Posts Tagged ‘ISTE’

ISTE opening keynote – global issue networks

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

The final countdown to ISTE 2010, Denver, Colorado (June 27-30) has begun! Thousands of exhibitors and attendees will descend on Denver this weekend to learn about the newest applications, strategies, and issues surrounding technology education. The conference formally kicks off with the opening keynote Sunday night, June 27, at 5:45. This year’s opening keynote speaker is the former vice-president of the World Bank, Jean-Francois Rischard.

Wondering what he’s going to talk about and what the World Bank has to do with education?

Mr. Rischard is the author of High Noon: 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them, a book that identifies urgent global issues and proposes better, alternative methodologies for developing solutions. According to Mr. Rischard, the effectiveness of any solution to a global problem hinges on technological innovation and student action. The presentation will conclude with a description of four kinds of strategic curriculum changes that will enable educators to help prepare students for these increasingly relevant challenges.

Many of Mr. Rischard’s solutions are centered on what are called Global Issue Networks. These networks vary in implementation, but one commonality is a focus on “user” driven solutions to problems; sort of Governance 2.0. Technological acumen and information literacy are going to be increasingly valued skills as the way we solve problems evolves in our inter-connected world. If you’d like to read something before Sunday,  here’s an article written by Mr. Rischard, called Global Issues Networks: Desperate Times Deserve Innovative Measures.

See you there!

The Generation YES team – Sylvia, Dennis, Megan & Steve

P.S. We’ll be in booth 855 during the conference, along with students from local schools who will show what they are doing to improve technology integration in their schools. They will also be printing out business cards for anyone who leaves theirs at home! Come by and say hi!

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Exciting events at the ISTE conference

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

ISTE (formerly known as NECC) is the largest national educational technology conference in the U.S. This year it will be in Denver, Colorado June 27-30.

Generation YES will be there in full force with a booth (#855) and other events. If you will be in Denver, we hope you will come by and say hello!

Pre-conference event - The Constructivist Celebration, Sunday June 27
Held once again the day before ISTE starts, this is a day-long workshop focusing on creativity and computing. For a very reasonable $60, you will receive free creativity software worth hundreds of dollars from the world’s best school-tool companies, breakfast, snacks and lunch, and a full-day workshop led by Gary Stager and other members of the Constructivist Consortium. Added bonuses: a free just-released “ImagineIt2″ DVD and a TechYES mini-kit. It’s always a sell-out, but right now there are still a few spaces left to join in the fun, so register today – you won’t regret it!

Sessions

  • Dennis Harper – Establishing Student Technology Leaders Programs for Districts, States, and Nations Wednesday, 6/30/2010, 8:30am-9:30am, CCC 605.  Discover how districts, states, and nations can establish effective student technology leaders organizations that meet integration, infrastructure support, and technology literacy goals.
  • Sylvia Martinez – Tinkering Toward Technology Literacy Wednesday, 6/30/2010, 10:30am-11:30am, CCC 605. Combine tinkering and technology and you have a time-honored tradition that allows imagination and creativity to lead the way to technology literacy.

Events in the Generation YES booth #855

  • Adora Svitak (12 year old author, blogger, and the youngest person to be invited to speak at TED) will be sharing her ideas for education from a youth’s point of view.
  • We will be sharing a new technology literacy study by a well-known researcher making the case for project-based technology literacy assessment. (more about this soon)
  • GenYES and TechYES teachers and students from nearby schools will be in the booth sharing their projects and tech integration tips.

Plus… we will be printing handy business cards for any teacher who forgot theirs at home!

Hope to see you there!

Sylvia

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Pre-ISTE2010 StoryKeepers Camp

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

If you are considering attending ISTE 2010 in Denver, CO this June, I hope you consider this great pre-conference experience, the Pre-ISTE 2010 StoryKeepers Camp. While ISTE is a large, sometimes overwhelming experience, an event like this offers personalized, hands-on learning within a supportive community. It’s a great way to ease into the conference, and get the widest range of professional development.

StoryKeepers camp is run by the fabulous Bernajean Porter. The camp is 3 days right before ISTE, June 24-26, 2010.

Pre-ISTE2010 StoryKeepers Camp is a a one-of-kind artistic, learning adventure meant to lift the spirits, imaginations and skills of educators. Participants will not only be ready to take the art of digital storytelling back to their students and other colleagues but also be prepared to guide the reading/writing of ANY multi-media communication.

Expect to make new friends, learn a lot, have fun and leave enchanted with new skills for creating future storytelling!

More info for StoryKeepers Camp

And if you decide to come to Denver for the StoryKeepers Camp, you can also come to another wonderful pre-conference event – The Constructivist Celebration. StoryKeepers Camp is Thursday-Saturday, the Celebration is Sunday and will be over in plenty of time to attend the opening events Sunday night at ISTE.

