Navigating the Generative AI Frontier in the Classroom

I recently had a great opportunity to present an AI session called “Navigating the Generative AI Frontier in the Classroom” for ISTE x TakingITGlobal. You can catch the webinar recording here on YouTube.
Extra bonus for 🇨🇦 Canadian educators! Free ISTE Membership & ISTE Books by completing the survey (look for the video) at info.iste.org/en/takingitglobal.

Access the slide deck at bit.ly/kannAIstudents.  Access the resource Padlet here

Watch it here!

Trying Something New: ISTE Certification

This month, May 2023, I officially begin ISTE Certification.

When I first considered attaining ISTE Certification, one could only attend in-person training. These 2-3 day trainings were hosted in about 6 American cities throughout the year. I had my sights set on a Portland, Oregon training in the fall of 2019, but for various reasons, that didn’t happen.

Since then, I have followed several ISTE friends and acquaintances on Twitter and in conversation as they have worked toward their own ISTE certification. There is a common thread among their experiences: it is a lot of work. Perhaps that is the biggest reason that I have been hesitant.

This year, however, the stars seem to be aligning:

• I have coaching colleagues in my district to share the workload – I am no longer the lone coach.
• Several ISTE Community Leader colleagues have recently completed their ISTE Certification – they’ve encouraged me to take the plunge.
• A Canadian organization TakingITGlobal is offering free ISTE Certification to a cohort of 30 Canadians. The going rate for online ISTE Certification is about $825 USD – that’s currently over $1100 CDN. Thus, it seemed to make sense to go ahead and apply to the cohort — and I got in.

And so, here we go! I will join approximately 1800 in 56 countries who are ISTE Certified, or in progress.

Phase 1 is approximately 14 weeks long and consists of five 2-hour synchronous sessions and an additional 30-50 hours of asynchronous work. This will take me until the end of August to complete.

Phase 2 is a rigorous “portfolio” phase where I will have to curate evidence from my practice as an educator to align to 24 criteria in the ISTE Educator Standards. This is a 6-month phase that should end in February 2024.

So as I stand on the threshold, I’m feeling about like this:

• 10 % excited
• 70 % “buckle up and prepare for a challenge”
• 20 % fear and trepidation

Advice from ISTE certified friends has been consistent:

1. Don’t procrastinate on the portfolio
2. Regularly attend “Office hours” for portfolio feedback
3. It’s lots of work, but worth it

Wish me luck as I try something new.