OETC 2014

Over the last few frigid days, I have been fortunate to attend the Ohio Educational Technology Conference.  I have been attending this conference every year for the past 10 or so years.  This year, I had the opportunity to hear some excellent educators.

Monday's Keynote speaker was Kevin Honeycutt.  His topic, "Inspirational Teachers Change Minds & Lives, " was a great way to kick off the conference.  He was outstanding.  He also spoke later in the day.  I saw him speak about "Teaching Wired Learners."  He shared great insights from being a parent and teacher of kids that are connected.  His website - KevinHoneycutt.org - contains many free resources and access to his presentations.  He is more than willing to share his knowledge and time with people that want to help.  Kevin was outstanding.

Wednesday's Keynote speaker was Alan November.  His topic, "The End of Technology Planning, " walked through his experiences with using technology with students.  Alan has been to the Ohio conference 3 times now.  He is a leader in educational technology and shares his experiences with his readers.  He shared some outstanding resources and explained why they were so powerful.  His number one power app for iPads and computers was Wolfram Alpha.  It is extremely helpful to math and science students in the way that it solves problems step-by-step.

This is the third time I've heard Alan speak.  If you would like to see more of Alan November, you can check out a summer conference he runs called BLC - Building Learning Communities.  I attended that conference in 2010 and 2011.  It is an outstanding conference.  That conference helped push me into blogging.

Some other good informational sessions -

Teach Like a Hacker - by Ryan Collins - He talked about tips and tricks to help teachers and students be more efficient.  Hacking is not necessarily a bad thing.

App Smackdown - iOS - Here is a list of shared Apps.

Effective Use of Google Forms - by Andreas Johansson.  He shared ways  to use Google Forms to collect data easily.  Here is information from his presentation.  Here is his website.

One of the best parts of being a the conference, was being able to touch base with outstanding technology educators.  Keeping face-to-face contact is nice, since many of us keep contact through Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, and other social networks.

Next year, come to Columbus and join in the fun.  The dates are Feb. 10-12, 2015.