OTEN Conference

      On Saturday February 20, 2016 I was able to attend the OTEN conference. I must admit I was a little skeptical at first, but by the end of the day I was impressed by the insight I had gained as a future teacher.  I was humbled by how much I really didn’t know and how much technology we actually have in our education system today. The sessions I attended were truly informing and much of the information was useful.

      The first session I attended was presented by Ryan Hoxie on Google Apps and Extensions. Mr. Hoxie is a Future Ready Strategist for the Beaverton School District. In his session, he had us look at several Google Chrome Apps that would be very useful in the classroom. Apps such as Ad Blocker for YouTube, and One Tab are invaluable with Future ready classes. Ad Blocker does just that, it blocks ads on YouTube videos. One Tab lets you condense all of your tabs down to one and provides you with a history of your tabs if you are researching information. Some of the Extensions will prove their worth too. Google sheets and Google tone are powerful tools. I could see Google tone as a great tool in the class room to engage students in lectures by enriching the students with visual content.

      The second session I attended was with Nicole Cater on Flipped classrooms. Ms. Carter is a Future Ready Strategist for the Beaverton School district and a Liaison for the LMS Schoology.   Much of her presentation was on the LMS, this was beneficial as we could see how this platform could help manage a classroom inside and out.  The flipped classroom idea was to use the classroom time for homework and the homework time for lecture. The lecture time was provided on video and could be distributed on several platforms, YouTube being the most common. She recommended the lecture time be condensed to no more than 15 minutes. I was excited with the possibilities of a flipped class room. In Special education, this could be very helpful in support class rooms were the instructor could provide much of the class time devoted to actually working on the subject. The students, would have access to the instructor should any problems arise.

      The third session I attended was broken up into two parts. The first part was presented by Jeffrey Kawaguchi of Pacific University. Mr. Kawaguchi is an instructor at Pacific in the Athletic Training Department. His presentation was on how digital media can be used with instruction of athletic training experiences. It is a great tool to examine the interaction between the athletic trainer and the patient. The application of filming a student in a presentation or any “hands on” subject is very useful. The second part to this session was presented by Nancy Krusen of Pacific University. Ms. Krusen’s presentation was on learning analytics in assessment of distance education. The ability to pick out topics and key concepts in the discussion forums presented in distance learning was interesting to me. I could see how in a virtual class room this kind of technology could prove useful to the instructor. By examining the content of the discussions along with the direction of discussions, the instructor can determine if the class or individual are using class concepts in the discussions.

      Overall, This Saturday was time well spent for me. I was engaged into a world where I fear to tread.  I was thankful for the opportunity to expand my thoughts and knowledge in the technology realm. In the future I hope that I can become a regular participant in the conference so I can learn to become a better instructor for the students in my class.