About the 2005 Conference

Highlights

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Birds-Of-A-Feather Roundtables
12:15 - 1:15 PM.

Participate in one of a dozen small group discussions that give participants a chance to connect with industry experts and their peers to discuss current issues and hot topics over lunch.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

CoSN/SIIA Feedback Focus Group: Emerging Technologies: What’s Working? What’s Next?
7:00 - 8:20 AM.

Sponsor: netTrekker
Media Partner: Education Week

CoSN and the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), in partnership with The Winter Group and Education Week, will host a focus group for district and state technology leaders to explore innovative applications of emerging technologies. The discussion will focus on:

• What emerging technologies have the potential to enhance K-12 teaching and learning, school administration, and decision making?
  
  
• What is the real value of adopting emerging technologies?
  
  
• What is the real cost of ownership of emerging technologies in K-12 schools?
  
  
• What can the vendor community do to support the adoption of emerging technologies?
  
  

This session is by invitation only. CoSN Corporate Members and SIIA’s Education Division are invited to send one representative to listen to this discussion. Pre-registration is required.

IT and Assistive Technologies: A Team Approach to Accessible Technology for All Students (Session W106)
10:30 - 11:30 AM.

Founding Platinum Partners: ETS, IntelliTools, Inc. and Sprint
Founding Gold Partners: AlphaSmart, Inc. and Apple
Media Partner: eSchool News

This session will discuss CoSN’s newest leadership initiative, Accessible Technologies for All Students, designed to provide school leaders with information, professional development and tools to implement accessible technologies in classrooms. A major focus of the initiative lies in fostering relationships between administrators, teachers, technology coordinators and special education personnel to create universal design learning environments that can enhance the learning of all students while providing full access to the general curriculum for students with disabilities.

The NEW National Education Technology Plan: What Is It and How Can You Use It? (Session W201)
11:45 AM. - 12:45 PM.

The National Education Technology Plan for the U.S. Department of Education is being developed as part of a long-range national strategy and guide for using technology effectively to improve student academic achievement—either directly or through integration with other approaches to systemic reform. The revised plan provides an opportunity to reflect on the progress we have made, identify the areas that need to be further addressed, and consider what transformed learning may look like. It will identify major policy issues, barriers, and opportunities for technology to transform America’s education system. A key principle guiding this effort is to build on what has been proven to work and what has been accomplished through previous efforts. The National Education Technology Plan will include a summary of key reports of the past, identify common themes and recommendations, and highlight major accomplishments.

State-Wide Scientifically-Based Research Grants: Progress and Challenges with SEDTA (Session WSE101)
1:00 - 3:30 PM.

In November 2003, $15 million in grants were awarded to nine states by the United States Department of Education through the Evaluating State Educational Technology Program (ESETP) in support of state educational technology program evaluations to study technology’s impact on student achievement. The grantees will share the challenges they faced, methodologies employed, and interim outcomes from the scientifically-based research studies funded through their ESETP grants. These grants address a wide range of technology interventions, including professional development programs, distance learning courses, home-school connections, and technology coaches in schools. SETDA will provide an overview of the grants and share how grantees are disseminating information via www.setdatapp.org. Pre-registration required for this event. Lunch will be served.

District Technology Director Essential Skills Clinic (Session W301 & W401)
2:15 - 5:00 PM.

Media Partner: Education Week The task of overseeing a school district’s technology program has grown exponentially in recent years as computers, the Internet and other technology applications have become essential to the daily operation of schools. In this two part clinic, participants will learn about CoSN’s framework of essential skills for the district technology leader, which can help you keep up with the challenge of constantly changing technologies in an era of declining budgets.

Workshop: Be Prepared for Cyber Related Risks – Build a Reduction Plan (Session W304)
2:15 - 5:00 PM.

Technology is broadly used in the K-12 environment by administrators, teachers, parents, students, school board members and community officials. While this enables a wide range of useful activities, the risk for inappropriate and illegal behavior that violates privacy, state and federal regulations, and common courtesy is increasing exponentially. This workshop will introduce you to the OCTAVE (Operationally Critical Threat, Asset, and Vulnerability Evaluation) K-12 Risk Methodology developed by the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University and teach you how to use it to identify and address cyber-related risks within your school. Space is limited, pre-registration is required.

2005 CoSN Leadership Awards (See conference agenda for award presentation times)

Sponsor: Inspiration Software, Inc.
Media Partner: Scholastic Administr@tor

CoSN annually recognizes individuals who demonstrate outstanding vision in employing the use of information technologies and the Internet in K-12 education to improve learning. CoSN bestows awards in three categories for which the winners are nominated by their peers: the TEAM award for Transformation, the Frank Withrow Award for Educators, and the Award for Excellence in Public Service. CoSN also recognizes a private sector champion; however this award is not open to nominations. These four categories represent the major roles that are played by leaders to ensure schools use technology to transform the learning environment.