Ohio Educational Technology Conference 2024 Day Two

 

Valentine's Day at the conference started off nice and early with the session A New Library System for Ohio's Academic Libraries & New Opportunities for Student Learning by Thelda Schwing, the associate director for Ohiolink. The member institutions of Ohiolink will be moving to a new system and our institution should be on it by next year. The new system is Ex Libris from Alma, which looks to be nice upgrade from our current system. It is built with e-resources in mind and has an search interface similar to what students might see in Google which may make it a less intimidating experience. It will integrate with other campus systems as well. Primo is the search feature and will allow searches across all member libraries. It will also all patrons to better understand how soon they might get a resource. For example, if a student needs a book by Friday, they can determine if it will arrive by then or whether they should select an electronic resource instead. Leganto will allow us to integrate our LMS and make it easier for professors to make materials available for students directly in their course. There is also some metadata that will allow professors to see which resources are being used and to make adjustments to what they are offering. College Credit Plus should also integrate better and allow students better options for access needed materials. I was glad to hear that they are working on bringing AI features to Ex Libris which I think will be important to expanding the future benefits of this product for our students. 

Thelda Schwing

 Trendy Technology to be and Instructional Designer presented by Beth Schwartz was a series of resources and thoughts to help instructors navigate the changed educational landscape. One of her main points was to not throw out some of the things we learned from teaching during the pandemic. Accessibility for students if still really important and well need to keep that in mind as we educate. She gave a personal account of her daughter who is immunocompromised and can't always be in a physical classroom. Connecting to her class via something like Zoom gives her a chance to continue learning and not fall behind. Students may need to be absent from a physical classroom for many reasons and using technology to allow for flexibility can only help. Another thought is the personalization that technology allows. Learning is much more powerful if we can make it relevant for the learner. Her example here was where a teacher had students working on personal hygiene and the students designed their own toothbrush holders and 3D printed them. We have lots flexibility using technology to make things more individualized for students. They no longer need to write a paper but could do a video or a podcast to show mastery. 

Using Drones in Video Production presented by Chris Flanery from WOUB demonstrated how drones can be used to give perspectives in video that you can't achieve easily with a normal ground camera. He mainly uses a drone to "set the scene" which allows the viewer to understand the context of an area from the larger perspective. Starting up from the air and approaching the subject as you move through something like a city, can give the viewer a sense of location. A done can also be used to simulate something that you may not have easy access to. For example, moving along a train track can give the viewer an impression of a train, without having to actually get a train and attach a camera to it. Finally, filming large objects like outdoor art installations are easy with a drone and give you a unique perspective for the viewer. If you have ever gone to Flight of the Hawk park in Lancaster, Ohio you can see how a video done with a drone can give you a perspective you can't see from the ground.

Drone with cage

Artificial Intelligence for Educators by Rebecca Odom-Bartel from Cleveland State University was a session that focused more on AI and what it is rather than ten things to do with AI or 1000 AI sites to try. While the former can be valuable, I found her presentation refreshing in that it gave a better foundational basis of what we mean when we talk about types of AI and how we can use AI to complement what we do. Using a process such as seek, select, integrate, implement, and assess will help us use AI effectively. An interesting little factoid that I picked up here is that nowadays there is about 4 yottabytes (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (1024 )) per year of general information produced and an individual human is exposed to about 9 zettabytes (9,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (1021) per lifetime of information (I have not independently verified this ;-)

Our Robot Overlords

A modern Max Headroom

Happy little building

On Thursday I'll be taking a look at the following presentations: Embracing AI in the Classroom, How is Artificial Intelligence Changing the way we Learn?, The Bard's Tale: Google AI in Education, Design Thinking: A Hands-on Workshop, and Balancing Order and Innovation: Strategies for Effective Leaning Technology Leadership.

Ohio Educational Technology Conference 2024 Day One

 It's Valentine's Day (and a colleagues birthday :-) and that means it is time for the Ohio Educational Technology Conference (OETC)! I always thought this was a funny time to hold a conference, but it some ways it makes a lot of sense. It is before all the big tech conferences for educators and before the start of spring breaks at schools in Ohio. This conference focuses on instruction, information technology, and leadership. I often feel it is heavy on the K-12 side of things, but I am always able to find relevance for higher education in the sessions that may not seem as pertinent.  

