ISTE

​I had an amazing privilege to attend the ISTE conference in Philadelphia.  The heart of Philadelphia was structurally beautiful, and history oozed on every corner.  Everyone I had interactions with were such beautiful people.  From the woman who survived cancer and a heart attack and still encouraged others to the gentleman who requested money in a polite way.  A beautiful place for an inspiring event.
 
Inspiring.  I had requested to attend the event to try to reinvigorate the passion I had for public education upon entering the service.  I had hopes that this would set me in a steady direction of motivation as I had grown frustrated with public education which I had always seen as an avenue towards real equality.  
 
I was inspired.  The technology available to support learners is amazing.  From preschool STEM materials to college level life sized virtual models of the human body, it was all there.  Materials an educator at any level could appreciate and that would capture the attention of any learner.  
 
One of my favorite groups were the VR goggles.  The ability to be virtually ‘there’ and interact with objects for learning was impressive.  I was able to dissect a virtual cell and had a virtual checklist that checked off when I interacted with a given element and read the details.  AMAZING.  From creating a private virtual study room to help organize ideas and make connections to reviewing something with a peer who could log in and virtually join, the capabilities were very desirable.  
 
The tech was the best.
 
Paired with the excitement and glimmers of inspiration were reminders.  Reminders of how easy it is to track a student, person and if…. If a company wanted to use that info for a profit, they could easily do so.  Now, this leaning may have been because this event was in tandem to the biometric tracking issue that a certain company was having.  Nevertheless, the last thing a teacher or education supporter wants to do is to put anybody, especially kids at risk. 
 
The second reminder was that this tech was pricey.  Being a representative of a low socioeconomic area and also wearing the hat of being a representative for special education students (many need tech to meet functional needs, let alone with a budget to go far beyond that) I saw myself mentally weeding out items as I considered budgets.  My pared mental list screamed inequality.  As I thought about the students who had access to all the tech available versus the students who might get access to just a smidge of it, I felt like it would be a losing battle towards equality.
 
The potential for widening inequality was the worst.
 
One of the most powerful things I took away outside of physical tech was the push for global competence.  In fact that is the only physical purchase I made, a book called Educating for Global Competence.  A text encouraging teachers to help students examine and understand not only local, but global and intercultural issues including sustainable development.  I am hopeful that as we raise these upcoming generations they will be thoughtful about their actions as we all continue to share this one earth in as peaceful way as we can.
 
In the end though, despite my fluctuations in train of thought the event was indeed VERY inspiring.  I walked away with many new ideas both for student and self-learning.  As always with tech, I still feel the need for moderation, especially of what we allow it to collect and to control completely.  As often is said, tech can be used for bad or good, dependent upon the user.  At least in this ISTE environment I was surrounded by attendees who have it in their heart to use the tech for good to support rather than capitalize.  And that was beautiful.