This year’s Edcamp Utah is coming up on February 24th, 2024. If you have never been to an Edcamp, it is a great opportunity to share and discuss the issues you face in your learning environment while connecting with educators across Utah. Edcamps are: 

• Always free!

• Are designed on the day based on attendees' suggestions for topics. 

• All sessions are discussion-based. There are no ‘presentations’, just discussions about topics that affect Utah education. 

• Are based on the rule of two-feet: if you are not getting what you need out of a session, you are welcome to leave and find another session that best suits your needs. 

UCET and UELMA are excited to welcome 2021 Utah Teacher of the Year and Teacher Fellow John Arthur as our morning keynote speaker this year. He will lead a panel of Teacher Fellows through a discussion of topics connected to Utah education. 

Break and lunch are provided for free. We also have a prize giveaway at the end of the day with prizes from local companies and national edtech providers. This year, we will give away the following: 

• A classroom license to TEXThelp

• Blankets from Minky Couture

• Swag from Goosechase, CodeHS, Derivita, and more

• And many more!

Registration is open now at ucet.org/about/edcamp/. Join UCET and UELMA for a fantastic day of learning and engagement with our amazing Utah educator community! 

Today's Resource Share comes from UCET / UELMA! They have their conference coming up on March 19th-20th at the Salt Palace in Downtown Salt Lake City. For GEGUtah, there is a lot of great Google sessions. Google is coming back as a partner and bringing a great experience with them. Google expert Eric Curts from Control Alt Achieve will be joining us for both days (in a much larger room than last year). As well as we have some great GEGUtah leaders sharing sessions including our annual Demo Slam. You can check out the entire email from UCET / UELMA below: 

UCET / UELMA 24 is coming up on March 19th and 20th at the Salt Palace in Downtown Salt Lake City! We are excited to have hundreds of sessions geared toward exploring the educational issues facing our Intermountain West community. As an attendee, here are some of the experiences that await you: 

• 200+ sessions on topics ranging from artificial intelligence, librarianship, technology/curriculum coaching, digital citizenship/information literacy, Universal Design for Learning/accessibility, and more. 

• Experts from across Utah share their best practices for our classrooms. 

• Experts from across the country including keynotes and sessions from Richard Culatta (ISTE/ASCD), Carolyn Foote and Beck Calzada (FReadom Fighters), Donalyn Miller (The Book Whisperer Author), Jarrett Lerner (Author), Eric Curts (Control Alt Achieve), Carl Hooker, Steve Isaacs (Epic Games), Cathy Cheo-Isaacs (Epic Games), Ken Shelton, Matthew X. Joseph (X Factor Publishing), and more.

• Learn from and engage with the edtech partners you use in your classroom every day, including Google, Apple, Nearpod, Instructure, SchoolAI, Derivita, Modern Classrooms Project, GHA Technologies, Lexia, i2e (Microsoft, Epic Games, Gwoop), Curriculum Associates, Gaggle, COMPanion Corp Alexandria, Skill Struck, and many more. 

• This year, join UCET / UELMA After Dark on March 19th from 7-9 PM for:

  • Board Game Night with Eric Curts

  • Trivia Night with Carl Hooker 

  • Swank presents Movie Night: Pitch Perfect

Please feel free to share the following poster with your educators:

• Canva Link

• PDF Link

Registration is now open at https://ucet.org/attendee-registration/. Two-day registration is $95, single-day registration is $75. We also have group registrations available for groups of ten or more (with a $10 discount per person).

We also have a conference hotel with the Downtown SLC Marriott. You can book at the hotel at this link. 

Check out the full schedule at https://ucet.org/agenda/. For more information about the conference, please check out ucet.org or uelma.org. Check out the full poster attached to this email. 

Today's Resource Share comes from Google's Innovator program. If you are unfamiliar with this program, Google Innovators are a global community of educators who are working on projects that support educators. This program includes a seminar at a Google Campus around the world and coaching for your project. The Google Innovator program was on hiatus for the last few years and it is now open to applications. To apply, you do need to have your Google Certified Educator Level Two completed and a problem in education identified. There are three English language Academies this year including Chicago, Seoul, and Amsterdam. Check out the application dates and more information at this link: 

https://edu.google.com/intl/ALL_us/for-educators/certification-programs/professional-expertise/certified-innovator/?modal_active=none

Just a quick note that the applicant is required to pay their own travel fees, so keep that in mind as you plan. 

