innovate offsite
Extend your learning and attend one of these sessions the day before the conference at the ED Collabitat at UMSL. These interactive hands-on sessions will inspire your thinking and provide new strategies to enhance student learning. 

ED Collabitat @ University Missouri – St. Louis
1 Univeristy Boulevard
100 Ward E Barnes Building
St. Louis, Missouri 63121

Sketch Your Thinking
Manuel Herrera 

MEMBER PRICE: $50
NON-MEMBER PRICE: $65
DATE: Tuesday, March 28, 2023 8:30 AM - 11:30 AM 

Students design posters, videos, graphics and audio content nearly every day. However, we seldom help them with the design process. Take a step back from focusing on a final product and support students with their creative process using drawing.

Learn how to support all learners with the ideas in their head, capture them on a surface (paper, tablet, dry erase board) and organize them in a way that leads to better solutions, stories and outcomes.

Discover how simple drawings can be leveraged and how sketching and visual thinking can be used to create and refine mental models. We’ll make thinking visible and problem-solve together. Gain increased confidence in sketching techniques and enhance learning through simple drawings.

Digital Citizenship: Using Robots to Teach Cybersecurity
Hannah Dyksen, Jake Seely 

MEMBER PRICE: $50
NON-MEMBER PRICE: $65
DATE: Tuesday, March 28, 2023 8:30 AM - 11:30 AM 

As technology and online behavior continue to evolve, it’s critical for educators to stay up to date on the latest strategies for teaching digital citizenship and cybersecurity education. Explore hands-on activities as we learn a new language through computing Sphero BOLT Robots. Gain new ideas and inspiration for incorporating technology into the classroom using robotics as tool for teaching cybersecurity as a fun way to engage students in learning.

These activities will help you think creatively and problem-solve as you work through the challenges of building and programming the robots. Sphero representatives and educators from our region will be on hand to discuss lessons, lead you through some challenges and share opportunities on how to implement the K-12 Cybersecurity Learning Standards into any classroom. Sphero BOLT, Cyber.org and Common Sense Media will be showcased throughout this session.

Collaborate and network with other educators and gain new ideas to incorporate this technology into your classroom.

Manuel Herrera is an international speaker, an accomplished illustrator and a veteran educator. He specializes in sketchnoting, visual thinking and design thinking. Manuel has illustrated books, publications and graphics for a variety of organizations, publishers and schools. Manuel is a Google Innovator, was named the Midwest Education Technology Conference Spotlight Educator, and has keynoted and led workshops across the globe at conferences. Currently, Manuel is a Creative Cloud Product Success Manager for Adobe. You can follow Manuel on Twitter and Instagram at @manuelherrera33.

Hannah Dyksen is currently the Instructional Technology Coach for the Fort Zumwalt School District. She has experience as a Google Certified Trainer and Elementary Technology Teacher. Hannah supports educators and students in the use of technology in her district and at various conferences in the region. Hannah is also a previous METC Spotlight Educator.

Jake Seely is an experienced Partnerships Manager for Sphero with a demonstrated history of working in the e-learning industry. Jake is skilled in Sales, Educational Technology, Instructional Design, Team Building and Public Speaking. He is a strong sales professional with a Bachelor of Science (BS) focused in Political Science from University of Utah.