SIG Forum Preview
This year at NECC in San Antonio, 10 SIGs will host forums! SIG Leaders have taken some time to provide you with a preview into the presentations they've been working on all year. Each SIG forum is a unique opportunity to participate in the dialogue surrounding some of the hottest Ed Tech issues. Please browse the descriptions below and make sure to register for any events you might like to attend:
SIG1to1 Forum: Doing 1-to-1 Right
Tuesday, July 1
1pm–4pm
HGCC 217 D
Fee: $25
Learn the secrets to successful 1-to-1 learning with laptop initiatives!
Simply giving students and teachers laptops doesn’t mean that there will be a positive impact on the students and learning. Doing 1-to-1 well is more involved than that. The goal of this session is to make that complexity clear and provide educators practical ideas on the strategies that will promote success. Doing 1-to-1 Right! is based, largely, on what has been learned from successful, large-scale initiatives, such as those in Irving, Texas, and throughout Maine.
This session will feature two educational leaders from successful 1-to-1 programs: Alice Owen (Irving, TX), and Mike Muir (Maine). Participants will leave with a systems view of doing 1-to-1 successfully in schools:
- The main focus: learning (not hardware and software)
- Two critical components: Teacher Practice and Leadership.
- Four supportive but necessary components: professional development, technology access and support, partnerships, and funding.
Click here to learn more or register for this event.
SIGCT: Why Is Teaching Problem-Solving So Hard?
Monday, June 30
7:30am–10:30am
HGCC 103 B
Fee: $20
This year’s SIGCT Breakfast Forum promises to be one of the best ever. Our speakers Chris Stephenson (CSTA Executive Director), Karen North (SIGCT Middle School Representative), Scott Horan (SIGCT High School Representative), Jeff Foster (SIGCT President-Elect), and Laurie Heikkila (International speaker and President of Tech Resources Group) will present a variety of ideas which deal with various aspects of problem solving in the IT/CS classroom.
Karen will set the stage with a fun and informative discussion on teaching programming as early as K-2, with practical solutions involving the introduction of robots as teaching tools. Chris will talk about teaching problem solving and design while Scott will take a more philosophical approach entitled “Problem Solving in the Silicone Sandbox.” Jeff will offer a change of pace by looking at the lighter side of problem solving with a series of short humorous video clips that will ask and answer the question: "Problems. What Problems?"
Just as a discussion of programming and robotics will begin the program, so will it end it. Laurie will present a "how to" slide show and then lead a group discussion on ways to incorporate robotics at all grade levels. SIGCT Business Manager Lucy Brown will moderate.
Door prizes with a total value of over $5000 will include software programs for teaching/using programming from Terrapin, a binary clock from Real Nerds, and 100 copies of the IC3-based IT textbook from AlbaCorps Publishing.
Click here to learn more or register for this event.
SIGDE Forum: Preparing Students for the 21st-Century Workforce with STEM
Wednesday, July 2
10am–12pm
HGCC 217 D
Fee: $20
The US is in need of a change that broadens participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-and especially computing and computational sciences.
We want to increase the number of students successfully completing quality degree programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
In the book "Has America Fallen Off of the Flat Earth," Norman Augustine says. "Our children continued to spend more time watching television than in the classroom; and the World Economic Forum in Geneva precipitously lowered its rating of U.S. competitiveness from first place to sixth."
"A particularly troublesome aspect of the challenge we face is that there has been and will be no sudden wake-up call - no Sputnik, no 9/11, no Pearl Harbor - rather, the situation is much more analogous to the proverbial frog being slowly boiled. The economy is of course doing quite well, and it has to be considered a major positive that other nations are prospering. The challenge for America is to continue to be among those nations that prosper - and in this regard virtually all the warning trends are headed in the wrong direction."
"As Tom Friedman concluded in The World is Flat, globalization has 'accidentally made Beijing, Bangalore and Bethesda next door neighbors' - a neighborhood wherein able candidates for jobs which have traditionally resided in the United States are now just a mouse-click away."
This forum will share national, state, local and individual pathways to correcting this problem. There will be many resource citations and references. There will be community resources and individual empowerment resources.
