I recently had the privilege of keynoting the Heart of Innovation Conference for Heartland Are Education Agency in Iowa. Their conference centers on using technology in the classroom and ways to build up our competency as educators so that we can work with students more effectively. My keynote, “Starting, Exploring” looks at technology as a starting point for building connections in our educational communities and how we can build competency in ourselves towards a better tomorrow for education. Check out the slides and resources below:

In January 2023 I was asked to speak at UCTE, Utah’s English language teacher conference. They wanted me to explore how we can develop curiosity about working with technology in our classrooms. I was elated; creativity, curiosity, and technology are three areas where I love to explore intersections.

One of the most important things when implementing new technologies into a system, particularly an educational system is to try and understand the different ways it might affect different levels of the organization. I worked in restaurants for a long time in college.

There is just so much out there on artificial intelligence right now. Just spending a few minutes exploring social media and what is being said by experts, armchair experts, and laypeople alike can make it hard to discern the best responses to AI’s boom over the last few months.

The last few weeks of my work life have revolved around artificial intelligence. I am working on a course for Utah Education Network on AI in schools called The AI Frontier. The course is meant to be an introduction to AI in classrooms beyond trying out an AI and seeing what it can help you do (albeit sometimes poorly).

I, like many of us in educational technology, have been somewhat taken away by AI over the last few months. ChatGPT, Dall e, and Midjourney have been weekly, if not daily, topics of discussion, along with AI policy, frameworks, assignments, and assessments in education. For example, just in the past week I have run an edcamp session on AI in schools, developed coursework for an AI course, and shared a presentation with a local educator team on creativity and AI.