ISTE 2018 Chapter 4--Tuesday and Wednesday

Tuesday morning Andy and I were up early for the PLN Leaders Breakfast. He worked out in the flashback exercise room while I took an hours' bike ride for a little exercise, packed my Oculus Go into my backpack, and took a Lyft, mindful of the schedule. I had a plan. A few weeks before the conference I queried ISTE Director of Community Engagement Simon Helton about a time limit he, in an earlier email, had set for PLN Award introductions. "Really? 30 seconds?" Simon had responded that yes, there is so much to get through that we have to keep it short in order to get people to presentations and the PLN Community Fair. Okay. I decided that the only way I was going to make it through this was with humor. I adapted the Girl Scout Law:

Girl Scout Law

I will do my best to be honest and fair,
    friendly and helpful,
    considerate and caring,
    courageous and strong, and
    responsible for what I say and do,
and to 
    respect myself and others,
    respect authority,
    use resources wisely,
    make the world a better place, and
    be a sister to every Girl Scout. 

I had to narrow down my Girl Scout Law adaptation to reference only its first half, though darn, is Mary the queen of "using resources wisely," or what? But once I rephrased that portion of the Law I had only enough time to close with "In other words, she's a pretty darned perfect Girl Scout. Please join me in congratulating this year's recipient of the Virtual Pioneer of the Year Award, Mary Howard ."

After I had an image of my tiny speech I uploaded it to my Oculus Go library and had it on the library screen with the image of the little speech. The introduction was videoed by Andy, so there's no denying this happened:

Kind words from friend and Board member Dr. Sheryl NussbaumBeach on da twitter:

I'm just so proud of Mary and so happy the introduction didn't bomb!

After the breakfast, having completed our last official act, we spent time on the expo floor. We split up, and I ran into Bob and Rosie, who steered me to the Microsoft "world" on the Expo floor. Once there, I discovered amazing things about Office365, our MNPS office tools suite. I am intrigued by Immersive Reader and plan to share what I learned there and will pursue in online tutorial resources with teachers at my school. I got to view it in a 3D goggle presentation and then I had a 15 minute experience exploring Hololens! What fun. I want one at home, but at a current price tag of $3,985 per unit, I doubt we'll be using it in the classroom any time soon.

We met up for lunch at Giodarno's Pizza. But we had to have deep dish pizza in Chicago or risk being the laughing stock of our friends and families upon return home. But the PIZZA! Oh my!

The house tee-shirt the servers wore was black with white lettering: "I got stuffed in Chicago." After eating two pieces of a medium sized one I might have bought at tee, but I was feeling so plugged I felt I might have to get an XXL to fit me!

After Giordarno's Andy had to get with his NY peeps at the conference center and Mary wanted to do the Expo floor again so I headed over to the Marriott across the conference center to meet up with Jan Zanetis. She wanted to introduce me to a most interesting fellow who has a tech startup for helping young student athletes. You may well be hearing about Athlete Foundry over the near future, as they pursue a commercial model for student athlete support that sounds well-rounded, student-centered, and potentially playing-field-leveling. Perhaps more about that later.

Back at the conference, I met up with Andy and we made our way through the Poster Sessions. One of my enduring epiphanies at this year's ISTE is that one can make a conference of it without ever setting a foot into a "sit and git" session driven by a PowerPoint. We can do that in Second Life as well (and we can mirror the posters and the expo floor experiences). What we cannot do is actually be in the same physical location, looking into one another's real physical eyes, and having a conversation that has the vitality of interaction that can only be experienced in the same "meatspace." Yes, that is the term we have long used to describe physical geolocation. If you want a fun diversion (SQUIRREL!!!), check out the google results for that term.

But I digress. I just love the Poster Sessions. It's very much what like Andy, Mary, and Bob and Rosie did in the Playground--standing in one spot at a table with a display and a computer and/or other gear, and explaining how this can help one's students learn and grow. Instead of three tables, there are 50, each with a different topic.

I glommed onto one in particular that I would like to share. How could I not be drawn to the middle school Mexican lads in their khakis, blue blazers, and ties explaining their project wherein they melded language learning and science research and created presentations on dark blue painted cardboard from boxes, assembled them into "rooms," took 3D photos, and shared those on a webpage created in html? Man, I write long sentences. You may have to reread that last one aloud to get it. Somehow I feel that project deserves that sentence. The session, entitled "The Sky and Beyond: Languages and Science 3D," is described at the ISTE Program webpage, but again, for details, we needed the humans. Two young men were eager to share and did so, encouraging me to sign their poster and then to keep the school-branded pen. Their teacher shared his badge and contact info, and yes, we will be in touch!

