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Conversations from ISTE Live with Becky Keene · Integrate This! Ed Tech Podcast

• 0:01
  Hey, welcome to the Integrate This EdTech podcast.
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  I'm David Berner and I'm joined by Becky Keane,
• 0:08
  author of AI Optimism and CEO of Fidgetal Labs.
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  I'm super excited to talk about Becky. We have
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  a bit of a history because we've been at conferences
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  together here and there. We've got photos. Yeah,
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  you did our AI symposium, tons of stuff. So we've
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  run into each other quite a bit. So I wanted
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  to ask you right off the bat, what's great about
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  being at this conference at ISTE? The vibe, the
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  buzz, the energy is always really high. It's
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  so big that you never run out of something to
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  do. You could drop into anything at any time.
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  There is literally always something going on.
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  There's no downtime. Which is a good and a bad,
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  depending on how you feel about that. Yeah, and
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  we talked about that yesterday too. It's like
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  there's a lot of stuff. You will not make it
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  to everything. You should probably check if something's
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  all the way across the conference center. Start
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  walking early. Yeah, yeah. So, and you just had
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  a session this morning. I did. I came straight
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  here from that. Yeah, what was that on and how
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  did it go? It was from shortcut to scaffold,
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  how AI supports student thinking. Which is perfect
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  because that's what everyone is talking about
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  right now. It seems like is okay. We have this
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  tool. It's been out in the wild for a few years
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  But then what like people are so worried about
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  it being a replacement You know students are
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  outsourcing their thinking and the session was
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  really about the free tools It was specifically
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  sponsored by Microsoft education. So we're looking
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  at study and learn study guide co -pilot notebooks
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  Learning activities all the things that are free
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  built -in accessible available that don't outsource
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  student thinking. They're meant to build student
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  comprehension and understanding and mastery.
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  So yeah, that's what we're talking about. Yeah,
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  and then you have some more sessions coming up
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  over the next day here. And then you have some
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  digital labs. I got some sessions, too, of other
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  people leading those. So what does all Fidgetal
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  Labs have going on at the conference? Oh, goodness.
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  So I am so fortunate to have an amazing team
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  of educators who have a wide range of capabilities.
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  So of course, we're talking about AI, but we're
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  also talking about critical thinking and student
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  podcasts and game -based learning and infusing.
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  edgy protocols, things like that. It's really
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  a wide range of just great pedagogy with the
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  ed tech tools that are available. Cool. And you
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  mentioned the vibe here. Yeah. So connecting
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  with people. Who are you looking forward to connecting
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  with? And maybe even like someone you only have
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  known online, but you're going to see them in
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  first. Right. Okay. Well, check, check that box
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  off this morning. I've already seen so many people.
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  that that's the case. But honestly, this is my
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  favorite place to meet new people. So I've been
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  keeping an eye on LinkedIn and noticing people
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  who are maybe a second level connection to me,
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  right? I haven't interacted with them before.
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  They're a new name, a new face to me. And I'm
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  like, this person looks interesting. I want to
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  check them out. I want to get to know them. I
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  want to hear what they're all about because...
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  I want to learn from new people. And I think
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  that sometimes we tend to get a little echo chamber
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  going on where we hear the same things over and
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  over. And I am a person that highly values fresh
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  perspective. So I'm someone that gets excited
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  about meeting someone for the first time and
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  then staying connected so I can learn from them.
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  Yeah, absolutely. And there's no shortage of
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  like opportunities where you can, like there's
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  the people you meet, but then also like the things
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  that you might experience. I know Jeremy and
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  I have talked about like unexpected things that
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  have happened, like even like meeting Manal Herrera
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  and the sketching thing, talking about that.
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  As far as the conference itself, how many have
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  you been to so far? This is my 12th. Okay, so
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  it's 12 years. Yeah, I haven't missed in 12 years.
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  What do you wish somebody told you before like
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  your first year? What do you wish you knew? So
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  many things. So fortunately, I was not new to
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  ed tech conferences. It was just my first ISTE,
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  right, which is bigger, obviously. So I'm going
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  to add to your question because I'm that kind
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  of girl. I wish the first ed tech conference
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  I ever went to Someone would have helped me explain
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  or help me understand the format. I walked in
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  I saw an expo hall and Honestly, no one had told
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  me about the sessions and I know that sounds
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  wild For those of us that have been dead tech
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  conferences, but I was like so I wander around
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  and get sold to like What are we doing here?
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  I can't afford this stuff. I'm the first -year
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  teacher. Like I was so confused. So I No one
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  sat down with me inside like plan ahead, look
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  for things that you want to go see, plan a schedule,
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  like no one had given me any guidance. So before
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  my first ISTE, I had that background coming in.
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  But what I didn't know was the size of the Convention
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  Center, and you already said it, to plan time
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  to get from place to place. And now I'm so blessed
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  and honored to have so many connections here
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  that I have to add... lots of extra time for
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  hallway hugs, which is like the best part. But
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  it takes me like a solid half an hour to get
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  from one place to another, because I'm doing
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  lots of hallway reunions and that's awesome.
