Best Practices in School Technology
October 19, 2012
Keynote
Lifting the Bar for the Core Standards
Jamie McKenzie
The Core Standards are quite demanding. In this keynote, Jamie shows the connections between
these standards and a set of thinking and comprehension skills that all students must possess to handle
the tasks with confidence and success. He demonstrates the skills, shows how they can be developed
and proposes extended professional development strategies to equip a staff with the know-how to
build these kinds of learning activities into their educational daily practice. He will also give some
examples of how smart use of technologies can augment these efforts.
Breakout Session One
Designing Great, Quick, Demanding Lessons Mining Digital Riches
Jamie McKenzie
In this session, Jamie shows the group how to build wonderful lessons that require a blend of synthesis,
evaluation and analysis but are quick and easy to construct. Each lesson can fit comfortably into an
existing unit of study but will combine challenging questions with chunks of digital content that will
range from visual, textual and musical to numerical.
Breakout Session Two
Is the iPad a Game Changer?
Jamie McKenzie
This workshop explores the pros and cons of filling a classroom with iPads or similar devices and asks
how they might best be employed to improve student thinking and production. Jamie suggests that
the benefits clearly outweigh the risks but warns that classroom teachers will need substantial
professional development to make the transition from laptops to devices requiring touch screen skills.
Engaging Donors in the Digital Age
Jordan Good, Coleman Group Management Consulting
Today, more than sixty percent of American’s handle their finances through the use of electronic
transactions. Our churches and schools have also joined the bandwagon by widely embracing online
giving. GiveCentral is the electronic tool used by the Archdiocese of Chicago to securely accept
online contributions. Fundraising can increase by 30 percent when online giving is complemented with
regular communication to donors through email and social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and
LinkedIn. Stop by our session to learn how to increase your location’s revenue through electronic giving
best practices.
Maximizing Your Opportunity with ERate
Stephen Weiss. Coleman Group Management Consulting
ERate is a federal government grant program for the reimbursement of telecommunication expenses
for school and libraries. In addition to the traditional overview of ERate including eligible
services/equipment and expected funding, we will discuss the specific items ERate is most likely to
question. Moreover, we will discuss ways to prevent ERate reviews as well as the best strategies to deal
with them once they occur.
Adding Value to a Website
Ryan Blackburn, Sarah McNulty & Maria Ippolito, Enrollment Marketing Consultants
In this session you will learn how your website needs to tell your school’s story and be a marketing tool,
particularly to prospective families. Building off an AMEN workshop on this topic, we will discuss website
design (and re-design), as well as ongoing management. Specific website examples will be
showcased.
Technology in Early Childhood Education: Is There an App for That?
Chip Donohue, Dean of Distance Learning & Continuing Education, Director of the TEC Center &
Amanda Armstrong, Program Coordinator, TEC Center
Chip Donohue, a co-author of the NAEYC/Fred Rogers Center Joint Position Statement on Technology
Tools and Interactive Media in Early Childhood Programs This session will share key messages and big
ideas about what teachers need to know to select, use, integrate and evaluate classroom
technology. Chip and Amanda will describe and demonstrate best practices for effective,
appropriate and intentional use of technology. Participants enjoy hands-on exploration and play with
multi-touch devices and will share stories and ideas about using technology in ECE.
The Benefits and Best Practices in using Refurbished PCs
Sarah Commes, President of PC Rebuilders & Recyclers, LLC
In this session we will discuss the value proposition of Refurbished vs. New as it relates specifically to
Educational customers. We will address common questions and concerns with successful solutions.
Sarah will share case studies of Catholic Schools to show best practices when implementing
Refurbished Hardware. Sarah will also provide some helpful tips to best utilize low cost or free upgrade
opportunities.
SchoolReach, the Notification Provider of PowerSchool
Chris Sullivan, PowerSchool Business Development
Learn how SchoolReach is now embedded within PowerSchool to launch your phone, email, and text
messages and get instant detailed results for every message and every contact. Learn to create and
save custom content filters. No file exports, uploads or transfers. Manage parent portal and contact
changes.
