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TCEA Day 3

Today, we took some time to visit with some of the vendors in the exhibit hall.  LOTS of great stuff!  Here are some of the highlights of our visits:

TCEA - Day 2

Good Evening!  The second day of the conference included workshops, some networking, and some group planning among the SWISD Team.

I attended a workshop titled "QR Qrazy" which was led by Anna Adams and Helen Mowers, collectively known as the "Tech Chicks (@BetterAnnaMac, and @techchick94 on Twitter)."
They talked about some really great uses for QR codes in the classroom.  Here are some of the things they discussed:

• Putting QR codes on the inside covers of classroom books to link to online resources that support each book's topic.
• Have students create QR codes when they come across vocabulary in their classwork.
• Have older students read text from books and upload content that younger students can access to assist their reading.
• On curricular worksheets, have students create QR codes that link to uploaded tutorials created that demonstrate those specific concepts.

I also attended a workshop on creating iPhone apps without coding (writing programming code).  This was especially interesting to me, since creating apps for our district iPads and iPods has been a personal project of mine for a couple of years, and it was good to be able to get some help from someone who has used the software extensively. 

In order to write programs for iOS devices or for the Mac, you are required to use a program called XCode.  This is a really involved program that lets you write, test, and even submit apps to the Apple App Store.

We are all looking forward to tomorrow, because the exhibit hall finally opens.  This is where vendors will be showcasing their new products and services.

Please follow all of us on our blogs:

• http://swisddigitalespresso.blogspot.com
• http://itechnitude.blogspot.com
• http://dragontechcafecito.blogspot.com
• http://techtasticadventures.blogspot.com/

Also, follow us on Twitter - @madd4cache, @dalelockett, @zorroeac, and @dbarcenez.

Welcome to TCEA 2013!

This year's TCEA convention experience began this morning at 4:15, and has been a great experience thus far.
The Texas Computer Education Association holds it's yearly convention and exposition at the convention center in Austin.  Hundreds of the world's most accomplished educational technology leaders attend in order to lead workshops, demonstrate their products, and share their experiences as they relate to technology in education.
Thousands of educators and administrators attend these workshops and exhibitions in order to "Stay ahead of the curve" in upcoming technology trends.  It is also a great opportunity to collaborate with others in this quickly changing and exciting field.

Today, I attended three workshops - SMART Skills and Notebook 11, Chrome Web Apps and Extensions, and Adobe Photoshop CS6.

In the SMART Skills workshop, we learned about the newest software from SMARTTech, the company that produces the popular interactive whiteboards.  This software can be used on any computer (even those not connected to a smart device).  In truth, the software is actually what makes the SmartBoard work like it does and makes it successful as a classroom tool.  SMARTTech is constantly updating and improving this software, so it was a pleasure to be able to see the newest version.  the software can be downloaded here.  **Note** You have to have at least one piece of SMART hardware on your campus in order to get the activation code needed to install the software.

The Chrome Web apps are online programs that you can add to Google's Chrome browser to add new and different functionality to your computing experience.  There are LOTS of apps which can be used within the internet browsing program that used to be available only in expensive software that had to be downloaded and run from the computer.  This saves disk space, processing power, and, most importantly, money.
Some examples of things that can be done this way now are photo editing, live screen sharing, 3D environment design, personal organization and planning, and even gaming and graphic design.  If you don't already have Chrome installed on your computer, check it out. You can download it here.

Click here to check out the chrome Web store and see the great apps we looked at today.

The workshop on Photoshop was one that I personally enjoyed, as we spend a lot of time editing photos for use in training and tutorials.  Adobe Photoshop is the premier photo editing program available on the market.  It has hundreds or even thousands of features available, but many times formal training is necessary in order to discover "hidden" features and new additions to the software.

You can follow our whole team as we blog and tweet from the convention.  My Twitter name is @dalelockett.