Poster sessions are perfect for educators who are interested in a wide range of topics. And of course the Expo floor, once you understand that every person who approaches you wants to sell you something, can be a great set of learning experiences themselves.

It was time for the Tuesday Keynotes before we knew it. The highlight for me was the casual onstage interview with science fiction author Andy Weir, though I enjoyed the presentations by Katie Martin and Michael Cohen. Weir was self-deprecating and sardonically funny as he shared his rise to best-selling author from accidental software programmer. Martin was impassioned about our need to teach differently and I remarked to Mary in a whisper that her slide about student engagement in school sliding down from relatively high to very low in the elementary to middle school years could have been mined from a David Warlick presentation 20 years ago. That said, new teachers need to understand Warlick, Sir Ken Robinson, and now Martin's message warning of how creativity and imagination are schooled out of our children methodically due to the vestigial way many teachers teach, which is also the teaching method most school districts primarily support. Cohen had a similar message, focusing on creativity and showing examples of his student's work in the community instigated by students and empowered by school, not squelched by it.

We went our separate ways after keynotes, and I met up with the lovely and aforementioned Dr. Compton (see Take 1, Chicago 360/TILT) for an adventure out to the Chicago Museum for Science and Engineering. An event hosted by Microsoft and Powerschool (now a Microsoft company--everyone will be soon), we had discovered Friday that we had both been invited and had then made an assignation to meetup at the conference center to travel together. There we had (very) light hors d'oeuvres and water/soft drinks prior to sitting in the museum's theater for a filming of a Microsoft vodcast, where we were the live audience. That was interesting, but very old school, a "sit and git" in the guise of entertainment. The content was great--community service described by students, maker learning by teachers, etc., but the presentation was driven almost universally by teleprompters. No matter how sincere the presenter on stage I could not get past the fact that most were reading prepared and practiced script. I told Helen that was an hour of my life I could not get back. I was very impressed with resources at https://education.microsoft.com and will be exploring those as I plan for the coming school year at my Middle School. The exception to the rule was a spoken voice poem from artist Toney Jackson. He made us sit up and take notice. Amazing...

Learn more about presenters at this event at the Microsoft Education site.

Thankfully we were herded off all the way through the museum to the half-dome planetarium/theatre on the other side of the building. By this time we were all buzzed to view the scheduled premier of the BBC documentary "Oceans: Our Blue Planet."

The Executive Producer, Jennifer Hile, was there and spoke a few words about the immense difficulties surrounding the filming of this movie to the steeply-assembled masses. We noshed on our box lunch turkey sandwiches, which were clearly intended to stave off starvation until the Powerschool Reception after the movie. Excitement built until an organizer came out and opened with the words, "I am so sorry to make this announcement..." You can guess the rest: No movie. Turns out the projection room in the theater was tracking 187 degrees and no tech fix was in sight. Ah, technology, can't live with it, can't live without it.

We had a drink and some finger-food at the reception in the lobby just outside the half-dome, and chatted with Jennifer Hile for quite a few minutes. She's dedicated and talented and I can't wait to see this film. It's sure to come to Nashville, likely to our Adventure Science Center, so I'll watch for it. Another good moment was the chance to introduce Helen to Mike Lawrence, former ISTE Board Member now working for Powerschool. Helen, to keep the story short, recently developed the new ISTE Teacher Certification course and was to be co-teaching an elite beta group that course in Arlington Virginia the following week. Small world? Mike will be a student in that course. He joked that now he would have it easy and she, smiling but not joking, responded in her lovely British accent, "Oh no, you must know I'll be harder on you." Sorry, Mike! And you're welcome.

We were among the first at the reception to head across the building to the buses parked in the aftermath of pouring rain. Cue the pouring rain, the long wait as the organizers decided which bus was going where, the load-on to separate buses with the quick see ya later hug, A short ride to the hotel, where I was afforded curbside service just for me at my hotel, due to having chatted with the stern but amiable driver and maybe alleviating some of his anxiety during the chaotic transition from Museum to hotels. Andy was still out. He got to the hotel and we pretty much retired, prepping for the final day of the conference, which I will not belabor.

Andy was up early in the morning to make his crack-o'-dawn flight and was gone, though I had all of the above to remember him by. Aside from the stellar closing keynote by the stellar Nadia Lopez  
(my hands-down favorite of all the keynotes), we were done here.

