Over 11,000 people learning about teaching and technology together, that was FETC 2017. Here are some tidbits from some of the presentations I attended:
Eric Sheninger: If your school is like a jail, what type of future do you think you are preparing your students for?
Beatriz Arnillas: Learn to use technology or be replaced by it.
Gregory Nathaniel Katz: Predictive analytics can be used to send the right message to the right student at the right time to keep the student engaged and on track.
Robert Dillon: If you’re going to successfully implement school or district change that involves technology, there are 8 areas that need coordination: curriculum, instruction, assessment, organization development, infrastructure, policy, budget and community communication.
Leo Brehm: good assessment will find appropriate instruction on the topics that the student missed
Tom Ingram: we all want to create districts where parents want to send their children, students want to lear, teachers want to teach, and employees want to work.
Name withheld: we found a great way to partner with our superintendent. Whenever budget cuts loom, we slow down the superintendent’s internet access until the threat goes away.
Cliff Lloyd: a report card is only a rear view mirror, we need to look at the road ahead. We need to identify possible failures while there is still time to correct. Good educators have always personalized instruction, but for only a few students at a time, the right technology gives good educators the ability to do that for all their students.
Margo Day: All kids are full of potential, it’s the external factors that limit that; the real promise of tech is to remove and minimize those restraints.
Jaime Casap: Schools can’t prepare kids for jobs that don’t even exist yet, schools have to operate as a team to develop the underlying skills that allow for adaptability, creative problem solving, and collaboration. Why are we testing the ability to memorize capitals of Hispanic countries, when what we want is students who are culturally savvy and can carry on a conversation in Spanish?
Chris Squatritto: Education is the target of 17% of data breaches, partly because schools and districts are such easy targets. Breaches can come through common devices such as thermostats and security cameras. San Antonio just spent $250,000 to investigate their breach and $10 per user (students, families, employees) to minimize the damage.
Ann McMullan: If we want the results we say we want, we are asking educators to make a pedagogical shift, not just deploy tech to do what they are already doing.
Carla Wade: I don’t want PDF’s in Oregon, I want e-resources that are interactive and engaging, and that do things print can’t do.
