This weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the first ever PioNear Summit in Austin, Texas with the NearPod team and other PioNears. It was an amazing summit filled with great learning, networking and collaboration. The day started with a very motivating talk by CEO Guido Kovalskys which provided a background on Nearpod as well as many great take away for the day. Kovalskys talked about leadership and teamwork but one statement that resonated with me most is (below): students learn best when they’re engaged. I have experienced this first hand as an educator and the power of seeing students connected with their learning is inspiring.
Following the opening session we began some training looking at the what of Nearpod and discussing some best practices in terms of pedagogy and technology. As well, we had a chance to share some Nearpod lessons and trainings we had facilitated getting constructive and useful feedback from each other.
One of the highlights of the summit for me was the collaboration and networking. I gained some great tips and insights from wonderful educators who were more than willing to share best practises when using Nearpod. For example, I loved hearing from Cathy Yenca and her ideas in how to document students learning using the draw feature in her mathematics class, something I am going to try in the very near future. As well, Nick Sun talked about how he used Nearpod as a unique brainstorming tool, incorporating music into his activity to engage his learners. I added many PioNears to my increasingly amazing PLN and learned about their passions for education like Heather Sanders and Amy Roediger. Most of all, the fun and collegiality formed between our group in such a short amount of time was amazing and no doubt in part due to the fun and engaging facilitation of Karrah Phillips and David Havens from Collective Capital sessions. It really was a such a wonderful days! Thanks to the entire Nearpod team for an amazing opportunity and I can’t wait until the next Summit!
