The Westerville City Schools Ed Tech Team shared their expertise at five conferences during the summer, covering a variety of topics.
Drew Farrell, Jen Fry, and Caley Nestor Baker participated in Olentangy Local School District’s Think Tank event on May 31, presenting during the Ignite! session on Developing Personalized Professional Development (PD) Opportunities for Staff. They offered steps for success as well as specific examples of how personalized PD can look from building to building and within different learning communities.
Drew Farrell, Jen Fry, and Caley Nestor Baker spoke at the 2018 Summer Learning Academy, which ran from June 19 - 20 at Ohio Dominican University. This event focused on providing opportunities for teachers to examine education and consider what the future should look like in our schools. Presentations targeted creating an environment of critical thinking and risk taking and fostering innovation in the classroom. Fry’s topic was Blended Learning in Schoology. Farrell and Nestor Baker presented Better, Faster, Stronger: Lesson Planning for Today’s Learners, which offered strategies for using the TPACK Framework to engage students and increase student achievement.
The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Conference & Expo, which is recognized globally as the most comprehensive educational technology conference in the world, was held in Chicago June 25 - 27. Rachel Lacy’s topic was Developing Blended Learning Leaders in Grades 2-5. She discussed sharing best practices learned by working with a cohort group of elementary teachers. She also imparted tools, strategies, coaching cycle tips, and resources to achieve student-centered, personalized instruction and teacher leadership.
Rachel Lacy, Lane Halterman, Becca Yanni and Sherry Birchem participated in Schoology NEXT, a national conference for Schoology users held July 16-18 in San Diego. Lacy spoke about Developing Blended Learning Leaders in Grades 2-5, with an emphasis on utilizing Schoology. Halterman, Yanni and Birchem reported on Using Schoology for a Building Staff to manage workflow for teachers and streamline communication.
Lacy also lectured at the Big Think Conference, on August 8 and 9, hosted by Hilliard City Schools. This event covered a wide range of topics in an effort to break the mold of ineffective practices and support educators as they work to help all stakeholders reach their full potential. She presented Developing Blended Learning Leaders in Grades 2-5 to highlight useful strategies for teachers and administrators interested in incorporating blended learning into their classroom.