Keynote Speaker
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 CHRIS DEDE, Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning
Technologies, Harvard University Graduate School of Education
Professor
Chris Dede’s fields of scholarship include emerging technologies, policy, and
leadership.His current research
includes seven grants from NSF, Qualcomm, the Gates Foundation, and the US
Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences to explore immersive
simulations and transformed social interactions as means of student engagement,
learning, and assessment.In 2007, he
was honored by Harvard University as an outstanding teacher, and in 2011 he was
named a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association. Dede has
served as a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Foundations
of Educational and Psychological Assessment and a member of the 2010 National
Educational Technology Plan Technical Working Group. He is the co-editor of
several books including Digital Teaching
Platforms, which will be published by Teachers College Press later this
year.
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ADDITIONAL SPEAKERS & ADVISORS
Tech Forum is well known for its great speakers, attendees and networking opportunities.The following team members will be presenting:
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Tony
Baldasaro,
Chief Human Resource Officer,
Virtual Learning Academy Charter School, NH
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In addition to serving as chief human resource
officer at theVirtual Learning Academy Charter School, Tony Baldasaro is a
community leader forPowerful Learning Practice
community. He is passionate about learning in a socially
interactive manner, engaging students in dynamic student-centric classrooms,
evolving as a learning leader, and the Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots.
He writes and thinks with the following assumptions:
1.All have the capacity to learn beyond the
levels artificially set by the institution of school.
2.In schools, time and resources need to be the
variables, not expectations.
3.Collective intelligence is more powerful than
singular.
4.We need to prepare our students for a
collaborative world, not a competitive one.
5.We are at the beginning of a revolution.
6.Failure should be celebrated, provided that
it is unique.
7.Listening is more important than talking.
8.Sometimes in order to lead, one has to
follow.
9.In order to learn, vulnerabilities need to be
shared.
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Alice Barr,
Instructional Technology Integrator,
Yarmouth High School, ME
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Alice Barr has lived, taught, and traveled on five continents and now
resides in Maine. She is currently the instructional technology integrator at Yarmouth High School
supporting students and teachers in their uses of technology in a 1:1 laptop
environment. A semi-finalist for the 2011 Maine Teacher of the Year, Barr is
also a Google Certified Teacher, teaches technology education classes at The University of Southern Maine, and is one third of the Seedlings Team. She blogs at alicebarr.com and is @alicebarr on
Twitter.
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Mark Burkholz,
Director of
Technology,
Lawrence
Academy, Groton, MA
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Mark Burkholz
has been director of technology at Lawrence Academy, a 9-12 independent school
in Groton, MA, since 1992. He has overseen the computer revolution at
Lawrence Academy where he has been instrumental in the installation of all
hardware and software and, most importantly, the integration of technology
throughout the curriculum. He has made several presentations over the
years at the Christa McCauliffe Technology Conference in Nashua, New Hampshire.
A former teacher in the New York City Public Schools (1974–84), where he taught
computer mathematics courses with the original IBM PC and Apple IIe computers,
and software engineer at AT&T’s Bell Labs (1984–91), Burkholz currently teaches
AP computer science and mathematics. Recently he has been leading the
math department in the introduction of the flipped classroom approach to the
teaching of mathematics. His passion is the integration of 21st century technology into the curriculum. He believes that the flipped
classroom approach has the potential to dramatically change the way teachers
and students interact in the classroom.
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Dan Callahan,
Technology Integration Specialist,
Burlington Public Schools, MA
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Dan
Callahan is an instructional technology specialist at Pine Glen Elementary
School for Burlington Public Schools. He previously taught special education at
Drexel Hill Middle School for Upper Darby School District, PA. In 2010, he
co-founded the Edcamp series of educational unconferences by working with a
team of public and private educators to organize Edcamp Philly. Callahan is now
honored to serve as the chairman of the board of directors for the Edcamp
Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting local educators
bring free, democratic professional development to their communities. He
actively shares online at his blog http://dancallahan.net and on Twitter as @dancallahan.
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Kim Carter,
Executive Director,
QED Foundation, NH
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With 35 years of experience in
education, Kim Carter has taught pre-K through graduate school, and provided
training, coaching, and facilitation for administrators, teachers, parents,
community partners, and youth in the U.S. and the U.K. A 1991 New Hampshire
Teacher of the Year and 1996 New Hampshire Media Educator of the Year, she
served on the NH Professional Standards Board from 1992–1995, was a
contributing editor for Technology and
Learning magazine for eight years, and has been a national facilitator for
the School Reform Initiative (previously NSRF) for 15 years. Carter has been
actively involved in local, state, and national education reform efforts for
over two decades. She was one of the five-member planning team that designed
and opened award-winning Souhegan High School in Amherst, NH, where she was
director of information and technology services for eleven years. She then
founded Monadnock Community Connections School (MC2), a competency-based high
school of choice, serving as director and founding principal for seven years.
