AEL Summer Institute Reflection

I attended the AEL (Adobe Education Leader) annual Institute which was held last week, July 23-27, at Adobe headquarters in San Jose, CA.  Approximately 120 AELs from all over the world (including Norway, Germany, Canada, Great Britain and more…) came together to learn from each other and from Adobe leaders and product managers. I have to say that this was the most inspiring learning event that I have attended since I re-started my teaching career.

I was not only inspired by the AELs, but also I was very impressed with Adobe as a company.  I have worked for a lot of different companies in my lifetime (before re-entering the education field) and was blown away with the level of listening that company employees did – everyone from the product managers to the new Vice President of Worldwide Education Marketing, Jon Perera.  I was quite impressed with Jon Perera’s leadership and vision.  He listed three key trends in terms of a technical perspective. These included devices, the cloud and its social.  Most K-12 districts in the U.S. have an iPad deployment underway. Smartphones just out shipped P.C.’s last quarter. Most likely we can count on a chaos of devices in the classroom. HTML 5 will be front and center.

One of the most exciting aspects of the Institute was that I got to experience an amazing level of collaboration that was happening across the world. After Tuesday’s presentations by Adobe leaders, Wednesday and Thursday consisted of AEL to AEL presentations and hands-on workshops. The amount of talent and energy in the AEL community is astounding, and the fact that everyone is so generous and sharing with their ideas and content is truly inspiring. I have to say this was a little intimidating given that there were people from Ivy League higher education institutions to 8-12 grade teachers from around the world presenting.  I also have to say, however, I felt so comfortable with everyone that I think I can get past this. I have submitted two proposals to NCCE (National Council of Computer Education) in February, 2013, in the areas of InDesign and Dreamweaver.  I hope to have a lot of time to practice and should feel much more comfortable to present at the AEL Summer Institute next year.

I am getting ready for my first Adobe Education Leader Summer Institute.  I am very excited about this event.  It is hard to find people in Missoula, Montana, passionate about Adobe software.  I understand that there will be people from all over the world at this event sharing and learning together.  I just looked at my schedule and it looks packed.  I arrive in San Jose, California, around 12:30 p.m. tomorrow and immediately need to go to the Adobe Headquarters from 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.because I signed up to participate in the conversation about the Creative Cloud and what it means, and could mean, for students, educators, and institutions.  I feel like this could be a great opportunity to help shape the future of Adobe's tools and technologies for use in education.

There is an AEL Quarterly Meeting scheduled from 4:00 p.m. - 6:15 p.m. I have attended these before, but always virtually.  This will be fun to attend this face-to-face this time. We get a break form 6:15 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. and then attend a welcome reception at the San Jose Fairmont Hotel until 9:00 p.m. After that I am helping to help pass out and show how to use DSLR cameras so students have time before we meet to shoot some footage.

Tuesday, breakfast is from 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. and there are a series of presentations focused on creativity and innovation in education. Lunch is from 12:15 p.m. - 1:30 p.m., however, I have a district meeting that I would like to attend virtually.  This meeting has to do with implementing Google Apps in our school district, our new school website and e-mail in the district and professional development for these.  From 12:45 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. there is an optional Lytro Camera Demonstration.  I would like to see this, as I read about these earlier and was fascinated by the technology.

In the afternoon I have a series of sessions that I have signed up for:

• Adobe Connect Roadmap
• Adobe Digital Publishing Suite Roadmap
• Adobe Touch Apps Roadmap
• Adobe Muse Roadmap

That brings me to 5:50 p.m. at night.  Reception/Dinner with Adobe Executives and Product Teams is scheduled for 6:00 p.ml. - 8:00 p.m.

Wednesday we start the schedule all over again.  8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. breakfast, 9:00 a.m. - 9:10 a.m. daily kickoff, 9:15 a.m. - 10 a.m. AEL to AEL Presentations.  I am scheduled to attend the following on Wednesday:

• Using Interactive Video and Infographics to Tell Complex Stories
• Developing a Digital Creativity Curriculum Online
• Gamifying the Learning Environment
• iPad Trail at Arts University College

At 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. there is a Fice Minutes of Fame presentation where we hear tips, tricks and triumphs from our colleges in five-minute mini-presentations.

Dinner is at Campo di Bocce, which sounds very interesting.

Thursday I am scheduled to attend the following:

• Easy Ways to Connect Like a Pro
• Adobe Touch Apps Workflow (I am the proctor for this session)
• Adobe Premiere Pro & Adobe Audition CS6 - New enhancements for Video and Audio Editing
• Creative Web Sites with Adobe Muse
• Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 and the Tapeless Workflow

Thursday night from 6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m., we will be spending at the Tech Museum - now this looks like fun! It seems like a great way to end the week. I can't wait!

