Edtech Conferences

This list was shared early in June from the Educational Technology and Mobile Learning website. If you have an online Personal Learning Network (PLN) this site is a great addition. Here is the orignal link: http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2015/06/top-40-edtech-conferences-for-teachers.html?m=1

Conferences are a great way to get fresh ideas for your classroom and also an excellent motivator. Over time most educators get overwhelmed and even a little defeated by the day to day of their jobs. Working with children, after all can be very challenging. Conferences allow you to meet with other educators to share common and uncommon ideas and experiences.

If you are an educator in Virginia, or a nearby state, the Virginia Society for Technology in Education (VSTE) annual conference is a great event: http://www.vsteconference.org/. VSTE also offers other learning events throughout the year: http://vste.org/learn-with-us/.

King George County Schools has also hosted a free, one-day conference, for the past few years. This year's conference is on Aug. 12: https://docs.google.com/a/kgcs.k12.va.us/forms/d/1kuANEnX8JP0OzpwpdV84YBB_43OvsFvb6iBi--ZaxRY/viewform

The University of Mary Washington has also hosted an annual conference in recent years. Whether they will host one in 2016 remains to be seen, but here is a link to last year's site: http://2015umwedtechconference.umwblogs.org/

Edtech conferences aren't the only options either. My wife just got back from the Longwood Summer Literacy Institute, http://www.longwood.edu/cehs/Summer_Literacy_Institute.htm, and she is very excited to get back into the classroom this fall to put ideas from several sessions into action.

Keep an eye out and expand your PLN to include VSTE, UMW and other likely resources where nearby conference may be announced. One or two a year is probably enough for most people, but if you haven't attended a conference recently, put it on your to do list for the 2015-16 school year.