Latest / Integrate This! Ed Tech Podcast / EdTech Conference Week Recap: Lake ECMECC & EdTech Connect 2025

Transcript

EdTech Conference Week Recap: Lake ECMECC & EdTech Connect 2025 · Integrate This! Ed Tech Podcast

0:00
Welcome to Integrate This, your go -to EdTech
0:03
podcast where curiosity meets classroom innovation.
0:07
Join your hosts, David Berner and Jeremy Mikla,
0:09
as we explore the rapidly evolving world of educational
0:12
technology. From game -changing tools to insightful
0:15
conversations with today's top EdTech voices,
0:18
we're here to help educators stay informed, inspired,
0:21
and ready to innovate. So tune in, level up,
0:25
and let's integrate this. Hey, welcome to the
0:30
integrate this podcast. We are certainly glad
0:34
that you're able to join us again here for another
0:37
edition of. Kind of what the things that we've
0:40
been working on this summer, you know, David
0:43
and I have kind of shared some great interviews.
0:46
I think with other educators and other well -known
0:50
Ed Tech enthusiasts and we decided to put one
0:54
together here today because we both been busy
0:57
the last week or so with planning and. pulling
1:01
off our own regional ed tech conferences for
1:05
educators in the areas where we are. And so today's
1:10
episode is a bit of a recap of that and a bit
1:13
of highlighting some of the great things that
1:15
are taking place. And I think some things that
1:17
educators have. stuff to look forward to for
1:21
this upcoming school year, which it's hard to
1:23
believe that when this will air in mid -August
1:28
that teachers are only a matter of maybe two
1:31
weeks before they go back to their workshops
1:34
and maybe three weeks before students are actually
1:37
in their classroom. It's a fun time for us to
1:42
like you and I because we we see each other like
1:45
once a week on that podcast But then we actually
1:47
like get to hang out in person for a couple days
1:50
during that this week of conferences other than
1:53
ISTE typically, but yeah, I didn't go this year
1:56
Yeah, I mean like even in June we got together
2:00
in say cloud And did a presentation on AI literacy
2:05
there, which we were able to redo which we'll
2:07
talk about a little bit later but kind of like
2:11
David let me ask you here first and I'll let
2:12
you kick it off here. So your conference that
2:15
you host is called EdTech Connect and it occurred
2:19
on Thursday as we record this that would have
2:23
been last week. So tell me a little bit about
2:27
kind of your conference. Why do you have it?
2:30
Yeah so we actually started the process of getting
2:35
this conference together Because we actually
2:39
have another conference that we do and I think
2:42
this is our 19th year doing that conference,
2:44
which is called IT squared and now one was going
2:47
on like well before I had my position with with
2:51
the SWWC, but the main I would say main audience
2:56
for that is typically like tech directors, tech
2:58
coordinators and stuff. Not that there's there's
3:00
still a bunch of stuff that's there for administrators.
3:03
We always bring on. really great keynotes there
3:06
too. And then we have kind of this like track
3:09
of ed tech sessions or, you know, that are more
3:14
maybe geared towards tech integrationists or
3:17
teachers and things like that. And we've always
3:18
had that, but it's kind of a small portion of
3:22
the larger set of breakout sessions. And so a
3:26
couple of years ago, I was talking to my supervisor.
3:31
Josh assumption and then also you and I talked
3:34
to because you guys had already been doing ECMEC
3:36
for awhile and that one is more along the lines
3:39
of what we started with EdTech Connect. So it
3:42
was good to be able to talk to to you about that
3:44
too at the time and kind of what are you guys
3:46
doing and you know how could we approach this
3:48
conference and everything so we started last
3:52
year was our first year and we hosted it in at
3:55
the Worthington Public Schools which two of our
3:57
tech integrationists Ashley and Megan are at.
4:00
full time and they assist that district. And
4:04
so it was a great opportunity for us to work
4:06
with them and to host it at that site. And then
4:10
this year, the second year doing it, we hosted
4:14
it at Worthington again, and it's been a great
4:16
partnership doing that. And we just really wanted
4:20
to have kind of the opposite, right, of what
4:24
our IT squared conference was. being it's mostly
4:28
geared towards tech coordinators and everything,
4:31
we really wanted to then kind of flip that. and
4:33
have a conference that was geared towards the
4:35
teachers that we work with and the tech integrationists
4:38
in our region that we work with and spend time
4:41
with. And then extend that outward, too, as well,
4:44
to others that would be willing to make the drive
4:48
over there, as you did. And you made a four -hour
4:51
drive to join us and do some sessions. And then,
4:55
yeah, so that's our why. And then obviously,
4:58
right before that, we drove three hours. to come
5:02
see you in Mora for ECMEC. You talk about why
5:07
do you do ECMEC? Yeah, so this conference was
5:11
actually the 12th year. We call it the Lake ECMEC
5:13
conference. There is no such lake as a Lake ECMEC.
