day of my weekend with the great Dr. Smirnova. This conference was the Educational Technology for Authentic Life Long Learning. The first keynote speaker was someone who teaches teachers. Weird to say, I know, but what she said was amazing. She talked about how everything is on the internet now a days and you have to stay cautious of what you post on this massive world wide web. She also gave insight on how to incorporate technology into classrooms!

The first workshop I attended was "Going Google." The instructor informed me that many schools are moving away from office 365 and towards Chrome. This was a surprise to me because I grew up using school computers and was very familiar with the office 365 software. She then went in depth about the numerous components Google offers educational professionals. One in which is called Google Classroom. This allows the teacher to communicate with students and parents online. I think it is very important for teachers to have a class webpage so parents can know what is going on. Most days parents ask their child "How was your day?" and the child simply responds "good." With Google Classroom parents will have insight to what their child did throughout the day. This is also good for students who have a tendency for forgetting homework at school or lying and saying they have none. The teacher can post the nights homework on the site that way everyone has access.

Following the Google Workshop there was a group workshop presented by Susan Oxnevad an Education Director of ThingLink. ThingLink is my favorite tool to use in the classroom and after hearing Susan speak even more in depth my love grew! There are so endless ways to incorporate ThingLink into your classroom.

The third workshop I went to was my absolute favorite of them all. This workshop focused on Virtual Reality or VR. I have always heard about it, but never had the chance to experience it myself...well until yesterday! Once I put the goggles on I was in awe. I had left the classroom and entered a whole new world. I instantly thought about how I could incorporate VR into the classroom. When doing a science lesson on a particular climate/animal/body system, you can have your class travel as if they're there experiencing it all on their own. One example I saw was the circulatory system. As you have the goggles on you are inside a human body with blood cells flowing all around you. This VR technology is fast on the rise and will be an awesome tool to have in the classroom one day!

Thank you KDP for hosting this wonderful event!