Thinking Outside the Book

Devices are getting cheaper.  Content is becoming more accessible.  And school systems around the globe are going digital.  The shift from print to digital, traditional to tech, is much more than a simple move from old to new.  It requires a collective vision and purposeful planning that helps leaders at all levels, from boardroom to classroom, recognize the value of a new instructional paradigm that places the student at the center of this ever-changing digital landscape.  We’ll share success stories from around the country and discuss strategies for making the digital transition within your school system a reality.

It’s Okay to be a C Student

Now that everything is digital, mobile, and social, it is essential that we think outside the box, outside the book, and outside the classroom, when it comes to teaching and learning.  Starting with ourselves as learners as well as leaders we can model the rich, community-driven experiences that we want for our students.  Then we can see that being a “C” student is not such a bad thing in the context of inspiring students to create, communicate, collaborate, and remain ever curious.  

Download the presentation: http://mediashare.discoveryeducation.com/mediashare/index.cfm?event=pushFile&guidAssetMediaFileId=ce97443e%2D1cc4%2D4143%2D6af0%2D046cb1064c4a

STEMulating Minds Want to Know (and Do)

What do you want your students to be able to do?  Get a job.  Buy a house.  Know stuff.  Is this different than what your students expect?  Living in a time where information is abundant and creative ideas have real value, what do our students want to be able to do?  Start a company and create their own job.  Design an energy-efficient home.  Know everything they possibly can that interests them.  How do we help get them there?  Starting with STEM (or STEAM) as a project-based, inquiry-driven framework, we’ll look at the ways we can design our instructional practices to help facilitate and STEMulate our students’ minds.  

Alphabet Soup

Teaching today is a veritable alphabet soup with ingredients full of acronyms and buzzwords, Web 2.0 sites with unusual names, and a student language comprised of characters and symbols. And every time we take a hearty spoonful the letters move around and new words appear. In this session, we’ll discover together how to make all these ingredients into a recipe for student success.

View the presentation: http://prezi.com/ltwxjsn6guxb/alphabet-soup-ar/

The Benjamin Button Effect

Have you ever wished that you could go back in time and tweak a lesson, approach a topic differently or change things altogether using the powerful digital tools to which you now have access? The Benjamin Button effect (available in the new versions of most multimedia authoring programs) allows you to do just that. This session will explore the incredible impact this special effect has on our daily instructional practices.

View the presentation: http://www.slideshare.net/changingconnections/lance-rougeuxs-den-third-annual-virtual-conference-keynote-the-benjamin-button-effect