Required Photo of Arnold

As in past years, there are three keynotes for each day of the conference. I enjoyed the keynotes last year and am looking forward to the ones this year. Today kicked off with George Couros who is the author of three books The Innovator’s Mindset; Empower Learning, Unleash Talent, Lead a Culture of Creativity, Innovate Inside the Box, Because of a Teacher, and Because of a Teacher 2. He believes that meaningful change happens when you can connect to people. Valentine's Day is when Dr. Chinma Uche, a Mathematics and Computer Science teacher at CREC Academy of Aerospace and Engineering will be speaking on how educators can embrace Generative AI. The final keynote will be four educators from Chagrin Falls who will share their journey into making AI part of their education system. 

Eclipse Swag!

I started the morning with a session by George Couros, the keynote speaker for today,  Laying the foundation for Innovation in Education. He had a prepared presentation, but he said he decided that as he was talking to people coming in that he would change it up and try and make it more of a conversation. I felt he made several good points during the session.  For education, he defines innovation as new and better ways of teaching which makes a lot of sense and he used Scantron tests as an example. In some ways you can look at Scantron as an innovation, but is it something that deepens learning for the student? He addressed our need as educators to be able to adapt and learn, which I think is really important which helps us be innovative. Changing the way you do things is difficult and can be tiring but I think it makes us stronger and able to relate to students better. For example, my university is going through an LMS change right now and while it takes a lot of effort, I believe it will benefit the students in the long run and help the university as a whole. 

George Couros

Connect with Apple was more of an open session where they asked the participants for questions or issues that they wanted addressed. My position doesn't deal too directly with Apple products but I use them and we have academic departments that use them, so it's important to keep up with going on with the company. They did have a Vision Pro there, which was great because I haven't had a chance to see one. While the are instances out there of it being used in sort of ridiculous ways,  the speaker gave some examples of why this might work well in educational settings. One interesting use developed is to use it to simulate a room where moon rocks are kept. Students only have 20 minutes at a time to study the rocks in a special room. The Vision Pro or other such devices can be used to simulate the room so that students can be very familiar with the room and not wast time adjusting to the environment while actually in the room. You can book a demo of one at an Apple Store. I also learned some tips and tricks related to quickly finding network information on a Mac and getting a free developer account for educators that will actually allow you to develop apps without paying. I did ask them about Apple's push into AI and while they did not give any new information on what Apple might be planning, they did emphasize that newer products, such as the iPhone 12 and beyond already use AI and will continue to be platforms moving forward for doing AI related tasks. 

George Couros' keynote, Embracing Innovation to Help Every Learner Find Success in Their Own Way was a rapid fire full of stories of making connections and building relationships. Some of the main points I got out of it was the importance of relationship building and storytelling. Relationships take the fear and uncertainty out of approaching someone for questions and help. He talked about a teacher who wanted to be on Twitter and as he was talking to her, he asked her why. Her reply was that other people were on it and since he didn't think that was a good reason so he started to dig a little and ask her about her class. One of the projects the students were working on was recording the growth of plants, so they set up an Instagram account instead where they could post the progress of the plants. It ended up being very successful with students and parents involved in the project and turned the teacher into an advocate for innovating in her classroom. 

AI-Powered Education: Innovations in Instruction + Professional Learning, featured Melissa Solema and Jeremy Hunter from the Ohio Learning Community where they provide free technology courses to educators. This session focused specifically on a course they have for AI and gave a good overview of practical uses of AI in education, such as lesson planning and content creation. They also provided some links to sites for discovering new AI tools and a specific AI for lesson creation. 

In Game Design as a Lens for Learning, Drew Farrell gave a great overview of how elements of gaming can be used for education. While I didn't get much new information, the session did give me an opportunity to review the elements of gaming that make it a good educational choice. Things such as goal setting, flow, balanced difficulty, feedback, narrative, socialization, and fun can allow students to learn in a positive way. 

For Wednesday, some of the sessions I am considering attending are: A New Library System for Ohio's Academic Libraries & New Opportunities for Student Learning, The Power of Questioning in the Age of Generative AI, Using Trendy Technology to be and Instructional Designer, Using Drones in Video Production, and Artificial Intelligence for Educators. I am looking forward to what I will discover in these sessions!

Preview: Instructurecon in Denver

 This year's Instructurecon for Canvas in Denver and I'll be attending! Ohio University recently accepted Canvas as our new LMS and we are now working on transitioning from Blackboard. So far, it's been busy
with a lot of work, but that also makes it enjoyable. I believe that this conference will be a great way to dive into Canvas and speak with others about it so that we have more resources to help us. 

