Tech Forum NY Provides Insight, PD, & Networking Opportunities for Innovative Leaders

Tech Forum New York, Tech & Learning magazine's annual event is a terrific professional development opportunity for innovative educational leaders. This high-powered, one-day event provides K-12 decision makers with thought-provoking content on the hottest topics of the day in education technology.

Unlike some larger conferences, what I enjoy about Tech Forum is it provides an engaging experience in an intimate setting, with expert presentations and plenty of networking opportunities that ensure participants leave with practical tools and key contacts for continued rich communities of practice.

Kathy Schrock Keynotes
The event is featuring one of my personal favorite experts as the conference keynote, the iconic Kathy Schrock who is known in the education field as the creator of Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators (http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide). Schrock, who’s a personal favorite of mine is someone I’ve looked up to when I began my career as a library media specialist, a title she held early in her career as well. Schrock is Extremely interested in information literacy, search strategies, copyright issues, the role of emerging technologies to support teaching and learning, and critical Web site evaluation, receiving her MLS from Rutgers Graduate School of Library and Information Studies in 1981. I was thrilled last year when she listed me in her compilation of recommended blogs.

Schrock will be discussing ideas for, “Connecting the Classroom to the Future: Predictions and Predicaments” where she’ll look at technological predictions and predicaments that have informed the direction of current instruction, and ponder a few questions about teaching for the future. How can teachers design curriculum that embeds technology in a meaningful way? What tools should the classroom technology toolbox contain? And what are the management strategies to facilitate this connected classroom?

At the conference I'll be co-facilitating a session on a five-step plan to harness the power of cells in education even in districts where they are banned. I will also be participating in a panel that looks at the value of something called innovation field trips which enables schools and visitors to celebrate success and engage in reflective practice focusing on a problem of practice.

Who Should Attend:
District and Building-Level Administrators; Technology Directors; Technology Coordinators; Librarians and Media Specialists; Mentor Teachers; Board of Education Members & other education staff involved in Technology planning.

Event Details:
The event takes place on Friday, October 22. Registration and breakfast (included) are served from 7:00 - 8:00. The opening keynote begins at 8:00 a.m. Readers of The Innovative Educator blog can register at the special discounted rate of $185 per person by visiting http://www.techlearning.com/events/techforum/newyork10/register and using promo code NY10FT. The conference takes place at the Westchester Marriott | Tarrytown, NY. There will be transportation from the Tarrytown train station to the Forum. For more details visit http://www.techlearning.com/events/techforum/newyork10/index.

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Ten Conference Reflections - Tech Forum 2009

Although educators spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to attend conferences, I find we rarely spend time to take a moment to process, reflect, share, and publish our thoughts. I recently attended Tech Forum New York 2009. I find a lot of my reflections about this conference are true about many other conferences I attend. Here they are:

5 THINGS I APPRECIATED ABOUT THE TECH FORUM CONFERENCE
1-The F-2-F connections and building of relationships with those I rarely am able to see in person. I find this more valuable than any session. It was nice talking with Chris Lehmann, Scott Meech, Dana Lawit, Lisa Thumann, Judy Salapert, Peggy Sheehy, Jesse Lubinsky, Alisa Berger, Kevin Hogan, Christine Weiser, Kristine Goldhawk, Tom Honohan, Meryl Menon, Bruce Lai, Steve Kinney, Jeff Branzburg, Laura Robitalle, Lindsay Angelo, Guy Lodico, and the Nassau BOCES folks with whom I shared lunch.
2-I appreciated that Chris Lehmann shared the message about what is really important in education. More of us need to do this. Do a twitter search for TFNY09 Lehmann to see what I'm talking about.
3-The terrific job Judy Salapert, Christine Weiser, and the T&L team did in putting together a very well-organized conference.
4-I enjoyed that the conference was a focused intimate conference rather than the overwhelming experience I encounter at conferences like NECC.
5-2-Extending the learning and making meaning by Tweeting, FB-ing and seeing who my fellow tweeters and FBers are. In a tech conference this size more of us should be in these worlds. We need to make meaning beyond ourselves and become active participants reflecting and sharing with our learning networks.

It was nice learning with both those who were learning with me at the conference and those who were remote doing what @worblehat has coined Twelurking (Twitter lurking). Enjoyed tweets and RTs with/from @briancsmith, @PeggySheehy, @sammorra, @mjelson, @lthumann, @roblyons, @stevekinney, @worblehat, @actionhero, @letkidsplay.

Most popular RTs:
RT @InnovativeEdu: The main purpose of schools is to teach kids to ask powerful questions and teach them to find the answers. -Chris Lehmann.
RT @InnovativeEdu: Principal Chris Lehmann says his job & his staff is to build students that are Thoughtful, Wise , Passionate, Kind TFNY09

Enjoyed FB-ing with Robb Ross, Myrielle Badio, Danita Cobble Russell, Maria DeSimone, Steve Kinney, John Clemente, Jacob Gutnicki, Samantha Stouber, Leslie Schecht, Rick Toone, Lindsay Angelo, Mike Columbia, Diamond St. Thomas, Suzanne Montaperto, and anyone I missed.

Most popular Status Updates:
Lisa Velmer Nielsen Advice to ALL presenters. Don't assume audience members are or will be parents. It's offensive to the people for whom that is not true. View all 11 comments
Lisa Velmer Nielsen What is the role of the teacher in the age of Google? Our job is not to teach CONTENT, it is to teach WISDOM. -Chris Lehmann TFNY09 View all 14 comments

5 IDEAS FOR IMPROVING TECH FORUM
1-Start 1 hour later and I'll yawn much less. We boarded a bus at 6 a.m. and arrived before 7.
2-Presenters: Use real examples.
3-Vendors: if you talk about your great product you should figure out how to incorporate and/or demonstrate it in your presentation. No excuses. If you can't bother to figure out how to do this, I can't be bothered to listen to you.
4-Please, please stop talking at us. Use innovative tools to make your presentation interactive.
5-Don't talk about differentiation and think you do not have to differentiate. You do!

Coolest Free Tech Tool That I Hadn't Heard of Award Goes to...
Wallwisher
No more forgotten parking lots. No more having to type notes from post-its placed on chart paper. Hurray for Wallwisher. It is an online NOTICE BOARD maker. Ideal for making announcements, wishing people, keeping notes, and basically anything you can do with Post its. No download, software or registration required.
-Thank you Patrick Higgins

Coolest Expensive Tech Tool that I Hadn't Heard of Award Goes to...
Saywire
Saywire is a Facebook-like intranet. It provides a closed and safe Facebook. Write, publish, plan, organize, collaborate. $6 per student
-Thank you Peggy Sheehy

Have you attended a Tech Forum? What did you take away?

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