From Context to Frameworks to Practice: A Toolkit for Informed Leadership

Leadership in the use of educational technology requires maps and compasses to guide decision making and plans for action. These tools need to strike a delicate balance to be truly useful: they must incorporate a contextual understanding of real-world technologies, but remain grounded in pedagogical frameworks that guide their application. We will look at a set of resources, based upon the SAMR model and the Horizon Report, that provide education leaders with an instrumental “big picture” of educational technology. The theoretical frameworks will be backed by practical applications, so participants can put this knowledge to work at their institutions.

Punya Mishra is a professor of educational technology and director of the Master of Arts in Educational Technology program. He is nationally and internationally recognized for his work on the theoretical, cognitive and social aspects related to the design and use of computer-based learning environments. He has worked extensively in the area of technology integration in teacher education which led to the development (in collaboration with M. J. Koehler) of the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework, which has been described as “the most significant advancement in the area of technology integration in the past 25 years.” He has received over $4 million in grants, published over 45 articles and book chapters and edited two books. Dr. Mishra is an award-winning instructor who teaches courses at both the masters and doctoral levels in the areas of educational technology, design and creativity. He is a gifted, creative and engaging public speaker, having made multiple keynote and invited presentations for associations and conferences nationally and internationally. He is also an accomplished visual artist and poet.

The Open Educational Resources Revolution

Once teachers kept filing cabinets of lesson plans and resources, rarely seen other than by pupils in their classrooms. And they’d give their pupils exercises using increasingly out-of-date textbooks. In less than five years, all that has changed. Literally millions of teachers are now sharing their resources and experiences online, resulting in an unprecedented flow of freely accessible material. Sites such as ShareMyLesson, TES Connect and the Khan Academy are leading what amounts to an open educational resources revolution, offering teachers access to hundreds of thousands of constantly refreshed resources, wherever they are in the world. By harnessing the expertise and knowledge of the global teaching community, this digital movement is already having a profound impact upon the standards of education. And this looks to be just the start.

Moderator: Kathy Hurley, Executive Vice President for Education Alliances, Pearson Foundation

Learning, Leadership, and the International Context - A Singapore American Perspective

American educators often talk about the skills to compete in the global economy. But do we really understand the depth and breadth of the skills required to work and compete internationally? Singapore American School is a premier school that takes seriously its role in the international education landscape. This session will examine the unrecognized nuances of global skills students need, the challenges and opportunities of living internationally, and what international schools are working on in pedagogy, technology, curriculum, leadership, and more.

Moderator:
Marla Davenport, Director of Learning and Technology
TIES (MN)

Where Are You, R2D2? Addressing Diverse Online Learner Needs with the Read, Reflect, Display, and Do Model

Teachers, technology coordinators, and principals are frustrated by trying to keep up with the never-ending parade of new learning technologies. So many choices! Add to that the scores of people saying teachers should embed them in their teaching. Then there are complaints that few teachers were trained on how to develop highly interactive and collaborative online activities and environments. Teachers are once again told that students will quickly complain about their classes if teachers do not address their learning preferences or appropriately use the technologies that they have access to outside of school. Time to pull your hair out? Not yet. There is hope. An innovative model called Read, Reflect, Display, and Do (R2D2) is detailed in Curt Bonk’s book, Empowering Online Learning: 100 Activities for Reading, Reflecting, Displaying, and Doing. In this talk, Bonk will detail dozens of examples and ways to use R2D2 to make your use of technology more engaging, empowering, and exciting. The R2D2 model can be expanded to meet your needs, no matter the discipline you teach or age of your students. As you will see, integrating technology need not be difficult. This four-part model not only simplifies the process, it can also accelerate learning and provide a mechanism for discussing and sharing technology integration ideas with others. Perhaps it is time for you to have an adventure in a new learning galaxy where you find R2D2 and begin using technology to address the diverse learners you find there.

Moderator: Walter (Luke) Fox, Executive Director, Information Technology
Richland County School District One (SC)

What We’ve Learned from the First Decade of 21st-Century Education

Ken Kay is the CEO of EdLeader21, a professional learning community of education leaders committed to 21st-century education. Recently, Kay and his colleague Valerie Greenhill completed work on their new book, The Leader’s Guide to 21st Century Education: 7 Steps for Schools and Districts. This session will focus on best practices from around the country on each of the seven steps. The session will also showcase an exciting video from EdLeader21 and the Pearson Foundation titled “The Four Cs: Making 21st Century Education Happen.” Join Kay for this exciting session on how to prepare your students, schools and districts for the challenges of 21st-century citizenship and the 21st-century economy, and hear his reflections on what’s been learned from the first ten years of 21st-century education.

Moderator: Lillian Kellogg, Vice President Education Networks of America