There appears to be a fair amount of support for conference attendees with several discussion postings for first timers, networking strategies, and session suggestions. It is a sold out conference, so I suspect it will be pretty crowded. 

Here are some of my general thoughts on attending this conference. Since I don't have a lot of experience with Canvas yet, my session choice has been a little different. They have a total of 146 sessions with a wide variety and I've tried to register for some sessions that deal more with setup and training so that I can focus on some of that as we move into integrating Canvas at our institution. Another area I've tried to focus on is course design which will help with assisting faculty as they move into their courses. You can see my 14 selections below. Interestingly enough, as I was going through the sessions you could add ones that you had an interest in and I ended up with another 50 on that list, so it looks like the conference needs to be about a week long for me😁 Keynote speakers. Often they are more general and try to be inspirational or at least thought provoking. Instructurecon doesn't seem to be an exception to this. I think the one I am most looking forward to is Arianna Huffington since I've heard her in programs on NPR. Usually I try to read, watch, or listen to material they've produced. For these keynotes, I've found more material available for Arianna and Deepak.

1. Opening Keynote: Moments of Inspiration and Connection
2. How to Become a Course Design Superhero
3. Canvas Certified Programs: Learn Research-Based Best Practices for Online and Blended Learning
4. Faculty Professional Development through the Advancing Excellence in Online Teaching Program
5. Keynote: Moments of Learning, Innovation and Well-Being
6. Creating Meaningful Engagement with Canvas
7. Designing for Consistency: A Canvas Course Co-Design Project for Enhanced Student Experience
8. Harnessing the Power of Interactive Training
9. Turning a Flexible Assessment Approach into a Canvas Integration
10. It’s to Your Advantage: A Guide to LTI Integrations
11. Creating a Pathway for Accessible Course Design
12. Best of ICON 23- HiED Edition
13. Closing Keynote :Moments of Awareness
14. UnConference

I am looking forward to everything that this conference has to offer and will be posting some thoughts for each day, so feel free to check back for those in the next few days. Attending the conference or just have some thoughts? Let me know in the comments 😀

Ohio Higher Education Computing Council Conference 2023

 Impressions from OHECC 2023

During the second week of May, I attended the Ohio Higher Education Computing Council conference at Wright State University.  Last year, I was able to attend the one at Ohio University where I work and because of that experience, I was looking forward to the conference this year. 

I really enjoy this type of smaller regional or state conference. The major conferences, like ISTE are great for the sheer size and amount but I always feel I get overwhelmed with choices at those and don't feel I get as much as a connection with people than at a smaller conference. 

OHECC was a half day of presentations on Wednesday, a full day on Thursday, and then ended on Friday at lunch which gave us enough time to get home at a reasonable time.

Besides six presenters from OHIO, we had a nice contingent of participants that attend the conference. Besides meeting new people in the field from other places, it was nice to get to connect with people at my university since I don't often see them face to face anymore. 

On Wednesday afternoon after the keynote speaker, I attended a  session on Instructional Technology/End User Support where we talked about a few different topics. Later in the afternoon, Jeffrey Wolfe & Sally Smathers from Ohio University presentation titled, Connecting Front-line Employees to University Initiatives focused on Objects and Key Results (OKR). It was nice to hear another area's perspective on this and how they implemented it. They were able to set objectives using the framework and are continuing to move forward and expand what they are doing with it. 

In the evening on Wednesday, we had dinner at the National Museum of the United States Air Force which was a real treat! It is made up of four hangers with over 350 planes and thousands of other artifacts. We had a few hours to explore it with friends, but you could easily spend a full day there. I really enjoyed the rockets and some of the experimental planes.

Thursday, I started off with a presentation Rob Perry from Veeam and David Belville from Ohio University titled, Ohio University Data Protection - Veeam Software Corporation. This is not something I normally deal with, but it was informative and allowed me to see how we work with a vendor at OHIO to protect our systems. I particularly liked the graphic that showed how our data is backed up and illustrated the 3-2-1 backup rule. The last morning session I attended was, Demystifying Assistive Technologies by Laura Fathauer (Miami) & Jill Bateman (Ohio University). This session was excellent at showing how assistive technology is really for everyone and what ways we can better argue for implementation using legal, moral, and business reasons. Video can be a powerful way to get your message across and to do that they showed several, but one that stuck with me was Sady, which shows that when we design technology for everyone, then anyone can use it. 