Wednesday evening Andy and I did enjoy a final dinner at Cindy's rooftop restaurant before we hit the room, and here are a couple snaps from that:

                                 

After Andy met with his NY folks we headed down to lakeside, he should have packed and retired, since his flight back home to NY was early early. I had a quick couple of beers (they had to be gone by check-out tomorrow!) and grabbed the two Hemingway Short Stories I had packed for the trip. "Let's take a walk," I said, and we did. We walked past Buckminster Fountain one more time.   

                       

From a bicycle cart vendor, I bought a light-up helicopter toy for the beach. Lee Ann and I were planning to drive to Pawley's Island a week from the coming Thursday to enjoy some down tome. Little did I know that I would wipe out on a rental bike in Nashville and spend that week in physical rehab at Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital, where I'm penning these last few lines. Suffice it to say a broken acetabulum (hip socket, essentially) cut the beach trip short. I should be home in a day or two after working my way out of the debilitating hip joint/muscle spasm stage to the 12-week projected right leg "touch only no weight bearing" stage of my healing. My wife is so great. She said, "We'll go to another beach over Christmas Break, I'm just glad you're going to be okay." I could have stayed another week in Chicago had I not so missed being with my honey. All was good and would be so.

Andy and I strolled to the lakeside and sat down. Fireworks began. I fired up cigars and my iPhone and Livestreamed Facebook. Good night. Watch...

Quickckjumps: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3

ISTE2018 Chapter 3--Monday!

Monday was a huge day for us. We started out by racing to the conference center, arriving at 7:00am. Our "Ready Player 101: Imagining, Creating, and Sharing Worlds in Digital Reality" Playground was scheduled to open at 8 and run to 11:30. I had scoped out the space on Saturday and I was thoroughly satisfied that we had planned this playground more thoroughly than any in the past. Well, at least since they had been re-allocated a half-day time slot. Back in the day we had full days, and before that, 3 day Playground!

I set to work establishing a working station at the presentation area, which included a 40" or so flat panel video monitor with a single PA speaker on a post stand, a tall single cocktail table, and 18 upholstered cubes for audience seating. I had scheduled connectivity testing with the three (of six) presenters who were doing so remotely. Those went well--Skype worked great for voice, Second Life was doing okay despite a low frame rate of delivery, Sinespace functioned fine over Skype desktop share, and we were good to go with sound and video by the time testing was complete.

Before the Playground

After the Playground

 Rather than blow-by-blow the event, I'll just give you a set of references that will lend understanding:
The schedule (of our side):

Many of the presenters shared their slides and/or other resources, and those can all be accessed our conference "Digital Tote" folder--see

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1QCC9XAzKs6eiGXcaxu1dtkX05dGct0_h

Description: AR/VR Resources, Virtual Environment ideas, Merge Cube Lessons and MORE!!

If there is something you need that you don't see there, please comment here and we'll add it to the folder.

It was crazy before it started. Sort of off in the corner during setup I was spared the pre-scheduled swarm (which proved to be prophetic), but as soon as Mary and Andy started setting up our tables they were swamped by eager conference attendees filled with curiosity and an eagerness to learn. As a result, vibrant learning sessions were already in full swing there by the time my first scheduled presentation was scheduled to begin--and it was to feature Mary and Andy! Our first flexibility was to point folks to their tables to join in on their learning sessions that way (lesson 1 of many).

My second scheduled presentation station event was difficult to "audience" (not that I can recall that word being verbed). The Playground was packed, both our side and the far side (from me) staffed by the Games and Learning PLN. Table presenters were talking and demonstrating on laptops a mile a minute. The G&S Network's presentation station, opposite ours, was full of folks, due both to Kae Novak's audience enlistment mic work and to the placement of that presentation station. I went to work on the mic, sounding a little like a carnival barker, and in a few minutes we had a tidy audience of 6 or 7 to watch Brant Knudsen login to Skype and to Second Life to share the fantastic Pirate Battle Game he uses in his classes at The University of Hong Kong. Yes, we were sharing LIVE from HONG KONG!

That is one of the best affordances of virtual worlds: a sense of presence at a distance. It's perceived co-location despite geographic remove. Brant was actually "with" us at 9am US CDT Time although he was also in Hong Kong at  10pm his own time. Groovy.

