EdTechTeacher

ETT2012 Event Archives

Thank you again to all of the presenters and attendees who came to EdTechTeacher2012 - Leading Change in Changing Times. This page will serve as an archive of the 2012 conference as we start to prepare for ETT2013. This page will be updated as we receive additional presentation materials.

#ETT2012 Twitter Archive

Leading up to, and throughout the day of, the winter conference, we had an active discussion going on Twitter. You can review all of the Tweets via this TweetDoc.

Note: special thanks to Tracy Sockalosky for creating this archive for us.

Slide Decks and Videos 

8:30-9:50: Morning Keynote Address - Transforming Education for the 21st Century

• Speaker: Chris Dede, Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education
• Description: This talk describes how we could transform education to prepare students with the skills they need for 21st century work and citizenship. The array of Web 2.0 interactive media for students to create and share knowledge is rapidly expanding. In addition, immersive interfaces (e.g., virtual worlds, augmented realities) and mobile devices pervade the lives of youth outside of academic settings. We can build on these media to improve our teaching, assessment, and links between schools and communities. As discussed in the 2010 National Education Technology Plan, this can help our graduates succeed in the 21st century.

Download Chris Dede's presentation file (pdf).

10:00-11:20: Concurrent Sessions #1

Becoming Data Wise with Technology

• Speaker: Candice Bocala, doctoral student in education policy, leadership, and instructional practice at the Harvard Graduate School of Education
• Description: Have your technology investments and interventions improved student learning? How can you assess the efficacy of your technology investments, and then use that assessment data to continue to improve instruction? In this session, participants will be introduced to Data Wise: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Assessment Results to Improve Teaching and Learning, a resource that presents a clear and carefully tested blueprint for school leaders. It shows how classroom data and other assessments can become a catalyst for important schoolwide conversations that will enhance schools' ability to make decisions about instructional resources, foster collaboration, identify obstacles to change, and enhance school culture and climate.

Teaching for Understanding with Technology: Models of Learning for Students and Educators

• Speaker: Stone Wiske, a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education
• Description: The Teaching for Understanding model provides a framework for teaching and learning that emphasizes thinking, creativity, and flexible application of knowledge. It can guide the integration of technology to achieve carefully crafted learning goals. This session will begin with an overview of the TfU framework from one of its architects Stone Wiske. Then Katherine Gaudet, a teacher leader at Friends Academy in South Dartmouth, MA, will show what these principles look like in practice and their impact on educators and students. Together they will describe the evolution of support that teachers need to translate this approach into action. Participants will leave with a richer sense of what high-quality, networked learning looks like in the classroom and how schools can provide professional learning opportunities for teachers that help them develop their pedagogy with new technologies.

Youth Voices on the Future of Schooling

• Speaker: Sandra Cortesi, lead researcher at the Youth and Media Lab
• Description: The Youth and Media (YaM) Lab (www.youthandmedia.org) is a highly innovative educational initiative with youth involvement at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. It builds on the previous work of John Palfrey, Urs Gasser, and collaborators who have studied the ways in which young people are using the Internet. The Lab brings together young people, leading researchers and developers from the Berkman Center, and mentors from the Center’s broader network to engage creatively with the core challenges and opportunities that youth face online, including issues such as online safety, privacy, credibility/information quality and learning, civic participation, content creation, and entrepreneurship.
  As part of our research into information, communication, and technology in education, we have found that as the information ecosystem continues to change and students become increasingly immersed in technology, institutions have had to change their practices. This provides both challenges and opportunities for educators and schools as students develop new literacies and learning increasingly happens outside the classroom. In this session, we will present some of our latest research and focus group findings; and we will facilitate a discussionwith middle and high school students from the Boston/Cambridge area to hear about how they view the relationship between learning and technology in the context of their personal and school experiences, respectively, as well as their visions for the future of schooling.

11:30-1:00: Concurrent Sessions #2

Embracing Digital Tools: The School That Launched 1,000 iPads

• Speaker: Patrick Larkin, Principal of Burlington High School in Massachusetts, is currently leading the transition to a 1:1 iPad environment.
• Description: Whether you are looking at moving to an environment where every student has a web-enabled device or not, it is time to start embracing digital tools in order to best provide students with the most relevant education. This session will detail the process Burlington High School used in preparing for it's iPad initiative. We will review the work done in setting up embedded support for staff, students, and parents in making this transition.

