The Latest and Greatest from Apple

Bob Trikakis, Marketing Development Executive, Apple Computer

Dan DelVecchio, System Engineer, Apple Computer

Join us for an exciting session featuring the latest products and technology directions for education from Apple Computer. The session will be loaded with exciting demonstrations and will have plenty of time for questions and answers.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Elizabeth Buyer, Integration Specialist, Tech4Learning

Using imagery in the classroom can range from using images as a teaching aid to improve understanding: to having students manipulate images to showcase their learning. Since we process images 60,000 times faster than text, using images in teacher presentations is a great way to reach all the learners in our classrooms. Having students manipulate images helps provide them with literacy skills necessary in the 21st century.
   Working with images not only improves visual literacy for students. It provides an opportunity for you to implement effective visual learning strategies to approach curriculum content and meet the diverse learning needs of your students.
   This session will focus on how images can be manipulated to teach a variety of academic concepts. The presenter will begin by discussing: Images as a means to communicate and improve visual learning skills , Easy image-editing techniques, Ideas on how to use images across the curriculum, and Information on a copyright-friendly and free image and lesson site. Participants will explore sample projects and imaging techniques that meet standards in a variety of subject areas. They will leave the session better informed as to how pictures really can be worth a thousand words in their classrooms.

Cross Curricular, Multimedia

Keynote Followup

Jennifer Corriero

In this session, Jennifer will follow-up to her keynote, providing time for interactive questions & answers. She'll also discuss opportunities for partnerships with/between students, teachers, and schools around the world. Leave with (more) ideas, inspiration, and information on how to integrate the use of online communities into any classroom!

Challenging Students to Become 21st Century Learners

Liz Pape, CEO, Virtual High School (VHS, Inc)

21st Century learning skills include technological literacy, information literacy, global awareness, collaboration, and interactive communication. VHS courses are in schools in 22 states and 14 countries. Students are engaged in global collaboration, and gain global citizenry skills through VHS courses. Learn how students taking online courses gain 21st century learning skills, and gain the skills necessary to successfully transition from school to higher education and careers. Learn how to help students determine their readiness for online learning.

Assessment in the Palm of Your Hand: From DRA to e-DRA (K-3)

Diane Mustone, Technology Support Specialist, Boston Public Schools

Barbara Cottone, Teacher and Consultant, Boston Public Schools, Wheelock College

Alice Santiago , Asst. Director of Instructional Technology for Program Development, Boston Public Schools, 2003 Pathfinder

Ann Deveney, Senior Program Director, Elementary Language Arts, Boston Public Schools

This project provides K-3 teachers with a fast and efficient way of administering the DRA electronically using a Palm Handheld computer. Boston Public School Teachers with the support of the Office of Instructional Technology and the Elementary Language Arts Department have developed a database to capture the data of the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) using HanDbase software. We are completing our third year of implementation and will share our lessons learned to date.   Materials developed for this project will be shared with attendees.

Elementary English Language Arts, Assessment, Handhelds

Making Connections: Literacy and Technology

S ue Cusack, ETLI Project Director, Lesley University

Traci Griffith-Walker, Instructional Technology Specialist, Trotter Elementary, Boston Public Schools

During the past year, Boston Public Schools has been a partner in the Educational Technology Leadership Institute (ETLI) to promote the meaningful use of technology in the district's literacy model called Readers and Writers Workshop. This effort has involved the close collaboration of Lesley University and the BPS Elementary English Language Arts and Office and Instructional Technology departments as well as educators from 10 different BPS elementary schools.
   In this interactive session, the ETLI Project Director and a BPS Instructional Technology Specialist will demonstrate different strategies that schools have used to increase the effectiveness of their literacy instruction. Some of the strategies highlighted include universal design, the use of text-to-speech technology, leveraging the tools that you have, collaborative curriculum development between the classroom teacher and the Instructional Technology/Library Media Specialist, and examples of student work that leverage technology. All participants at this workshop will receive sample ETLI training materials and curriculum exemplars.

English Language Arts

Assess the Standards for Learners with Significant Challenges

Madalaine Pugliese, Assistive Technology Program Director, Simmons College

Assessment is a critical issue today. In order to make meaningful use of results, it is important to make sure that assessment measures actual learner performance within a relevant curriculum. Because learners with special needs sometimes follow a modified curriculum, typical tests are unlikely to provide meaningful measure. While standardized inventories are designed to measure universally mandated content, they can present barriers for learners with special needs.
   Therefore, one of today's most challenging issues has arisen. If standardized inventories aren't appropriate for some learners, how do we include all learners in meaningful, appropriate assessment? Assessment is most meaningful when it is ongoing, conducted on a regular basis. Learners gain new understandings all the time. Progress might happen in small increments and can be documented to show skill mastery and help guide next teaching steps. From this perspective, assessment embedded into teaching and learning helps educators to individualize curriculum.
   Stages is a developmental framework that provides a comprehensive view of a learner's cognitive and language abilities. Universally accessible activities facilitate alternate assessment. The software is designed to support use of adaptive devices, thus an important tool for collecting primary evidence from learners with intensive special needs. Stages content reflects research of educational experts and is correlated to academic standards. This session shows how Stages software uses assistive technology to facilitate authentic assessment.

