ECOO Part 1 - So much to Share!

I have so much to share, this may take a couple posts!  I was able to spend Thursday Oct.25 & Friday Oct.26, 2012 at the ECOO conference in Richmond Hill.  Check out the website for more information about the conference & the Educational Computing Organization of Ontario.   I 100% recommend it for any educator.  If you are tech. minded, you will find tons of stuff to add to your bank of tools & lesson strategies.  If you are new to tech. you will find great beginner workshops & ideas to start you on your way.

Here is my summary of the major ideas presented by the keynote speakers on Day 1:

We are not teaching in the 21st  Century, we are teaching and learning in the "NOW" Century.  We are preparing students for "NOW"....or we should be.  Speakers John Seely Brown, Michael Fullan & Donna Fry  spoke about this needed shift in our thinking.  I appreciated that their ideas presented a balance between new philosophies and approaches and those that have been around for centuries.  Be sure to check out the video of John Seely Brown's keynote address. 

Interesting Fact:

- Did you know that YouTube uploads 72 hours of video per minute?  That fact from Google Senior Education Evangelist Jaime Casap.  

He was an entertaining speaker, who really engaged the audience.   He brought up some great things that really made us think about how we are educating children & what world we are preparing them for.  He made us think about the fact that we are teaching children who already know that it isn't possible for them to know everything, as a matter of fact, they aren't concerned about learning everything because they know the answer is out there...they just need to look it up.   When you consider that knowledge is at their fingertips, how does this change how we teach?  How they learn?  This is a huge shift.  

This is, of course, only a brief summary of some of the ideas presented yesterday.  

So much more to come...stay tuned for my upcoming blog posts which will contain a summary of the ideas presented by Friday's keynote speaker, as well as resources, tools & teaching strategies.  There will be something for everyone!