We want to invite you to the Innovative Educator Un-Conference the morning of Saturday, October 19 at the UNL Hub in Henzlik Hall from 8:30 AM until noon. Come ready to participate in a technology playground project as you consider how such experiences could be integrated into your curriculum. Meet educators who are implementing innovative practices in their own schools and learn how they did it. And have conversations around topics you would like to consider in your own school. Learn more about UNL’s Innovative Educator Workshops you may want to join next summer. The Un-Conference is free, but you do need to register by October 1 to allow us to plan. We hope to see you there! Register Here
For more than two years we have been collaborating with a Think Tank of innovators to meet the needs of innovative schools. We focused on preparing educators to be effective and confident in facilitating learning in innovative settings. School leaders have indicated a challenge in finding and retaining effective educators in innovative settings, whether project-based learning, virtual, hybrid, outdoor, or international. We created an Innovative Educator curriculum to supplement traditional teacher education. These courses support innovative schools by developing educators who can facilitate learning in a variety of settings using inquiry, creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration.
We offered these courses for the first time this past summer.
At the Un-Conference you will be able to meet some of the educators who participated in this program. Hear about the innovative practices they are implementing in their schools, and most importantly the processes they are using to make it happen. If you are thinking about updating your curriculum to be more student-centered while implementing technology to empower your students to demonstrate learning, consider attending this event. There will also be time to discuss and share ideas with other innovative educators in attendance. To quote Don Leu of the University of Connecticut, because of the incredibly rapid advancements in technology and learning, "no one person can be expected to know everything there is about the technologies of literacy; these technologies will simply change too quickly and be too extensive to permit any single person to be literate in them all. Each of us, however, will know something useful to others. (Leu, 2002, p. 328)
Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash
Schedule
8:30 Registration and Refreshments
8:45-9:30 micro:bits project-based learning
9:30-10:15 Panel of Innovative Educators sharing what they are doing and how they got there
10:15-10:30 Break
10:30-11:10 Mini Un Conference Round 1
11:10-11:45 Mini Un Conference Round 2
11:45-12:00 Closing Thoughts and Door Prizes!
The conference is free so please consider coming to share what you know that will be useful to others. We hope to see you at the Un-Conference on October 19 at Henzlik Hall! We can't wait to hear how you are considering or already innovating at your school!
