My Top 5 Resources from UTC 2016

This was my first year attending the Upstate Technology Conference sponsored by the Greenville County School District. Leading up to the conference I was extremely impressed by the organization and communication by its leaders. As a presenter, having an automatic entry into the quickly "sold out" conference was a definite plus. 

Here are just 5 of the tools from the 2-day conference and the resources that teachers can find very useful and have an immediate impact on student achievement.

1) Seesaw: This (still) fairly new student digital portfolio is already making waves in classrooms and the response from teachers, students and parents is enormous! Teachers can create "classes" where students post images with captions, videos, and much more then allow parents to access their student's work. Teachers must approve student posts before the entire class is then able to view, comment, and learn from each other. 

2) Apple Classroom: No, don't get this confused with Google Classroom. Both, although similar in name, provide uniquely different services. Apple Classroom's purpose is to ease the pain for teachers having to assist with remembering student Apple ID's, monitoring student activity on apps, and organizing each student's folders to allow easier access to apps, just to name a few. Teachers are able to view each student's iPad activity, push out apps, lock student access to certain apps, and share student work over Airplay. These are just a few of the features but I know teachers are going to breathe a deep sigh of relief over this program!

3) Sway: This presentation tool from Microsoft features drag and drop as its creation method. When most presentation tools require downloading images, videos and other resources from the net, Sway has built-in search for your presentation that allows the user to search and select. Then, Sway automatically adjusts the item to fit into the presentation with ease. Of course, if there's any adjustment you would like to make, then it's not a problem. Simply "emphasize" the size and you're ready to go. Here's a link to my Sway I used at UTC.  

4) Wonderopolis: Teaching our students to wonder is why all teachers do what they do. Wonderopolis provides daily wonders known as the Wonder of the Day. For example, "Why Do Athletes Stretch Before They Workout?" This question begins with an explanation and ultimately allows students to create their own "wonders". Interested in Project-Based Learning? Here is a great resource to get started.

5) Augmented Reality: Pokemon Go is just getting started and who knows when and where it will end. AR apps such as Animal Alphabet, Quiver Vision, and Aurasma bring reality and augmentation together causing students to be amazed and wonder "how in world does this work?" Students will not want to stop creating and then interacting with their work. These resources will engage students in the learning process and provide opportunities for students to share their learning and, perhaps, they will "catch them all!"

Aurasma