She consulted on the founding of the Five Freedoms Project, and was executive
director from January, 2009, until its December, 2009, merger with QED
Foundation – a multigenerational organization of adults and youth working
together to create and sustain student-centered learning communities.
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Steve Collis,
Director of Innovation,
Sydney Centre for Innovation in
Learning, Australia
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Steve
Collis is director of innovation at the Sydney Centre for Innovation in
Learning (SCIL), which has grown out of innovation at Northern Beaches
Christian School. The school has received international attention for its
sophisticated and innovative use of physical and virtual space to nurture a student-centered
learning culture. Collis spends time mentoring teachers and piloting learning
initiatives that exploit the impact of technology as a game-changer in
education. Read more at www.happysteve.com or follow him on Twitter @steve_collis.
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| Dr. Eric Conti,
Superintendent of Schools,
Burlington Schools, MA
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After graduating from Brown University, Eric
Conti worked for AT&T for five years.From the corporate world he went back to Brown for his Masters degree in
teaching science.As a seventh grade
science teacher in East Greenwich, RI, he was nominated for the Sallie Mae
first year teacher’s award.Conti
attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison and worked for the consortium
for policy research in education while earning his doctorate.Wisconsin led to an assistant
superintendent’s position for the Manchester Essex regional school district in Massachusetts,
followed by an assistant superintendent position in Culpeper County, Virginia.Conti’s current position as superintendent of
the Burlington Public Schools is where all that he has learned along his many
stops is being put to good use.
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Melissa Dodd,
Chief Information Officer,
Boston Public Schools
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As CIO for
the Boston Public Schools (BPS), Melissa Dodd is charged with spearheading
strategic academic and operational technology initiatives aligned to Boston’s
Acceleration Agenda, its five-year education plan. She leads a team of talented
professionals to deliver a technology vision and foundation that empowers
students in learning everywhere and prepares them for college and career
success in the 21st century.Dodd has
worked for the BPS since 2003, conducting technology project management,
strategic planning, and professional development; and has led major district
initiatives including Laptops for Learning, which provide a state-of-the-art
laptop and suite of instructional software for every BPS teacher, and the
district’s implementation of a new student information system. Prior to joining
BPS, she worked at Tufts and Harvard universities managing academic programs
and designing online communities of practice. Dodd has presented nationally on
the role of technology and online communities in supporting teaching and
learning and published on the use of digital simulations to teach
problem-solving in the social sciences.
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Dr. Cathy Higgins, Director of Technology, Contoocook Valley Regional School District, NH
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Cathy Higgins is the director of technology for the
Contoocook Valley Regional School District (more commonly known as ConVal)
which includes eleven schools serving nine towns in southwestern New Hampshire.
Prior to joining the ConVal administrative team in the fall of 2011, she served
for 14 years as the state educational technology director at the New Hampshire
Department of Education. As a policymaker and federal grants manager at the
state level, she was responsible for a wide range of issues related to
educational technology and library media programs. As a school district
administrator, she is now responsible for managing the work of teams of
librarians, technology integrators, network managers, and technology support
staff as the district transitions its increasingly complex technology and
information literacy system into an effective and digitally rich learning
environment. She has also served as a board member of the State Educational
Technology Directors Association (SETDA), ISTE SIG for Mobile Learning (SIGML),
and as board liaison of the ISTE affiliate in New Hampshire (NHSTE) and the NH
School Library Media Association (NHSLMA).
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John
Holland, Technology
Director, Timberlane
Regional School District, NH
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John
Holland is the technology director for New Hampshire's Timberlane Regional
School District, which serves the towns of Atkinson, Danville, Plaistow, and
Sandown. He chairs the district's technology committee and is a regular
participant at district leadership committee meetings. He has also been a
presenter at the recent Christa McAuliffe Technology Conferences.
Holland's current focus is on exploring ways to use emerging technologies to
enhance student learning, and applying technology resources to help students
foster critical 21st Century Skills.
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David Jakes,
Coordinator of Instructional
Technology,
Glenbrook South, Glenbrook, IL
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David Jakes has
spent 25 years in education as a teacher, staff developer, and technology
coordinator. During this time he has witnessed firsthand the changes in
education that educational technology has empowered. Jakes shares this
knowledge as a frequent speaker at technology conferences across the United
States, as well as in Canada, Europe, and Asia. His interests in educational
technology include digital storytelling, developing online curriculum, learning
management systems, and developing online communities of learning through
blogging, wikis and RSS technologies. He currently maintains a web site
(JakesOnline.org), a blog (The Strength of Weak Ties) and a variety of other
resources dedicated to improving the use of technology in education.
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Patrick Larkin,
Principal,
Burlington High School, MA
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Patrick Larkin is in his 15th year
as a high school administrator and eighth as a building principal. Prior to
that he was a high school English teacher. As an assistant principal, Larkin
was named Assistant Principal of the Year in the state of Massachusetts. He
also is a former executive board member in the Massachusetts Secondary Schools
Administrators Association (MSSAA) and he recently completed a two-year term as
a member of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges Commission on
Public Secondary Schools. He is an avid blogger and a proponent of social media
to better engage teachers, students, and parents in the education process.