I was also able to take an IT campus tour at Wright State during the afternoon which was insightful. We got to see several of the classrooms including a large interactive one. Tom Hanks is associated with them and they have a building there named after him which houses a Mac computer editing lab and a theater among other things. We also go to see their server room, which I found fascinating. Lots of noise!

active learning classroom

large lecture auditorium

film reel

Wright Flyer replica in library

suction cup to lift floor panel

servers

Thursday afternoon wrapped up with time for a vendor showcase. They had about 40 vendors there and I did take the time to talk to almost all of them. Unfortunately, most of them dealt with backend related services and I only saw about four that were relevant to me. Samsung had an interesting interactive display that could be useful in some cases. It's not as feature rich as the Surface Hub, but it is significantly less, which makes it attractive.  

Friday was my presentation day! My colleagues Michelle and Lindsey had a presentation scheduled the same time as mine so I was a little bummed that I wasn't able to attend theirs. I was also a little worried since it was the last day and an early time after a late night of trivia that it might be a little sparsely attended. However my fears were unfounded and it was well attended with lots of engagement! Maybe it was the fire alarm that went off earlier at the hotel ;-). My presentation was titled, Engaging Instruction with Microsoft Surface Hubs in the Classroom​ and was about what we found during our pilot of Surface Hub. I found a few interesting things out during the discussion we had. The first is that there are at least two other schools in Ohio using them, with one that has over 50! The second is that when I asked the question, "Who is interested in deploying these at your school or thinking about it?", no one raised their hand. I was a little taken aback, but some went on to explain that they had already chosen a system at a significant cost and were into a multi-year contract with support for these systems. The Surface Hub is expensive and won't serve every classroom that is on campus, so I can see where there would be hesitation. Hopefully the price for these will continue to drop they develop it. 

The sessions on Friday ended with a session for Instructional Technology/End User Support. This was a great way to end the sessions by coming together and discussing some topics that were relevant. This included student laptop programs, video meeting software, physical spaces on campus, funding big initiatives, MFA, and making stakeholders aware of changes to software.

Youngstown State currently has a program where they loan out up to 1400 laptops and other devices, such as mobile hotspots for $50 per semester. This type of program can be beneficial to both a university and students because it can reduce the need for a university to maintain computer labs and helps students in need have access to a computer without having to fully purchase one. This discussion also focused on the need for staff and faculty computers as well as they types of computers needed. Most schools have some parameters in place to determine what computer model would be needed for a user. The issue of providing stakeholders at a university accessible devices for use will continue to be an issue. 

The topic of which and how many types of video conferencing software we support at our universities. The majority supported one or maybe two, but there were one or two who supported more than that. Supporting multiple systems that do close to the same thing can be a real drain on resources and I believe make the student experience more difficult. One of the issues is that none of these systems are perfect and people get used to one and that becomes their favorite and it's hard to make that switch. The universities that support only one argue that having a fragmented choice make it really difficult to keep up with everything and one system keeps it simple for everyone. 

At universities and other places, enterprise software updates are great because you no longer need to go from computer to computer, but it has brought other challenges such as update fatigue and training issues. I try to keep up with roadmaps and version change announcements, but sometimes things will fall through the cracks. The most recent example is that when I went to go into a new Microsoft Whiteboard instance, I found that they had added a timer to use. It wasn't that big of a deal because it didn't affect usability but I have gone to a training, where suddenly a feature is removed or changed and that can be an issue. Imagine going into a classroom expecting something to work the way it always has and it has suddenly changed or gone. This can throw off a lesson or a the very least affect your timing. We didn't seem to be able to come up with anything beyond communication and regular review, but we will continue to work on this.

Multi-factor authentication is another topic we discussed, mainly who is using it and how. On June 9, 2023 there is an update to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act that will go into effect and deals with universities having MFA for their stakeholders. Authentication fatigue also happens and many of us are working to reduce some of that and  we struggle with the software not always working as it is advertised to work. Working with vendors on this is a struggle. This is where training and support are also important and many of us have systems in place to support users as they try to set up the systems. Finally, looking to the future we talked about how big initiatives were paid with COVID-19 funds and we need to have better planning in place to that we can update these systems when needed. Several people mentioned that they are already working to come up with funding to purchase updated equipment in a more cyclical manner so that they can replace a little every year. We also talked about strategies such as replacing Macs every five years compared to PCs which are replaced every four years to help with offsetting costs for more expensive equipment. 

