Expanding your Horizon – ACCE Study Tour 2013

ISTE 2012 Study Tour
by Steven Knipe

I was fortunate to travel on this year’s ISTE Study Tour  2012. It is something I will recommend to my professional network and you who are reading this article.  It was worth the commitment of money and time because of the experiences you will encounter.

I got to mix with a diverse group of individuals and hold quality conversation about the people and places we visited. I was able visit a range of diverse schools and companies that challenged my thinking about ICT and education. The finale was to have front row seats at the biggest technology conference for educators and mix with presenters and delegates from all over the world.

Like most things, you will get out of it what you put into it. If you go with an open mind, look, listen and talk about what you have seen with those around then you will return enthusiastic about what is possible in your classroom or school. I am sure that each one of us who attended the tour got many different things out of it. Not all of us agreed with what we saw in the places we visited, but many of us walked away asking ourselves questions that challenged our thinking and made us rethink learning with technology. I also know that the friendships I made from the tour will stay with me for a long time as well as the memories of the cities I visited.

For me to comment on the highlights would be unfair to the group who went this year. Each one of us would have a different top five highlights, but I am sure that sitting in the front row listening to the keynotes of ISTE 2012 was well worth the trip considering the quality of the keynotes.

Why not explore the blogs of those who travelled in 2012 and make up your own mind, not all of us have had time to write an article for everything we witnessed but there are some great reads out there