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  But just planning time and not trying to pack
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  it in back to back. The other tip, if you can
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  swing it, I'm a big fan of breakfast, so I eat
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  a big... Solid breakfast and then I bring like
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  a bar and an apple to make it through the day
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  because I don't have time To like me even go
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  get a lunch. No one has time for that But I want
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  to keep my energy up. So and then I I hit a good
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  dinner at the end of the day Okay. Yeah, so no
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  no back to back so much water, right? No back
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  -to -back sessions for you unless they're in
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  the same room like like I mean, you don't get
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  a choice. Yeah, but I really try at one conference
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  this year a collaboration I had really wanted
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  me to be somewhere at a certain time. And it
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  was really tight. And I asked them to send me
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  an escort, which sounds like a total diva -moo.
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  But I said, honestly, if you need me to make
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  this happen in 10 minutes, like from my session
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  to your booth, bring me an escort. And they're
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  like, OK. So they stood at the door of my session.
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  And they just very kindly said to everyone, follow
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  us if you want to keep talking to her. And we
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  brought everyone with us to the booth. That's
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  not why they have a diva. I was like, I was like,
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  so embarrassed. But I said, listen, I love to
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  give hallway hugs. And so if you need me there,
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  this is what's going to make it work. Yeah. And
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  it did work. They did it twice for me. Nice.
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  Yeah. So we want to ask you, we've been asking
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  our guests, who are who someone or a few people
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  that we should have on the podcast that we have
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  not had on the podcast before they're doing great
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  things, amazing things that you've seen. Steven
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  Reed. from Endless Access. He's VP of Learning.
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  They are doing the coolest stuff with community
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  -based gaming. So it's where kids are joining
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  a platform and they're building the game as a
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  community. They're contributing actual content.
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  And that's where we need to be going in education,
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  not where kids are consuming content, right?
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  That's where we get all this concern that they're
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  outsourcing their cognition is because we're
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  just giving them excuse me, but mind -numbing
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  stuff, right? It's like, oh, memorize this list
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  of events. No. They're doing things where kids
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  are highly engaged and interacting, and they're
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  building something together. And the game that
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  they use is called Threadbear. It's completely
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  developed by Endless Studios. It's award -winning
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  from Games for Change and Game Development Council.
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  It's really good stuff. He's here to see... And,
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  you know, he's often at these types of events
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  talking about what they're doing. And they really
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  focus on bringing those experiences to kids in
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  high -need demographics who wouldn't get access
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  to great coding and game -based instruction otherwise.
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  Awesome. Yeah. And that's a lot of areas that
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  we serve too, rural areas and things like that.
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  So awesome. So one last question for you. Where
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  can people follow you for one, but then what
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  does Vigital Labs have coming up and what do
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  you have coming up? for projects, different things
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  that people can expect. Okay. So you can find
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  me, hopefully you drop this in a caption or something,
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  but if you Google my name, it's me. I'm just
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  super fortunate that way. So Becky Keene's, it's
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  also beckykeene .com. That's easy. Fidgetal Labs
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  is the intersection of physical and digital learning.
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  So we are huge fans of... getting kids outside,
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  building a structure, sketching by hand, right?
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  Like all these interpersonal interactions that
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  make learning happen, and then we complement
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  that with digital resources and digital experiences.
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  That's something I've believed in for a very
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  long time, and that's kind of what we're about.
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  We deliver a lot of professional learning for
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  educators all over North America. More worldwide,
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  but like primarily North America, right, is our
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  audience. And we just announced, so you're the
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  first time I've gotten to say this aloud. We
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  just announced our new AI Playbook series. So
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  that's launching in July next month. It's a six
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  week, so like every other week series on using
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  AI in your classroom, little teeny like bite
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  sized immediately applicable ways. Teachers who
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  sign up are gonna leave with like a playbook
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  a PDF from every session of like what to go do
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  right away And we're hoping that that can reach
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  educators everywhere who don't get ISD PD experiences
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  who don't you know who couldn't join your event
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  who who aren't in these spaces and just are honestly
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  at home, you know in in their own bubble, maybe
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  they've got a team with them, but They're looking
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  to grow in a way that hasn't been supported by
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  going to a big event. And so we can come alongside
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  that. And for just a very, very small fee, get
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  them the PD that they need. Okay. And will that
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  connect to the book in some way or? Okay. So
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  I also have the book, right? AI Optimism. I like
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  to think that everything we do connects to AI
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  Optimism, right? To the framework. To bringing
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  transformative practice to education. In fact,
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  did you catch the ISTE announcement of the rename?
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  Yes. Yes. Did you notice it's now transforming
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  education? Yeah. So I'm thrilled with that because
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  I'm like, oh, they listen. We've been talking
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  about that for a while, right? So it's not explicitly
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  aligned with the book because, you know, Fidgill
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  Labs is more than just me, right? We've got a
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  whole team of people who deliver amazing experiences,
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  but everything we do has AI optimism in mind.
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  And it also has immediately applicable, safe
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  for education. You know, all of that is kind
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  of our core belief. Okay. Anyway, so. Awesome.
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  Well, yeah, we'll be sure to include everything
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  in the show notes. So if you want to access Becky's
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  website or the digital labs or any of the things
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  that she has going on, you'll be able to do that
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  via our show notes. Integrate this podcast, Apple,
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  Spotify, YouTube. Check it out. And thanks, Becky.
• 11:45
  Yeah. Thanks for having me, David.