5:18
That'd be really weird if there was, but we just
5:22
kind of decided. And again, this was a little
5:24
bit before I was in the position that I am now,
5:27
but it was when I was in the classroom and I
5:30
kind of played a helping role for the first several
5:34
years of the conference. And then when I took
5:35
over this position it was. a well -oiled machine,
5:39
right? But the reason why it began and the reason
5:43
why we still do it as a regional EdTech conference
5:46
is because we find that it's just a great way,
5:50
I think, to get out before teachers as they are,
5:54
you know, winding down their summers. But before
5:57
they get back to workshops, share with them some
6:00
of the latest EdTech Trends tips or tools, whatever
6:05
it happens to be and that they can use those
6:08
then just help start them to plan for the upcoming
6:12
school year. We want it to be a conference that's
6:16
really by teachers and for teachers. We put out
6:20
an all call to try to get presenters that come
6:23
from the region in Minnesota where we're located,
6:27
and we do get several that offer up their services.
6:31
And then we're really fortunate enough, I think
6:33
you and I, because of the partnerships that we've
6:35
made, can rely upon each other and our little
6:39
networks to bring in some other presenters. I'm
6:42
really thankful for you and Megan and Kyle and
6:45
Ashley that did make the drive over to more of
6:49
Minnesota this year. And yeah, and I also think
6:53
that you know it's also a great opportunity that
6:56
educators don't always get to connect with other
6:59
educators outside of their own buildings and
7:02
districts, and so it provides that networking
7:05
opportunity that I think teachers also really.
7:08
really appreciate having the opportunity to connect
7:11
with people who are like -minded, you know. Yeah,
7:15
and so that's kind of our why behind the why
7:18
we still do it and we'll continue to do it. We're
7:21
looking forward to heading back tomorrow again
7:24
next year for version 13 of the Lake ECMEC conference.
7:30
Yeah, I think that lake just makes people think
7:32
that they're still in summer. Yeah, it's a good
7:41
atmosphere too. I think both of our conferences,
7:44
there's a lot of great people to have conversations
7:46
with and I think that it's pretty clear that
7:50
from the conversations that I had at your conference
7:52
and ours, there's a lot of appreciative teachers
7:55
that are glad that these events take place and
7:59
that they're able to come and get some of the
8:02
things that they need to help them through their
8:05
year. Can you give us a little bit of an overview
8:08
of the day this year, like what took place and
8:12
who were the Ignite speakers that you had? And
8:15
it's kind of a unique thing that you do with
8:17
the Ignite speakers too, so. Yeah, so this was
8:20
an idea, I wish I could take credit for this
8:22
idea as well, but we began doing this before
8:25
I also came to ECMEC. And we, one of the things
8:30
that we'll do every other year is have what we
8:33
call Ignite speakers rather than your traditional
8:36
keynote that you might have at a conference.
8:38
So Ignite speakers instead of presenting say
8:41
like a 45, 50 minutes. Keynote address we take
8:45
three educators that come from our member districts
8:49
That come from diverse backgrounds. We try to
8:52
mix it up whether You know have someone be an
8:56
elementary teacher someone that maybe is an administrative
9:00
role a high school role So that you're we're
9:03
getting three diverse speakers, right? But they
9:05
all are going to share a 10 to 12 15 minutes
9:09
presentation that shares kind of their passion
9:13
that they have when it comes towards education.
9:16
And I think that really came out this year with
9:19
the presenters that we had, the three of them.
9:22
The first English speaker that we had, her name
9:24
was Gina Osmas. Gina is a relatively new administrator.
9:29
This will actually be this upcoming school year,
9:32
her first year in the role of high school principal
9:36
at. East Central High School. She's been a year
9:39
or two as an assistant principal dean of students
9:42
and spent several years in the science classroom
9:45
and she gave just kind of a great message about
9:48
the importance of relationships and creating
9:52
relationships and using that as the springboard
9:56
launching pad into finding ways to have success
9:59
with students. So it wasn't even really technology
10:02
themed and we don't necessarily say that they
10:04
have to be. It's just you know People want to
10:08
hear a message that's going to fire you up before
10:10
you start the next school year, and I think that
10:12
one really. took care of that. The second one
10:14
that we had was Ashley Nelson. She's a family
10:18
and consumer science teacher and I've known her
10:21
for a long time. Her first teaching job was in
10:23
Malacca when I was still there so she was an
10:27
easy one to reach out to and connect with because
10:30
I've seen what a great teacher that she is and
10:33
she shared a message about her passion for thrifting
10:37
and how that is environmentally sustainable.
