Reflections on Fall CUE Conference

Here in California we have a state organization called CUE or the Computer Using Educators.  They have several conferences a year and I just came back from the Fall CUE in Napa Valley.

I usually have a focus when I go to a conference, some learning goals for myself that I use to determine what sessions I attend.  This time I was looking for sessions about innovative schools and about motivating learners.

Here are some quotes/ideas from various speakers related to those topics that I thought were interesting:

Chris Scott said that students need three things: Autonomy, Purpose, Mastery


Roni Habib said when you foster creativity in the classroom, deeper learning takes place.
What role will technology pay in our student's future?
What is important to our students?
How do they approach their learning?
What do we prepare kids for that really matter?

James Brown said if we want deeper learning, we need sustained engagement, emotional connection, critical evaluation, and a high reward mechanism.

Rushton Hurley had questions that were important to ask:

What role will technology pay in our student's future?

What is important to our students?

How do they approach their learning?

What do we prepare kids for that really matter?

He also had this great quote about student engagement, "If they're not guessing, they're bored."

Vicki Davis: "Students should leave high school with a learning legacy." and "Our classrooms are microclimates."

Jon Bergmann: "Teaching is about the relationship between the teacher and the student."  and "Every kid deserves the right education for that kid."  He also asked, "What is the best use of your face to face class time?"

Fred Mindlin thought we needed to think about the difference between data driven and data informed and that we need to train students to be the creators not to be consumers.

Links to the speaker notes when available and other links can be found in this shared Evernote folder.

This was my first conference by CUE and I also have some thoughts about how it was run.  There were only 15 minutes between each session and only an hour for lunch.  That meant the organizers could squeeze in five sessions a day and a keynote, but there wasn't much time for reflection or connection between sessions. I would have preferred four sessions and time to chat with my colleagues or the presenters in a longer break in between sessions.  Second, in some of the other tech conferences I've attended, there was an emphasis on connecting with others not just as a fan, but for the exchange of ideas.  In this conference, I felt there was an "in" group and those "stars" weren't very welcoming or encouraging to bring others into that group.  That social piece is something I think CUE needs to work on.

Overall, I had a good time.  I feel there are so many teachers who just need to be convinced that technology can benefit them in general, so there isn't as much at conferences like this for those of us who are already convinced and now need to go deeper in leveraging that technology use for deep learning.