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 * Unfortunately, I was unable to attend an educational technology conference this semester. I did, however, find some information about the TIES 2011 Education Technology Conference. The name of the conference this year is "It's Personal! - Transforming Pedagogy with Technology."**


 * One thing I really liked about how they have set up this conference was the fact that the schedule is made available for mobile devices. It looks like it would be incredibly easy to plan out your day, as long as you could make a decision from the many speakers and sessions that they have to offer.**


 * The conference is split into four different strands - Personal learning and digital-age learning experiences, Personal growth and leadership practice for educators, Personal responsibility and digital-age citizenship, Technical support and infrastructure.**


 * Personal learning and digital-age learning experiences -** This strand offers many breakout sessions that demonstrate technology integration best practices and the latest in new technologies, as well as promote the ideas of what it means to be a 21st-century learner in a 21st-century classroom.


 * Personal growth and leadership practice for educators** - This strand offers information on how to use technology to support student achievement and professional development for educators (using technology to network and collaborate).


 * Personal responsibility and digital-age citizenship** - This strand provides information on the policies that should be followed when using technology in the school setting. It also discusses the equity issues that arise when trying to use technology.


 * Technical support and infrastructure** - The breakout sessions for this strand focus on the management of technology and other resources needed for teachers, students, and administrators.


 * The two keynote speakers seemed very intriguing to me...**


 * The first is Joel Rose, who is the founder of "The School of One," an initiative within the New York City Department of Education that combines live and online instruction. This initiative has gained a lot of nationwide attention (Time magazine considered it one of the Top 50 inventions of the 2009). Rose will be speaking about "The School of One," and how it uses the combined talents of educators to accelerate the learning within each individual student.**


 * Jane McGonigal, who directed the online game called "Superstruct", is the other keynote speaker. She will be discussing the role of gaming in education and how it will change instruction in the future. The goal of many of her games is to solve real world problems in collaborative ways with other gamers. Superstruct was a game that brought together thousands of students together from nearly a hundred countries.**


 * The conference has over a hundred vendors represented over the weekend. Many that stood out were Barnes & Noble, BrainPOP, Gaggle, LeapFrog School, LEGO Education, Microsoft, Scholastic, SkillsTutor, and many more.**


 * After looking up information about the TIES conference, I decided to look up more information about this organization.**


 * The purpose of this organization is to provide "cutting-edge software applications, hardware and software, Internet services and professional development." TIES (Technology Information Education Services) was established in 1967 to discovery technology and other resources that can be used in the school setting by students, teachers, and administrators.**


 * For district members, TIES offers many benefits and discounts for technology. This includes programs for grading, attendance, report cards, test data, etc. There is also a program for parent portal and school fees payment. When districts become members, they play a big part in the decision making process of the organization. They make decisions based on the programs that the organization uses. Members also can participate in piloting new software.**


 * TIES does not offer any sort of printed publication; however, they have created a website for educators who support technology in the classroom ([]). They have a number of articles posted about technology in the Twin Cities region. They also have a database (Minnesota Learning Loop Teacher Resources -[| http://learningloop.informns.k12.mn.us/resources]) which links online resources to Minnesota Academic Standards.**


 * 4teachers.org ([]**) **offers a variety of free online tools for teachers and students to use. Teachers have the ability to create their own tests, develop a rubric, design the layout of your classroom, and much more! One of the coolest things I have found in this site is a page that helps students create their own videos for the classroom. There's also a tool called "Think Tank" that assists students in organizing their thoughts and research for a report.**


 * The ISTE (International Soceity for Technology in Education) website ([])**
 * is where you can find the National Educational Technology Standards for teachers, students, and administrators. On this website, you can become a full member for $99 or a premium member for $219. Membership gives teachers access to Webinar archives, ISTE social media, and special deals on a variety of ISTE published materials.**


 * ([]) The Global Virtual Classroom (GVC) is a site that provides access to free activities and resources to use in the classroom. This website aims to support the educational technology goals of governments and educators everywhere. There is a place on the site that is called The Clubhouse, where classrooms throughout the world can communicate with each other on a variety of different topics. There also contests that run each year, in which you work as a team with a few other classrooms throughout the world. Together, you focus on a topic and develop a website together.**

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