Technology Conference For Administrators - Podcasts

Learn how popular two-way web tools can be used to create interactive multimedia content for your students, parents, and community! Understand the benefits and drawbacks of popular tools such as blogs, wikis, and Google Docs - and understand when to use each one. Many examples and educational models will be shared. This session also addresses the pedagogy, ethics, and safe use of the two-way web. http://twowayteaching.wikispaces.com/tenaya  

Many educators are exploring revolutionary new online tools with their students: blogs, wikis, podcasts, and more - including social tools like ning and twitter. But it is more important for educators and students to become part of an online learning network than to master any of these specific tools. Participants will hear how one teacher-turned-educational-technologist learned to network, and then networked to learn. They will leave with inspiration and concrete ideas to use for taking charge of their own professional development - and for helping their students become part of a global learning community. http://networktolearn.wikispaces.com/tenaya  

Explore Google's latest tools in a fun, faced-paced session that answers the question: is Google really improving access to the world's information? As consumers and instructional leaders, the Internet is a major source of information for educators. Google is the primary entry point for most people into the vast resources available on the Internet, yet most people don't understand why it is so special and how to use it effectively. In addition, Google's latest tools allow for information to be personalized and shared in exciting new ways. This session highlights some Google's hottest new tools and helps educators get them most from the "Google Universe."

This fast-paced, high-energy presentation explores the implications for living, teaching, and learning in a world of infinite knowledge - where today's tools support learning everywhere and all the time. The proliferation of high-speed Internet access, the near ubiquity of mobile communication devices, and the efficiency of today's collaborative tools have deep implications for how we teach and learn. But what will we do with this massive flow of information? How will we know if learning is really happening? And how do these technology changes connect to other social trends? Schools and communities that can figure this out will lead the way in the 21st century.

Matt sits down to talk to us and gives us an overview of his three McREL sessions from the conference, talks about open source software, putting your district money towards bandwidth, and remembers the good old days of the movie filmstrip in the classroom. During our conversation Matt mentions Stellarium. Find out more about it at www.stellarium.org. Learn about McREL at www.mcrel.org.  

Classroom Observation Techniques & Software Get more from your classroom observations You know that to be an effective instructional leader, you should conduct regular classroom observations. But what should you look for when observing teachers? How should you track progress and use your observations to coach teachers? How can you determine if your school’s staff development efforts are improving teaching and student learning? See a demonstration video of the hand-held software at http://www.media-x.com/private/psweb/McREL/PowerWalkthrough.htm.

Research that says that professional development is most effective when it aims to create professional learning communities — places where teachers learn and work together to apply research to improving student achievement. By providing ongoing professional development and support for teachers, McREL can help you create professional learning communities in your school or district. This is ideal for large districts with logistical difficulties and widely dispersed rural districts. OLCs are not just online tutorials; they include both synchronous and asynchronous cooperative learning opportunities that engage learners and build collective efficacy. See a demonstration video of an OLC at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VJ_D-yVjjw.

Matt Kuhn focuses on six major research findings from McREL’s meta- and factor-analyses on principal leadership. It also includes an introduction to the concept of shared leadership, balanced leadership, and the Balanced Leadership Framework™ in the context of leading educational technology initiatives. This session will help participants develop: Increased understanding of McREL’s research on principal leadership, correlating leadership responsibilities with student achievement Increased knowledge about McREL’s perspective on the future and 21st Century Learning Skills Awareness of how individual participants can gather feedback on their fulfillment of research-based leadership responsibilities

Steve Hargadon discusses the safe and educational uses of social networking and the new tools that make it easy to establish collaborative learning communities.   Useful links from the presentation OpenOffice.org Knoppix Curriki MIT Open Course School 2.0 Ning - create your own social network www.stevehargadon.com

Dr. Thornburg gives his keynote presentation, Forget About the Future, It's the Present That Concerns Me, at the TCA 2008 conference. For many years the presenter has shared visions of the future with educators around the world in the hope that this would influence educational practice. This was a mistake. We don't need to prepare students just for some unseen and basically unknowable future, we need to prepare them for the world as it exists today. This dynamic presentation eschews the future in favor of a pragmatic view of today's world. A world where a new class of migrant workers spans the globe working on stimulating high-tech projects on a global scale. A world where cross-disciplinary understanding is needed for success; where 87% of teens have access to primary source materials relating to their studies; where vulcanologists study volcanic eruptions on a moon of Jupiter; where national borders are transparent; where biological species from other planets are put under the microscope; where new microsco