Truger’s TechTalk

FETC was a great experience! So many amazing people all in one location. My adventure began on Monday night while trying to travel to Orlando. I was due in at 4pm and didn’t arrive until almost 8pm. (Very typical of airline travel lately) I was picked up at the airport and enjoyed a fun dinner with friends at Bahama Breeze. The next day my learning journey began. I was in a 3 hour workshop on GarageBand. The presenter was Rick Reece. He had great handouts and I learned a great deal. I can’t wait to get moving on some GarageBand projects with my HS Ed/BD classes. The second half of my day was spent at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure…not a bad way to spend a day.

This brings me to Wed and the DEN precon event. We had a great time and learned so much from Hall presenting on the “Hidden Meaning behind Codes” and the DEN STARS who shared their knowledge with the group. We had so much fun! We even had virtual attendance from a few STARS who could not make it to Florida. Lunch was a nice trip to Downtown Disney for sandwiches at the Rainforest Cafe and then we all caught the bus back to prepare for the Jeff Corwin, keynote presentation.

We had reserved seats for the keynote (does Discovery know how to treat us or what?!) and by the time it was over we were all revved up and ready to start the conference

I spent half of my time in Orlando attending presentations and events hosted by Discovery and the other half attending sessions. The one thing that I did notice is that there seemed to be many of the same topics just being presented in different ways. However I was very happy to see a “Special Education” strand being highlighted at the conference. I usually have to read between the lines to figure that out. Thurs and Friday were spent attending sessions and visiting the large vendor area. Friday night I flew home after a 3 hour delay. The following morning I was the co-chair for the NICE (Northern Illinois Computing for Educators) Mini-conference, so I can honestly say that by Sunday I was in a learning coma and it has taken me until today to be able to process my experiences and start to write about them.

I learned so much and I can’t wait to start sharing with you.

~Anne