The CA BOCES Summer Tech Camp 2023 is a 2-day event that highlights resources and tools to aid with technology integration for the classroom.  It is a great way for participants to stay up-to-date with the most current trends in technology and to get new, exciting ideas for implementation. This year, the event kicked off on Tuesday, August 15th and culminated on Wednesday, August 16th. It was the first time Tech Camp had been held entirely in-person since 2019. 
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Dr. Angie Ridgway and Nate Ridgway, dynamic educators and co-authors of Don’t Ditch that Tech, joined as the Keynote speakers for the event. Their sessions on student differentiation and accessibility by utilizing different types of technology inspired and delighted the attendees, over 40, each day. ​

Topics for other sessions this year included Microsoft Office updates, Chat GPT, the SAMR model, Castle Learning, coding, the Computer Science & Digital Fluency Standard, district round tables and the ever-popular Osmo. Heather Francisco, STEAM Instructional Coach from Wellsville, also presented on Canva, a tech tool that has revolutionized presentations, poster creation, video creation, and more. Participants were able to choose which of these sessions they wanted to attend so they could create a learning experience that was most meaningful to them.  

Participants also got to explore our “playground” each day with a variety of digital resources and physical resources that can be borrowed through Learning Resources, via the Insignia page. The digital playground included links to resources like Gimkit, BreakoutEDU, Padlet, CodeMonkey, and more. The other resources that were on hand for participants to experiment with included a variety of Osmo games (the Monster drawing activity and the Coding Awbie games were a hit). There were also robotics available, including  like Sphero-Mini and the new Sphero-Indi.  

Couldn’t attend but interested in viewing some of those resources from Tech Camp? Visit our Wakelet with a variety of presentations, websites, and other resources. There is also a Padlet with even more resources. Please check them out! 

 If you have any questions or would like further information about any of those topics, please feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] so I can connect you with the staff specialist who can best meet your needs. 

Summer Tech Camp will return next summer in August of 2024. Stay tuned throughout the year; look for announcements about the Keynote speakers and other exciting topics that will be featured at next summer’s event. We hope to see you there! 

By: Brooke Neamon, CA BOCES Model Schools

If you heard a buzz coming from the Main Center of CABOCES in Olean on August 20th and 21st, there was no need to worry!  Our annual CABOCES Summer Tech Camp was going on and the energy, excitement, and participation was through the roof!  If you missed out, keep reading for a recap of the event.
 
Spanning the course of two days in August, over 75 participants took part in a refreshing look into new and exciting instructional technology applications and programs to take back into their classrooms for the upcoming school year.  There were 14 different school districts and three BOCES represented by the participants. 
 
On the first day, Matt Miller (author of Ditch That Textbook, Ditch That Homework, and Don’t Ditch That Tech) presented a keynote all about bringing new and innovative approaches to educational activities using a variety of technology tools that most of us already have access to on a daily basis.  He showed how to take virtual field trips using Google Maps, using the Quizizz app to replace general homework review assignments, new ways to combat Kahoot/Quizlet overuse.  Matt also demonstrated the use of Pear Deck to make classroom presentations more interactive and engaging.  He finished the first day with a meaningful and enlightening discussion regarding the relevancy and educational impact that homework may play in our classrooms.  A participant commented that “Matt showed some things that were new, some that I already knew, but the approach to using them in the classroom has me excited and ready to go for this school year!  He made everything seem so easy and relatable to my classroom.”
 
On the second day, we had the opportunity to shine the light on some of our local teachers who had put in requests to present to their peers on what they do, software programs they do, and much more.  With over 20 teacher-directed presentations to choose from, as well as other sessions from vendors like Apple Education, Castle Learning, Spider Learning and the CABOCES Professional Development team, Day Two had a more “conference” feel to it.  Regional teachers were able to choose from sessions such as “Beyond being Nice Online” by Fillmore teacher Eileen Anderson, “The Art of Storytelling” by Mark Beckwith from CABOCES, “iBooks” from Cattaraugus-Little Valley’s Chelsea Lobello, and many more!
 
If you missed out, you can follow along with what the discussion and buzz was about on Twitter, just search for the hashtag #CABOCEStechcamp to see the resources and more that was shared during the conference days.  Teachers left Summer Tech Camp with a tremendous buzz and excitement to use what they learned in their rooms and looking forward to next year’s CABOCES Summer Tech Camp 2020!  

By: Ryan McGinnis, Model Schools