Meanwhile, the tables were rocking, and since the presenter from Unity3D had not arrived (and never did--they were swamped in their own way on the Expo floor. That turned out to be okay since there was lots of unity going on over on the G&S side), Bob Vojtek took over the 3rd table while Rosie Vojtek peopled the long table sharing info about Virtual Education Journal. Bob had an admirable pile of 3D gear laid out, including haptic controllers and a 3D camera, and he was walking people through 3D everything, many for the very first time. Andy was sharing CoSpaces and OpenSimulator with eager learners, and Mary was rocking her table with a pile of Mergecubes and sharing lesson plans for using them in the classroom. Weeeeeeeeeeeeee! Click to play:


Toward the end of the Playground, during the part where our connections at the presentation station was more or less taken over with a Second Life feed and the sound in SL failed us so I was looping the movies they were sharing there on the screen, I did a few minutes Facebook Live Video that I think may give you even more of a sense of how that active morning went. Here it is:


By the end of the event we agreed that it had been the best Playground in a long long time. We packed up all our gear and signage and tried to leave the space as clean and ready to set up as we found it.

Monday? Just getting started! Andy and I decided to run up to get lunch and we headed up to the place I had stopped into for dinner Saturday, Weather Mark Tavern. We had the burger lunch special-- delicious--and then got back down to the conference center for some Poster session cruising and Mary's presentation.

Mary did a stellar job with her presentation, "Is 3D for Me?" The ppt for it is available in her digital tote, and it is most definitely worth however many clicks it will take for you to get to it. I took a few pics there, too, as Mary shared everything from basic definitions of 3D to lesson plans replete with templates. Follow Mary's blog "Using Your Smarticles" to reap regular rewards from that connection. She's absolutely amazing:

Andy and I headed back up to the hotel for a bit of a rest. Shortly after we got there, our friend Caitlin Krause, just in from Switzerland, texted Andy and wanted to get together. She was going to run down (literally, run) from her hotel farther north to ours. When she texted she was here, we met her downstairs and decided to go for coffee. It was WINDY, though hot, and it was so great to catch up with her and where she is in her mindfulness journey as we strolled up to Starbucks. You can learn a bit about Caitlin at MindWise, her website, but I feel like I know more after spending only an hour or two with her. All her work, she is more and more discovering, boils down to the importance of human connections. At one point she mentioned that when people want to plumb her expertise about things mindfulness, she increasingly

finds herself talking about connections. It's a rarefied path she is on, and I look forward to following her as she nurtures her spirit and her charm and her intuitive grasp of how things work to move her work forward. Mary joined us, and later Caitlin's pal Andy. We talked a bit deep, laughed a lot, and learned what one another was doing. I suggested we head over to Buckingham Fountain (see that previous post for more) to enjoy the early afternoon. We did.

Are we still on Monday? I told you it would be a big day. Caitlin and Andy #2 left for their place and the three musketeers of virtual reality strolled inland in search of a place we could have a beer or two or three. Our presenting work was done (excepting one small Tuesday morning task for me, which turned out to be quite fun for me). We ended up at Kitty O'Shea's Pub, close to the hotel, for dinner--delicious--then at Buddy Guy's Legends, which I describe in detail in that much-referenced previous post, then put in for a good night's sleep. Here, though, you must see this (thank you, Mary!):

and this:

and finally, and good night (watch for Take 4, the finale, soon!) this:

Quickjumps: Chapter 1, Chapter 2,  Chapter 4

ISTE2018 Chapter 1--Extra-Conference Fun

Starting this on the plane on the way home from what I am currently feeling is my best ISTE ever. Because of that, I believe I will just blog a sentence or two about my best experiences at this best event. So. The first installment will mainly focus on my take on the Windy City and things that I did on this trip outside the realm of ISTE, what I'm calling "Extra-Conference Fun." Don't get me wrong, there's lots to talk about from the conference. If I try to get it down in one post, it'd be book length, so I intend to split it up. Let’s get started.

Chicago

I had never really been to Chi-town, and wow, was I wowed. I booked our hotel room months prior using booking.com (“our” refers to the estimable Andy Wheelock, a brother-from-another-mother and my partner in VEN antics and accomplishments) and I had been intrigued by the historic nature of the Congress Plaza Hotel, and it all worked out extraordinarily well. With very few exceptions, everywhere in this vibrant city that I went I was cordially greeted and well-served. I begin by listing topics and will come back and fill in. Wish me luck.

Chicago 360 & TILT

A while back, my good friend Dr. Helen Crompton responded to my Facebook post about TILT with a challenge. I of course accepted, because who wouldn’t lean 45 degrees out of a 94th story window to spend an hour with Helen? Here’s a Chicago Tribune news story about the attraction and here are a few pics:

photo: Dr. Helen Crompton

photo: Dr. Helen Crompton

Congress Plaza Hotel

...is haunted. I didn't have any experiences my first two nights, but Sunday night, when Andy had arrived, we'd popped out to South Loop Pub for a sandwich and a beer (thanks, Mave, for the friendly service and for being our first of many Irish servers in Chicago) and retired. We slept soundly, but sometime during the night the toilet flushed. It wasn't Andy and it wasn't me, so our only logical conclusion is that the haunt had to go potty. Or maybe it was that gangster who was drowned in a different toilet in the hotel. Built in 1893, it's loaded with history and by gum, despite some cosmetic update needs, we enjoyed staying there. I booked 'way early through booking.com, and we enjoyed a rate that was around half of the standard one! I'm just making it up about the drowned gangster.

