Find out more about First Lego League and the newest robot used in the program called Spike Prime. We will demonstrate building and programming Spike Prime, as well as present some of the many benefits of having students involved in planning, building, and programming in small teams for the FLL competition, or simply as an amazing learning experience within a classroom or after school club.

Do you design with accessibility in mind? Tota11y is an accessibility visualization toolkit created by Khan Academy that can help you do just that! Join us in exploring how to use this tool to visualize how your site performs with assistive technologies, and learn about best practices along the way!

Are you tired of your students taking the first page results from Google and doing a copy/paste and calling it done when researching? Would you like to show them a way to collect, curate and cite the information they find anywhere online? Then come check out Scrible, the most advanced research and writing platform ever built to tackle the massive research and writing skills crisis undermining American students’ college and career readiness.
The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) has secured a statewide contract to provide Scrible Edu Pro for all Utah K-12 educators and students.

In 2012, the state of Utah began the formal Digital Teaching and Learning (DTL) initiative and created Utah Master Plan, both of which focus on preparing students for success in the ever-changing economy, while at the same time situating Utah as a leader and innovator of the future. As a result, in the past ten years there has been much effort in Utah to provide all students and teachers with infrastructure, devices and applications for effective learning. The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, however, has thrown many Utah teachers in the deep end of online and distance teaching. Some early studies revealed certain vulnerabilities when it comes to educational technology usage, but they also pinpointed many opportunities for future professional development and other state initiatives. To assess the state of educational technology usage in Utah, we conducted a statewide online survey from January to July 2021. 902 teachers completed the survey reporting the frequency of usage for over 60 computer applications and classroom technologies. We followed the survey with ten in-depth interviews where among other things, teachers discussed challenges that they faced at the outbreak of the pandemic, as well as changes in their approach to teaching and technology as a result of the pandemic. In this lecture, we will present the results of that survey and discuss our interview findings.

Ever wondered how to improve student engagement with your Canvas content? Research has shown that a well-designed course promotes a positive user experience, credibility, and usability. In this session, we’ll use DesignPLUS - our advanced course design toolset built into Canvas - to show you how easy it is to transform the look and feel of a basic Canvas course into something more engaging - all without requiring any advanced technical skills.
Join this session to learn how our tools can make it easy to create, customize, and style content for more polished and engaging courses.

Ten Strategies That Will Turn Every Teacher Into a Literacy Teacher provides teachers and school leaders with a variety of simple-yet-innovative literacy strategies that will enhance the learning within any classroom. Topics to be addressed include differentiated methods for increasing content-specific vocabulary, how to build rapport with students and parents through writing, and engaging ways for students to demonstrate their learning. Participants will leave with a clear vision of how to not only increase, but also improve, the literacy within their classes.

Teaching is hard, and at times, it seems like no one understands the struggles of a teacher. In this keynote, Mike Roberts connects some of the challenges of teaching to some of your favorite songs from the past fifty years. In doing so, he shares stories, strategies, and insight from his twenty-two year teaching career. Get those singing voices ready…this is a fun one!

Opening session of the 2022 Utah Coalition for Educational Technology (UCET) conference - Welcome, Orientation & Annual Awards presented by Clint Stephens, UCET President

Katie Blunt and Justin Andersen are at it again! Join us on the third floor mezzanine any time during the conference -- in person or virtually -- for conference tips, session suggestions, prize giveaways, interviews, and a variety of pre-recorded programming. Join us during your breaks, just in passing, or for a whole session!

Katie Blunt and Justin Andersen are at it again! Join us on the third floor mezzanine any time during the conference -- in person or virtually -- for conference tips, session suggestions, prize giveaways, interviews, and a variety of pre-recorded programming. Join us during your breaks, just in passing, or for a whole session!

Katie Blunt and Justin Andersen are at it again! Join us on the third floor mezzanine any time during the conference -- in person or virtually -- for conference tips, session suggestions, prize giveaways, interviews, and a variety of pre-recorded programming. Join us during your breaks, just in passing, or for a whole session!

Katie Blunt and Justin Andersen are at it again! Join us on the third floor mezzanine any time during the conference -- in person or virtually -- for conference tips, session suggestions, prize giveaways, interviews, and a variety of pre-recorded programming. Join us during your breaks, just in passing, or for a whole session!

Time for professional development has been difficult since Covid has affected the school system. This session will explore using alternative ways to deliver professional learning for teachers. This will include setting up ways to do weekly screencasts, using an existing Newsletter to become a professional learning opportunity, and transforming social media channels to smaller, "Bite Sized" learning opportunities. Examples from Canyons School District will be shared that you could use for your school and/or district.

Educators are self-directed learners, continually developing new skills and finding innovative ways improving their practice. The Utah Microcredentials System recognizes this and provides educators with an opportunity to earn USBE credits for these self-directed efforts.
Additionally, for the first time, you can now use microcredentials to earn USBE teaching endorsements! Beginning in 2022, Utah teachers can demonstrate competencies with microcredentials as an alternative to taking courses.
Come learn how to earn microcredentials, how to become a stipended microcredential reviewer, and how to participate in the creation of new microcredentials for other educators to earn!
A microcredential, also known as a badge, is a digital form of certification. It represents an educator’s demonstration of effective and consistent use of the target skill or concept as a part of instructional practice. Any educator in Utah’s public education system can earn microcredentials, including classroom teachers, instructional coaches, counselors, administrators, etc. Earning a microcredential provides the educator with three things: visible recognition of demonstrated competency, leadership opportunities, and USBE credit.