Had the opportunity today to help Vicki Davis with her next book.  She is writing about Collaborative Writing in the Cloud. She sent an e-mail to the Flat Classroom Certified Teachers and wanted to get some feedback on Chapter 1.  What got me was her her comment about "A book on collaborative writing without some collaborative writing is a hypocritical sham."  I really agreed with that and am happy to see that she is truly trying to make it collaborative.  I spent time today making comments and suggestions.  I think this is a great idea for anyone writing a book.  I am guessing that you can spend so much time looking at the same words over and over, that you could miss things that other people might see right away.  She can choose to use or not use the feedback, but to just get it, I think would be great!  I am looking forward to reading the next chapter.

Another ISTE Day!

Adobe Education Leaders Booth

Monday was a very busy day.  It started with a "booth meeting" at 8:30 a.m.  This is where they go over all of the details of working in the booth.  After this I had some time to walk around the different exhibits.  This exhibit hall is so large, there was no way I was going to see everything.  I did have a change to stop by the Gaggle booth and the Moodlerooms booth.  I looked for Schoolwires, but didn't see it.  Talked to the Gaggle guys about Google Apps and student e-mail.  Talked with the Moodlerooms guys about cost of their services as an option for our Moodle situation. I had a session on Google/Moodle.  It was awful.  The speaker really didn't teach anything.  He just talked a lot.  I left early and spent some time in the Adobe booth.  Learned about a new extension for Photoshop called LevelUp. I had some time to play around with this and it looks great for students.

PETCO Center

Had a chance to go back to the hotel before meeting everyone at the booth at 5:30 p.m. to walk to the Marriott Gasslamp Altitude Sky Lounge. It is located on top of the Marriott Hotel.  Here is a picture I took looking out at PETCO Center where I watched the Padres play the Mariners Saturday night.

 It was a beautiful view of the water, too.

Denny Washington's Yacht, Attessa

Tuesday morning we had breakfast at the Marriott Bayfront.  This hotel was right across from the San Diego Marina.  Very close to where Denny Washington's boat, Attessa was docked.

After breakfast, I volunteered to help out at the poster session for the Flat Classroom group.  It was fun to meet Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsey and some of my classmates from the Flat Classroom Certified Teacher class that I took.

 

Once that was done, I stopped by to see Joe Dockery who was teaching a Flash Animation class.  His daughter was helping him and I got to meet her.  Spent some more time in the Adobe booth, with some great people and then headed out to have dinner with Diane Woodard and Dustin Herbert.

Diane, Dustin and I took a ferry over to Coronado Island and sat outside overlooking San Diego bay and had dinner at Peohe's restaurant. We didn't have much time there.  I would have liked to have a few more hours to explore the island.

 
Wednesday morning I had a workshop to attend.  This was an InDesign workshop taught by a fellow AEL, Linda Dickeson.  What a great lady.  She has written books about the software I teach called, ClickStep.  It was really nice to have met her before, while in the booth, and help her out during class.  It was a pretty basic InDesign class, but I picked a few things up that I think I knew before but forgot about.



 
After the workshop, I headed to the Adobe booth to say goodbye to everyone.  Diane and I went to lunch at, of all places, Dick's.

We shopped a little and then headed to the airport.  I have to say the days went very fast.  I love San Diego.  The weather was beautiful.  It was sunny and in the 70's with no humidity, which made it very nice. I have to get back here again some day and spend some vacation time.



Here is a link to all of the sessions.  If you click on a session, you will have access to the presenter's materials.  There are some great resources here!  ISTE 2012 

 

Arrived San Diego Friday afternoon.  Wow, I love San Diego - water, sail boats, no humidity, no clouds, beautiful, sunny - just love it.  Staying at the Hilton Bayfront which is right next to the convention center.  Immediately upon checking into my hotel, I had to go outside and look around.  I was only going to go for a short walk, but ended up walking all the way past the convention center (which I must add is quite long)  past the Marriott hotel, down to the Seaport Village which had a lot of little shops. I was wishing I had my camera, but wasn't planning on being gone that long.  

Went back to my hotel and rested a little and then decided to go to the Gaslamp area for dinner. Went to the Ocean Room, where I sat out side and ate seafood, of course. Sat outside overlooking the Gaslamp area.  Quite a nice restaurant and very relaxing atmosphere.  