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Grace Magley,
Educational
Technology Director,
Millis Public Schools
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Grace
Magley is an educational leader with a strong history in technology integration
and staff professional development. Her passion is working with educators to
implement rich, technology infused, blended one-to-one learning environments
and research based best practices to achieve success for K-12 teachers and
their students. In addition to serving as educational technology director
for the Millis Public Schools, she is a blended learning specialist for the
ACCEPT Education Collaborative.
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Justin Reich,
Co-Director,
EdTechTeacher
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Justin Reich
co-directs EdTechTeacher and is the author of Best Ideas for Teaching
with Technology: A Practical Guide for Teachers by Teachers. A doctoral
candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of
Education and a
Fellow at the Berkman Center for the Internet
and Society, he is also
the founder and project manager of the Digital Collaborative Learning Communities Project funded by the Hewlett Foundation. Reich conducts statistical research on usage
statistics drawn from over 175,000 educational wikis, and he has conducted
observational research in schools and classrooms in Massachusetts, Connecticut,
New Hampshire, Virginia, Georgia, and California. He has written a variety of publications on education technology integration, is
co-webmaster of Best of History Web Sites and co-director of The
Center for Teaching History with Technology. He maintains his academic profile, research, and
work in progress at EdTechResearcher.org.
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Shawn Rubin,
Director
of Technology Integration,
Highlander
Institute, Providence, RI
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Shawn Rubin began his education career as a founding faculty member of the Highlander Charter School, in Providence, RI, and currently serves as the director of
technology integration at the Highlander Institute. He oversees the institute’s new Touch Technology
professional development programs throughout New England. He is also the
co-founder of an international non-profit called Longitude and CEO of Metryx, a start-up mobile software company that is
building flexible assessment tools for teachers to use on tablets and
smartphones.
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Annamaria Schrimpf,
Director of Educational Technology,
Winchester Public Schools, MA
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Annamaria Schrimpf, director of educational technology
for the Winchester Public Schools, served for two terms
as president of MassCUE and is currently a board member. She is also a founding
board member of the Massachusetts Educational Technology Administrators
Association (METAA), president-elect of the New England International Society
of Technology in Education (NEISTE), cochair of Educational Technology Advisory
Committee for the DESE, and founding board member of the Global Technology and
Engineering Consortium (GTEC). Schrimpf
received ISTE’s Making It Happen award in 2009. Her prior professional
contributions include serving as a board member of the Commonwealth Information
Technology Initiative (CITI), a feature writer for OnCUE, and a planning committee member and Wingspread facilitator
for past STEM Summits.
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Cathy Swan,
Technology Integration Teacher,
New Canaan Public Schools, CT
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Cathy Swan has been the technology
integration teacher at New Canaan High School since the program's 2002
inception, collaborating with classroom teachers to integrate technology into
the existing curriculum and conducting training as needed for staff and
students. Before that, she taught French and Spanish for nine years. Swan is a
Google certified teacher and a member of the district ICT team awarded
honorable mentions in both the COSN Team Award 2010 and ISTE's Sylvia Charp
Award for District Innovation in Technology, 2010. Since 2005, Swan has
held a position on the board of the Connecticut Educators Computer Association
(CECA). She has served on the New Canaan Public Schools Professional
Development Team for the past decade, where she is responsible for the planning
and implementation of high school professional learning days and events
throughout the school year. She is a member of the National Staff Development
Council's Academy XVI. She has presented at various CT and NY districts, as
well as at the Tech Forum, CoSN and CECA conferences on the topic of Web 2.0
technologies in education. Swan's program and district were featured in a 2010
Intel Blueprint publication as well as the 2010 CoSN Compendium.
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Jean
Tower,
Director of
Technology,
Northborough
and Southborough Public Schools, MA
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Jean Tower
currently serves as the director of technology for the public schools of Northborough
and Southborough. Her primary interest is in effective integration of
technology in the curriculum and in creating the essential conditions to enable
that to happen. Tower serves as a board member of CoSN (www.cosn.org), board
member of MassCUE, and president of the board of the Massachusetts Educational
Technology Administrators Association (METAA -- http://techdirectors.org). She writes a blog (http://K12EduBuzz.com) about technology and education.
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Julie
York,
Teacher and Webmaster,
South Portland High School, ME
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Julie York works at South Portland High School
in South Portland, Maine, as a teacher in the Career Preparation department, as
well as the school webmaster and the educational access channel director. In
her ten years working for the district, she has been a leader and advocate for
technology both in and outside of the classroom. Technology-related curriculums
she has developed from scratch include: web page design, flash programming,
media literacy, graphic design, and tech team.
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