ISTE Ignite Session Inspiration

A lot of educators look forward to their summer breaks for the relaxation. Many of those educators look forward to the end of June when the ISTE conference takes place. For me, I look forward to a little bit of both. I haven't been able to attend ISTE in person yet, but have had the privilege to attend via #NOTATISTE16, a Google+ community, that was started a couple of years ago.

Today was the kick off for ISTE in Denver, Colorado. So many people were flooding Twitter with their arrivals, their pictures, videos and so much more. One of the events that started the ISTE conference was the first ISTE Ignite Session. Round 1 was held earlier today and thanks to several people at ISTE I was able to catch a few of these sessions via Periscope. 

One of the sessions that was really amazing was done by Brad Flickinger called "Reward Learning with Badges". 

Brad opened his quick Ignite session with some very key quotes based on the use of technology with young people, "Knowledge is no longer King," and "Engagement is low." He hits on key points, our students are wrapped up with just using the technology to use it. They're not looking to use it wisely or in a way that will help them discover or learn. They take their technology for granted with the use of all the apps and sites out there they have access too. 

Brad addresses the use of badges on his campus as a way of developing skills not knowledge. The students earn their badges as they use and develop a skill in their learning. The badges are used to keep score, for recognition, and for motivation. I see the students using this as a competition in a way, see who gets what badge and how. This develops that motivational tool to achieve as much as the next and a way for them to take ownership of their learning. 

On Brad's campus the teachers decide what skills are needed for their units and then break them into levels (level 1, 2, etc.). Level 1 is the basic skill level and once they meet all of those skills they move up to level 2. He also addresses that each level is a different time frame of completion. The projects may take a few days and some may take a few months. The levels are scaffolding their skills so they're building on them. This is a fantastic idea. Give them basic areas to begin with and move up from there, gradually building their skill sets. 

Badges are a great tool to give students the motivation to learn, the motivation to be creative, the motivation to invent, the motivation to discover who they are. It allows them to learn at their own pace, differentiated learning, as well as give them ownership of this learning. 

I've been looking into badges here and there for about a year and this was one of the coolest things I've seen about them in a while. It was a quick presentation, but Brad gave such valuable information about how it works at his school. I'd like to just start off small in one of my classes to see how it works this next year and then possibly take it even further. I'd also really like to see how it could work with a staff of teachers. Would it offer the same motivations to teachers as it would students? Would it be just as beneficial? How could you get teacher buy in with the badges for their professional development? 

I look forward to learning so much more during the next few days of #ISTE2016. Were you able to see this Ignite session today? If so, what were your thoughts? 

Happy learning during #ISTE2016!