T+L Conference offers insights and inspiration
The 2008 Technology + Learning Conference is full of inspiration and insights to help you learn new ways to use technology to engage students, connect with parents, use data to target instruction, and get up to speed on Web 2.0 and 21st century learning.
The Oct. 28-30 event will be the first T+L Conference in Seattle and takes full advantage of the innovative districts and technology companies in the region.
T+L is the only national education technology conference where school board members, the superintendent, technology directors, and other educators from a district are encouraged to come as a team.
For more information on the T+L Conference programming, visit www.nsba.org/T+L.
School leaders are encouraged to come early to participate in special pre-conference programming. Several events mentioned here require advance registration.
During general sessions, futurist Paul Saffo will focus your thinking on the world your students will inherit, and David Warlick will connect that future with the essential skills students need to be successful. Joe Caruso of the Caruso Leadership Institute will describe his ideas on strategic thinking and how they apply to what he calls “the Education Revolution.”
Breakfast sessions feature former principal Tim Tyson, who will describe the 21st century learning environment he created at his nationally recognized middle school, and Matt Dozier, president of the Environmental and Spatial Technologies Initiative (EAST), who will explain how he blends cutting-edge technology with authentic learning and community service.
Several sessions address one-to-one computing, including a breakfast session presented by Leslie Wilson, president of the One-to-One Institute. Bruce Dixon, founder of the Anytime, Anywhere Learning Foundation, will facilitate a One-to-One Learning Mini-Academy, and several district workshops also address this topic.
Many of today’s students have spent hours mastering complex games. Several presenters will explain how games and simulations, such as virtual worlds like Second Life, can engage students in the classroom.
Learn all about social networking and Web 2.0 tools at Eric Langhorst’s preconference session on the power of podcasts and blogs or at MIT professor Henry Jenkins’ luncheon showcase on how to teach authorship to students in a remix culture.
District workshops on Web 2.0 tools cover the use of wikis to form global connections, e-communities, online professional development, and how to use social networks for learning.
STEM initiatives (to bolster science, technology, engineering, and mathematics instruction) are well represented at the conference. You can have breakfast with Erin Reilly, MIT research director and one of last year’s T+L “20 to Watch” educators, to learn about her award-winning work with Zoey’s Room, a program aimed at engaging girls in STEM content.
Learn about the real-world application of STEM education during a VIP briefing and tour of Boeing’s Future of Flight Aviation Center, the only jet assembly plant in North America.
Site visits include the Kent School District’s Technology Academy, and the technologically innovative Lake Washington School District, where former chief technology officer Chip Kimball is now the superintendent. A field trip to Junior Achievement’s facility will feature new strategies for teaching financial literacy.
Other topics covered at T+L are open source solutions, digital movie making, new assessment strategies for measuring students’ success with digital products, high-tech treasure hunting using geocaching, and strategies for preventing cyberbullying. Programming throughout the conference keeps an eye toward the future, but with a reality check on what works today.
Reproduced with permission from School Board News. Copyright © 2008, National School Boards Association. Opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect positions of NSBA. This article may be printed out and photocopied for individual or educational use, provided this copyright notice appears on each copy. This article may not be otherwise transmitted or reproduced in print or electronic form without the consent of the Publisher. For more information, call (703) 838-6789.