TCEA: Sharing a Vision for the Future of Education

People often ask Principal Gerry Brooks what the most stressful part of the beginning of the school year is. His response: kindergarten lunch duty. "See, kindergartners have never been together in a big old group trying to eat lunch," he explains. "It's like trying to get a bunch of kittens to do something...." Compound that with a deadpan description of having to help kids open their "fancy" Lunchables while debating questions like "whether a pony would be a good inside pet," and you might understand why Brooks has attracted some 130,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel to get his quick take on topics such as "staff bathroom etiquette," "ridiculous things educators go through during state assessment time" and "educator stocking stuffer suggestions" (such as a packet of "excessive grading relief" that involves a small box of matches that can be used on those stacks of papers that need end-of-semester attention).

Brooks is bringing his unique brand of straight-faced humor to this year's TCEA Convention & Exposition, taking place Feb. 3-7 in Austin, TX, where he'll deliver the closing keynote.

Then there's Sekou Andrews, who will be opening the event with his own keynote. Andrews is a former teacher turned actor, musician and two-time national poetry slam champion. Most recently, he was nominated for a Grammy in the "spoken word" category (alongside Michelle Obama for Becoming and John Waters for Mr. Know-It-All, among others).

In between those two performances will be a thousand other presentations dedicated to helping people in education -- teachers, IT professionals, librarians and school and district leaders -- develop their skills, introduce innovation into the classroom, reach special populations and learn new ways to engage and teach K-12 students.

Formats include panels, presentations, workshops and poster sessions, as well as these special events:

  • "Solution Circles," 50-minute opportunities for roundtable conversations on promising approaches to professional learning, serving kids with special needs, education apps worth trying, monitoring screen-time at school, working in small districts, growing robust robotics programs, evaluating learning with tech and more;

  • Poster sessions dedicated to gamification, making community connections, giving students voice and choice, using online and blended learning, STEAM and makerspaces, augmented and virtual reality and leadership;

  • Immersive experiences on esports, digital storytelling, STEAM, social-emotional learning, innovative classroom and school design and others; and

  • Live presentations and podcast sessions with education experts, including Library Girl's Jennifer LaGarde, Tech Rabbi Michael Cohen, award-winning Principal (Baruti) Kafele, Future Ready Librarians spokeswoman Shannon Miller and ControlAltAchieve blogger Eric Curtis.

Mix-and-match conference strands at this year's event cover:

  • IT and district leadership;

  • Instructional design;

  • Literacy and library services;

  • Pedagogy;

  • Special populations;

  • Application immersion;

  • Implementation and management;

  • Online and blended learning;

  • Professional development

  • Technology applications and computer and technical education courses; and

  • IT support and technology.

TCEA 2020 features an exhibit hall with an estimated 450 companies showcasing the latest products and services and hosting on-the-show-floor workshops to demonstrate their solutions.

Full conference registration is $389 and includes a one-year membership to TCEA, a nonprofit organization focused on providing resources and strategies for helping members integrate technology in K-16 education.

Learn more at the TCEA conference website.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • horizontal stack of U.S. dollar bills breaking in half

    ED Abruptly Cancels ESSER Funding Extensions

    The Department of Education has moved to close the door on COVID relief funding for schools, declaring that "extending deadlines for COVID-related grants, which are in fact taxpayer funds, years after the COVID pandemic ended is not consistent with the Department’s priorities and thus not a worthwhile exercise of its discretion."

  • sunlit classroom with laptops on every desk, each displaying a glowing AI speech bubble icon above the screen

    Copilot Chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot to Become Available for Teen Students

    This summer, Microsoft is expanding availability of its Copilot Chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot products for students aged 13 and older. Administrators will be able to grant access for students based on their institution's plans and preferences, the company announced in a blog post.

  • AI-powered individual working calmly on one side and a burnt-out person slumped over a laptop on the other

    AI's Productivity Gains Come at a Cost

    A recent academic study found that as companies adopt AI tools, they're not just streamlining workflows — they're piling on new demands. Researchers determined that "AI technostress" is driving burnout and disrupting personal lives, even as organizations hail productivity gains.

  • Stylized illustration showing cybersecurity elements like shields, padlocks, and secure cloud icons on a neutral, minimalist digital background

    Microsoft Announces Host of Security Advancements

    Microsoft has announced major cybersecurity advancements across its product portfolio and practices. The work is part of its Secure Future Initiative (SFI), a multiyear cybersecurity transformation the company calls the largest engineering project in company history.