Breakout Sessions for Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

CONCURRENT BREAKOUT SESSION III

W301: Science Education from a Technology Leader’s Perspective
SALON D

K-12 education science, technology, engineering and mathematics is a hot topic today, with conversations spanning from the classroom to the Oval Office. Technology can be used in ways that help address may of the challenges facing K-12 STEM programs. This dynamic talk explores five challenges: Shortage of qualified teachers; Learning that science is a vibrant human activity; Cutting back on hands-on science instruction; Science as inquiry and projects; Connecting science to other subjects. By moving toward a more constructionist approach to science instruction, taking advantage of various cutting-edge probe-ware tools and other computer based resources, many of these challenges can be addressed in ways that greatly increase student appreciation for more analytical subjects. Our economic recovery requires a highly educated populace, and this presentation tackles some of those challenges head-on.

W302: Digital Resources of the 21st Century
ESSENTIAL SKILLS: Education & Training and Communication Systems
SALON E

Learn how to enhance teaching and learning at school and home with powerful, intuitive, and visually engaging web-based resources. The Presidential Timeline of the 20th Century, built upon a partnership between The University of Texas Learning Technology Center and the National Archives’ twelve Presidential Libraries, helps learners engage in historical reasoning as they encounter primary sources and generate their own historical narratives.

W303: Surviving an E-rate Audit
MR406

Many studies have been undertaken regarding the challenges of the Information Technology professional in the corporate world, but none address the special concerns of the K-12 educational institutions.  Anecdotal stories often center on a department that has too many systems to manage and not enough staff.  There is increasing evidence of growing stuff to manage in a typical school district technology infrastructure with eRate and computer asset proliferation, as well as a growing importance of technology to the school support services and curriculum strategies.  However, these dynamics exist in an environment with budget constraints, changing technology, board requirements and staffing shortfalls.

W304: Winning at Losing
ESSENTIAL SKILLS: Education & Training
MR408

Some of the best lessons in education come from failing.  When done right, losing at a task can build a learner’s curiosity, endurance, interest, commitment, and love of a good challenge.  These are all diminished when the learning environment doesn’t allow for losing.  Educators today have the rich field of gaming to examine for ways in which digital interactive design allows for repeated experimentation and loss before mastery.  Not surprisingly these simple mechanics have been used for ages by master educators.  Take a new look at ways to invigorate your curriculum with game design principals that allow for students to ‘play’ in a language that youth today speak when they play video games.

W305: Web 2.0 Project Based Learning
ESSENTIAL SKILLS: Education & Training
MR410

This discussion will focus on how educators can utilize Web 2.0 and video conferencing tools to provide students with powerful place-based educational opportunities. The presentation will showcase how an Alaska school district empowered its students to create original content for an authentic global audience through its use of innovative broadcast technologies, and integrated Web 2.0 tools. Focused examples will include Student Broadcasting of local, regional and national events, place-based education using standards.

W306: Integrating SMS for education – the European experience
MR412

Mobile phones are now universally available and accepted. They are transforming how students interact with each other, with organizations, and with ideas, and this is only the beginning. The technology is there but each university, college, and school must explore and experiment with what it can do for them and their students. This presentation will draw case examples from one of the largest education message communities in Europe who use edutext®, one of the secure online tools available from http://www.txttools.co.uk. The presentation will explore how text messaging has been integrated into the areas of administration, student support, learning and teaching as well as addressing the challenges of student retention and achievement, disaster and emergency planning. Recent developments, inspired by the community of users include RSS-2SMS content delivery, moodletext and a plug-in for Blackboard, which harnesses the power of edutxt from within the VLE. This will be an interactive session so bring your mobile phone and be prepared to be interactive.

W307: A View of the "Flat World":  Ed Tech Lessons Learned from China
ESSENTIAL SKILLS: Leadership & Vision and Ethics & Policies
MR400

This session will share highlights from a recent trip to China through the People to People Citizen Ambassadors Program. The goal of the delegation was to look at technology in Chinese schools and understand the role of technology in education in China with respect to their expectations of students in the 21st century. The delegation will explore the following areas:  the role of technology in education in China with respect to academic achievement in core curriculum areas; how technology professional development is supported and delivered in China; how components of technology professional development in China could be applied in classrooms in the U.S. and  the level of technology access that Chinese students have at home and outside the classroom.

W309A:  Effective and Efficient IT Asset and Software Management
ESSENTIAL SKILLS: Leadership & Vision and Ethics & Policies
SALON A

Spotlight session hosted by:

David Hawks, Director of Education, Absolute Software, Vancouver, BC Kevin Sherrill, Director, Information Technology, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, Winston-Salem, NC

With the increase trend towards technology in the classroom and pervasive computing, education institutions face a unique set of challenges that require careful planning and a practical framework that can help reduce costs, increase efficiencies and ensure compliance.  Security, data protection and asset management are no longer optional for education institutions but rather mission critical.  As budget pressures mount, education technology professionals must look for solutions to optimize performance of systems, automate business processes and increase instructional and administrative value.  This session will examine the management, maintenance and deployment of hardware and software applications at a broad level.  Specifically, it will introduce a tested framework for IT Asset Management both for hardware and software but also planning for physical security, data protection and compliance.  Learn how Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools addressed its own challenges with asset management, drifting, controlling costs, software licensing compliance and measuring productivity of assets

W309B:  Leveraging Thin Client Computing in Education
ESSENTIAL SKILLS:
SALON A

Spotlight session hosted by:

Greg Partch, Director of Education Technology, Hudson Falls Central School District, Hudson Falls, NY

School district leaders say they need a more efficient, more economical way to approach its desktop management and replacement strategy without degradation in end-user performance. As schools face challenges to their ongoing budgets, leaders seek an effective and sustainable approach to education technology. Learn how Hudson Falls (NY) Central School District's infrastructure relies on HP's Client Virtualization to support a large, dynamic computing platform within their budget limitations. The session will provide an overview of the hardware and software used to maximize the thin client instructure, as well as the many advantages Hudson Fall's students and staff experience with this computing model.

W310A:   Reducing Your District's Computer Energy Costs & Waste
ESSENTIAL SKILLS: Systems Management
SALON B

Discover how Faronics Power Save is able to reduce your school’s energy costs by powering down inactive computers when they are not in use. Power Save uses intelligence to determine when computers are truly not in use, is easy to manage, and proves its value through energy savings reports. In fact, Power Save is helping schools reduce their energy costs while paying for itself in a mere four months, while some schools are receiving Power Save for free thanks to rebates provided by their local power authority.

W310B:  Promote Educational Change by Understanding the Implications of the K-12 Website Maturity Model
ESSENTIAL SKILLS: Communication Systems
SALON B

This presentation will be of interest to anyone concerned about the role and value of a district’s website for communicating with key stakeholders.  It will help technology leaders better understand the potential websites hold for improving education.  It will also illuminate the paradigm shift that is occurring as educational institutions make the leap from adopting a traditional website management approaches to delivering a fully integrated, interactive, community-based online environment.

Using the K-12 Website Maturity Model as a framework for the conversation, attendees will benefit from the theoretical and practical implications of the model as they work to empower others to understand an institution’s current level of maturation, develop and share a common vision of the level they would like to attain, and chart a course for moving from one level to the next.  As a result, the Maturity Model will help inform all who are involved in promoting educational change through the effective use of web-based technologies.