This year saw the Inaugural VEX Educator Conference as part of the VEX Worlds experience, and it was terrific! It was wonderful to meet so many names that I’ve seen in the Community in person, and I definitely learned a lot from all of the conversations and presentations. I’m curious, what ‘big takeaways’ or ‘A ha’ moments you had from conference sessions or conversations?
I could list MANY, but I’ll get the ball rolling with just one – @Laura_Mackay’s presentation on incorporating VEX 123 and VEX GO into general education classrooms will stay with me for a long time to come. Seeing how teachers were able to use the 123 Robot as another tool for learning was incredibly powerful. Doing simple things like writing sight words on the Field, or numbers from 11-20, and having students code the robot to drive to a particular word, or through the numbers in order. This makes what has traditionally been a potentially ‘boring’ (dare I use that word) activity, and makes it hands on and engaging for everyone involved! It speaks to the motivational power of robotics for young learners, as well as the approachable nature of VEX 123 to be able to be easily incorporated by teachers in creative ways.
Please share your favorite learning moment from the conference! @Mark_Johnston , @Anna_Blake , @LORI_COLANGELO , @Omar_Cortez , @Jessica_Drayer - please tag others to get the conversation rolling!
I have to say, it was great to feel the excitement with our colleagues, we robotics’ teachers are usually on an island in the building, lol.
I enjoyed hearing about how the platforms can be used in the classroom; I got a lot of ideas.
I also have to say I am very excited about VEXcode Switch!
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@Audra_Selkowitz Thank you for the shout out! I thought the VEX Educator conference was an amazing networking opportunity and I left with a lot of great ideas to implement.
My biggest takeaway was having a chance to learn more about the STEM labs and activities for VEX 123, VEX GO and VEX IQ from the people who wrote the curriculum!! It was powerful to listen to the different ideas and receive training on different ways to use the robot. The panel session with Jason McKenna @Anna_Blake and @Jessica_Drayer was very meaningful because I had a chance to learn about things that are happening in REAL classrooms with REAL teachers. Not just a philosophical idea of what might work, but what really works with kiddos. GREAT conference and I left with many ideas to immediately implement back at school.
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I enjoyed hearing from Dr. Castagna about how he used “STEM nights” at his school to increase participation and involvement from parents. Parental involvement is so important, and as we all sadly know, as students get older, the involvement of some parents begins to wane. Creating a community event is a terrific idea.
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Working at a PK-8, I have a wide range of students that I see throughout the week. My time spent in the VEX123 breakout session was very eye-opening to all of the possibilities of how I can engage my youngest learners in programming and robotics. I LOVED the story-based, programming lessons! They will be a great resource for cross-curricular lessons. The “art” ring or build-plate attachment was a new feature for me and I see countless possibilities for how to integrate the VEX123 robot into my time with students in the library. Thank you for a great conference!
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I love your excitement about 123! We will be adding more storybooks to our 123 STEM Lab Units in the weeks to come. Please share updates and pictures with us of your students using 123 in your library - I can’t wait to see them!
@James_Nesbitt I’m so glad you enjoyed the 123 session! And yes - the idea of using the 123 Robot to help foster literacy connections is super exciting, and has so many possibilities. I remember doing literature parades for Read Aloud days (everyone dresses up as their favorite children’s book character and parades around the school). I think it could be REALLY fun to do a similar thing with the 123 Robots - have students ‘dress up’ their robots as a favorite character from a book they’ve read this year, and then code them to follow one another down the hall, or around a long Field. @Laura_Mackay and @Anna_Blake I could see this working well in your settings also 
I totally agree, if you don’t have parental involvement it is hard to get anything off the ground. I like how he “hooked” them in for the evening. I did a camp for a group of students that received 20 IQ kits and asked several times if there was a parent, scout leader, older sibling, anyone that I could get involved so they could use them after the camp. Unfortunately, no one came forward and I bet those robots are sitting there just collecting dust.