Effective Practices for School to Parent Communications
Chris Sullivan, PowerSchool Business Development
SchoolReach is beyond emergency notification. Learn how SchoolReach helps to enhance your
parent communications and increase parent involvement. You'll learn:
-How to determine your objectives in communicating with parents
-When you should communicate with parents
-What tools you need to increase parental involvement
-Why increasing parental involvement will help your school
-How to measure the effectiveness of your communication and much more.
Teacher Created Materials on the iPad
Susan Sullivan, Sacred Heart School, Winnetka
Apps are great, but so are you. Learn various ways to deliver your teacher created lesson plans
digitally on the iPad. Leverage pdfs and the creation of eBooks, Use iBook Author on your Mac and
Creative Book Builder on the iPad. Keep your lessons, revise as needed. See how your can create your
own books!
Crowdfunding your Tech Ideas
David Messer, Alphonsus Academy & Center for the Arts
Make great ideas happen by crowdsourcing your technology ideas. This workshop will show you how
AACA is working to crowdsource great ideas in order to innovate new technology initiatives. We are
using our budget creatively to empower teachers to innovate using technology; essentially, we have
created a small internal crowdfunding platform within our school that allows teachers to 'pledge' and
support each others' ideas for integrating new technology.
So you've got a SMART Board… now what?
Peter Delany, Delany Consulting, Inc.
SMART boards are a powerful piece of technology in the classroom... if they're used correctly. Most
teachers are not given enough guidance on what to actually do with such a powerful piece of
technology in the classroom. Come hear all about the ONE BIG QUESTION that teachers need to
answer when planning lessons for interactive whiteboards, and why it’s so critical to making the
interactive whiteboard investment complete.
Using Google Docs to Bridge the Home/School Divide
Nicholas Filipiak & Colleen Mostyn, St. Therese Chinese Catholic School
With the use of Google Apps for Education, more specifically, GoogleDocs, teachers can create new
and exciting channels of communication and collaboration for their students and collegues. Come
learn how to implement GoogleDocs in your own classroom or school, and how this new way of
assignment completion and submission can change the way you, your collegues, and your students
think about homework.
Simply your Cloud, Secure Cloud Access
Kurt Schernekau, Stoneware North America Channel Director
We will discuss Secure Cloud Access and how it enables IT to create a Unified Cloud for their school
and provide users secure, browser-based access to files, applications and reports from any device with
a single password while keeping an eye on their costs.
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
Chris Wagner, Director of Technology, St. Cletus School
Learn the basics of embracing 1:1 computing by allowing students to use devices they may already
own (such as cell phones, iPods, iPads, laptops, Kindles, etc.). We'll discuss pros and cons of this
initiative, changes in school culture (such as handbook changes), along with requirements to get
started.
Technology resource ideas for inclusive education
M. Ahsan Karim, St. Christina School
This session will review various educational websites and their use for teachers, parents and students, as
well as the use of iPad apps in special education.
7 great iPad apps your teachers will love
Peter Delany, Delany Consulting, Inc.
Looking for some fresh iPad ideas to use in your school? Come learn about 7 FREE apps that work
incredibly well in Catholic schools, and what you can do with them in your classrooms. These apps
can be used at both the primary and secondary levels, and are appropriate for a wide variety of
students. Join us for a fun, energetic session with lots of real-world examples.
Utilizing Google Docs – Google Drive
Gilbert Suarez, St. Benedict Technology Consortium
Google Docs (and now Google Drive) is a very powerful collaborative tool for document authorship
and data administration. Join us as we explore some of the powerful writing, data collection and
analysis, and presentation tools that make up this powerful cloud-based office suite.
Interactive/Social Web: Today's Web 2.0
Mary Therese Freymann, B.V.M.
What is Web 2.0? What are tags, social networks and bookmarks, PLNs (Personal Learning Networks),
blogs, wikis, photo and video sharing sites, podcasts, google tools, twitter for educators, "cloud"
storage (i.e. Dropbox…)? How does one use these tools in education across the curriculum?