Educators should attend conferences for latest developments in technology
Technology that is used in educational spaces is growing rapidly and will need to be adaptable and meet the demands of individual schools’ needs. It is essential for educators to attend conferences, workshops and edcamps to gain knowledge about the various products and how they can best suit educators in the classroom. I travelled from South Africa to the USA annually (pre-pandemic) and now in 2022, to attend ISTE, the largest Edtech gathering in the USA.
Traditionally, it is attended by about 50, 000 delegates from all over the world and hundreds of workshops, poster sessions, presentations, and informal gatherings, before and after the daily program, are held daily. It is a buffet of new tech, new apps and software, expert training and guidance on current software and often the announcement of new features in time for the start of the school year in the USA.
I learned about the new features in the most popular apps and software which I then took back to South Africa and shared with my fellow educators. I met the people behind many of these programs and now have a direct line to their development team. Can you imagine asking an organisation like Kahoot – with 8 billion users – to include a new feature in their software and their development team says it’s a good idea and that they will work on it! I also spent some time looking at the growing popularity of E-sports, coding, programming, robotics, drones and chips like Microbit. These new fields are receiving significant interest from various education departments around the world. They feel that coding and robotics teach the requisite problem-solving skills while still engaging the learners and keeping them excited about learning. Another advantage to E-sports is that it also caters for a portion of the learners that are not great athletes or who struggle in a social context but when building worlds in Minecraft, or competing in various electronic sporting events, it gives them an opportunity to thrive!
Educators should attend local conferences, edcamps (which are free), sign up on their favourite apps and educational products as they often run free online events and training. Take advantage to learn and get ahead because the world and the job market around is evolving and we need to give our students the best opportunity to play a meaningful role in society.