Enjoy them both!

Sylvia

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Constructivist Celebration @ ISTE 2010

Saturday, April 17th, 2010

New announcement! Here we go again – the 4th annual Constructivist Celebration @ ISTE is open for registration. If you are going to ISTE (formerly known as NECC) this June in Denver, consider coming a day early for this very special event. It sells out every year, so don’t delay!

Constructivist Celebration @ ISTE – Sunday, June 27, 2010 8:30 – 3:30

The Constructivist Celebration is an opportunity for you to let your creativity run free with the world’s best open-ended software tools in a great setting with enthusiastic colleagues who share your commitment to children, computing, creativity and constructivism. You might think of this stimulating event as a spa day for your mind and soul!

Best of all, the Constructivist Celebration @ ISTE is being held within a few minute walk of the Denver Convention Center, home of the ISTE Conference.

Then you will enjoy five hours of creativity on your own laptop using open-ended creativity software provided by consortium members FableVision, Inspiration, LCSI, and Tech4Learning. Participants will also receive a TechYES Student Technology Certification Mini-kit from Generation YES and SchookIT folks will assist with project development.

Creative computer-using educators deserve to eat like an Italian prince. That’s why this year’s Constructivist Celebration includes continental breakfast, mid-morning refreshment, a three-course Italian lunch and afternoon snacks. This is in addition to the free creativity software and Imagine it2 DVD each participant will receive.

At $60 for the whole package, the Constructivist Celebration is an incredibly affordable event!

Sign up today for the Constructivist Celebration @ ISTE 2010.

I’m excited about this event, it’s always a fun, fabulous day with a creative community. Every year it’s different, and every year I learn something new. I can’t wait to see some of you there!

Sylvia

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Free technology and education conference – C3 2010

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

CRSTE logoThe Capitol Region ISTE affiliate (CRSTE) is hosting a free online conference on education and technology called C3 – CRSTE Cyber Conference 2010 every evening from Feb 21 – March 5, 2010 . You don’t have to be from the mid-Atlantic region (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, DC, West Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, and Delaware) to participate in this conference, and you don’t even have to show up!

The conference is a combination of asynchronous and synchronous events, and everything will be archived so you can check back in at any time. I was honored to be asked to participate and I’ll be presenting a session live.

Student Leadership ‐ Building Authentic 21st Century Skills
Date: February 27, 2010 Saturday
Time: 5:00 PM EST

Session Description:  This session will present 4 models of student leadership focused on improving technology integration in real schools around the world. Having tech-savvy students help solve the authentic problems of 21st century education builds future leaders, learners, and citizens.

You can download the conference schedule here (PDF)

To register for the conference, you simply check off the sessions you are interested in. Online conferences are great ways to participate without a huge committment of time or money! And yes, although the sessions will be permanently archived, it’s more fun to be in the “action” online. You’ll be able to chat and interact as the session goes on.

Hope you’ll stop by!

Sylvia

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See you at NECC!

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

Well, here it is again – the big daddy of educational conferences here in the US. The National Educational Computer Conference (NECC), sponsored by ISTE will be in Washington DC from June 28- July 1, 2009. Actually, this is the last year I’ll be able to say that, since starting in 2010, ISTE is changing the name to The ISTE Conference. Not sure I love that, but hey, things change after 30 years!

Lots of exciting things going on at NECC this year!

On the Exhibit Floor - Come by booth 2918 and meet some local TechYES students who are going to be making some photo souvenirs for selected conference attendees right in our booth. If you love politics and technology, don’t miss the fun!

TechYES TLC – Making its nationwide debut at NECC is our new student Technology Literacy Curriculum, TechYES TLC. Completely online and up-to-date, this curriculum gives technology teachers options and guidance to create an engaging, student-centered, project-based learning experience. Access to some revolutionary project planning and classroom tools will be included in the permanent license.

I’ll be meeting with quite a few press and ed tech media folks to talk about what we’ve done with TechYES TLC.

Sessions

  • Digital Equity Symposium - one of the roundtable discussions will be led by Dr. Dennis Harper Monday, June 30 8:30AM
  • 30 Years Later: The Best Technology Professional Development - Sylvia Martinez, Tuesday, July 1 12:30PM
  • Classroom 2.0: What Is Web 2.0’s Role in Schools? ( Steve Hargadon, CoSN/EdTechLive with Darren Draper, David Jakes, Chris Lehman, Julie Lindsay and Sylvia Martinez) Wednesday July 2, 12:30PM

Pre-conference – And once again, the 3rd Annual Constructivist Celebration event on Sunday, June 19 is SOLD OUT! If you were lucky enough to get in when we announced this last month, we’ll see you there for a fabulous day of creativity and constructivism.

So if you are going to be at NECC, be sure to say hello!

Sylvia

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