Saturday morning I got up and worked on my Montana Digital Academy class and my WM-CSPD Moodle online class. I had to make sure all of my grading was up-to-date and my next week's curriculum was ready to roll out.  Got all of that taken care of and started studying for my co-presentation the next day - Shooting & Editing DSLR Video. 

Diane Woodard came in around 1 p.m. and we went to the convention center to pick up our registration packets and grab a quick lunch.  After lunch we went to the pool at the Hilton, which is right on the water. Went through our ISTE booklet to determine what sessions we might want to go to. 

That night we went to a Padre's game at PETCO Center which was right near the hotel.  We had great seats - 20 rows up from home plate.  Thanks to Scott Edge's sister, who got us the tickets!  It was fun to be at a professional baseball game.  I think the last time I was at a professional game was in high school.  I remember going to a Yankee's game.

 Monday got up early to meet Joe Dockery (the presenter) at 8 a.m. to get everything ready for the class that he was presenting and I was helping him with.  It was a great day, although, on my feet a long time.  This was a six hour presentation; three hours in the morning and three in the afternoon.  During the morning students learned about the DSLR camera settings and the afternoon students learned how to edit video using Adobe Premiere Pro.  This was a nice sized class with only eight people in it. 

After class we stopped by the Adobe booth.  This was actually quite a treat for me because for years I had been going to these types of conferences and would see all the exhibitors setting up their booths.  As attendee's we were never allowed to to go in to the exhibitor area until a certain day/time.  So this was just kind of a treat.

In the evening I caught a cab to the Island Prime restaurant for dinner. I have to say, it was a little taste of heaven for me - a restaurant right on the water!

Met a lot of great people, that speak my same language. Sat with a very nice gentleman, Johann Zimmerman from Adobe.  He is from Germany.  I spent quite a bit of time talking with him.  He told me he used to run the conferences, but doesn't anymore.  Little did I know he was going to be giving a speech and introducing the new "head guy" at Adobe.  I didn't expect that - he just seemed like a really nice guy.  I also sat next to Linda Dickerson, which was also a treat.  Joe Dockery introduced me to her books year ago, but I had never met her. Very nice lady.  I think I am really going to like this Adobe Education Leader program - lots of great people that speak my language.  I also like the way Adobe really seems to listen to the AEL's and make changes to their programs based on the feed back they get from their educators.

 ISTE Coming Up!

Wow, a lot has happened since the last time I posted.  School is over for the summer.  Lots of changes in our district.  I am teaching two online classes this summer.  I am teaching a Web Design class for the Montana Digital Academy and a Moodle class for teachers for WM-CSPD. I am creating the Moodle class from scratch so that has been taking a lot of time.

Went to a meeting this morning about the future of CTE (Career & Technical Education).  We discussed many directions that CTE might take.  Talked about tightening up our Career Pathways, Dual Credit/Articulations and Internships. More research will be done and we will meet again.

Getting excited about going to ISTE and co-presenting.  Spoke with Joe Dockery this afternoon about the presentation and other Adobe events, such as dinners, receptions and serving in the Adobe booth.  I am very excited about being able to serve in the Adobe booth.  In fact, I was going to call my Adobe contact to see if they needed any help in the booth.  I started to realize that I really need to get my ISTE schedule under control.  I have also signed up for many workshops.

I also received e-mails from the Flat Classroom creators, Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsey.  The would like the Flat Classroom Certified teachers to help out a poster sessions they are doing.  Therefore, I put together my schedule between the workshops I signed up for, the Adobe/AEL activites, co-presenting to see if I had time to help out with the Flat Classroom poster sessions.  Found a window of time to be able to do this.

It is going to be a very busy week, but it is all stuff that I love, so I am really excited.

I am going to Schoolwires training on Wednesday and Thursday of this week in a kind of train the trainer model.  I fly to San Diego to where ISTE is this year on Friday.  Going to spend most of tomorrow staying on top of my online courses, studying for my co-presentation on DSLR Video and starting to get all of my gear organized to pack for ISTE.

I attended my first AEL Quarterly Meeting today.  I attended both the morning and afternoon sessions.  Wow, there are a lot of great things happening at Adobe!  I can already tell that I really like this company.  They seem to really listen to their AEL's and also seem to be appreciative of them.  It also sounds like they are really trying to empower students to be creative and innovative using their software. Attending this meeting got me very excited to go to the AEL Summer Institute at Adobe.  Many of the people that attended the webinar today will be there.  I recognize so many of the names from just working in the field.  It will be great to put a face with all the names.

I was planning on attending Adobe MAX this year.  I did find out the dates have been changed, which is actually better for me.  The Adobe MAX conference will be held in May, 2013.  I plan on attending this next year, maybe instead of ISTE.