Another topic was our physical campuses and the infrastructure used to support that. Many of us are currently looking at 40-60 percent of spaces on campus as being under utilized. At this point, this issue is better suited to a university wide discussion, but we talked about how we can support that with data and communication of what resources are being used.

I found the conference to be well worth my time and enjoyed talking to people from other universities as well as my own. Getting a chance to talk about issues and learn new things in formal sessions and informal get-togethers was valuable. One of my biggest take-aways in general is that we all are facing many of the same issues and conferences help us to come together and talk about them, which makes them valuable. 

Below is a new feature to my posts that I am adding to help me better share and reflect on what I am reading. I don't have anything in the "read" section but hopefully that will grow shortly. 

What I'm Reading 

This is a current book list of what I am reading related to Academics and Technology. As I finish a book, I'll put a little posting in that week's blog post and move the book to what I've read and include a link to the post where I wrote about the book. 

• Why they can't write : killing the five-paragraph essay and other necessities by John Warner
• Reality is broken : why games make us better and how they can change the world by Jane McGonigal
• SuperBetter : a revolutionary approach to getting stronger, happier, braver, and more resilient* by Jane McGonigal
• Education and technology : key issues and debates by Neil Selwyn
• Creating a pipeline for innovation within your college or university : a guide for higher ed leaders and innovators by David Kiel
• Musicophilia : tales of music and the brain by Oliver Sacks
• The perfect wrong note : learning to trust your musical self by William Westney
• Learning innovation and the future of higher education by Joshua Kim and Edward Maloney
• The real work : on the mystery of mastery by Adam Gopnik 
• Engaging in the scholarship of teaching and learning : a guide to the process, and how to develop a project from start to finish by Cathy Bishop-Clark and Beth Dietz-Uhler
• The real work : on the mystery of mastery  by Adam Gopnik
• Shortchanged : how Advanced Placement cheats students byAnnie Abrams

What I've Read

This is a book list of what I read related to Academics and Technology. If you click on the title it will take you to the post where I wrote about the book. 

Week in Review March 24

 Welcome to this week's review of technology related articles that I found relevant to the work I do in education. Please share any insights you have or any articles in the comments section. Happy Reading!

AI generated painting of a crow on a sycamore tree

Teaching In The AI-Powered Future by Justin Louder - This is part of a three blog series put on by Anthology  that will culminate with a live webinar on Tuesday, March 28. The author writes that PWC conducted  a survey in 2017 and reported that 72% of respondents believed AI would be the most significant business advantage in the future. Six years later I believe we are starting to see beginning aware of this among the general population, including educators. As educators, we are still in the exploration stage of the process, but it's reaching the point where we can easily use it in the classroom. AI has been here awhile, but this year has seen use turn the corner in ease of use and awareness that I think will only have it grow more quickly. The post goes on to talk about personalization, intelligent tutoring systems (ITS),  and VR/AR. He also discusses some challenges such as bias and privacy issues.

How does something like ChatGPT work? I am glad you asked! Many don't consider something like ChatGPT true AI and I tend to agree with them. It is what is known as a large language model (LLM) that will basically take a word and based on the frequency of what it has in its dataset place a word after it (this is an extremely simplified explanation and a lot more goes into it, but that is how I think of it). This allows it to come up with writing that seems to make sense and is plausible. For the most part I think it works well is useful, but I don't think you can trust it yet. There are many articles about the moral implications (OHIO access), the accuracy, and that they will often just make something up to fit the output that is requested. However, I do believe that we have seen some real potential from AI and it will get better. Maybe not perfect, but better! Anyway, if you want a better understanding of how ChatGPT works, I recommend reading What Is ChatGPT Doing … and Why Does It Work? (very long but fascinating!) by Stephen Wolfram and The inside story of how ChatGPT was built from the people who made it by Will Douglas Heaven. If you aren't familiar with Stephen Wolfram's but I would encourage you to take a look at his other posts, since he has some great insights.