10:42
and to be conscious about some of those decisions
10:45
that you make as a teacher to help sustain things
10:49
environmentally. And the third one was Pete Balmer.
10:53
He was from Moora, or is from Moora, and is...
10:58
a fifth, sixth grade STEM teacher that does a
11:03
lot of work with students in building their technology
11:08
skills and coding and things like that. And so
11:10
I think it was a great way for us to begin our
11:12
day. From there, we move into breakout sessions,
11:16
and that's where things got really, really busy.
11:19
I know I presented in three of the four breakouts
11:22
that we had during the day, and I presented on
11:25
topics like I do one every year. That's a what's
11:31
new Google presentation where I share with teachers
11:34
kind of some of the latest Google updates to
11:36
the workspace tools that they all use. Then I
11:40
did another one on the use of snorkel. Big shout
11:43
out to John. John Lavin from snorkel who was
11:47
a guest on our episode. a couple episodes ago,
11:50
right? And then I know you and I did one. We'll
11:53
talk about that one, you know, a bit later. But
11:58
it was just, which meant if I'm presenting so
12:01
many sessions, I don't get to attend as many,
12:03
right? But I would say the trend in our conference,
12:07
there was a lot of sessions on AI and AI tools,
12:11
which is, I think, great. It's really helpful,
12:13
especially for a lot of our educators. are getting
12:17
used to this idea of the AI presence. And the
12:21
other thing that we always try to make sure that
12:24
we include in Minnesota to get your continuing
12:27
education and for your relicensure, there are
12:31
different topics that you have to attend sessions
12:34
on every three or four years whenever our licenses
12:38
come due. And so we often will add sessions that
12:42
help people meet those relicensure. re -licensure
12:45
areas so we definitely had those as well. So
12:49
and then we I should also highlight the one other
12:53
part of the day that David participated in this
12:56
year which was great. We've had a demo slam that
13:00
has taken place each year at the conference as
13:04
well and a demo slam is where you get two to
13:09
three minutes to present a tool or an application
13:13
to the entire conference attendance group. And
13:19
so typically we've done one person one tool for
13:23
two to three minutes, but this year we decided
13:25
to switch it up a little bit. I invited David
13:28
to integrate this. demo slam, where we each presented
13:32
three in kind of an alternating format. And then,
13:36
you know, we determined by applause who the winner
13:39
was. And I, you know, to cut to the chase, it
13:43
was both, we both did a really good job, I think,
13:46
presenting our tools. And the audience thought
13:49
that and it was too hard to determine a winner
13:51
this year. It sounds like a cop out, but they
13:55
were they were all really good. Yeah, it was
13:58
a tie, right? It was a tie. Yeah, yeah, it was
14:03
great. It was fun to be a part of the event and
14:07
and talk with some of the folks. Like you mentioned,
14:10
Gina, I got a chance to talk with her as well
14:14
during my session. And yeah, it was really great.
14:18
So yeah. So in your conference again, you know,
14:22
there's some similarities, some differences there.
14:25
But why don't you describe what your day was
14:27
like for us? Yeah, so we kind of kick things
14:31
off with our keynote. And we invited a keynote
14:36
this year. Last year, I did it, which was interesting
14:41
as good. But it was nice to have Steve Ball come
14:46
from. He works at Winona State University. And
14:50
he's got a number of different accolades and
14:53
really, really great guy to talk to. And he's
14:57
we actually had him keynote at our IT squared
15:00
conference, I think about three years ago. And
15:03
so we've maintained that connection and it's
15:05
been nice to to have to have him come down. And
15:09
he was actually on our podcast, too. We interviewed
15:12
Steve a while back and released that episode
15:15
prior to all the conference. stuff going down
15:19
so and Steve talked a lot about his his keynote
15:23
was digital literacy in 2030 and he kind of talked
15:28
about like understanding that the changes that
15:30
have taken place just like with literacy over
15:33
time and then talking about the impacts of AI
15:37
and digital technologies on literacy how that
15:40
shift has happened and then what is what is what
15:44
do students need now like what is there are certain
15:48
needs like data literacy and digital literacy.
15:52
And it's about looking at what's emerging for
15:57
the future for students, including AI. And then
16:02
he talked a bit about digital literacy and global
16:05
and cultural literacy as well. And it was a good
16:08
way to kick things off. And then we went right
16:11
into our breakout sessions. And we had a really
16:16
wide range of breakout sessions, I would say.
16:20
We had a number of AI sessions, AI tools, and
16:24
things that more, I guess, AI more broadly. And
16:29
then it was nice to, Steve did. I think three
16:32
breakout sessions on feedback, did one on digital
16:39
accessibility that you and I attended as well.
