Wednesday, July 01, 2015

Thoughts on #ISTE2015 Wednesday–Poster Sessions

I spent a lot of time in playgrounds and poster sessions. There is really not a lot of difference between a poster session and a playground session. The big difference is that a playground has a lot of posters on the same theme. Some of these are great and some are ok. I’ve come up with a few conclusions about how they should be done. My opinions and your mileage may vary as they say.

QR codes are great as far as they go.They are a great way to take people to more information and resources online.  I’ve been taking pictures of many of them. I’ll look at them when I get home. But honestly I would rather look at most resources on my real computer than my phone or even a tablet. I recommend two things with regards to QR codes. One is put them on cards that people can take away with them. The second, more important to me, is show the URL the QR code leads to for people like me.

People are taking their notes by taking pictures. Make your poster cell phone camera ready. In other words have some large print. If your poster shrunk to 8.5x11 is unreadable taking a picture and printing it or reading it online later may be a problem for some.

Have tangible things to people to see and touch. If you have student work you can show off bring it. Pictures of the dinosaur your student made is nice seeing the actual creation in person it better.

Many of the poster sessions had students along to talk about what they are learning and how. Wonderful experience for them and for the teachers they talk to. I’m a bit old fashioned but I thi8nk the international students in their uniforms looks classy. They looked sharp and serious about their education. But as long as they bring enthusiasm with them kids are always great.

I got a lot of ideas from these sessions. Well worth taking the time for at ISTE. I’ll leave you with a thought, a question, that I saw on one poster session. “What do you want your students to be ready for?” That’s something I will keep in mind as I work on next years plans.

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