Transition and change can be a good thing; this year I will call it evolution. The Ohio Educational Technology Conference (OETC 2014), formerly known as the e-TECH Conference, is emerging as the nation’s top conference for educational technology. Changes this year included the addition of higher ed, greater emphasis on emerging technology and gaming, sessions targeted to instruct rather than just be informative, and changing the design and flow to increase visibility of speakers, sessions and vendors. All these things led to the largest Ohio ed-tech gathering to date.
The following are a few highlights from the conference. The OH-TECH consortium was by far the most visible organization, sporting a futuristic-looking booth that spotlighted many of the organizations and offerings, such as Dr. Alan Chalker's discussion of the Ohio Supercomputer Center's Young Women’s Summer Institute. YWSI is a STEM program for young Ohio women in middle school that challenges them to problem-solve STEM-related issues using technology. Karen Boyd, from eStudent Services, discussed the statewide eTutoring program for college students who need assistance with their studies.
Microsoft and Dell came equipped to demonstrate their newest devices and talking up new offerings for free tech resources, such as Microsoft 360 and Dreamspark development tools available for learning institutions and students.
Gaming and robotics were hot topics this year at the conference. Jeff Kuhn, from Ohio University, brought a pair of Occulus Rift headsets and was providing demonstrations, to the excitement of many attendees.
Kodu Game Lab discussed how gaming can be an effective method for instruction in the classroom, as well as demonstrated tools that can be used to teach students how to code. This is very similar to code.org, whose mission is teach students to code and which was discussed in several sessions, including Flipping Google+ The Bird – led by me (Brad Henry, eStudent Services Technology Director) and Dr. Tracey Stuckey-Mickell from The Ohio State University – where teachers learned how to integ
rate game play, using Angry Birds and Marshmallow Peeps, along with social networking tools, instructional flipping methods and constructivist methods of learning.
Dr. Beverly Wolfe, Presidential Innovation Fellow from UMASS, discussed the emerging technology of artificial intelligent tutoring systems and their use in supporting instruction. Fellow artificial intelligence guru from Carnegie Mellon University, Dr. Jack Mostow, demonstrated how AI is being used with first- and second-graders to improve reading comprehension with Project Listen. Project Listen gained a lot of interest from several schools because of how it could be used as a tool to support the third-grade reading guarantee.
All of the blue Pearson covered bags being carried by attendees and ruby-colored OH-Zone signs were an indication that not even a polar vortex was going to stop all of the energy that this year’s conference generated. Record attendance, great keynote speakers, amazing technology and learning demonstrate that Ohio is a leader in technology in education.
