Games and Learning: My #ISTE2015 Guide

It's that time of year! ISTE is right around the corner. I'm super excited about all of the activities I'll be involved with. This post should serve two purposes. First off, it will serve as my guide so that I know where I need to be throughout the week. If you see my wandering around aimlessly, please send me a link to this post :) In addition, it will provide insight to the super cool panels, meetups, and events I'll be involved with. I hope to connect with you in Philly!

Friday, June 26
I start my pre-ISTE Experience on Friday as I will be presenting at the Tomorrow's Classrooms Today conference being put on by the Evolving Educators Group.

I'm excited to present a session on Quest Based Learning: Encouraging Passion Through Student Choice. Providing opportunities for students to pave their learning path is at the core of my philosophy on teaching and learning. There will be so many other great presenters at the event. I'm excited to connect with many people from my power house PLN.

Saturday, June 27

My lovely wife, Cathy (@catc937092) and I will be settling in on Saturday as we try to charge our batteries for what's sure to be an action packed, non-stop 4 days to follow. I'm intrigued by the fact that the Tall Ships festival is in town. Might have to check that out.

Sunday, June 28

11:00 am - 1:00 pm: Games4Ed Meeting
In January, the Games4Ed Initiative was officially launched. The group is comprised of stakeholders from all areas related to games in education (educators, developers, publishers, policy makers, researchers, etc.) . The overarching goal is to overcome barriers and facilitate the process of getting games into the classroom. You will be hearing a lot about our work in the coming months. I am the project lead for the Pilot Programs and Research group. If you'd like to get involved in one of the working groups, please complete the Games4Ed Interest Form.

1:30 - 3:00 pm: Opening Ignite Sessions | Philadelphia Convention Center Hall A
14 presenters | 5 minutes each | 20 slides
Looking forward to hearing from Ben Gallagher, Bill Bass, Brittany Bannister, Chris Tumbull, Christy Fennewald, Doug Timm, Hannah Weitzer, Jonathan Spike, Akaren Lireman, Marily Carr, Michael Luetjen, Pernille Ripp, Rafranz Davis (yes, I'm a fan!), Robert Dillon, and Shirley Campbell.

3:00 - 4:00 pm MineCraft focus group
I am excited to meet with folks to talk about the future of MineCraft in education. It's an honor and a privilege to be part of these important discussions as Microsoft works to continue to provide (and expand upon) the great learning opportunities minecraft brings to students in and out of school.

5:45 pm - 7:00 pm Opening Keynote: Soledad O'Brien
All I can say is that I hope her address is more relevant than Ashley Judd's (sorry, couldn't resist) was and kicks off the conference in style.

7:00 pm - ??? Barenaked Ladies, Violent Femmes, and Colin Hay at the MANN
This show happens to be in Philly on the opening night of ISTE. Should be a good time!

Monday, June 29

6:00 - 7:00 am CoffeeEdu with Alice Keeler - Join a passionate group of educators for your morning coffee and edu-awesome conversation. CoffeeEdu is the ultimate unconference. One Hour.
Great way to start the day!
Starbucks | 1500 Market Street #465, Philadelphia, PA

11:00 am - 12:00 pm Integrating Commercially Successful Games in the Classroom | PCC 125
I will be presenting with Justin Eames, Paul Darvasi on the topic of using AAA titles in the classroom. We'll certainly be talking about games like Minecraft, Portal 2, Gone Home, Little Big Planet 3, and others.

2:30 - 4:15 pm EdTekTalks | PCC Terrace Ballrooms I/II

Excited to see the mini-keynotes presented Ted Talk Style by Adam Braun, Amy O'Toole, Annie Griffiths, Hadi Partovi (yep, I'm a fan!), Sergei Lupashin

I attended this session at #ISTE14 in Atlanta and it was probably the highlight of the conference.

5:30 - 6:45 pm Birds of a Feather Twitter Chat Moderators | PCC Level 3 Overlook
Birds of a Feather Meetup and Learning session with Twitter Chat moderators / representatives.
We will network, share tips and tricks as well as have a few guest speakers.

6:30 - 9:30 pm ISTE Games and Simulation Network LAN Party! | Marriott Room 307
Join folks from the Games and Sim Network for some gaming. I am sure there will be some WoW, MineCraft, and so much more. I think Matt Farber is even setting up a mobile makerspace for the event!

7:00 pm - ??? Can't wait to meet all my #BFC530 buddies face to face. I am pretty sure there will be a lot of hugs!!!!

Tuesday, June 30

10:30 - 11:30 am Introduction to Minecraft Hands-on workshop | PCC 203

Come learn about the game your students are buzzing about! In this hands-on workshop designed by teachers, you'll walk away with a command of basic Minecraft gameplay and inspiration from amazing Minecraft projects created around the world. No prior experience is required.

I will be assisting with this and a number of other Microsoft sponsored Minecraft workshops.

12:30 - 2:00 pm STEM and Coding with Minecraft | PCC 203

Come learn how Minecraft can be a fun, effective way to teach STEM and coding skills. In this hands-on workshop designed by teachers, you'l walk away with an understanding of Redstone, modding, and simple STEM lesson plans. Basic Minecraft proficiency or completion of Intro to Minecraft workshop is required.

I will be assisting Sarah Guthals from ThoughtStem (check out http://www.learntomod.com)

2:00 - 5:30 pm ISTE Games and Simulation Network Playground | PCC Level 3 Overlook

The ISTE Games and Simulation Network has an exciting set of activities planned for the playground including tables to explore and experts to speak with about Virtual Reality, Interactive Fiction, Game Design and Coding, Minecraft, The Virtual Education Journal, The Ready, Player One Book Club, and a reading by Greg Toppo, author of "The Game Believes in You".

5:30 - 6:30 pm Students, Teachers, and Entrepreneurs: Testing EdTech Together | PCC 111

This Birds of a Feather meetup / networking session is being hosted by my EdTechBridge partner Katya Hott. It is a great opportunity for people interested in connecting with other edtech stakeholders to develop relationships that can lead to working partnerships. This will be the official #ISTE2015 #EdTechBridge Meetup

Wednesday, July 1

8:30 - 9:30 am Breaking Down the Classroom Walls: Creating Space for Student Learning| PCC113a

When passion drives the learning, students flourish. There are many opportunities to expand our ideas of how earning with technology can look. From game design to an entrepreneurial club, we share multiple examples of how we've successfully redefined technology learning with our students.

Mark Suter, Marianne Malmstrom, Lisa Castaneda, Steven Isaacs (there I am again!)

11:00 am - 12:30 pm STEM and Coding with Minecraft | PCC 203

I will be assisting Sarah Guthals from ThoughtStem (check out http://www.learntomod.com)

1:15 - 2:15 pm Games and Learning: Filling Gaps in Education | PCC 110

Brigning games into the classroom can help fulfill many educational needs like new types of assessment, socio-emotional learning, System thinking, and STEM skills. In this session, Chris Avilles, Erik Martin, Joel Levin, Deirdre Quarnstrom and Steve Isaacs (that's me!) will be sharing thoughts on this timely topic.

So, as you can see I'll be pretty busy at #ISTE2015. I am so excited to connect with people at my panels, minecraft sessions, meetups, etc. Please follow me and #FindMeAtISTE - The best part about conferences is the interactions with people. I hope we can connect.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

My #ISTE2015 Guide