This article What Students Want (and Don’t) From Their Professors by Colleen Flaherty touches on a lot about how I feel about instruction in higher education. "Outside of the education program at USC Aiken, nearly all of Walsh’s professors lecture nearly all the time, he says. With one exception—a professor of biology who facilitated lively lab discussions prompted by images—Walsh, a senior, can’t name a single professor who’s used 'different teaching styles to engage us as learners.'" I think this statement is significant in that as educators we need to constantly evaluate the instructional methods that are used. I am no longer teaching full-time, but using different methods for teaching is important. Recently I've been exploring the use of gaming in the classroom, and I think that it might provide some help in solving two of the barriers to success that students feel hinder them: teaching style and mental health. If you are unfamiliar with Jane McGonigal's video on making a better world this is a good place to start exploring gaming in education. 

How Online Teaching Can Promote Empathy by Lisa J. Anderson discusses that online teaching can..."help lay the groundwork for a new emphasis on empathy as a driver of academic success, including how best to incorporate student voices into courses."

Here is an article that is a good reminder of Instructional Design Best Practices Archives by Matthew Lynch 

Here is a fun video to get your weekend started!

Five a Week- Pilot

This is the start of a new series since I am trying to get more writing done. This is part of my effort to build a writing habit, since that is something I struggle with at times.

Several names popped into my head as I was trying to figure out what to call the series.

• Five a Day
• Five a Week
• Five for Five
• Five in Five
• This Weeks Five

I decided to go with Five a Week and then a subtitle of a theme if I can figure one out from the postings. This week it is just "Pilot". Ha! Very creative I know. 

I do a lot of web research looking for interesting articles on education and technology. This will be an effort to put down five of these resources that I feel are worth sharing. I figure that it is something simple that I can do to start getting into the habit.

I ended up with twenty three articles/resources that I felt would qualify and narrowed it down to five that I thought were what I wanted to share. I don't necessarily have any criteria in mind for selecting. Right now I think what I am concentrating on is whether I find it interesting and if I think other people will find them worth their time. I also have some topics in mind such as technology, education- theory and applied, accessibility, the future, and something fun. So, without further ado here is the list. 

The first is an article from The Evolllution, which deals with topics in higher education. Small Colleges Grapple with the Future of Enterprise Technology, by Marty Ringle which specifically looks at Enterprise systems vs a best-of-breed for database needs for small colleges. Since I work at a small college this seems particularly relevant to me and I think we often question this issue. While it is focused on small college, I believe that large institutions struggle with this question as well. There are lots of technology solutions out there that people can now use and IT departments can struggle with keeping students and data protected and useful to the institution.

It is hard to keep anyone's attention for a long period and teaching is no exception. While my job is to focus a lot on the technology side of learning, I believe engagement is a big part of this process. How to Make Your Teaching More Engaging by Sarah Rose Cavanagh looks at how we can help students engage in the learning process. It's a long article, but I think it is worth taking the time to read. Find a cozy area and plan to spend about 30 minutes. This might seem like a long time in your busy schedule, but the author does have some great insights. The author covers topics such as why care about engagement, four key principles, suggestions, and examples.

Most of us are stressed for time and getting things done. Elizabeth Grace Saunders in her post, How to Get Your To-Do List Done When You’re Always in Meetings gives some good advice on checking things off your to-do list. For most of us, having the perfect block of time doesn't happen that often. For example, with this post I decided that I couldn't devote hours to working on it. It's just one of those things I struggle with; finding a perfect time. So, I approached it a just listing the links I thought I would share and then coming back later to write the filling. This seems like a good approach and I hope to keep it up for the series.

I love reading and often think that Oblomov had the perfect life of reading in bed (not really). I always have a lot checked out from the library (currently 20) but ones I buy. 12 Books You Need on Your Leadership Bookshelf, by Peter DeWitt gives us some insight on what to read for our leadership skills. You may argue that you are not a leader, but I would counter that most of us are in some capacity and that it is important for everyone to work in this skill. I was surprised that I hadn't read any of these, so it's time to pick a few. A few that look most interesting to me are Digital Leadership: Changing Paradigms for Changing Times (Corwin Press) by Eric Sheninger and Hacking Leadership (Times 10 Publications) by Joe Sanfelippo and Tony Sinanis. Take a look at the other ten to see what interests you.

Here is one for fun and education. Wingspan by Elizabeth Hargrave in a game about birds. A game? About birds? "Why would I be interested in that?" you say. Board games have been going through a renaissance and there are a lot of interesting ones out there. This one strikes me as particularly notable because it adds many of the elements we look for in a good game such as sensation, fantasy, narrative, challenge, fellowship, discovery, expression and submission which is attributed to  Marc LeBlanc, an educator and designer.