We will also take a look at a part of a controversial film that addresses the problem from a competitive point of view. "Two Million Minutes". Join us in this forum that addresses so many academic needs.
Highlights
There will be a brief sharing of national initiatives that have proven to be successful and a few innovative programs that are new.
Click here to learn more or register for this event.
SIGHC Forum: Mobile Devices Are Reshaping the Way We Learn
Monday, June 30
10am–12pm
HGCC 217 D
Fee: $20
SIGHC will hold its first forum at NECC 2008. Presenters include well-known advocates of mobile computing, including Cathie Norris, Elliot Soloway, and Tony Vincent, from the U.S. and David Whyley and Jill Purcell from the U.K. The forum will be moderated by Mark van ‘t Hooft, SIGHC’s chair, and will be set up to encourage maximum audience participation. If you are looking for two hours of talking heads, this is definitely not the place to be!
Here is a teaser for one of the presentations:
Title: Web Apps to Go Presenter: Tony Vincent
There are many tasks that used to require software that you can now do from inside of your Web browser. Web applications are great for students and teachers because they are usually free and you won’t install software. Web apps don't require a specific operating system and so many of them work perfectly fine on ultra-compact and inexpensive laptops like the XO and Eee PC. Because Web apps and their data are stored online, students and teachers can access the apps and data from anywhere. They also tend to facilitate online sharing and collaboration. Tony will share some of his favorite educational uses of web apps, including word processing, text-to-speech, and cartoon creation. The group will even use a Web app to share their favorite ones.
Registration ($20) is required and seats are still available. Don’t miss out on this unique event!
Click here to learn more or register for this event.
SIGILT: Improving Professional Practice and Student Learning
Monday, June 30
1pm–4pm
HGCC 217 B/C
Fee: $20
SIGILT's 2nd Annual Forum on Learning Technology Research, Development and Dissemination
SIGILT is concerned about the need to bridge the gaps between those who seek to address educators' most pressing priorities to improve their professional practice and their students' learning, and those who conduct learning technology R & D. In this highly interactive half-day event, participating local, state and national leaders of professional associations and of learning technology R & D and dissemination initiatives will: (1) explore emerging priorities of collaborating national associations' members to improve professional practice and student learning, (2) participate in an interactive showcase of promising and proven tech applications related to these priorities, and (3) generate recommendations for ways to improve the dissemination and use of tech apps keyed to educators' most compelling priorities.
Click here to learn more or register for this event.
SIGIVC Forum: Connecting Your Students to the World
Sunday, June 29
10am–1pm
HGCC 207 A
Fee: $20
SIGIVC was formed to encourage and support the use of videoconferencing (IVC) and related virtual learning technologies within the K-12 education community.
Whether you’re a newbie, an old timer, or anywhere in-between, you won’t want to miss this session! Come:
- Listen to and be inspired by our new SIGIVC President, Howie DiBlasi. Howie is an incredible speaker and training in the field of technology.
- Hear over 10 presenters share their incredible videoconferencing success stories in four minutes or less! The Rapid Roundup approach ensures that you don’t miss a one.
- Choose those presenters who have the most to offer YOU—time is allotted to ‘visit’ presenters to ask questions, network etc.
- Enjoy our New York Deli Buffet—start with soup and end with NY Style Cheesecake!
- During lunch, lively discussions will be facilitated so that we can all learn from each other
Register today—$20 covers it all!
Click here to learn more or register for this event.
SIGMS Forum: NETS or AASL Standards for 21st-Century Learners?—A Standards Debate
Tuesday, July 1
10:30am–12:30pm
HGCC Room 217 B/C
No fee
It seems everyone is focused on standards these days. And no school librarian has been left behind in the endeavor to define student performance standards for information literacy! In October, the American Association of School Librarians released its Standards for the 21st Century Learner—the new guiding light for 21st century school librarians. Right now, many librarians are a little proud and at the same time at little baffled by the language of the standards and how to integrate them into instructional programs. Over the past few months, librarians have begun discussing strategies for teaching these standards and ideas for assessing them, along with trying to identify how these standards are similar to and different from the National Educational Technology Standards for students. On July 1 you can be a part of the discussion. Come and hear what Doug Johnson, Joyce Valenza, Jamie McKenzie, Annette Lamb, and Gail Dickinson have to say about both sets of standards and their implications for 21st century school librarians.
