2016 MACUL Conference

Michigan Virtual University Spring Synergy Session

Kristin Flynn and Student Learning Services Team put together another successful Spring Synergy Session for Michigan Virtual School Instructors. This was a great way to learn from other educators from across the state.

http://www.centennialbulb.org/

Annette Gleason, Michigan Online Teacher of the year, presented about Personalized Student Learning. This helped me to remember to focus on detailed feedback to students. To find a balance between efficiency and good quality feedback is an integral part of being an online teacher. Her presentation reminded me to be caring, honest and committed to a growth mindset with my students.

Jamie Dewitt, Blending Learning Manager, really had a great presentation on the Blended Learning Continuum. The MyBlend program is an excellent resources for educators across the state. They offer free Professional Development as well as coaching to teachers for free across the state. Check out their program at http://myblend.org/

Kristi Peacock, Instructional Designer, presented on Accessibility in the classroom. Her passion for students was very apparent in her presentation as she talked about ensuring ALL students are able to be successful in a course. Accessibility in course design and instruction is essential to success and she reminded me of my obligation to ALL of my learners in my courses. Here are some great resources for screen reader technology.

Ben Ashby, Michigan Online Teacher of the Year, Runner up presented on Hooking Your Students with the Beat! I had a blast learning how using music to help students with memorization. Oh my goodness, I have got to start implementing music in my math courses. This would help students tremendously to remember formulae. I can't wait to implement this in my online courses, RIGHT AWAY! Here is an awesome video for Trigonometry that I can't wait to send to my online students on Monday.

Stephanie Pearsall and Becca Imthurm presented on Creating a Persona in the online classroom. What a great way to "Decorate" your online classroom. By theming your class, adding personal signatures, using colors and images that represent them as an instructor are all great idea. They have changed the way I present my courses already and I have learned a great deal from both of them from this presentation. I can't wait to implement these strategies in my courses. I definitely could use some improvement in this area.

Thursday - MACUL 

Desmos and Geogebra

This was an epic presentation explaining the power behind Desmos and Geogebra. Both of these tool will be instrumental in the both online instructional methods as well as online course tools to use in course curriculum. The power behind these tools for high school age students is unmatched anywhere on the web and will be excellent resources for future online courses.

Build a Chrome App

Another great tool to use to drive students to your classroom website. John Sowash delivers another exiting tool from Google. Though it takes a little file manipulation but there is no coding required to have an app. I can't wait to see what possibilities there are for our students. I plan to reach out to our team to see if this may be a possibility to have a Google Chrome App for our student website. This would help a lot for our students using Google Chromebooks to work on our courses.

Gamification

Todd Beard presents another inspiring session on Passion Based Learning (PBL). To design courses in this manner speaks to the gaming students we have in the classroom. Hacking the classroom in this manner would be tremendous and would engage students in a whole new way. Microsoft was luck to pick up such a passionate educator. He also integrated Coopertition into the classroom from the arena of FIRST Robotics.

Friday - MACUL

#MVUcoffeebreak

The Michigan Virtual University both did an excellent job with their booth this year. The resources from this organization are endless, thoughtful and just plain Awesome. They offer support from online course to blending learning opportunities for Face to Face teachers. The did an excellent job bringing educators to the booth to discuss strategies and the offerings at MVU by setting up a coffee shop. What an awesome idea! I felt bad asking for a cup since I worked there but I loved seeing our staff working as Baristas for the day

Microsoft

With the the growth of Google Apps in Education, I was wondering when Microsoft would get into the game. I got a chance to hang out with Todd Beard, Microsoft Innovative Educator Fellow. He is one of the most inspiring educates I have met today. His dedication to inspiring educators to hack the classroom with Gamification was an excellent presentation. I was also able to spend some time eating lunch with him on Friday discussing educational philosophy and how it might be able to enhance my craft as an online educator. I watched multiple educators come up to him and talk about their experiences. I hope we can find a way to get him to present at Collaboration of the Minds in August.

Michigan Virtual University iEducator Digital Learning Corps

These young educators are absolutely wonderful. They exemplify professionalism and Integrity. To watch them present and at the Michigan Virtual University booth was a sight to see. The awesome group of educators will be a tremendous edition to any school district in Michigan. Their attention to detail and connection to students is unmatched. I am proud to work with each and every one of these educators and wish them luck as they pursue their careers beyond Michigan Virtual University. MVU has really put together a stellar program for new educators.

Techsmith

I had an excellent talk with Techsmith about the possibility of some future professional development. I am dying to learn more about the tools we use as a staff. I feel I could expand my knowledge of tools and give my students a more enriched instructional experience. I look forward to working with them more. Their tools are an essential part of my job and I am not sure if I could do my job effectively without their software.

Final Thoughts

The 2016 MACUL conference was a tremendous opportunity afforded me but my employer, Michigan Virtual School. Everything was handled in a professional and thoughtful manner. I look forward to attending again in the future. Every year this conference is the highlight of my year. I always learn more and more. I get to network with some awesome people in education. The hotel I stayed in was tremendous and met all of my needs. My colleagues were all well rested and were able to participate in a positive way each day of the event. Though I would have loved to attend more sessions, there simply was no time. In the future, I look forward to more technology enriched, advanced sessions to help continue my growth as a Tech Savy Educator.