Wednesday, April 22, 2015

ELCC 2015 Conference: Nicole's Take-aways and Gems of Info



ELCC 2015 Conference “Reach the peak, scale new heights”
Breckenridge, CO
Nicole’s take-aways and gems of info
Overall, it was a great conference, as expected. My favorite thing about the conference this year was the stellar keynote, Dr. Robbie Melton, an educational and workforce consultant for Tennessee. She was like a whirlwind of energy, hope and excitement for the future and potential of educational technology. I was amazed at the wide variety of technology gadgets and tools that she brought with her and shared with us. With each one she showed us she pushed all our thinking by saying “hmmm? How can we leverage this for learning?” or “Why aren’t we already using this for learning now?” Of all of the tools and gadgets I was intrigued by the little hologram set up with the smartphone. The paintbrush and fine tipped styluses were really cool since I am an artist and would find those very useful. All of the itools for personal health were amazing such as the blood sugar monitor, blood pressure and even the wearable shirt that monitors your heart rate while exercising. Much excitement was stirred but it just goes to show that there’s so much potential for drawing deep connections about how these tools are going to change our lives and change teaching and learning forever!


The other keynote, Diego Madero focused on the world of 3D printing. It was amazing to see all the different applications and the impact it is already having on life! They can print human tissue and make ears! You’ve probably already seen how several people have printed functioning arms and hands for much much less the cost then other prosthetic creations. Adults and children are getting a new lease on life with their 3D printed limbs. There are 3D edible creations and there are even large scale creations such as HOMES! Gadzooks look at what we can do and how this is impacting our world! Truly amazing.
Here's a nice video I found on YouTube that displays a wide variety of complex and simple 3D printed objects: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xaj9jx7648 and this video gives you a good overview of 3D printing technology and you can see how the printer works in action. https://youtu.be/IS4Xw8f9LCc

One of my other favorite things about going to conferences in general is to collect a nice list of ed tech tools and apps to investigate. Here’s a little list I’d like to share:
Tools and apps to explore:
  • https://snapguide.com/ (a place for how-to guides)
  • iMuscle2 (an app that transforms your workout and helps you target muscles)
  • https://www.thinglink.com/ (create interactive images with hot spots)
  • https://vialogues.com/ (create meaningful discussions around videos)
  • Kobo (millions of ebooks)
  • dermoscreen app (this actually gives a prescreen for skin cancer)
  • Make up genius (this is cool app that you can use your own reflection and apply makeup in real-time- I realize this may only be interesting to the women out there....)
  • Touch Xylophone app (make beautiful music or at least some noise)
Nicole Ellison    MS.Ed
Instructional Designer  |  Department of Instructional Design & Technology (IDT) 
3333 Regis Blvd., Denver, CO 80221 G-7
Main Hall 339
P 303.964.5291  |  F 303.964.0000  |  E nellison@regis.edu |  IDT.REGIS.EDU

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