ISTE 2013 Day 1

So glad I made it to San Antonio in time for Sunday’s first round of Ignite sessions and the opening keynote with  gamification expert Jane McGonigal. What an inspiring start for an amazing conference!

Ignite Takeaways:

If you haven’t seen an Ignite session, here’s the format: each presenter has five minutes to speak and is limited to twenty slides, which automatically advance every fifteen seconds. Ignites are always fast-paced sessions that showcase ideas designed to inspire and energize educators.

I enjoyed all 7 Ignite presentations, but my biggest take-away was from Jeff Piontek’s STEM education Ignite. Jeff pointed out the even though STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) is where the money (funding) is and there’s a growing  movement for STEAM (adding the arts), we need “to turn STEM into STEAM into STREAM by adding reading and research.” STEM is the present need, and education follows the money. But we need the arts and reading and research. We don’t have to teach kids to be creative, they already are: we just have to stop assessing and start allowing the creativity to shine through.

Opening Keynote Takeaways: Learning Is an Epic Win

Jane McGonigal’s keynote was mind blowing. I came to the keynote with an understanding of the 21st century skills that gaming can build. When she shared Evoke, I saw the potential for gaming to change the world. Find the Future, which challenged 500 student authors to write a book in one night while inside the New York Public Library, served as a called to action to what we could be doing in our own communities to take collaboration and creativity to new levels.

Take-away quote: “The opposite of play is not work; it’s depression.”

Take-away read: Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World.

I’ll be back soon with Takeaways from Day 2.