FETC 2018 Reflections

"For nearly 40 years, the Future of Education Technology Conference has gathered the most dynamic and creative education professional from around the world for an intensive, highly collaborative exploration of new technologies, best practices and pressing issues. It's impact has been felt by thousands of districts, schools, educators, and ultimately students...FETC is the nations largest independent education technology event focused on leveraging technology to drive preK-12 student success...attended by nearly 10,000 professionals from across the US and around the works."

From January 23-26 the Future of Education Technology Conference (FETC) 2018 took place in Florida. The conference has five program tracks and each track offers sessions, workshops, and numerous learning opportunities. There are also several keynotes during the week as well as an amazing exhibition floor with vendors from all over.

The opening keynote was Sir Ken Robinson. I have had the pleasure of hearing him speak a number of times over the past few years and I always come away excited to be an educator. "The aims of education: To enable students to understand the world around them and the talents within them so that they can become fulfilled individuals and active, compassionate citizens."

Doing the job I do, I was drawn to workshops and sessions that dealt with maker and STEM education. There were two great sessions that I quickly want to mention. Sylvia Martinez did a hands-on session on "STEAM you can wear". This is an area of making I want to start to incorporate more in our Lab here at 'Iolani. Another session that covered a topic that is on my radar was "Arduino 101" by Kris Swanson. He introduced us to Adafruit's Circuit Playground and now I am hooked.

Not only did I attended FETC, but I had the honor of representing 'Iolani School in three different presentations. I lead one session on "How to use a laser cutter: With innovative projects from different grade levels." This session showcased some of the curriculum projects that our students do, using the laser cutter. I also took part in two different poster sessions, "A Case Study: So You Want to Have a Makerspace?" and "10 Lessons Learned While Working Together: Curriculum, STEM and a Makerspace."

FETC was a great four days of learning, sharing, and networking, and I'm thankful to 'Iolani for allowing me to attend and represent our students and teachers.