TechCon : Sessions

TechCon is hosted and sponsored by three of the best associations for professional development and technology in the state of Illinois. These groups have pooled their resources to ensure a conference that will provide education for all attendees.

8:00 am – 9:00 am Registration and Refreshments
9:00 am – 10:00 am Welcome and Opening General Session

Expanding Out Network Literacy
Today it is all about convergence, coming together and networking. Learn to stretch your thinking about what is possible today to catch up and keep up in this dynamically changing educational landscape. Highlighted are low cost and open source solutions to bring resources from outside into your district. Explore the exciting possibilities to meet the challenges facing school districts today.

Meg is passionate about transforming teaching and learning through the power of digital tools. Meg is constantly researching and exploring applications and power of technology to reach all learners. Meg travels nationally and internationally empowering educators through her powerful presentations focused on change.

She is an author of two books, retired school board member, adjunct professor, blogger, consultant, keynote speaker, successful grant development specialist, and contributes to a number of Personal Learning Communities.

She is high energy, truly motivational, but also very practical. Her current research is focused on how curriculum can be delivered through the use of visual images, simulations and multimedia coupled with real time assessment to check for comprehension.

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10:15 am – 11:15 am Breakout Sessions

Essential Tools to Enhance Professional Learning
Nadine Norris
Instead of providing colleagues or students a laundry list of Web sites, use a tool that actually allows you to "present" Web content as an online screencast. Instead of attempting to explain how to use a specific software application, use screen capture software tools to show them. Facilitate professional learning opportunities for faculty members using free Web 2.0 software. Explore free tools that will allow you to take sharing resources and providing professional development opportunities, support to a whole new level.

Geek to Great: Getting School IT Leadership Right
Keith Gillette + Curt Lieneck
What do school leaders need to know about IT leadership in the flat, interconnected world
of the 21st century? More than ever, marrying technology to our K-12 mission demands strong leaders with a clear role and a broad skill set. We’ll share our take on the essential management and leadership skills this special breed of IT professional needs to succeed by examining what the worlds of business and higher education have to teach us, and what these perspectives add to the K-12 IT leadership resources currently available.

Using Technology to Bridge 21st Century Skills
and 20th Century Requirements
Christine Drew
Daniel Pink (A Whole New Mind) challenges educators to think about broad forces in the economy that are putting a premium on a very different approach to business, life and a very different set of abilities that are necessary to succeed in a new era defined not by traditional knowledge workers, but by creators and empathizers. This presentation looks at Pinks book in economic and educational terms, and ties the content it to three questions:

How is the 21st century economy and labor market different than that of the 20th?
How can we change to accommodate those differences while living within Illinois state
as well as federal requirements?
How will we use technology to accomplish this?
11:25 am – 12:25 pm Breakout Sessions

Applications for Schools to Succeed in the 2.0 World
Phil Lacey
In tough economic times, school leaders must continue to create learning environments that will allow students to succeed and excel in the 21st Century. Shrinking budgets and increasing fiscal demands make it increasingly difficult for schools to provide current, high quality computer applications to students and faculty. This session will introduce you to a variety of free and powerful resources for schools including Web 2.0 Apps, Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and Google Tools. We will discuss what benefits these applications offer, reasons for selecting and using one application over another, and ways to use these tools to develop a collaborative educational environment in which every student succeeds - without breaking the bank.

Developing Digital Learning Spaces: From Vision to Reality
David Jakes
Yes, emerging technologies have great potential. But how do we make them work in our schools today? This session explores the implementation of a multi-dimensional digital space with three components—a course space, a student-content creation space, and a knowledge commons that supports both—and examines how they support the development of learning literacy. Come prepared to evaluate these three spaces and discuss the organizational readiness that was required to take them from conversation to implementation.

Personal Professional Development
Meg Ormiston
Free professional development is all around us in various networks created with Web 2.0 tools. These networks will help stretch professional development dollars and help everyone in the school district create networks that meet their specific needs. Learn how to leverage these tools to reach everyone in creative new ways.
12:30 pm – 1:30 pm Lunch and featured speaker

Illinois Technology Initiatives
Featured speaker: Ryan Croke from the Illinois Governor's Office
Ryan is a Policy Advisor in the Office of Governor Pat Quinn. He provides research and advice to the Governor on telecommunications and technology issues and is a leader of the Governor's Broadband Deployment Council. The presentation will outline technology opportunities within the state and the state’s future direction.

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm Breakout Sessions

Staff Development for the 21st Century: Free Online Resources for Professional Learning are Just a "Click" Away!
Charlene Chausis
The Internet can be used to enhance, deepen, and transform learning opportunities through powerful and engaging platforms that many school administrators and educators have never heard about or experienced. Explore the multifaceted world of “Web 2.0” and the many free resources, such as wikis, podcasts, and blogs that can be used as a foundation for a staff professional learning program.

David vs. Goliath: Open Source vs. Microsoft
Craig Williams + James Gerry
Join us for a point-counterpoint presentation about open source software versus commercially available applications. The presenters will give two different perspectives on the world of software. One will talk about the seemingly endless opportunities for the open source environment in education. The other will describe how staying with a single vendor like Microsoft has fostered efficiency and creativity. The areas of desktop applications and server/Internet applications will be discussed. This promises to be a lively discussion.

Crisis Communication and Disaster Recovery Roundtable
Robert Ciserella, Daniel Bolm, Francis Zelek, Kevin Dale,
Christine Haeggquist, Anton Inglese, Donald Robinson
Can you communicate with your parents in a time of crisis efficiently and quickly? What would you do if a fire destroyed your network operations computer? Where would your district administration team work if their offices became unusable? During the time of high speed technology, how can a district communicate to their faculty, staff, parents and students in an efficient and time saving manner.
2:40 pm – 3:30 pm Closing General Session

Bringing Change Home
Meg Ormiston
Highlighted during this closing session will be the big ideas from each of the breakouts organized by themes to take back and implement immediately. This session will be fast paced and will help you synthesize thoughts and ideas gathered during the session and through the professional networking with colleagues.