As someone who has worked in education for 10 years, I can honestly say InstructureCon was like no conference I have ever attended! Beyond the sessions, the community of attendees was quite unlike any other I have experienced. Everywhere I looked, people were making connections, helping others out, and sharing what they knew and hoped to know. I was lucky enough to attend with my awesome teammate, but I know that if I had traveled solo, I would have found kindred spirits! From the opening Keynote to the closing concert, the 2.5 days I spent in Keystone are ones that I won't ever forget. I have already started trying to figure out how I can make a return trip in 2018... With that said, let's look at my top highlights from InstructureCon 2017:
- The Location
- Reading the convos about altitude did little to actually prepare me for what 27% oxygen actually feels like! Those stairs will haunt my dreams for sure. I have never been more motivated to conquer the StairMaster.
- As a Texas Plains and Panhandle gal, I am awed by the beauty of mountains. I could have sat outside and stared at those giants for hours on end. There is something magical about being nestled with mountains all around with 2,000 other people all passionate about the same thing. It makes for an incredible environment.
- Spending F2F time with my CSM
- I am probably biased, but Casey Williams in the best.
- Connecting with K-12 and Higher Ed peeps from all across the nation
- I met a K-12 educator from Portland in a session about Content pages that led to a conversation about how my district uses Badgr, which turned into a convo about Zoom. Organic connections being built!
- CCR!
- That outdoor show under the stars was so fun.
- Seeing how others are actively using Canvas in their schools
- Our district is just over a year into our integration, and as our admin, I am ALWAYS on the lookout for examples from real life classrooms of how teachers are using Canvas. The sessions I attended gave me sneak peaks into classrooms from all over the US.
- The Keynotes (all of them!)
- Obvi the roadmap items and new rollouts were blowing my mind. If you follow me on Twitter, you know I was freaking out over some of the new Quizzing engine features!
If you were at Instcon17, please share your top moments in the comments! I would love to hear from you!
