Connects Create-a-Thon 2023!

This past week, I was not as active as I typically am online in our classes, but that doesn't mean I was lounging on the sofa watching Netflix... We were preparing for our CISD Connects Create-a-Thon! It's a once-a-year conference-style event that our Instructional Technology Department holds. Anyone is able to register and attend. Participants were able to choose from a variety of sessions all throughout the day. Each session featured a tool, with protected "play" time to explore and create with the featured tool or tools. We provided lunch and purchased AMAZING giveaways from BookCreator, ClassKick, Newline Interactive Touch Panel, Logitech, Sphero, and more...

It was definitely a learning experience planning and hosting an event such as this. Coming together as a team with a vision for participants based on surveys, a theme, designing a logo, swag, marketing, brochures, securing a facility, planning for logistics for each room, calling for presenters, screening presenter applications, communicating with presenters, preparing sessions, the physical set up and tear down at the facility, and then providing the learning opportunities that participants wanted was a magical formula that somehow all came together at the end due to our collaborative team efforts. It would not have been possible if even one of us weren't able to complete our respective tasks.

I presented 6 different back-to-back sessions, with only one repeating. Switching topics, tools, and participants each hour quickly took more emotional and mental energy than I anticipated, and I was lucky enough to be able to stay in the same physical location! It was so fun when the "light bulb" moment was achieved in each session. To see groups of educators rally together, to help each other explore through playing with digital tools and making connections to how this experience could translate into their classroom with their learners was honestly the highlight of each session. At the end of the day, when looking through the participant feedback the majority of it was "this is exactly what was needed" and "I wish we had MORE days". So even though it was an exhausting first two days back on contract, knowing the timing and content were "just-right" for our intended audience made this event worth it.

Here is a sneak peek into my sessions last week: