e3 Tech Conference Starts Monday
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
Warsaw Community Schools Technology Coach Susan Armacost said the e3 Tech Conference came about from the vision of the Indiana Department of Education.
“They wanted to have professional development going on throughout the summer throughout the state. So they offered a grant. We applied for that grant and received it,” Armacost said. “There are 17 other conferences that have been going on throughout the summer. Basically, we need to move our teachers forward with technology so that we can move our students forward so that we are preparing them for tomorrow’s jobs.”
All the sessions for the conference and the two-day schedule are detailed online at e3tech.warsaw.k12.in.us
“Basically, we have two nationally known keynote speakers. One each day,” Armacost said. “Monday will be Will Richardson. Tuesday will be Dr. Milton Chen. We will have 19 rooms running concurrent sessions for three time slots throughout the day both days.”
Nancy Rooker, WCS professional learning coordinator, said, “One thing about Will Richardson, people might know about his TED (technology, entertainment, design) Talks. A lot of people know the TED Talks.”
According to the website www.ted.com, “TED Conversations mark a major step in TED.com’s evolution as a social platform. Through the popularity of TEDTalk videos, TED.com has amassed a vast global audience of engaged, intellectually curious members who are eager to participate in meaningful conversation and action. TED Conversations aims to capture the passion of these visitors and get the entire community – speakers, fellows, translators, and global audience members – talking, brainstorming and collaborating in real-time.”
“They’ve both written books. They’re both part of the George Lucas Education Foundation,” noted Armacost of Chen and Richardson. “Milton Chen is a Jedi Master.”
Besides giving the keynote speeches, Armacost said the speakers also will be doing “Coffee with the Keynote,” which is open to anyone at the conference.
“It’s just a more informal chance to dialogue with that person, because during a keynote, you’re just a receptacle of their wisdom. But here, during the ‘Coffee with a Keynote,’ you’re going to actually dialogue and share their ideas and collaborate with this nationally known educator,” Armacost stated.
Each keynote speaker also will have a break-out session as well, and be a part of the “Tech Talk” in the afternoon.
Armacost said break-out is just an “informal dialogue piece where participants and presenters can come together and talk about anything they’ve learned so far in our six learning strands.”
Those learning strands are digital leadership, iPads, flipping the classroom, digital tools for differentiation, creation tools for students and filling your digital toolbox.
The breakout sessions are being led by Warsaw people, as well as people from out of the school district and out of state.
“We basically sent out emails seeking presenter proposals. They submitted the proposals based on these topic strands and we then went through them and accepted them or didn’t accept them,” Armacost explained.
Rooker interjected, “I would say most of the presenters are educators. Some of the presenters are vendors of educational technology.”
“Some of them are technologies that we are currently using, but the vendors are coming and running a session on what’s new for the upcoming school year, how to incorporate it in a new way, that type of thing,” Armacost noted.
As of Friday morning, 400 people had registered for the two-day conference.
“This is our first year, so we’re very pleased with that number,” Armacost said.
“We are really hoping to make it an annual event,” she said.
In addition to grant money received for the conference, she said they have vendor sponsors, so there is some paid sponsorship.
“We also have some fantastic community partners, who are doing everything from donating welcome bags to linens that will be used for vendor booths, to giveaway prizes at the end of the day for our participants, to water. Our community really has turned out to support the conference and we’re very grateful,” Armacost stated.
A list of those community partners is on the website.
Rooker praised the work Armacost did in applying for the grant and organizing the conference.
“I would like this to be clear what Susan has done, from start to finish. She’s the organizer of this. She’s the one who wrote the grant. She’s the one who has just organized every aspect of it. Susan has been amazing on this,” Rooker said.[[In-content Ad]]
Warsaw Community Schools Technology Coach Susan Armacost said the e3 Tech Conference came about from the vision of the Indiana Department of Education.
“They wanted to have professional development going on throughout the summer throughout the state. So they offered a grant. We applied for that grant and received it,” Armacost said. “There are 17 other conferences that have been going on throughout the summer. Basically, we need to move our teachers forward with technology so that we can move our students forward so that we are preparing them for tomorrow’s jobs.”
All the sessions for the conference and the two-day schedule are detailed online at e3tech.warsaw.k12.in.us
“Basically, we have two nationally known keynote speakers. One each day,” Armacost said. “Monday will be Will Richardson. Tuesday will be Dr. Milton Chen. We will have 19 rooms running concurrent sessions for three time slots throughout the day both days.”
Nancy Rooker, WCS professional learning coordinator, said, “One thing about Will Richardson, people might know about his TED (technology, entertainment, design) Talks. A lot of people know the TED Talks.”
According to the website www.ted.com, “TED Conversations mark a major step in TED.com’s evolution as a social platform. Through the popularity of TEDTalk videos, TED.com has amassed a vast global audience of engaged, intellectually curious members who are eager to participate in meaningful conversation and action. TED Conversations aims to capture the passion of these visitors and get the entire community – speakers, fellows, translators, and global audience members – talking, brainstorming and collaborating in real-time.”
“They’ve both written books. They’re both part of the George Lucas Education Foundation,” noted Armacost of Chen and Richardson. “Milton Chen is a Jedi Master.”
Besides giving the keynote speeches, Armacost said the speakers also will be doing “Coffee with the Keynote,” which is open to anyone at the conference.
“It’s just a more informal chance to dialogue with that person, because during a keynote, you’re just a receptacle of their wisdom. But here, during the ‘Coffee with a Keynote,’ you’re going to actually dialogue and share their ideas and collaborate with this nationally known educator,” Armacost stated.
Each keynote speaker also will have a break-out session as well, and be a part of the “Tech Talk” in the afternoon.
Armacost said break-out is just an “informal dialogue piece where participants and presenters can come together and talk about anything they’ve learned so far in our six learning strands.”
Those learning strands are digital leadership, iPads, flipping the classroom, digital tools for differentiation, creation tools for students and filling your digital toolbox.
The breakout sessions are being led by Warsaw people, as well as people from out of the school district and out of state.
“We basically sent out emails seeking presenter proposals. They submitted the proposals based on these topic strands and we then went through them and accepted them or didn’t accept them,” Armacost explained.
Rooker interjected, “I would say most of the presenters are educators. Some of the presenters are vendors of educational technology.”
“Some of them are technologies that we are currently using, but the vendors are coming and running a session on what’s new for the upcoming school year, how to incorporate it in a new way, that type of thing,” Armacost noted.
As of Friday morning, 400 people had registered for the two-day conference.
“This is our first year, so we’re very pleased with that number,” Armacost said.
“We are really hoping to make it an annual event,” she said.
In addition to grant money received for the conference, she said they have vendor sponsors, so there is some paid sponsorship.
“We also have some fantastic community partners, who are doing everything from donating welcome bags to linens that will be used for vendor booths, to giveaway prizes at the end of the day for our participants, to water. Our community really has turned out to support the conference and we’re very grateful,” Armacost stated.
A list of those community partners is on the website.
Rooker praised the work Armacost did in applying for the grant and organizing the conference.
“I would like this to be clear what Susan has done, from start to finish. She’s the organizer of this. She’s the one who wrote the grant. She’s the one who has just organized every aspect of it. Susan has been amazing on this,” Rooker said.[[In-content Ad]]
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092