What I Learned at #ISTE17 Day 3

Today was the end of the ISTE 2017 conference.  I was in a session this morning that included the following quote:

However, simply hearing about new things does not mean I have acquired new skills. The Conscious Competence model specifies four stages towards skill acquisition.

(Women Embracing Brilliance, 2010)

In regards to much of my learning at ISTE, I find myself in the Conscious Incompetence stage.  I've now heard these great ideas or found resources, but I have a great deal of learning left to do.  I have skills to acquire so they can be put to use to improve instruction for our students!  So, today's top 5 list of things I have learned is really more about the top 5 things I have heard about that I need to explore and master.

1. Photospheres

According to Mary Howard, a photosphere is "a 360-degree panorama feature. It's designed to be a pseudo-immersive experience allowing the viewer to feel as though they are in or at the location" (Howard, 2017).  We used Google Streetview to capture a 360-degree video. The Streetview app has a 360 camera built into the app! From there, we looked at other resources where we could find photospheres or 360 images we could alter. She suggested textures.com or Flickr. (Please make sure you practice good digital citizenship and uses images that are fair use.)  After locating an image, she edited them in Pixlr and hosted at Holobuilder.  I'll be exploring these resources further. If you would like to explore on your own as well, here is a link to the presentation! Create, Capture and Cardboard your Curriculum: 360 Photospheres

2. Dotstorming

At first look, this seems to work much like Padlet as a place for collaboratively sharing ideas. However, Dotstorming allows you to vote on your favorite ideas shared. Here are some posts on Dotstorming that I have found to review later: Dotstorming by ICC TLC and Search results for Free Technology for Teachers with multiple blog posts. Richard Byrne also has a detailed YouTube video on dotstorming. Note, this video was created in 2015 and features have been added since this time.

(above video linked from https://youtu.be/eTDbzdIC0BM)

3. Videoant

Videoant is a tool to allow users to add annotations, or comments, to web-hosted videos. There are multiple video annotation tools available. Part of my learning process will be comparing these products to see which one works best within our district.

3. Poll Everywhere in Google Slides

I have used this feature some in the past, but not near enough, and I know I haven't modeled it well.  The Poll Everywhere Chrome Extension allows you to embed polls directly into your Slide presentation. When you create a new Poll Everywhere, you have options for multiple choice, word cloud, Q&A, rank order, clickable image, survey, or open-ended questions. You can learn more about Poll Everywhere in Google Slides at https://www.polleverywhere.com/app/google-slides

(above video linked at https://vimeo.com/208888170)

4.  Quizlet Live

When Quizlet added their Live feature, teachers gained a digital way to use the Numbered Heads Together Cooperative Learning Strategy. Quizlet Live assigns teams (zebras, alligators, oxen, etc. ). Every participant's device sees answer options, but the answer options all are different between all team members. Participants have to talk together because you may not have the correct answer on your screen. Here is a video tutorial I found that explains more about Quizlet Live.

(the above video is linked from https://youtu.be/9qDYlnrEeRY)

5. YouTube

I went to a quick session with Google on Using Video As an Instructional Tool.  Lately, I've been spending more time exploring YouTube and realizing there are so many functions in YouTube that I have not been utilizing.  I hope to explore them further this summer. I did pull a couple of things from this session that I will share in bullet form:

• Every minute, over 300 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube.
• YouTube has over 1.3 billion users (½ of the internet).
• YouTube reaches more 18-49 yr olds than any cable network.
• It's all thanks to Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake
• http://www.tarveracademy.com/ Tyler Tarver led this session and has a very engaging personality. His site includes math and Google videos. 
• Tarver believes everyone should download YouTube, YouTube Music, and YouTube Capture (records video and forces you to turn camera to the side)
• Creation vs. Curation: if you are afraid to create your own videos, then start curating others!
• Find channels you like and subscribe to them. Find videos you like and add to Playlists.
• Notifications are legit. Look for bell icon. Set up notifications for people you like and you will be notified anytime they add a new video.
• Create videos for bell ringers!  You can have it start playing while you are taking attendance, talk to kids, etc. QuickTime on Mac or Screencastify on Chrome devices are easy tools to learn to create your own videos.
• Unlisted allows anyone with a link to view your video. Note, someone can take your link and post it elsewhere, and people can see it then…

Each of my posts from ISTE has had a bonus piece of information, but this bonus is a big one!  You don't have to attend ISTE (or other conferences) to have great learning!  We want our students to be self-regulated learners, and we should model it as well.  My learning from ISTE won't stop because I am home.  I'll still be learning from it probably this time next year!  Here are some sources to get you started on your own learning path!

1.  Search #ISTE17 on Twitter and be prepared to open link upon link of learning goodness!  Hint: I use Tweetdeck to organize my Twitter and currently have a column of all ISTE17 goodness.
2. Search the website for conference sessions. Many times, you can access resources from sessions without having to log in as an attendee. ISTE is one of those conferences. Go to https://conference.iste.org/2017/program/search/ and start exploring sessions. You can narrow down your search to sessions with digital resources, or you can find the names of presenters that you are interested in and follow them on Twitter to build your PLN and keep the learning going!
   
3. Find a name that you know that attended ISTE and see what information they are curating for you!  I happened to see Richard Byrne from http://www.freetech4teachers.com/ filming in the bloggers' lounge, so I went to his page to see what he had to offer. His YouTube Channel has some live videos and interviews he did this week that I look forward to checking out. Friday morning, he will be live on his channel to recap ISTE17.  Byrne also wrote some posts this week while at ISTE that are on his site linked above.  Byrne is just one blogger who was active this week. Search to see if your favorite blogger was there as well. If you find a great post, we would love to have you share in the comments!

So, the rest of my summer will include some great learning. I'm going to take the time to refresh my mind and body, but in my opinion, a refresh doesn't mean to do nothing. If I were to refresh my house over the summer, I wouldn't let it build up dust. I would work to clean it and make it better. I hope to do the same with my brain this summer!

Note:  Anytime you are exploring new resources, make sure you check out the age requirements to ensure they are appropriate for your students and that the terms of service allow for users under 13, etc.  Also, use Common Sense Education to see if they have reviews of the product you are going to use (you can also find additional sites worth exploring on their page at https://www.commonsense.org/education/reviews/all). As I continue to learn about the above products, I will be practicing these above tips!

References

Howard, M. (2017). Create, capture and cardboard your curriculum: 360 photospheres. Retrieved from http://yoursmarticles.blogspot.com/

Women Embracing Brilliance. (2010). The four stages of learning. Retrieved from http://www.womenembracingbrilliance.com/the-four-stages-of-learning-module-1/