Ohio Educational Technology Conference (OETC) 2020

I had the opportunity to visit the #OETC20 (Ohio Educational Technology Conference) that was held at the Greater Columbus Convention Center from February 11th – February 13th.

The conference brings together teachers and administrators and provides learning sessions and access to leading Education vendors. During the three day conference, visitors have the opportunity to listen to presentations on a wide variety of topics including:

 The above list are just some of the great sessions that were available to participants. The agenda was packed and there was only so much I could see during the course of the three days. Fortunately, a grassroots campaign was started on Twitter to collaboratively put together notes from the various presentations at the OETC conference.

If you weren’t able to make it, I would also recommend checking out the list of vendors that were at the event.

For me personally, the conference provided an opportunity to connect with educators around the State of Ohio and to understand how technology was being used in the classroom. I shared the goal of bringing Acton Academy to Columbus with many people and received universally positive feedback on a learner-driven environment.

My takeaways from networking at the conference:

  • Learner-driven environment is a model of education that many teachers “wish could be incorporated into public schools”

  • There is so much amazing education technology that allows students to drive their own learning

  • Project collaboration in the classroom is a focus for many teachers but often a struggle in an environment where classes are only 45 minutes long

  • Online learning is helpful and allows students great and flexible access to information. However, learners value the interaction with their teachers and peers.