Getting Ready for the #ICE19 Conference - Workshop Recommendations

One of my favorite midwestern educational conferences is a little over a month away. I cannot tell you how excited I am to make new connections and reconnect with some incredible educators.  I've attended the Illinois Computer Educators Conference on and off as an educator for more than 20 years and I always walk away with something new that helps me grow as a teacher and learner.  I've even been lucky enough to facilitate a variety of sessions over the last 10 years. 
"The ICE Conference is a teaching and learning conference that attracts educators, educational leaders, and pre-service teachers from PreK - Higher Ed. The conference engages educators from across the Midwest in an exploration of pedagogical strategies and resources connected to instructional technology. Districts, schools, classrooms, and libraries will all gain valuable insights at one of the Midwest's largest educational technology conferences. In fact, last year was our biggest conference ever as over 5,000 unique visitors joined us at #ICE18."
I've also loved watching the conference evolve over the last decade. The primary focus when I first started attending was hardware and software. It was all about what to buy and how to use the software. Today the tools still have a place at the conference, but pedagogy has taken the lead as educators explore how EdTech can support and enhance quality teaching. I've been to quite a few EdTech conferences and I don't think you can find one that is better than ICE. 

This year I was lucky enough to be part of the selection committee and one of my areas of focus for me was the conference workshops. There are some incredible workshops being offered at the conference this year. 
#ICE19 Workshops are full and half-day sessions that must be registered for separately. If you have already registered for the conference, just add them to your registration; if you have not registered yet, be sure to check the workshops out during your registration process.
The ICE Half-day and Full-day Workshops are a great way to take a deep dive into just about any topic or resource you are curious about. I believe all of the sessions and presenters are incredible, but I am going to highlight 7 in this post that I really love. Hopefully these 7 workshops will inspire you to explore all of the workshops being offered at the ICE Conference in 2019. 

  • Design Thinking Sprint By Future Design School
    The majority of the workshop is a Design Sprint. Participants will learn the process of design by developing a solution to a common challenge. The session includes techniques for empathizing with a user and ideating solutions. These repeatable methods can be used with students to help them solve real-world problems. Along the way, students build their skills in creativity, collaboration, communication, and critical thinking. 
  • Genius Hour - Time to Get Your Hands Dirty
    This workshop will move you through the steps of Genius Hour and how it really feels to go through the process. By remembering how it feels to be a learner we can understand the struggle often felt by our students. We will also chat through some tips and tricks to the successful implementation of Genius Hour.
  • Technology and Literacy A Love Story
    Add to your arsenal of technology tools that work together perfectly to promote literacy in the classroom or in the library. Bring a device and get ready to explore 50+ tools that promote literacy in our technology-filled world!
  • Cardboard Challenge A Celebration of Creativity, Innovation, and Teamwork
    A cardboard challenge is a celebration of creativity, innovation, and teamwork, where teams of students use the engineering design process to build whatever they can imagine out of cardboard and then play it or display it. See and hear about how we planned, organized, and staged a school-wide cardboard challenge in our 3-5 school. You will also be taken through the same process students went through as you get to design and build your own cardboard creations!
  • Compassionate Leadership Leading with a Tech Mind and Heart
    During this active engagement workshop session, participants will evaluate/identify their current technology management approach, review the principles of compassionate leadership with a lean-to diverse tech teams, learn techniques to integrate compassionate leadership in to their day-to-day work and develop a team development strategy with a focus on 1) learning; 2) standards; 3) bulldozing barriers; 4) leveraging influence; 5) fueling passion and reinforcing the value of a team.
  • Breakout! Design Your Own Digital Escape Room
    Digital escape rooms make learning meaningful and engaging for multiple contents, even when you're not there. Participants will explore how to use free tools to create digital escape rooms with Google Sites, Google Forms, and Canva. By the time the workshop is done, participants will be well on their way to having a completed digital escape room for classroom use.
  • Mythbusters EDU The Empowered Learner Episode
    On this episode of Mythbusters EDU, we will tackle the myths of student empowerment. Join us as we explore activities that promote learner engagement, voice, choice and design thinking. Let’s not just talk about the myths regarding student empowerment, let’s put them to the test! 

There are many other incredible workshop options and I wish I could include them all here. I hope 7 is enough to inspire you to explore all the workshops the conference is offering this year. What workshops are you excited about? Let us know in the comments below!

Registration is open and some great early bird discounts still apply. You can check out all of the workshops in the ICE Workshop Schedule and then register on the ICE Website. I hope to see you there. 

A complete list of all sessions, including workshops, can be found at ice19conference.sched.com an interactive site that lets you plan your daily #ICE19 schedule. 

You can also download the official #ICE19 app on iOS and Android and stay up-to-date on everything for #ICE19.

Even if you can't attend the conference this year, mark your calendar to engage in the conference Hashtag #ICE19 on February 25th through the 28th. 

This is part 1 of a 3 post series connected to the ICE conference. Up next will be some of my favorite vendors and I will wrap up the series with 1o general conference sessions that I love. Stay tuned! 


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