16:42
And so he spent a lot of time with our attendees
16:46
after the keynote, doing one also on improving
16:51
professional development as well. And so then
16:55
we were able to coordinate with our At SWWC,
16:59
we have a bunch of different departments. We're
17:01
a fairly large organization. So we have like
17:04
our teaching and learning and mental health departments
17:06
and special education and all of that. So it
17:09
was nice. We were able to coordinate with them
17:11
to offer some continuing ed credits as well,
17:15
similar to what you do at Lake Ecmec. And so
17:19
providing those sessions to folks that needed
17:21
some of those credits and then being able to.
17:24
you know, pair that with the sessions that we
17:27
offered throughout the day. I know that you did
17:29
a number of sessions too, one on the What's New
17:32
Google, one that you've worked on for a while
17:35
now and continue to update creating custom AI
17:39
chat bots. And then the one that we did together,
17:42
which was on AI literacy as well. I did a session
17:46
on AI guidance, just the stuff that, and this
17:50
is one that I did at Lake Ecmec as well, but
17:52
one that kind of details what we did, what the
17:57
process was that we worked through for our region
18:01
with helping schools tackle AI guidance, all
18:05
the different pieces that go into that and how
18:06
does that tie into like MBE's guiding principles.
18:10
And so we had a lot to offer and we had some
18:13
really great sessions throughout the day and
18:16
was very, very pleased with, you know, what we
18:20
offered and and heard a lot of great feedback
18:23
just talking to folks during the event so. And
18:27
then yeah, we you and I presented on AI literacy.
18:31
This was our third time doing it, right? Because
18:34
we we did it at Saint Cloud like second and third
18:37
times. Yeah, yeah, second and third in one week,
18:40
yeah. Which is good. It's it's kind of like you
18:45
know and when you're in the classroom and you
18:47
have. two or three of the same. And by the second
18:52
or third time you do it, it's a lot better than
18:53
the first. And that's no different than presenting
18:56
a breakout session, that's for sure. Yeah. Yeah.
18:59
And I think you had mentioned to me too that
19:02
like you were really impressed. I know with I
19:06
think with both conferences, the folks that attended
19:09
our sessions were super engaged in like content
19:14
and and really trying to understand it. And that
19:17
was really encouraging just from the fact that
19:21
we had so many teachers in both sessions. And
19:24
I think it's very clear to me as well. Teachers,
19:27
they really, really want to understand generative
19:31
AI and AI literacy and what are the things that
19:35
we should be doing, or at least if we're not
19:38
doing them. You know, I know there's a lot that
19:42
goes into it. At least we're starting to have
19:44
conversations around it, and that was encouraging.
19:47
Yeah, and I would say, you know, like I and it
19:50
feeds into kind of one of the main points that
19:53
we make in the session that we do. But you know,
19:56
teachers really want to make sure that with their
19:58
approach to Jenny I that they that they are definitely
20:02
bringing it before their students in ways that
20:05
are safe ways that are ethical. And ways that
20:10
are effective and you know that that C framework,
20:14
which we borrow heavily from AI for education.
20:17
And when we get a chance to bring Amanda Baker
20:20
staff on on our show, you know, I think she'll
20:23
touch on some of that as well, but and I think
20:26
that's just it's a key thing and I think it's
20:28
an important message for teachers to hear. And
20:31
you know, like you say, start those conversations,
20:33
but also realize that. Hey, we're all in this
20:36
same kind of struggle together, you know, that
20:39
it's going to bring changes, which brings challenges.
20:43
But I think like, you know, like you said about
20:46
the engagement, boy, we've got teachers that
20:48
are ready to embrace that and take take that
20:50
head on, you know? Yeah, yeah, I don't think
20:55
anybody just in the sessions and the conversations
20:58
that we've had, like, I don't really get the
21:00
impression that anybody sitting there with their
21:02
heads in the sand or anything like that. I think
21:04
people are running, you know, they're trying
21:05
to understand it, wrap their heads around it.
21:09
And I think acknowledge, you know, some of the
21:11
drawbacks and the limitations of it, but don't
21:13
use that as an excuse not to not to find ways
21:17
that it to bring it effectively into their practice.
21:21
Well, thank you for joining us here for this
21:23
integrate this conference recap edition. And
21:27
we look forward to having you back again for
21:30
our next episode. Have a great rest of the summer,
21:34
whatever days you have left. Thanks for listening
21:36
to Integrate This. Want to take your learning
21:39
further? Head over to our YouTube channel for
21:41
quick tutorials, deep dives, and more EdTech
21:45
tips you can use right away. Don't forget to
21:48
subscribe and catch new podcast episodes every
21:51
Thursday on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get
21:55
your podcasts. Until next time, keep exploring.
21:59
Keep innovating and keep integrating this.