DSUSD’s Sixth Annual EdTechTeam Summit

February 8-10 found Desert Sands Unified School District hosting the sixth annual EdTechTeam Desert Summit.

According to EdTechTeam, the summits are professional development experiences in a conference style setting that focus on implementation, integration, the use Google for Education, and other educational technology tools.

The EdTechTeam sessions are designed to be hands-on learning experiences rather than a sit-and-get format. The event focuses on best practices in educational technology and emerging trends in pedagogy, ensuring that there is something for everyone in attendance.

This year’s EdTechTeam summit was attended by 256 individuals. Most of the attendees were from California, however, there were also people who traveled from Arizona, Texas, Oregon, Alabama, and Canada. Desert Sands was proudly represented with 137 individuals attending the event. There was representation from almost every school in the district.

Sessions this year focused on topics such as: tablet apps, Google Forms, how to use technology to increase rigor and relevance, flipping your classroom, technology in math, digital graphic organizers, app development for students, National Geographic Geo-Inquiry, computer science, science journals, Google Classroom, HyperDocs, Pear Deck, Breakout EDU, and much more.

Each session was 90 minutes long providing participants with hands-on-time with one-to-one assistance from the presenter.

In addition to sessions, keynote sessions were delivered each day. This year’s keynotes were delivered by Kevin Brookhouser, author of The 20time Project: How educators can launch Google’s Formula for Future-Ready Students and Code in Every Class: How All Educators Can Teach Programming, Lisa Highfill, the co-creator and co-author of The HyperDoc Handbook and Teachers Give Teachers, and Rosalinda Jaimes, Google Certified Innovator, Trainer, and Educator.

The success of this year’s EdTechTeam event is credited to numerous groups.Typically, the day before the event is devoted to transforming the Shadow Hills High School gym into a conference center. With the outstanding honor of the SHHS boys basketball team making CIF, the gym was needed for a home game. DSUSD’s maintenance department, technology department, and Shadow Hills High School personnel worked late into the night after the game to prepare everything for the event which started early  Saturday morning. The dedication and flexibility of these staff members was very much appreciated. Special appreciation to technology teachers who are on special assignment to the district providing grade level assistance and training to our schools. They worked in partnership with EdTechTeam for months before the event to ensure that everything on site was coordinated and ready to go when the EdTechTeam arrived. The team is already discussing next year’s classes and speakers.