Today's Resource Share comes from Google's Blog. At the recent BETT 24 Conference, Google shared a batch of new features to support educators. There are new features from in-app features to AI to Classroom and Chromebooks. Check out the blog post at the link below and check out the new features. Just a quick note that not all versions of Google Workspace for Education will have all these features, check with your school/district IT team to verify features: 

https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/education/bett-2024-google-for-education-updates/

Today's Resource Share comes from Matt Miller's Ditch That Textbook. He had a recent post about how to use Adobe Express in your classroom that offered some great ways to up your creativity and use of AI in your classroom. Last week, in our GEGUtah Meetup, we explored ways to combine Adobe with Google in your classroom (watch the recording here). This is a great additional primer on how to use Adobe Express in your classroom: 

https://ditchthattextbook.com/adobe-express/

Today's Resource Share is the newest video from Google Workspace for Education's EDU in 90 series. This month's video walks users through a handful of new additions to Google's Edu apps including additions to Google Classroom, Slides, Docs, Meet, and more. Check out the video at this link: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxm7wWp_9T8

Today's Resource Share comes via our GEGUtah Meetup from last night. If you missed it, you can see the recording at this link: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju0Iq4Fm-tw

During our Meetup, GEGUtah Leader Julie Kaster shared information on a Google Android app she uses to help meet accessibility needs in her school. Project Relate is an Android app that helps people with non-standard speech communicate with those around them. It is in beta and still being developed, but you can learn more about the app and how Julie uses it at her school in the video above (around the 20-minute mark). You can also learn more and sign up for the beta at the link below. As always, check with your school/district before installing any application to school computers: 

https://sites.research.google/relate/

Join GEGUtah Leadership today at 4 PM at the link below for our January Meetup! This month, GEGUtah co-leader Matt Winters explores how Adobe can support your Google usage in your classroom with some quick practical guides to using Adobe in a Google-infused classroom. GEGUtah leader Julie Kaster will also give us some great tips for using Google to make your lessons on accessible. Join us at the following link: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju0Iq4Fm-tw

Today's Resource Share comes from UEN. UEN's Teacher Tips video series continues on into the new year! The first video introduces three of the many speakers at the upcoming UCET / UELMA conference on March 19th-20th, 2024 while also sharing a tool that UEN provides training and support on to educators across Utah. Check out the short video and learn more about the tools available to your classroom and what to expect from the upcoming conference: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbZP5jWvVDM

Today's Resource Share comes from Google Labs. They recently launched Labs.Google to share all their current and upcoming AI work. Recent GEGUtah shares like Instrument Playground, along with many other programs are available to explore on this site. It aims to be a launch pad for all their upcoming AI activities across their tools. Check it out at 

https://labs.google/

Today's Resource Share comes via Utah Education Network. UEN is hosting the UCET / UELMA Book Club for 2024! Join this free course (SUU and relicensure credit available) to explore books from speakers at the upcoming conference. Choose to join discussions about Donalyn Miller's The Book Whisperer, Richard Culatta's Digital For Good, or Carl Hooker's Learning Evolution. To get credit for the course, you will need to complete discussion and a project for two out of the three books. The course is open from now until June 30th. Check it out and register at the following link: 

https://uen.catalog.instructure.com/browse/mooc2024/courses/bookclub-spring2024

Today's Resource Share comes from Google Arts & Culture. Over the break, Google Arts & Culture added a new game called Instrument Playground. Less a game and more a tool to create music, users collaborate with AI through various instruments and tones to create their own vibrant music. Users can select from dozens of instruments and emotional qualities to generate their music, mix it, and then share it out. Check it out at the link below: 

https://artsandculture.google.com/experiment/instrument-playground/8QFo2oQr2uT3pg