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Share-a-rama Redeux!

Can you believe it? It's the last NICE meeting of the year...already! Wow, the year has flown! New ideas, tips, tricks, tools, websites, apps and more have been learned along the way. Now, it's time to share-a-rama!

Join us on May 3rd at New Trier's Northfield Campus, 7 Happ Road, Northfield, Illinois 60093 in room C-234, to share all you've learned and pick up a few new ideas to peruse over the summer! Also, Mini-grants will be awarded and our new officers will be announced.

Registration and free light dinner at 4:30 pm, meeting at 5 p.m. There is no charge to attend and you will earn CDPUs!  So that we may get an accurate count for food ordering, please take a moment to RSVP if you plan to attend. Visit: http://tinyurl.com/nicemeeting

 

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Potpourri of Practical Ideas - March 19th!

After a wonderful week at ICE sharing and learning, NICE is gearing up for it's next meeting: Potpourri of Practical Programs! Join us on March 19th at Maine South High School. 

Practical programs highlighted will include connecting the NETS to classroom practice, creating ePubs with the iPad, iPads for creativity and assessment, and  Problem Based Technology Professional Development.

Come enjoy good conversation—and a FREE dinner too. Bring your friends…the more the merrier! We will meet at 4:30 PM for dinner and the meeting will begin at 5 PM.

So that we may get an accurate count for food ordering, please take a moment to RSVP if you plan to attend. Visit: http://tinyurl.com/nicemeeting.

 

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Biggest and best NICE Mini-Conference ever!

Wow - what an amazing group of topics and presenters, and what a turnout for the 18th NICE Mini Conference!! The quality and variety of sessions, targeted at grade levels from elementary to high school and administration, gave our attendees the difficult task of choosing three "must attend" sessions.

This year we had over 360 attendees who were able to select from 28 fantastic topics/sessions. We also included an "un-Conference" format for those who could not find a fit during any session, and we appreciate the volunteers that manned the first NICE un-Conference.

Our attendees had one major complaint, "Expand the conference to [fullday][multiple days] so we can attend more sessions," "too many good sessions scheduled at the same time." A frequent comment from attendees was they will come again, and again, and again.

A special thank you to our presenters for making the 18th year for NICE Mini-conference the biggest and best it has ever been. Presenter resources are located at the NICE resources link: http://iceberg.org/nice/resources

We expect to continue this tradition at the 19th annual NICE Mini-conference in 2013! 

Are you ready to learn at the NICE Mini-Conference?

Thank you to all of our NICE Members who pre-registered for the NICE Mini-Conference. We are expecting a record attendance this year, and hope that the day provides great opportunities for learning! Our schedule of sessions can be viewed online at: http://tinyurl.com/2012NiceSched. Resources from our presenters are posted on our NICE website: http://iceberg.org/nice/resources.

Pre-register now for the 18th Annual NICE Mini-Conference

Join us for the eighteenth annual 

Mini-Conference sponsored by 

Northern Illinois Computing Educators.

Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012 

8 am to 1 pm

Adlai E. Stevenson High School

Lincolnshire, IL. 

Registration and refreshments will begin at 8:00 a.m. in the East Building (park in Lot C or D). We will gather in the lobby of the Performing Arts Center. During this time, you can meet our 2011 Mini-Grant winners and learn about their projects. 

We’re kicking off our day with a keynote by Steve Dembo, Discovery Education’s Online Community Manager, followed by three 50-minute breakout sessions. We will conclude the day with a great raffle! For those who would like to try an “unconference” experience, we’re setting up areas for that, too! You’re sure to come away with some great new ideas, and maybe a raffle prize, too. Admission is $5.00...pay @ the door! 

FIRST: Download a copy of the "Mini-Conference NICE News" to view the session descriptions and presenter information.

THEN: We ask that you pre-register before Jan. 25 by going to: http://tinyurl.com/nice-mini2012. This will greatly help us to schedule rooms and sessions, (but does NOT guarantee you a seat in any one session) ... so, please help us out!

Pre-registered attendees can also reserve an iPad to use while in attendance. (iPad supplies are limited, so register early to reserve one!)

Please feel free to bring your wi-fi enabled devices to our mini-conference! If you plan to blog or post information on Flickr, Twitter or Plurk, etc, please apply the hashtag #nice2012 to your tweets, blogs, photos, and links.

For more information contact the Mini-Conference Co-Chairs: Helen Lazzarro,lazz04@gmail.com, or Stephanie Cardella, scardella@nssd112.org 

Hope to see YOU on Jan. 28!

 

Stellar Sessions Planned for the NICE Mini-Conference on Jan. 28!

Mark Your Calendars!! NICE will host its 18th annual mini-conference on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, from 8:00 am to 1 pm, at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire.