For this posting, I decided to leave the others that I considered below in case anyone feels like seeing them. I may not do this every time, but since they are already here I thought I would leave them. Let me know if you think I should have switched out any of the ones above for those below.

See you next week!

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Education and Technology: Key Issues and Debates

As We May Think

Conference Packing: What to Take

Conferences and Packing Tech 

Love them or hate them conferences are often a necessary aspect to working in academia. One of my big fears of attending conferences isn't speaking in front of people or getting bored. No, my biggest fear anymore is forgetting some kind of technology that I need to have an effective conference. 

So, what to bring? Well really, it can often depend on who you are, what your purpose is, and what you want to get out of the conference. If you are more of a minimalist and aren't presenting you might not bring much more than a smartphone and a charger. If you really enjoy lots of gadgets (like me) and are presenting, you might bring several different devices and lots of options to cover situations that might happen. I suspect that most people fall somewhere in between. 

I've created a list of tech packing possibilities below that might help you decide what to take according to your purpose or needs. Some of this equipment may seem redundant. Why do you need a laptop and a tablet? Why have a plug adapter for the USB cable to my phone when I can just use the laptop to charge it? I tend to live by the Boy Scout motto "Be Prepared". While it may seem like extra stuff to carry, it can also provide you with a lot of flexibility. For example, I could leave my laptop in the hotel room (securely stashed away) and use my tablet for general conference activities and then use my laptop in the room in the evening. Depending on you and your situation, you may not need everything on my list but this will give you some ideas. At the bottom, you will find some additional tips and tricks for getting the most out of a conference. After all, if you have to attend you may as well try and get something useful out of it. I have also made a printable checklist  https://goo.gl/ztNRsh that you can use for your convenience.

Keep in mind that these ideas are based on the conferences that I've attended (mostly tech and educational) and you may find the culture and needs different in your field. Also, I link to several products, but I am not endorsing anything. They are just mentioned for convenience sake and there are many comparable products out there that you may want to use instead. 

If you are just attending-

• Decent travel bag or backpack- Yes, you will probably receive a conference bag. Yes, they are mostly useless for anything more than carrying conference swag. Having a good bag keeps your things organized and makes it easier on you.  
• Laptop- Fully charged and software updated. Make sure you update your software a few days before the conference and that you try all the programs that you will be using before you go. Nothing like doing an operating system update and later finding out that the app you wanted to use no longer works.
• Laptop power cord
• Laptop carrying case- Things can get banged around and it's good to have a little extra protection if you don't normally use one. 
• Smartphone- Fully charged, updated, and backed up.
• Phone power cord
• Phone case
• Tablet- Fully charged, updated, and backed up.
• Tablet power cord
• Tablet case
• USB power plug for your phone and tablet- While most airports, hotels, and some conference centers have USB outlets, they may not or you may need to get power from a wall. 
• A travel power strip such as the one made by Belkin- This can serve two purposes. First it can supply you with extra outlets and it can give you some wiggle room if all the outlets are taken. Simply ask a person using an occupied outlet if you can swap your strip with their power cord and then plug in their cord to your strip. You both win. 
• A battery power bank for charging any of your devices- Sometimes you get in a situation where you can't get access to an outlet and need to charge your device. This allows you the option to keep a device powered up. There are small ones and large ones, decide on one that fits your needs.
• An extra USB cable- You never know when you might need an extra one because of misplacement, damage, or accidents. 
• Extra pen/pencil- It is also nice to have a permanent marker, like a Sharpie handy. 
• Business cards- While many people can exchange information via smartphones, it's nice to have some of these on hand. 
• Post-it notes- Your choice. Often you will get some at a conference, but I like to bring a small pack just in case. 
• Earphones
• A piece of paper with conference contacts and other information- Comes in handy if you loose your phone. 
• A few extra clips for attaching things- I like to use carabiners and rubber twist ties.  
• Microfiber cloth- For cleaning dirty screens/glasses. 
• Curvy Man- To use to wrap cords around.
• Spare batteries- If you have anything that requires something like AA batteries, either make sure you install fresh batteries or bring a few extra along. 
• Water bottle- It is nice to have one to avoid over priced drinks and it's more likely that you will stay hydrated if you have something on you to fill up at a drinking fountain. 
• Lanyards- I use these for USB flash drives. I find I am much more likely to keep one if I attach it to a lanyard. 
• Earplugs- You never know if a hotel is going to be noisy or not. Earplugs can help you get some sleep. Just make sure you use an alarm that vibrates so that you wake up.  
• Small cases- I find these invaluable for keeping flash drives, cables, and little parts organized. 