DIvvY

I discovered DIvvY (clever spelling with the two v's lower case emphasizing the DYI) after I had done several Lyfts and immediately after my first one in prime time--EXPENSIVE!) and it both saved my wallet and supported my efforts to lose weight. I had lost around 8 pounds with a new daily workout regimen prior to hitting Chicago and though I gained most of it back #eatingChicago it would have been much worse if I hadn't converted some of that fine food to leg muscle with DIvvY. Bike racks are all over the place and at $15 +tax one can hop on a 3 speed bike and just GO, with unlimited 3 hour rides. Convenience, ease of use, and fun=10 of 10. There was one glitchy day my last one when the nearest bike rack was full and the ensuing efforts to grab a bike frustrated my efforts to get to the conference center for my Volunteer shift (I never made it and was excused but I did get to keep the cool deep purple teeshirt). The app tells you where the racks are and how many bikes are there, but it doesn't update that number often enough and I passed up the nearest rack which was full but down/offline/locked to hit the next two which showed two and four bikes respectively but were empty when I got there. Fix that, DIvvy! 

Lyft

Lyft was my go-to "I'm running late and I need to get there as fast as I can" tool. The drivers were almost uniformly friendly and capable. And Andy and I were easily able to hit the "Share" button on the app so we kept our 50/50 deal alive and well easily.

Yolk

Best. Breakfast. Ever. Great service from Sophia, and we ordered identical breakfasts. Unless your dietary inclinations forbid, don’t pass up the following, scarfed from the breakfast menu online.

CORNED BEEF HASH & EGGS House made corned beef, seasoned potatoes, green pepper and onion. Two eggs any style. Toast, pancakes or english muffin.|14breakfast. 

Awesome! Go Yolk!

Buddy Guy's Legends
If I had to pick my favorite "non-curricular" event of the conference it may be a tie, but the tie would be broken by a signed first-day-of-release vinyl album and a picture with the man himself. Andy and Mary and I had just popped in for a beer at the bar and, being poor teachers, were inclined to balk at the ten dollar cover charge, though we paid up and found three of the only very few seats left in the house. Tables were full and we had the clear intuition that something was going on in the club: full tables on Monday night? It was announced that it was "Jam Night" and the band onstage commenced to hammering out some right fabulous blues. A bit later on it was announced that the 82 year-old Buddy was at the bar. We all turned and saw him, sitting quietly with a small entourage around him, dressed snazzily in a black shirt and white pants. The announcer also said that his new album "Buddy Guy: The Blues is Alive and Well," had dropped today and was available for purchase on vinyl and CD at the cashier stand. I stood up, walked over, and purchased the vinyl, a heavy gauge double record set with a simple design featuring full cover photographs of Buddy on each face. While I was paying the cashier, a man behind the counter ripped off the shrink wrap and grabbed a sharpy then walked over to the bar and Buddy signed it! I honestly think I bought the first copy sold at Buddy Guy Legends! A few minutes later Mary grabbed my hand and walked me over to approach Buddy Guy. "You have a big fan here, Mr. Guy, would you let me take your picture with him?" That happened. Thank you, Mary!!! Here's the proof:

Buckminster Fountain

My first day in Chicago, my first "wake up in Chicago" day, the weather was so gorgeous I decided to bike around South Loop, enjoying the lovely gardens, the paved bike trails, the wholly beautiful lakeshore, and Buckminster Fountain. Donated to the city and fired up in 1927, it is a memorial to Clarence F. Buckingham by his philanthropist sister, and it is recognized as one of the largest memorial fountains in the world. I took a 3D image on my iphone with the Occipital3D app and, despite some missing patches it turned out pretty well:

Visit https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10217579388335535&l=78217a847a for the 3D version

The Bean

I had heard about it, had made foiled plans to visit it with a colleague, and I had to see it up close. I biked over up the bike trail north then cut underneath a dark overpass to get to Cloud Park where the Bean resides. Once there, after a couple failed attempts, I had a decent Facebook Live 2 minute video. Watch ...

I think the Bean is a great place to leave off. Next episode I will focus on the fantastic conference itself.
G'day!

Quickjumps: Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4