This year's stellar line up includes...

• Steve Dembo: Keynote Address
• Jon Bergmann: The Flipped Class
• Katie Cardella: More with iPads
• Tricia Fuglestad: Creative Digital Art Projects~Elementary and Beyond
• Ryan Goble: Media Circles: Cooperative Learning for Media-Savvy Teachers
• Jodi Greenspan: Community 2.0--How Technology can Enhance the School Community
• Jodi Greenspan: Google Earth--Students can do more than just find their house 
• Jim Gubbins: Untangling the Web
• Jan Hackman: What's Blooming in the iCollaboratory? 
• Lynda Hartman: Accessible Worksheets. It’s a Win-Win–-Differentiate Access and Save Paper
• Cynthia Karabush: Give Your Surfers a Paddle: QR Codes in the Classroom
• Caren Kimbarovsky: Above and Beyond: More Interactive Whiteboard Resources
• Karen Ladendorf: Songs My Family Taught Me, and Beyond
• Amy Lamberti: Web 2.0 Tools for Creativity
• Jill Maraldo: An introduction to social media for administrators
• Maureen Miller: The 21st Century Administrator
• Laura Montgomery: Building a website with Weebly ("the Wonder-Tool")
• Nick Nicholson: SMART Response VE: Your Internet Enabled Device is Now A Student Responder
• Nick Nicholson: Working Smarter w/SMART Boards 
• Nadine Norris: Adventures in a a 1-1 iPad Classroom
• Christine Pfaffinger: iPad learning in the Science classroom, from APPs to lessons
• Linda Pribyl: Creating iPad Content
• Anthony Reibel: Closing Learning Gaps With Powerful Technology
• Melissa Rosen: Web 2.0 Tools For The Classroom
• Melissa Rosen: If It's Online, It Must Be True
• Jeff Shaw: ActivInspire Tips & Tricks
• Bonnie Thurber: When will I Ever Use This? -- Career

Session descriptions will be published in the January NICE Newsletter. Participants will attend the keynote address and 3 breakout sessions. Admission is $5. Pre-registration will be available online beginning early in Jan. Stay tuned for more details!

 

Time to nominate your peers for Educator of the Year!

Each year, ICE recognizes the extraordinary education efforts of ICE members through the Educator of the Year Program. There are two categories for this award: ICE Educator of the Year Award, for Pre K-12 Classroom Teachers; and ICE Outstanding Technology Using Educator Award, for Media & Technology Staff, Administrators and College/University Faculty.

To nominate a colleague, please download and complete the nomination form and email the completed form by December 12, 2011, to the ICE Educator of the Year Chair, Charlene Chausis, at cchausis@iceberg.org.

For info about the ICE Educator of the Year award, visit http://iceberg.org/grants_awards/educator.

NICE iPads in Education Workshop 12-3-11 Resources

NICE Members gathered at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, IL today to explore the use of iPads in education. Special thanks to Jan Stoner and Loyola Academy for hosting today's workshop, and to Gail LeGrand for bringing her delicious home-baked chocolate bundt cake! Congratulations to Michelle Russell, winner of the portable video camera!! (We are raffling off a camera at each of our meetings this year.)

Today's session began with brainstorming to schedule "topics of interest" for 2 breakout sessions (in an "unconference" style), then a "share out" of favorite apps. Several online resources are available with notes and ideas presented today:

A back-channel of links and ideas: http://todaysmeet.com/NICE-ipadsined

A shared Google-doc spreadsheet of notes. 

A shared Google-doc ..."What's your 1 thing?" ... please add your ideas and solutions to this!

View the opening session posted to our uStream Channel:

Be sure to mark your calendars for our NICE Mini-Conference, Sat. Jan 28 at Stevenson High School. Our list of sessions, and online pre-registration will be posted when school resumes after winter break.

 

Dec. 3: iPads in Education Workshop: BYOD

• Who: NICE Members
• What: iPads in Education Workshop: BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)
• When: Sat. Dec 3, 2011, 9 am to noon
• Where: Loyola Academy, Wilmette, IL

Details: Bring your iPad and discover and share how these devices are being used in education. We will begin with a “There’s An App for That” share out, and break into smaller groups based on individual learning needs and interests. A light breakfast will be served beginning at 9 am.

This workshop is exclusivley for NICE members. Pre-registration is required and space is limited. Register at: http://tinyurl.com/NICE-Dec3

The 2011 Global Education Conference is Coming.....

Steve Hargadon and Lucy Gray are ramping up for the second annual Global Education Conference, scheduled for November 14th through November 18th, 2011. Sessions will be held around the clock to accommodate time zones, and the best part is that the entire event is free!

via www.lucygray.org