2014 was a great year for us at Instructional Support and Development. For starters, it was our first year together. As a unit we collaborated on projects, workshops, presentations and more. What made 2014 extra special were the many opportunities given to us to attend and present at various conferences this year. Choosing only 4 was hard. Choosing which of those 4 was the ‘2014 Conference of the Year’ proved to be even more difficult. Some of the conferences that were honorable mentions include New Horizons 2014 held in Roanoke, Virginia, and the IT Summit Spring 2014 held on the campus of Germanna Community College in Fredericksburg, Virginia. New Horizons was put on by the VCCS and was held in Hotel Roanoke. It was a great place to get some new ideas and meet new colleagues within the VCCS. The IT Summit at Germanna was a smaller conference compared to New Horizons, but that was a great place to meet several Instructional Technologists from Germanna and Blue Ridge Community Colleges. Germanna was a great host and we had some great takeaways from the event. After those 2 honorable mentions, we as a team decided on our Top 4 Conferences of the Year and chose only 1 to be the ‘2014 Conference of the Year.’
Coming in at #4 was the James Madison University Teaching and Learning with Technology Conference.
It was here that members of our team presented at 2 workshops: Building Communi’TEA’ and Let Us “Flip” Your Lid with Technology. Building Communi’TEA’ was all about the Technology Engagement Arena (or TEA) on the Alexandria campus. We showcased the idea that instructors, faculty, and staff, can create a community collaboration event, where they show their peers what technology they are using and how they can implement it in their classes. In our other workshop (pictured below) we talked about technology instructors can use to ‘flip’ their classroom. It was an eye-opening workshop for many, and they walked away with not only new technology to use in their class, but also a new, forward thinking idea about how to change their class into an engaging 21st century classroom.
At #3 was VSTE 2014 held in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
It was here that the team presented “Let Us Edu-Tain You with the Sensational Seven”, (pictured below) which were apps and web tools including, Glogster, Thinglink, Prezi, Nearpod, Aurasma and Tellagami. We presented the workshop to a full-house of nearly 55 Virginia educators. We showcased each app in a unique way and many of the educators who attended were engaged and loved the presentation. We loved presenting this workshop because we enjoy using each and every app/web tool in it. This presentation was a tune-up for the ‘Edu-Tain You’ workshop as we will again present it at ISTE 2015 in Philadelphia. 
The runner up for ‘Conference of the Year’ was the IT Summing Spring 2014 held on the campus of Blue Ridge Community College in Wayers Cave, Virginia.
At this conference, our team presented ‘Driving Student Learning with Google’ and ‘Let Us Edu-Tain You with the Fabulous Four’. Both workshops were well attended and the VCCS instructors came away impressed and energized to create new things with the tech tools they learned. In our first presentation, we talked about Google Drive, which at the time offered our students and staff 3oGB of free storage (it is now unlimited with a Google EDU account). The instructors were shown Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms and Sites. With all of the tools at their disposal, the educators were blown away with how easy it was to create, share, and collaborate within Google Drive. The ‘Edu-Tain You’ workshop presented here was a smaller version of the one we presented at VSTE (see above). Many of the attendees had not heard about the apps/web tools we presented, so many came away wanting more. We were encouraged by their enthusiasm and many were interested in working with the tools that were showcased during this past semester. Many of the attendees have reached out asking great questions and providing excellent feedback. 
AND NOW…..For the 2014 CONFERENCE OF THE YEAR….ISTE 2014 which was held in Atlanta, Georgia.
Where do we start. Our boss, Frances attended the event with us. It is the largest technology conference in the world, with over 16,500 people having attended the event. Tech companies like Microsoft, Google, Blackboard, and so many others were also present at the event. While we did not present at this conference, it set the ground work for everything that was listed above in the top 4. If we did not attend ISTE 2014 (see below) it is likely several of these conferences, specifically us presenting there, do not take place. The takeaways from ISTE were immeasurable; like throwing a small pebble into a quiet lake, the ripples from our attendance reach far and wide within IS&D. The workshops, the poster sessions, the apps and new tools we learned. From keynote speakers, to making connections, to doing new things, ISTE 2014 was THE beginning. As a result of ISTE 2014, we presented at countless conferences (see above) and even submitted proposals to present at ISTE 2015, where members of our team will be doing 3 presentations. Even typing that forces me to stop and pause. One year after attending ISTE 2014, we are presenting at ISTE 2015! ISTE 2014 was ‘the crown jewel of the crown’, ‘the creme de la creme’, the ‘straw that has stirred the drink’, the MVP. It exceeded our expectations, inspired us to do some big things, and scared us into creating and doing more than we even collectively imagined; ISTE 2014 our CONFERENCE OF THE YEAR!
As our last parting shot, we want to thank everyone who attended any of our workshops at all of the conferences we presented at. We also want to thank our boss, Frances, who has supported us throughout and for her visionary leadership bringing us all together.
2014 was a great year and we are looking forward to what 2015 brings us!