Peggy Milam-Creighton, with Doug Johnson, Annette Lamb, Jamie McKenzie, Joyce Valenza, Gail Dickinson. Featuring a debate on how to interpret and implement the newly revised NETS and AASL standards for the 21st-century learner.
Click here to learn more or register for this event.
SIGTC Forum: Information Technology for Learning Featuring Ferdi Serim
Sunday, June 29
1pm–4pm
HGCC 103 A
Fee: $20
Join us at NECC for this interactive forum, which focuses on systems thinking, leadership practices, emerging technologies and Web 2.0 tools for harnessing technology's transforming potentials in creating distributed and networked learning environments. To make this session most productive, preparations will begin online, both in SecondLife and on the SIGTC wiki (previous SL experience not required!). We will share our challenges, resources, and creativity, modeling how educators can learn together to manage change in the digital age.
Weekly series of sessions in Second Life:
All sessions will be on consecutive Tuesdays (7PM Eastern, 6PM Central, 5PM Mountain, 4PM Pacific) in Second Life at the ISTE Band Shell: http://slurl.com/secondlife/ISTE%20Island/126/128/25
Our Next Session:
Bob Moore - We're Off To See The Wizard!
Tuesday June 3
In Second Life, we know we're not in Kansas any more, but lucky for us, Bob Moore is! Leader of one of the most visionary school districts (Blue Valley, KS), Bob Moore knows what it takes support digital learning for all students and teachers. We'll explore how each member of the I&T team can strengthen district level support for programs, and how to increase the effectiveness of communications and collaborations with your Wizard, by better understanding your respective needs and roles
Click here to learn more or register for this event.
SIGTE Forum: Assessing 21st Century Skills--Next Steps
Tuesday, July 1
10:30am–12:30pm
HGCC 217 D
Fee: $10
Join moderators Kyle Peck and Mike Charles and our panel in a lively discussion of assessing 21st Century Skills. Two years ago SIGTE sent a resolution to the ISTE Board calling for the development of a collaborative effort designed to create viable methods of assessing of higher order learning outcomes, and the higher-order skills required by independent, lifelong learners. In response to that call, the 21st Century Skills project began in April 2008.
We believe that the advancement of education is impeded by the absence of a shared set of tools with which teachers and others can quickly, easily, and reliably assess the development of a set of attributes and abilities that are so important to success in the future they have come to be known as "21st Century Skills." Without the ability to measure these abilities, the focus of education will remain limited to the acquisition of basic skills and content knowledge, and other critical abilities will remain in the background.
In this year’s SIGTE Forum, we ask a number of panelists from the project to “dream out loud” about what might better assessment of 21st Century skills looks like? Specifically we are asking them to describe their vision for what this better assessment might look like in the everyday lives of teachers and students. Join us for lunch and a great conversation.
Click here to learn more or register for this event.
SIGTel Forum: Connectivism, Curriculum, and the Virtual Classroom in 21st-Century Telecollaboration
Sunday, June 29
1pm–4pm
HGCC 103 B
Fee: $20
At the SIGTel Forum at NECC, Dr. David Thornburg and Dr. Judi Harris will focus on 21st Century Telecollaboration: Connectivism, Curriculum, and the Virtual Classroom to ignite interest and enthusiasm about telecollaborative learning. 21st century knowledge is collaboratively conceptualized, built, and shared. In creating it together, we express who we are. The read-write Web demonstrates how this knowledge is collaboratively constructed. How, then, is it appropriated for connectivist learning and teaching—in the present and in the future? What are the implications for teacher knowledge-building, professional development, and assessment? This forum will connect theory with practice in multiple ways to address these questions.
SIGTel members have raised similar questions about supervision and evaluation of online teachers in the SIGTel wikispace. North American Council of Online Learning will address these issues and share their experiences about assessment of online teachers. The forum will showcase exemplary global projects: IEARN, Global School Net, Kidlink, and others.
Click here to learn more or register for this event.
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