This week IntegratED-PDX was held in Portland. This is the annual conference put on by OETC. The event opened up with a special leadership strand on Wednesday. I had the opportunity to work with Tricia George and we helped to facilitate a session with school administrators focused on using social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to share the story of your school.
Photo Credit: rwentechaney via Compfight cc
The opening keynote was by Mark Frauenfelder, the founder of BoingBoing and Make Magazine. His message of the maker movement and the celebration of DIY, was something that I have not heard spotlighted in a major education conference keynote and was very glad that OETC provided him the opportunity to share this.
On Thursday Tricia George and I helped facilitate a discussion with school leaders about trends and challenges associated with technology. I liked that the majority of the time was spent in table groups having conversations.
Finally the aspect of IntegratED that i enjoy most is that this conference works very hard to break down hierarchies. Michelle Cordy had an insightful Twitter post about how the name badges did not have ribbons to designate speakers, board members, and other strata of conference goer. Just a a blank slate which allows participants to tell who they are.
To me that is the most important take away from this event. Darren Hudgins and the staff of OETC work hard to bring in interesting people, doing interesting work, work focused on students and learning, and then make a space that allows them to share, and learn with the participants. The opportunity to connect with participants is just one of the many aspects of the program that make this my favorite conference.
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An important aspect of this is time after sessions, when people gather. I was fortunate to be able to connect with many of the participants in the evenings and between sessions. The size of the conference makes connecting possible.
Finally the event allows me to connect with old friends and also connect with new friends that I have met via social media. It is a great venue for connecting with educators working on the cutting edge of education and I encourage folks to consider attending next year...
@techlandiacast and friends on a rainy Saturday in Portland...