21st Century Skills: A MILE Guide

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills will present the “MILE Guide.” This tool helps schools integrate 21st Century Skills with basic skills, resulting in a more effective curriculum that helps educators work smarter, not harder. The presentation will also cover 1x1 computing initiatives and an update on 21st Century Skills.

Tools in the Technology Immersed Classroom

In today's classroom every child should have access to technologies that enhance their learning and allow them to develop the necessary skills to be successful in the 21st century workforce. Join educators in a lively discussion about what this classroom looks like and how students thrive in this type of classroom environment.

Getting your Faculty to go High Tech

Now  that the technology is available, how can technology coordinators and other administrators get teachers to use it? This workshop provides helpful hints for schools who want to increase their use of technology in the classroom. This fast-paced overview of how technology can be easily incorporated into the curriculum will also provide participants with free resources for educators.

Deployment of Laptops

This discussion will focus on the logistics of deploying a large number of laptops to students. Do you have questions or solutions regarding inventory databases,  hardware security issues and involving district and campus staff in the process?

Come talk with us!

Preparing Teachers for Laptops and Online Surveys

This discussion will focus on preparing teachers for instruction in a laptop immersed environment. Using online surveys for needs assessment  and planning conferences for professional development can be very helpful. Share your ideas with others and take home some new ones, too!

Content Management

Content management tools, such as Blackboard or WebCT, offer opportunities for communication and resource sharing. Come discuss what your district is doing, or just hear what others have going on.

  
Session 2
10:15 – 11:45

Manatee County's EDGE (Education Through Dynamic Global Experiences)

Experience Manatee County's one to one initiative the EDGE (Education Through Dynamic Global Experience) project. See videos, student projects, and data from the past 2 years of implementation. Learn how we started with a small pilot and built a successful implementation plan using a variety of funding sources.

Gen Y

Generation Y, an exemplary model of student participation in technology professional development, has taken hold in 1 to 1 laptop schools in Texas, Maine and Michigan. Explore how this research-based model can extend the reach of professional development and provide daily support for time-starved teachers.

Taking Ownership

Involving teachers in the process from the beginning makes a difference in  teacher "buy-in". To prepare or not to prepare, that is the question. What is your answer?

Repair Services

Warranty, management, adequate staffing, student support - do these make your head swim? Come find out how others have learned where to start and what to do, and be sure to share your own successes, as well!

Funding - Show me the money!

Now that you have laptops, how are you going to sustain them? Administrators will share their plans and sources for funding their laptop programs.

Preparing Students for Laptops

In this session, participants will discuss ways to prepare students to receive their laptops with basic Laptop 101 instruction, along with ethics and acceptable use issues.

 
Session 3
12:45 – 2:15

The Maine Learning Technology Initiative: Not Another Tech Buy

Maine is the first state to give schools portable, wireless computers for each of their 7th & 8th grade students and teachers. But this project is not about equipment as much as creating engaging learning environments and about building collaborative networks of educators for professional and curriculum development.

Forney ISD’s EBook Pilot Project

Forney ISD is one of the fastest growing districts in the state of Texas. As such, we are experiencing significant issues with the availability of textbooks for our students. It is our belief that the current state of technology is sufficient to offer better media through which we can provide "texts" to these students in all subject areas. This presentation will review a pilot project to replace our traditional texts with electronic texts.

24/7 Support for Teachers and Students

One-to-one technology brings the world into the classroom, but it also ought to bring the classroom into the world. Please join us for a discussion about ways we can provide instructional support for students and teachers that is available anytime, anywhere.

Classroom Management

This discussion will focus on classroom management techniques for supporting student learning.

Student Projects

This will be a discussion focusing on teacher experiences with student projects, sharing success and challenges from the classroom.

Professional Development

Come share ideas for continuing professional growth among teachers. Tell us your best ideas and we'll tell you ours!