This week in DUBAI I will be attending the NESA conference. I am never excited about such events because everything is always out of context…meaning out of the school…out of the classroom…and away from criticism.
I have decided to focus on NON-IT sessions so that I can expand my knowledge base. Here are the sessions I am going to attend:
- Measuring What Matters: Strategies for Tracking Progress on 21st Century and other “Soft” Skills
- This Is Not a Classroom
I have looked at all the others and they seem pretty common – like I have read this or done this 10 times in the last 5 years – or just not relavent to me. I am going to try to do 2 more depending on my level of annoyance and the quality of the coffee.
I noticed that they have some multi-day workshops and some 3-4 hour workshops. I would like to recommend some themes and/or topics for the future:
- Technology in the Classroom – has nothing to do with making Power Points
- 10 Ways to do things that students actually enjoy that will save you time and Power Point is not one of them.
- If you are using Power Point then you need to stop.
- Power Point Addicts – learn to walk away from a technology the US Military has recently declared a waste of time. (All Criticism aside they are highly efficient.)
- The Cloud is not new or theoretical it is powering over 20 Million learners daily. So what are you doing with that USB?
- Stop Talking and Make something useful.
All these sessions I would attend for hours or days ! More to come with follow-ups from the sessions, vendor exhibition, and a live Podcast at the show with all the Crew Minus Preston.
Tony DePrato
Technology in the Classroom 