Technology Highlighted At 15th Annual Education Summit
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
The annual summit is sponsored by the Warsaw/Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce. Held at Lakeland Christian Academy, it featured panels of business and education leaders.[[In-content Ad]]The first panel of the summit included educators who are using project-based learning to prepare students for the future, according to moderator Allyn Decker. The second panel included business and industry leaders who touched on how technology affects their jobs and what they would like to see in schools.
During the first panel, Terri Schulz, regional director for Project Lead the Way Inc., said there are some good students in Kosciusko County, they just need to be energized.
PLTW is a national, non-profit organization that provides rigorous and innovative science, technology, engineering and math education for middle and high schools. The PLTW comprehensive curriculum emphasizes critical thinking, creativity, innovation and real-world problem solving.
Shulz said they have almost 400 different programs in Indiana.
"We have very standards-based curriculum," Shulz said. "We also have rigorous professional development teachers have to go through. They have to go through the same curriculum as students almost."
Terry Aukeman teaches biomedical courses at Warsaw. A typical day in his classroom includes use of laptops for each student. They don't have textbooks.
The class may spend two to three days to one week on a project. Students are graded on labs, presentations, experiments, quizzes and tests.
His classroom is more about student learning and independent learning than him lecturing in front of the class. Aukeman said he considers himself more of a facilitator.
"I love it," Aukeman said. "If I could do this all day, I would do it."
Tippecanoe Valley teacher Doug Heinold said Valley is only in its second year of the program.
For one class project, students take a product that already exists and break it down, he said. Then they come up with ideas on how they could make it better.
Allen Coblentz, Wawasee, talked about the pre-engineering program.
"I found students truly enjoy the ability to apply what they learn in other courses," Coblentz said.
Having talked to past students, Coblentz said students see how what they worked on at Wawasee applies to real-life experiences.
"The light has come on, they see what's going on, they realize it's not going to be easy," he said.
Alan Tehan, Technical Services and Wawasee instructor, said the students involved in engineering classes at Wawasee are engaged and excited. They see the tremendous applications for what they are doing.
On the business and industry panel were Nancy Amundgaard, Teachers Credit Union; Dr. Hallie Brinkerhuff, Zimmer; Jerry Henline, Vision It Now; Ann Lash-Branson, RR Donnelley; and Steve Miller, Kosciusko Community Hospital.
Miller said a person can be great with technology, but if they can't build relationships and deal with people, that's a problem. However, technology is incredible, he said, and always changing.
Brinkerhuff said there are technology tools that everyone at Zimmer uses, and then are specific job tools. Technology is critical, she said, even on the manufacturing floor.
Lash-Branson said an entry-level person at RR Donnelley needs basic computer knowledge. As they move up in the company, they will have to learn more.
"The mechanical skills are very, very important," she said. Less and less employees are coming in with those skills Donnelley needs, she said.
Amundgaard said, "Our entry-level tellers have to have math skills, accuracy and accountability for what they do."
Even though technology has advanced far, Amundgaard said people still want to see brick and mortar. They still want to be able to come into a financial center and talk to someone. TCU needs people who know technology, but, she said, they find people are missing soft skills and math and problem-solving skills.
"Not always can a computer solve a problem," she said.
Each of the person on the panel was asked to complete the following sentence: To prepare my future workforce for my industry, you need to be teaching (blank). Answers included computers, people and relationship skills, ethics, real simple syndication, critical thinking and accountability.
Keynote speaker was Matthew T. Hall, manager of projects and finance for BioCrossroads, Indianapolis. Hall spoke on the importance of science, technology, engineering and math courses. He said the U.S. needs to do more because American students are stagnant in those areas.
The annual summit is sponsored by the Warsaw/Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce. Held at Lakeland Christian Academy, it featured panels of business and education leaders.[[In-content Ad]]The first panel of the summit included educators who are using project-based learning to prepare students for the future, according to moderator Allyn Decker. The second panel included business and industry leaders who touched on how technology affects their jobs and what they would like to see in schools.
During the first panel, Terri Schulz, regional director for Project Lead the Way Inc., said there are some good students in Kosciusko County, they just need to be energized.
PLTW is a national, non-profit organization that provides rigorous and innovative science, technology, engineering and math education for middle and high schools. The PLTW comprehensive curriculum emphasizes critical thinking, creativity, innovation and real-world problem solving.
Shulz said they have almost 400 different programs in Indiana.
"We have very standards-based curriculum," Shulz said. "We also have rigorous professional development teachers have to go through. They have to go through the same curriculum as students almost."
Terry Aukeman teaches biomedical courses at Warsaw. A typical day in his classroom includes use of laptops for each student. They don't have textbooks.
The class may spend two to three days to one week on a project. Students are graded on labs, presentations, experiments, quizzes and tests.
His classroom is more about student learning and independent learning than him lecturing in front of the class. Aukeman said he considers himself more of a facilitator.
"I love it," Aukeman said. "If I could do this all day, I would do it."
Tippecanoe Valley teacher Doug Heinold said Valley is only in its second year of the program.
For one class project, students take a product that already exists and break it down, he said. Then they come up with ideas on how they could make it better.
Allen Coblentz, Wawasee, talked about the pre-engineering program.
"I found students truly enjoy the ability to apply what they learn in other courses," Coblentz said.
Having talked to past students, Coblentz said students see how what they worked on at Wawasee applies to real-life experiences.
"The light has come on, they see what's going on, they realize it's not going to be easy," he said.
Alan Tehan, Technical Services and Wawasee instructor, said the students involved in engineering classes at Wawasee are engaged and excited. They see the tremendous applications for what they are doing.
On the business and industry panel were Nancy Amundgaard, Teachers Credit Union; Dr. Hallie Brinkerhuff, Zimmer; Jerry Henline, Vision It Now; Ann Lash-Branson, RR Donnelley; and Steve Miller, Kosciusko Community Hospital.
Miller said a person can be great with technology, but if they can't build relationships and deal with people, that's a problem. However, technology is incredible, he said, and always changing.
Brinkerhuff said there are technology tools that everyone at Zimmer uses, and then are specific job tools. Technology is critical, she said, even on the manufacturing floor.
Lash-Branson said an entry-level person at RR Donnelley needs basic computer knowledge. As they move up in the company, they will have to learn more.
"The mechanical skills are very, very important," she said. Less and less employees are coming in with those skills Donnelley needs, she said.
Amundgaard said, "Our entry-level tellers have to have math skills, accuracy and accountability for what they do."
Even though technology has advanced far, Amundgaard said people still want to see brick and mortar. They still want to be able to come into a financial center and talk to someone. TCU needs people who know technology, but, she said, they find people are missing soft skills and math and problem-solving skills.
"Not always can a computer solve a problem," she said.
Each of the person on the panel was asked to complete the following sentence: To prepare my future workforce for my industry, you need to be teaching (blank). Answers included computers, people and relationship skills, ethics, real simple syndication, critical thinking and accountability.
Keynote speaker was Matthew T. Hall, manager of projects and finance for BioCrossroads, Indianapolis. Hall spoke on the importance of science, technology, engineering and math courses. He said the U.S. needs to do more because American students are stagnant in those areas.
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