Discovery Institute: An Awesome Week of Learning and Fun!

I was fortunate to be able to go to the Discovery Educator Network National Institute last week.  It was fantastic to be able to network and learn with like-minded technology enthusiasts!  Highlights of the week included:

• Meeting new people and forming friendships that can be maintained on-line with social networking tools.


• Going to the Discovery Studio to be videotaped in front of the green screen used by Discovery Channel stars.  We made a video to help teachers understand what the DEN is all about and to learn about the benefits of becoming a DEN STAR educator.


• Learning how easy it is to use Adobe Premier's chromakey feature.


• Creating my own Mobulus Station that I can use to live broadcast professional developement when needed. 


• Learning about the benefits of cell phone technology for the classroom from Hall Davidson.


• Discovering the benefits of geocaching.  Now I want a hand-held GPS to try it myself!


• Becoming aware of many cool web-based tools such as Poll Everywhere, Jott, and Riffly.


• Signing up for a Plurk account, a Twitter-like social networking tool.  I lOVE IT! 


• Creating a video modeled after the Boom-de-Ya-Da commercial.  This was the opening activity.  I worked with teachers from Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Texas.  So fun!


• Spending time in a "green building."  Water is saved by moving the toilet handle up for liquid waste, and down for solid waste.  Maybe Discovery can be highlighted during Earthcast 09! 


• Strolling the National Mall with friends before catching our flight home.


• Creating/sharing lessons & projects that use DiscoveryStreaming. 

My advice is to become a DEN STAR and apply to attend next year!