As educators, we need to be constantly enriched by new experiences and new learning.  Our  first day at the 2014 ECOO Conference certainly did this for all of us.  We started before 7:00am at the registration desk and were soon into the first keynote and then the half and full-day sessions.

I love the Minds on Media full day session – I really think it is one of the highlights of the entire conference.

I was able to take in four sessions throughout the day.  I find you really need to sit and talk with the presenters to get a good sense of what they are presenting.  Unlike the next two days where we will be running from workshop to workshop, today there was time to sit and talk to the presenters, try out some new tools and pick up some incredibly valuable resources.

I probably spent the most time in the Mindcraft session.  I am certainly no good at playing the game, but I am starting to get the concept.  Like makerspaces, one of the ideas is to give students a creative outlet to express their ideas in a new and innovative format.  I am starting to see all sorts of applications back at school.  I now have a great set of resources and a wonderful contact person to go to when I get bogged down.

I also learned about Ubuntu and how this operating system can be used to breathe life into old, slow laptops.  I can’t wait to try this out with some of the old machines we have kicking around our house.

There’s lots to learn talking to the vendors as well. I had some great talks with vendors from Northern Micro, Copernicus, Antidote, SmartpenCentral and Read & Write. I already have resources that I want to purchase for our school that I hope will benefit students and teachers.

The networking possibilities are endless.  Tonight, the learning will continue with a dance back in the main convention center.