Changing a Classroom from Traditional to Digital Content

• Speakers: Richard Byrne, author of Free Technology for Teachers, and Greg Kulowiec, award-winning history teacher and EdTechTeacher instructor
• Description: With the pace and frequency of content being published to the web, digital content can supplement, complement and in some instances replace the paper text that is traditionally used in the classroom. The session will address a rationale for using digital content and examples of how to apply that content in a traditional face-to-face setting. Further, the session will examine the implications of the ability for students to create and publish original digital content to the web and how this impacts the traditional classroom setting.

Transformational Journey Towards Systemic Engagement

• Speaker: Annamaria Schrimpf, Director of Educational Technology for the Winchester Public Schools, former President of MassCUE (Massachusetts Computer Using Educator), founding board member of METAA (Massachusetts Educational Technology Administrators Association), and advisory board member on ETAC (Educational Technology Advisory Committee for the DESE)
• Description: Technology pockets do not afford all students the same opportunities, but technology pockets of excellence can become cornerstones for school districts to transform learning environments. Strategic design using essential conditions can ensure systemic adoption of technology for teaching and learning. As educators, we must enable our students to be active participants of their learning and ensure the development of technology proficiencies that are applicable for both college and career. During this session, attendees will understand the necessary elements that a school district must have in place to build a transformational learning environment to support student engagement.

1:30-2:50: Concurrent Sessions #3

Developing and Assessing Challenging 21st Century Learning Goals

• Speaker: Ann L. Ashworth, Associate Director of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges: Commission on Public Secondary Schools (CPSS)
• Description: Every student must be prepared to be successful for the remainder of the 21st century, and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges Standards for Accreditation are helpful to schools as they devise local assessment systems that go far beyond standardized tests to prepare students for life after secondary school. Topics explored in this session will include: what do challenging and complex learning expectations look like? What strategies can teachers employ to assess these complex competencies? How does formative assessment fit into the scheme? How can schools communicate achievement of these learning expectations to students and their families as well as to their school communities?

Technically Invisible: Innovation in an Elementary Classroom

• Speakers: Suzy Brooks, 3rd Grade teacher from Falmouth, MA, licensed Instructional Technology Specialist, and Discovery Educator Network STAR, and Beth Holland, Senior Associate at EdTechTeacher and former Director of Academic Technology.
• Description: In the midst of mandated curriculum and daunting accountability, creativity and innovation are still making their way into the classroom! Come see how technology has changed the way we connect, communicate and collaborate within the confines of a demanding day. Experience a sampling of technology ideas ranging from functional to fantastic; inspirational to invisible… When focused on students, the rest falls into place naturally.

Suzy's ETT2012 Pinterest Board and their Google presentation.

Creating Coherence: Connecting Technology and Learning Goals

• Speaker: Justin Reich, co-Director of EdTechTeacher, co-author of Best Ideas for Teaching with Technology: A Practical Guide for Teachers by Teachers, doctoral candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a Fellow at the Berkman Center for the Internet and Society
• Description: In too many U.S. school districts, technology purchases and programs are not connected to strategic learning goals for students. Districts and schools make technology purchases, and then teachers are left to individually use the technology however they see fit. This model can promote pockets of excellence, but it rarely leads to systematic adoption of technology in support of meaningful learning. In this interactive session, we'll explore four models for strategically connecting technology initiatives to student learning, ranging from "Radical Teacher Autonomy" models to "Central Planning of Goals, Professional Development, and Assessment." Participants will leave the session with a variety of effective strategies for helping teams, departments, schools and districts strategically use technology to support student learning and achievement.

3:00-3:50: Afternoon Keynote Address - Leading Schools in Changing Times: Perspectives from the Principal's Office

Speaker: Chris Lehman, founding principal of the Science Leadership Academy, a progressive science and technology high school in Philadelphia, PA, and pioneer of the School 2.0 movement.

4:00-5:30: Digital Journey - A Closing Reception with PBS LearningMedia

PBS’ Rob Lippincott, Senior Vice President for Education, will share how media and technology are becoming more integral than ever for success in the classroom while offering insights gleaned from a recent national survey of educators about their current access to technology in classrooms.