☀️ ISTELive ’26 is in full swing! 🌴
The DTT community is showing up for ISTELive!
Greetings from Orlando, Florida! ☀️🌴
The ISTELive 26 Conference is officially here, and let me tell you, it is absolutely MASSIVE. I look forward to this more than anything else all year long.
Thousands upon thousands of passionate educators have descended upon the Orange County Convention Center to learn from one another, spark new ideas, and play with the latest and greatest edtech features.
I’ve gotten to see DTT community members and long-time supporters like: 1. Katrina Lewis; 2. Steve Sherman; 3. Georgina Dean; 4. Tim Belmont; 5. Rayna Freedman and Tracy Sockalosky; 6. Dustin Rimmey; 7. Brian Romero Smith and Jornea Armant; 8. Holly Clark; and 9. Rachel Lemansky and Kyle Niemis.
My schedule is packed to the brim this week! (Keep scrolling to see my schedule.)
Not at ISTE? Join our ISTE / #NotAtISTE channel in the DTT Community! That’s where community members will drop what they’re learning. Plus, here’s what I’ll be doing …
Recording video snippets from the conference and of my sessions.
Dropping direct links to all of my presentation slides.
Sharing curated resources, templates, and takeaways that I personally gather from wandering the expo hall floor.
Oh, and there’s more! Scroll down for some great stuff whether you’re in Orlando or on your couch!
Inside:
👥 Community: DTT meet-up at ISTELive (in-person / virtual)
💻 Tech Tip: Let’s connect at ISTE
💡 The Big Idea: 10 things we’ve learned at ISTE so far
😄 Smile of the day: The truth can be hard to take
👋 How we can help
👥 FROM THE COMMUNITY 👥
🎉 Don’t miss the DTT Community meet-up at ISTELive (OR from home)!
Join us for a DTT community meet-up — in Orlando AND virtually!
Let’s get the DTT community together with a face-to-face / virtual meet-up!
At the ISTELive Conference in Orlando, we’ll meet face-to-face at 1pm Eastern at the Brisk Teaching booth #2306 …
… but we’ll also live stream
We’ll get to meet each other, share what we’re learning, take some selfies … and grab some freebies! (Psst: I’m planning on handing out exclusive “DITCHER” stickers!)
Day: TODAY Tuesday June 30, 2026
Time: 1pm U.S. Eastern / 10am Pacific
Length: 30 minutes
In-Person Location: Brisk Teaching booth #2306
Virtual Location: This livestream link
PS: Sorry if you had trouble with the “add to calendar” button last time. I tried something different this time!
📅 ISTE SCHEDULE 📅
🫱🏾🫲🏻 Let’s connect at ISTE!
One of the biggest edtech events in the world — the ISTELive Conference — is in full swing with two days left. And, of course … you know I’ll be sharing as much as I can with you!
IF YOU’RE AT ISTE: You can find times, locations, resources, and other great stuff at my ISTELive 26 resources page at ditch.link/iste26. The sessions below with a 📚 emoji are also the ones with free book giveaways.
IF YOU’RE #NOTATISTE: You can get lots of my slides, resources, and even session videos on my ISTELive 26 resources page at ditch.link/iste26. Yep, same one as above!
📆 TUESDAY 6/30
9:00 AM // Brisk Booth #2306 — Let’s Plan a Whole Unit in 15 Minutes with Brisk
10:30 AM // Brisk Booth #2306 — Instant, Meaningful Feedback with Brisk Boost
12:00 PM // Brisk Booth #2306 — Panel: The AI Playbook for Schools and Districts
1:00 PM // Brisk Booth #2306 — Ditch That Textbook Community Meet-Up
2:30 PM // W414CD — How to Teach AI Literacy in Any Class
📚 3:45 PM // Brisk Booth #2306 — Book Signing and Giveaway
📆 WEDNESDAY 7/1
📚 9:15 AM // GoGuardian Booth #1412 — Book Signing and Giveaway
10:00 AM // Samsung Booth #1129 — Demo with the Samsung WAFX-P Interactive Display
10:30 AM // Samsung Booth #1129 — Q & A with Matt Miller
11:30 AM // Figma Booth #2428 — From AI Output to Student Insight: Deepening Thinking with FigJam
💡 THE BIG IDEA 💡
8 things we’ve learned at ISTE so far
And we’re only just getting started …
There have been mainstage events, poster sessions, conference presentations, expo hall demos, and more! ISTE is the time when lots of companies release new features and updates, too.
Here are a handful of things we’ve gathered so far.
PS: Please help add to our list in our ISTE / #NotAtISTE channel in the community!
ISTE has a new name (kinda) — ISTE+ASCD has announced its new name, the International Society for Transforming Education, at the ISTELive 26 conference. Richard Culatta (CEO) said that they wanted to emphasize the importance of transforming education by challenging perceived barriers and creating innovative learning experiences.
Gobs of Google Goodies from Wanda Terral — This is a legendary session! Wanda has presented this session for years and keeps updating it. She just did a virtual ISTE session and shared a link to the document for all to see.
ISTE Vibe Check with Holly Clark— Here's a quick “stop and talk” I did with Holly Clark about what we are seeing and expect at the conference. We talked about the changing nature of the AI conversation, the backlash against tech in achools in the media, and what to ask in discussions with vendors.
Free AI Curriculum from Code.AI — I went to an AI literacy presentation from CodeAI (formerly code.org) and saw some great ideas. In a video I posted in the ISTE/NotAtISTE community channel, I share 3 small things I learned that can help boost student AI literacy. CodeAI has a free AI + CS curriculum for students with lots of lessons, videos and hands on activities with real world tasks.
ISTE AI & EdTech Supershare — A fast-paced, interactive panel spotlighting practical AI and Edtech tools and pedagogies across subjects and grade levels. This year, the panelists were Dr. Rachelle Dene Poth, Eric Curts, Gabriel Carrillo, Jaime Donally, and Victoria Thompson.
Edu Gems — A growing collection of pre-made prompts ("Gems") for educators to use with Google Gemini created by Eric Curts.
TONS of AI Powered Presentation Design Resources — Check out these session resources shared by Julie Halitzka in her session AI Powered Presentation Design. This handout she shared in her session includes links to her full presentation, image design tools like napkin.ai and leonardo.ai, ai prompt cookbook and a presentation design check.
Sortnsnappy.com — Tom Martin created this really cool new tool that's currently being tested to capture everything happening at ISTE, and it looks like it's worth checking out! 🫣 Basically, it lets you snap and save photos, turn talk audio straight into searchable notes, and tag everything by session, speaker, or topic so you stay organized.
😄 Smile of the day
They really can’t handle it 🤯
Source: Bored Teacher
👋 How we can help
There are even more ways I can support you in the important work you do in education:
Read one of my six books about meaningful teaching with tech.
Take one of our online courses about practical and popular topics in education.
Bring me to your school, district or event to speak. I love working with educators!
