TCEA 2017: Educational Technology, PD & More

This week, educators from all over the country have been gathering in Austin, Texas for the 2017 TCEA Convention, one of the largest annual technology and education conferences in the US. "Hailed as the must-attend event of the year by passionate educators of all levels and specialties, this educational technology integration and best practices conference offers more than 900 presentations and workshops to build your teaching practice, 450 exhibiting companies to enhance your productivity and product knowledge, and numerous networking opportunities to extend your connections and grow your PLN for continuing collaborations."Founded in 1980, TCEA, which stands for Texas Computer Education Association, "is a global member-based organization supporting the use of technology in education. Enthusiastic participants have been tweeting about their favorite events all week, taking advantage of the platform's support of professional learning networks (PLNs) to build new connections and share learning. To see highlights from the week, check out #TCEA17.

TCEA hosted a number of professional development workshops, including a #personalizedPD session with Jessica Torres, Mandy Taylor, Todd Neslony, c0-author of Kids Deserve It!, and Jason Bretzmann, author of  Personalized PD: Flipping Your Professional Development. The session, titled Choice: Getting and Giving Personalized PD, helped educators answer the question: "what are we doing and what tools are we using to ensure that educators can take their learning, their passions, to the next level?" and "explore the mindset and tools needed to differentiate professional learning for today's 21st century educator." Check out some of the rich questions and insights posted by virtual participants at https://todaysmeet.com/CHOICE.

Check out some of the cool exhibitors that have been participating at TCEA this year:

LEGO Education

We are LEGO® Education. For 35 years we have been working with teachers and educational specialists like you to deliver playful learning experiences that bring subjects to life in the classroom and make learning fun and impactful. We have a wide range of physical and digital educational resources that encourage students to think creatively, reason systematically and release their potential to shape their own future.

Our solutions for teaching and hands-on learning inspire interest from humanities and language arts to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), targeted at preschool, elementary and middle school. In the US, close to 20,000 schools teach different subjects using LEGO Education solutions. These are based on the LEGO® system for playful learning combined with curriculum-relevant material and digital resources. With educational sets, lesson plans and curriculum material, assessment tools and teacher training and support, we can help you meet your curriculum objectives and provide you with the tools you need to make learning inspiring, engaging and effective.

Quizizz

Quizizz allows you to conduct student-pacedformative assessments in a fun and engaging way for students of all ages. The salient features include:

• Student-paced: Questions appear on each student's screen, so they can answer questions at their own pace, and review their answers at the end.
• BYOD: Can be played by students using any kind of device with a browser, including PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones.
• Thousands of public quizzes: Amazing teachers around the world create thousands of great questions on Quizizz every day! This community effort generates great content that everyone can use.
• Quiz Editor: The Quizizz editor is the most awesome quiz editor in the world! Well... we think so at least... do let us know if you don't agree :) We take the hassle out of creating quizzes by allowing you to pluck questions from any quiz, easily add images from the internet, auto-save your progress and tons of other features.
• Reports: Our reports give you detailed class-level and student-level insights for every quiz you conduct. You can also download the reports as an Excel spreadsheet.
• Quiz Customization: Teachers have multiple options to customize their quiz session to toggle the level of competition, speed and other factors.

Flocabulary

Flocabulary is a learning program for all grades that uses educational hip-hop music to engage students and increase achievement across the curriculum. Teachers at 20,000 schools use Flocabulary’s standards-based videos, instructional activities and student creativity tools to supplement instruction and develop core literacy skills.

Whether you're teaching elementary math or high school English, chances are we have you covered. With hundreds of songs and videos, Flocabulary has the content you need to engage your students and bring your lessons to life.

Flocabulary's multi-sensory approach of using music, rhythm and rhyme is supported by a profound body of academic research. Music facilitates memorization and recall of academic content, while the use of hip-hop and other culturally-relevant media increases student engagement.

If you're attending TCEA2017 this year, let us know what you enjoyed the most! If you weren't able to attend, don't worry! TCEA has already publicized the dates and locations for conferences through 2023 on their website.

(PS. Thanks to John Bimmerle for the shoutout!)