Additional things you are presenting-

• USB flash drive with any files that you may need- That way, if something does happen to your laptop you may be able to borrow someone else's.
• Dongle- If your laptop,tablet, or phone needs a special cable to attach to a projector that you may be using during your presentation. Often Apple products will need one, but there may to other equipment out there nowadays that require one. This should have been made clear to you in the presenter information that you received from the conference. Most projectors will accept VGA connections, but some newer ones may do HDMI. If unsure, double check with the conference contacts. 
• Folder- With handouts and presentation outline if needed. 
• Laser pointer/clicker with fresh batteries- There is nothing worse than trying to use a clicker and the battery is dead. 
• Have at home a current backup of your computer on an external drive. If something happens to your laptop at least you have a recent copy at home that you can install on another computer. In extreme cases, you could have someone overnight this to you if needed. 
• Files that you will be using at the conference backed up to some cloud storage service like Drive, Box, or Dropbox. This will give you another option if something happens to the device that you were planning on using during your presentation. 

Optional items-

• Portable mini projector- Sometimes conferences don't communicate very well what presenters are required to bring or maybe the projector suddenly malfunctions. This will give you an option.
• Bluetooth speaker- Headphones are great, but a speaker allows you to share with others. These are often light and compact nowadays. 
• Blank USB flash drive- You can use this to let someone borrow or to place in other people's computers at the conference. If someone has a virus, you won't compromise your other files by using this one. 
• Camera- While phones these days take excellent pictures, having a dedicated camera can be nice and will allow your phone to be used for other things. 
• Mini tripod- Good for taking better pictures and videos.

Tips and other things to consider-

• What conference should you attend? I personally get more out of small regional conferences than big international ones. Big conferences are often overwhelming and it is hard to take it all in. I remember the first International TESOL Conference I went to where the program book seemed an inch or so thick and I spent several hours just going through it trying to highlight everything I wanted to see. I've found regional conferences much more personable and intimate where I've felt I've gotten to know people better. Plus, your money will go further. Consider going to several smaller conferences every year and one of the big ones every other year or so. 
• Consider using a product like Tile for your devices. Conferences can be confusing, distracting, and tiring. It's easy to misplace or forget something and these can give you a little extra piece of mind and security.
• Take 10-15 minutes before getting started to reflect on your plan for the day. What is your schedule like? What are you planning on doing/seeing? If you are presenting, do you have everything you need before leaving your hotel room? Have you set aside a little time before your presentation to go over it one more time?
• If you are presenting, take 10-15 minutes to reflect on it and jot a few things down. I know, usually we give a big sigh of relief that it is over and want to go on and have some fun. However, by just taking a few minutes to reflect and write some of your thoughts down it can go a long way to helping you improve and prepare for future presentations. 
• Take 10-15 minutes at the end of the day to reflect on what you did. What did you see? What did you like? What concerned you? Any particular points in a presentation that you heard jump out at you either to possible topics or things you would like to follow up in the future? Who did you meet? 
• The week after the conference spend some time looking at your reflections and come up with a more formal report that could either be posted to a blog, sent out to colleagues, or submitted to your department chair. This helps distribute the knowledge that you gained and lets people know what your interests may be. In addition, the report or posting will help you cement ideas and topics that you may want to pursue in the future. Also, follow up with any contacts that you made. Neither of these things have to be wordy, but establishing a post conference connection to people you met there, will make it more likely that you contact one another in the future.
• Consider doing some sightseeing. Conferences are often held in cities you haven't traveled to before. Get out and do some exploring and enjoy some time away from the conference. 

If you are looking to explore some more thoughts and ideas on conferences, a friend and former colleague Dr. Ryan Straight, Assistant Professor of Educational Technology at the University of Arizona has created a podcast on this topic. Check out the New Professor and see what he has to say about them. 

So, what kind of tech do you bring along to conference? Any other tips and tricks to add? Post them in the comments. 

Update: March 22, 2019

In TWIST Bianca Woods wrote a post on  Community Recommendations: What Do You Bring With You to a Conference? There are a lot of good ideas here. Besides all the tips, I found Shannon Tipton's post It’s 2018, What’s in my Conference Bag? interesting because she has done several throughout the years and it's neat to see her changes.