Can’t make it to the ISTE conference in Philadelphia this summer (or simply can’t wait to get a jump on all things ISTE before the big event at the end of June)?! Not to worry. The ISTE Summer Learning Academy offers educators the chance to access top-quality PD from their homes — and EMC² Learning is thrilled to announce that our very own John Meehan will be kicking off the summer series in high style with an eye-opening look into how educators can start playing with all kinds of purpose in their classrooms.
ABOUT ISTESLA
ISTE U’s Summer Learning Academy, the PD that educators around the world loved last summer, is back with all new content, a flexible format and a focus on the edtech topics you’re most interested in!
Over the course of 13 weeks this summer, teachers, administrators, tech coaches, and more can participate in four self-paced ISTE U courses and eight interactive webinars – with support from expert edtech coaches throughout your journey. Plus, you’ll be connected to a community of practice you can turn to for years to come!
Designed for teachers, tech coaches and directors, librarians and media specialists, the Summer Learning Academy’s accommodating format lets educators create a custom learning pathway you can dive into no matter where you are or how much time you have to invest this summer!
A Sweet Start to the ISTE Summer Learning Academy
No More Chocolate Covered Broccoli: Building A Better Way to Play
Webinar #1: John Meehan
Monday, June 12, 2023
4 – 5pm ET
Don’t be fooled by all the bells and whistles: because far too many “gamified” classroom review platforms merely reward speed and students smashing a button as fast as they can simply to gain points, not knowledge. The result: a brightly colored sea of 21st century Scantrons, and a never ending battery of low-level “engagement” gimmicks where students merely learn how to beat the other guy into submission as they mash buttons. Bully. Rinse. Cheat. And Repeat. Our students deserve better! And this session will provide teachers with practical strategies to cut through the clutter as they experience hands-on practice and eye-opening research to build more engaging, inclusive lesson plans for all students through the power of play.
ISTE’s Summer Learning Academy takes place all summer long! Join any session as it airs LIVE, or catch a recording of any of these action-packed webinars at your schedule allows. Spend a few hours here and there diving into self-paced courses, attending live webinars (or watching recordings), and engaging with an expert-led community of practice.
ABOUT JOHN MEEHAN
John Meehan (@MeehanEDU) is an English teacher, instructional coach, and professional development specialist from Washington, D.C. He is the author of EDrenaline Rush: Game-Changing Student Engagement Inspired by Theme Parks, Mud Runs, and Escape Rooms (2019) and the co-author of Fully Engaged: Playful Pedagogy for Real Results (2021) – co-authored with Wisconsin-based educator and classroom gamification pioneer Michael Matera, the author of eXPlore Like a Pirate. In July of 2020, Book Authority ranked EDrenaline Rush among the top 10 titles on their list of the “100 Best Teaching Books of All Time.” A nationally recognized speaker in the fields of student engagement and classroom gamification, John is a 2017 ASCD Emerging Leader and an alumnus of the 2016-2018 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Teacher Advisory Council. In 2016, he was named one of Arlington, Virginia’s “40 Under 40” by the Leadership Center for Excellence. In March of 2019, he created the #EggDashChallenge – a classroom activity that became a viral video, racking up 75K+ views in less than one month’s time, and spawning hundreds of classroom videos in 40 US states, 6 Canadian provinces, and 8 countries.
Together in March of 2021, John and Michael co-founded EMC2Learning.com, an online members community that now provides hundreds of gamified classroom resources to thousands of educators, schools, and districts all around the world. In January of 2023, EMC² Learning was the winner of the Future of Education Technology Conference’s Pitchfest competition in the category of Best Online Classes, and was named a finalist in District Administration Magazine’s Top EdTech Products of 2023.
The activities featured in this blog post are just a handful of the 600+ resources available in the EMC² Learning library. This entire library is available to Engagement Engineers and members of the Creative Corps, and is included with your annual site membership. We hope you’ll consider joining us as an Engagement Engineer to unlock a full year of site access. For complete details including our exclusive limited time offer for annual site membership, click here.
