Lessons from the Lizards: The Art of Adaptation in a Technology-Rich World

Like the reptiles, teachers must learn to adapt. There's just no time to develop new materials to meet the ever-changing standards. Instead, locate materials online, adapt existing resources, and transform activities by focusing on critical and creative thinking.

This session demonstrates how to adapt the content, process, product, and evaluation elements of technology-rich lessons to build an effective learning environment in all content areas. From camouflage to replication, apply practical strategies of adaptation to explore, expand, and enhance existing teaching materials. Learn More...

Avoiding Deja Vu: A Diet of Technology Trends that Work

Haven't we done this before? Technologies, innovations, standards, and educational strategies... we're constantly bombarded by new and recycled information and opportunities. We can't do everything.

Like finding the right diet, we need to make good choices that will have a lasting, positive impact on teaching and learning. Rather than filling up on "junk food" technology, let's make fundamental changes in how we view technology in the learning environment. This session will provide specific strategies for matching the best of traditional approaches with innovations that work. Learn More...

 

Turning Dreams into Reality: Using Technology to Address the Needs of All Children

Our children have gifts, talents, challenges, and dreams. Technology can help you develop effective, efficient, and appealing learning experiences to address the individual needs of your students.

This session will explore strategies for infusing a wide range of technology tools to meet diverse needs while still focusing on essential questions and standards. Learn to differentiate learning experiences by selecting channels of communication (i.e., text, visual, auditory) and technology-rich activities that meet the diverse prior experience, skills, and speeds of your students. Finally, promote critical and creative thinking through the use of webquests, powerquests, and other challenging, inquiry-based technology-rich projects. Learn More...

Discover the New World of Handhelds:
Geocaching, Photo Essays, Data Collection and More...

Explore a variety of handheld devices PDAs, GPSs, and cameras. Learn about practical ways to integrate these devices into the classroom.
 
A long time ago, people thought the world was flat and desktop computers ruled. Schools are now discovering a whole new world of technology that includes handheld computers such as Palms and Handsprings, Global Positioning (GPS devices), digitial audio recorders, tiny digital cameras, smart keyboard, calculators, and other small devices. This workshop explores handheld selection, synergy, and the wealth of options. Learn More...

Extreme Thinking:
Transforming Traditional Projects into Effective Learning Environments

From snowboarding to skysurfing, extreme sports have stretched people's ideas about sports. We need "extreme thinking" to take our technology-rich student projects to the next level.

It's time to rethink our assignments and redesign our assessments. Generative and interactive projects challenge students to seek out new ideas, build content connections, collaborative with others, and develop flexible communications. This session will provide practical ideas for "raising the bar" on student, technology-rich projects as teachers and learners work together to transform the learning environment. We'll examine levels of complexity in student products and explore what's realistic in terms of matching standards and activities with time and resources. From web projects to PowerPoint presentations, we'll discuss options for evaluating collaborative, interactive, and ongoing projects. Learn More...