Massachusetts Business Educators Association
2015 Conference – Friday, April 10
- A conference for high school and college business and IT teachers -
Crowne Plaza Hotel ● 1360 Worcester Street (Route 9) ● Natick
Hotel is at Exit 13 off the Mass. Turnpike (Route I-90).
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Professional opportunities
Network with your MBEA colleagues
Learn about current and projected trends affecting the business curriculum
See the latest textbooks and materials from major business education publishers
Hear about developing trends in technology
7:30 – 8:20
8:20 – 8:40
Registration, Continental Breakfast, and Exhibits
Welcome and Opening Session
8:45 – 9:45
Becoming a Power User in Excel
Lydia Nelson, MBEA President, and Peter Meggison, Convention Coordinator
Patricia Rice, Computer Information Systems Department, Bentley University
This session will be devoted to advanced features of Excel that will help our students as they enter the
workforce. Included will be Pivot Tables, Advanced Analysis Tools, VLOOKUP, and Macros. Also included
will be a discussion of teaching approaches that will help to take the mystery out of the advanced features of
Excel, so that students can relate to using Excel to solve actual business problems .
Financially Literate/Financially WISE
David Anderson and Dan Cohen, Working in Support of Education, New York, NY
At this workshop, you will learn about the W!SE Financial Literacy Certification Program, an award-winning
program that offers instructional support to teachers of personal finance and the opportunity, through our
national standardized Financial Literacy Certification Test, for high school students to become Certified
Financially Literate(tm) (CFL). You will also hear about the W!SE Certification in Personal Finance, a
different and more rigorous credential, available to personal finance teachers.
Work Life Balance and CPA Ethical Requirements
Alicia R. Grasfeder, CPA, CISA, Massachusetts Society of CPAs, Boston
What does work life balance have to do with a CPA's ethical requirements? Work life balance has been a hot
topic for years in the CPA community and is focused on improving workforce retention. Rarely, though, has
balance been described as a key ingredient to ensuring sound ethical decisions. Participants will journey
through a history of ethical lapses in our business community and (1) understand how work-life balance and
ethics are aligned, (2) determine how to find balance and safeguard one’s self from ethical lapses, and (3)
identify the ethical requirements of the CPA.
9:45 – 10:00
10:00 – 11:00
Break
Social Justice and Sport
Dan Lebowitz, Director, Center for Sport in Society, Northeastern University
This session discusses the intersection of social justice and sport, as well as the importance of community
engagement, as sport continues to be woven into the social fabric of our country. From a business perspective,
the take-away value, given the recent incidences in the NFL and other organized sports, is the importance of
creating a social justice platform that will engage women, African-Americans, and Hispanics in sports as
changing demographics effect each team’s economic base.
Using Social Media to Establish Your Online Professional Brand
Joyce Malyn-Smith, Education Development Center (EDC), Waltham, and
David M. Smith, Kaplan University
To succeed in today’s highly competitive, technology driven world, both business entrepreneurs and educators
recognize social media as a powerful tool useful in establishing a business/professional brand and
network. Learn (1) ways to get started using social media to build your brand, (2) social media techniques for
educators, and (3) what your students may not know about social media.
Programming with App Inventor
Carmen Ferrara, CTO and CoFounder, 30hands Learning
What if you told your students that instead of using apps, they could create their own? Would you like to help
your students become creators of technology, rather than just passive consumers of it? This workshop will
introduce App Inventor, a free web-based program, which allows users to quickly and easily develop apps for
the Android operating system directly from a web browser. Students use drag-and-drop objects to create apps
while being exposed to a wide range of computing concepts in a way that is motivational and fun.
11:00 – 11:30
Break and Visits to Exhibits
11:30 – 12:30
Teaching 21st Century Skills Through Entrepreneurship
Eric Braun, CEO and Co-Founder of 30hands Learning
Successful entrepreneurs are able to channel their creative ideas into products and companies that serve to
provide them a livelihood and self-fulfillment. Being a successful entrepreneur requires using 21st Century
skills such as adaptability, problem-solving, teamwork, and decision-making. Whether they go on to become
entrepreneurs or not, learning entrepreneurship through immersion teaches students skills that will benefit them
for a lifetime. An immersion course teaches students experientially about the steps required to cultivate ideas
and start a company. Often times, young entrepreneurs struggle with balancing creativity and a disciplined
management style. This workshop will review concepts of entrepreneurship along with proven curriculum
ideas from the Lean Startup, MIT, Tufts University, and numerous startup organizations. We will get hands-on
with an exercise or two to that you can use when you teach entrepreneurship in the classroom. Bring a laptop
or a tablet for a better hands-on experience.
Charting Your Own Financial Path
Khristina Harris, Senior Investment Education Consultant, Fidelity Investments
There’s truth to the old adage, “We don’t plan to fail; we fail to plan.” Creating a fiscal plan takes time, focus,
and persistence. Learn how to give yourself direction, develop strategies, and protect yourself while charting
your own personal path to reaching your financial goals.
Explore the “Hour of Code” and More!
Audra Kaplan, Technology Specialist, Groton-Dunstable Regional High School
Come to explore the opportunities of teaching students computer science and how it differs from the
technology courses business educators have been teaching for years. This interactive session will explore
programming, discover various teacher resources for computer science, and learn about the “Hour of Code.”
Feel free to bring your own device. You will be “connected” with professional development opportunities in
this 21st century subject as well.
12:30 – 1:15
1:15 – 2:15
2:15 – 2:30
Luncheon
Keynote Speaker
Gloria Cordes Larson, President, Bentley University, Waltham
Closing and Raffle
$90 Registration – Deadline is Monday, March 31 – No purchase orders will be accepted.
(Registration fee includes 2015 MBEA dues. Registrations received after March 31 will be charged $100.)
Sleeping rooms at the Crowne-Plaza: the rate is $149. If you would like a room, please contact Wendy Esche by email at
wesche@distinctivehospitalitygroup.com.The cut off for this rate is March 23; after that date, you will need to call 800-265-0339.
If you miss the cut-off date and have to call the 800 number, please inform the guest services that you are with the “Massachusetts
Business Educators Association.”
Please complete the registration form below. Mail it, by March 31, with your $90 check made payable to MBEA to:
Carole Jeffcoat, Registration Chair-MBEA
Wachusett Regional High School
1401 Main Street
Holden, MA 01520
Last Name____________________________________________ First Name__________________________________________MI_____
Street Address_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
City___________________________________________________________ State____________ ZIP______________________________
E-mail Address_________________________________________________ Phone_____________________________________________
School_________________________________________________________ Check one: High School_________
For questions about the conference contact Peter Meggison at pmeggison@massasoit.mass.edu
Dr. Peter F. Meggison – Massachusetts Business Educators Association
Massasoit Community College
One Massasoit Boulevard
Brockton, MA 02302
MBEA
10
Conference
April 10th
2015
Visit us at www.mbea-ma.org
College__________