This is the second part of my 2 part article of some of the great sessions I saw at ISTE 2022. (part 1 is here) These sessions took place on June 28 and June 29. Anyone who has an ISTE 2022 pass will be able to view these on the ISTElive website for the next 6 months. Since I haven’t been able to watch some of the sessions that took place at ISTE, I can’t say these are the very best, but you won’t go wrong spending a few hours watching these great presentations.
The Future of Education with Levar Burton
This was an amazing interview with LeVar Burton. Donnie Piercey (Kentucky teacher of the year) was a comfortable and insightful interviewer so I felt like I was sitting in the room with LeVar talking about his life and career. They also talked about how Levar was writing new books for BYJU’s Osmo learning system, an AR EdTech app. There were also some great insights on how to avoid teacher burnout and how storytelling might help us get through this fraught political moment.
Game Design and Unreal Engine
One of my few disappointments with the ISTE conference is the number of sessions, especially VR sessions that were not recorded. This was especially true with most of the Unreal sessions but luckily this presentation was recorded and it is a good, hands on look at what teachers could be doing in this space. It included interaction from the audience and some great views of Unreal worlds. Steve Isaacs, a former teacher who now works for Epic, also hinted about something interesting in the future between Fortnight and Unreal related to user created Fortnight worlds. Brian Dickman and Ian Southwell also did a great job.
Creating Online: Virtual Play for Makerspaces
Abbey Ramdeo had an excellent workshop on helping students use TinkerCad, a free web based tool. I enjoyed that I was able to log onto TinkerCad and create something while she was explaining how things worked. Abbey was also presenting virtually from Canada which I think is a great way for ITSE to expand their outreach.
Our Traditions Contest, A Way to Use Augmented Reality
ISTE excelled in having presenters from other countries, and also it had many students presenting. This lesson/tutorial managed both with aplomb. It was run completely by four young students from Mexico: Mateo de Obeso, Anabela Gonzalez, Rossana Gonzalez, and Pablo Villarreal. After a lesson on how to create a Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) ofrenda, they imported it virtually into the room.
The kids went on to teach the adults in the room how to make their own ofrenda and then went around the room helping their adult students complete their own art. A wonderful quote, “That is really great for the first time.” These kids were both unflappable and encouraging like the great teachers they are.
Note: Their camera person followed the student teachers as they moved around the room, which I haven’t seen in any other presentation. My son teaches Unreal at the college level and had enormous problems teaching mixed virtual/in person classes because he couldn’t move from the podium to check his student’s work. It made a huge difference for both the virtual audience and the teachers to have that extra person moving the camera.
Dyslexia: Superpower in Disguise and Super Tools to Assist
I was interested in seeing how many poster presentations were available virtually and this is one of the best. Some of my family members have struggled with dyslexia and I found this presentation heartwarming and informative. Dr. Nikosi Darnell and Dr. Rebekah McPherson had a lot to contribute both from a professional and personal viewpoint. I especially loved the idea of dyslexic thinking as being recognized as a powerful way that people with dyslexia navigate the world.
BONUS: DigCit VR Journey (not recorded)
I didn’t count this session in my 5 great sessions. I experienced this VR journey live but it wasn’t recorded, so I am sorry to say you can’t watch Jaime Donally discuss VR spaces while she led our group through a maze. It was fun to play with the 3D system in real time and interact with other people.
I hope you take the time to watch these recordings and many of the others from ISTE Live 2022!