Teacher Productivity, Assistive Technology

Using Data to Drive Instruction

Scott Tracy, Eastern Technical Account Manager, Sagebrush Corporation

Kimberly Fusco, Senior Account Manager, Sagebrush Corporation

Discovering new ways to inspire students to learn is a daily challenge. Part of that challenge is finding an effective method to measure what is impacting student learning and performance and why. By providing educators at all levels with a tool that enables them to monitor and assess student and school progress, they will discover what is and what is not working and make better data-driven decisions to improve student achievement.
   Sagebrush Analytics is a powerful data analysis system that enables educators and administrators to efficiently and cost-effectively access, analyze, and share school and student data in a secure environment. Users can access multiple data sources at the school and district levels, design and run queries,of this data on the fly, and easily publish and print reports - all from an easy-to-use browser-based interface.

Administration, Teacher Productivity

Science with a Technology Twist

Elizabeth Lewis, Technology Coordinator, Coyle and Cassidy High School, Diocese of Fall River

Kathleen St. Laurent, Science Department Chair, Coyle and Cassidy High School, Diocese of Fall River

Integrating technology into your science curriculum can enhance the learning experience for your students. Projects that use software programs readily available on most computers allow students to synthesize knowledge in ways that meet curriculum objectives while enjoying the learning experience. There will be a discussion on how to make the science and technology partnership work and demonstration of student projects using Excel, Publisher, PowerPoint, FrontPage, and Windows Movie Maker. These projects focus on the biological sciences and work with students of varying abilities.

Science, Multimedia

I didn't know my computer could do THAT!!!

Dr. Nancy Smith, President, Aunt Goodiebags, Inc.

The computers in our schools have things packed into them that most people may not even know about. This session will show both Mac and Windows things that many people have never seen - or would swear their computer could never do. Since most computers come with useless how-to information that is often put into an online manual that no one reads . . . this session will explain.

Professional Development

One to One Computing

Isa Zimmerman , Division Director, Technology in Education, Lesley University

Many states and communities are exploring "ubiquitous computing" for   teaching and learning. There are issues which need to explored when one is considering such an adoption. This workshop will review a continuum of questions (for example, pedagogy, leadership and advocacy) which need to be addressed "before and during" one to one computing initiatives

NCLB Title IID, Technology Enhancement Competitive Grants Showcase

The 2004-2006 NCLB Title IID, Technology Enhancement Competitive Grant recipients (Fund Code: 170) will share with you their projects: how they develop their proposals, implement their projects, and plan to sustain and scale up their initiatives. Showcase projects include technology integration into the curriculum; use of technology for data gathering, analysis, and assessment; and distance learning.

K3000 Windows & Study Skills

Nancy Avery and Cindy Kerrigan, New England Sales Representatives, Kurzweil Educational Systems

Product demonstrations throughout the conference will provide attendees with a broad base overview of the Kurzweil 3000 Assistive Technology text to speech software. Highlights will include accommodation for MCAS testing, study skills tools, audio file creation, online search for e-books etc.

Scholastic.com: Latest Launches and Developments, Thousands of Online Ideas for Free

Kathy Walsh, Scholastic.com

Come join us as we explore Scholastic.com, with thousand of pages of online and offline activities, professional resources, lesson plans and literacy activities and research tools--all presented in a safe and motivating environment.   Kathy Walsh of Scholastic.com will show latest launches and developments of the site including brand new content and online activities; a free and easy Class Homepage Builder, Teaching with Books, a literature search opportunity matching kids with appropriate literature and learning activities and Classport, a connection through Scholastic.com to connect teachers and classrooms around the world.

Best Practices for Securing your Microsoft Windows Environment

Microsoft Team

With the increasing amount of viruses, worms and other type of intrusions in the world today, Microsoft and our partners will discuss best practices on securing your environment from unauthorized access. Topics to be discussed will range from end user computing behavior to network administrator security tools.

Solving Tomorrow's Problems Using Today's Technology

Linda Berry, Pearson Digital Learning

Today's students face a multitude of new challenges in their pursuit to learn. To succeed today and in the years ahead, they need to have the best learning tools at their disposal. NovaNET is the largest online library of interactive curriculum, testing and assessment resources designed specifically for the secondary and adult learner. Learn how others are using NovaNET for MCAS Prep, Credit Recovery (All year Summer School), Remediation, Homebound, Special Education, and GED Prep.

MECnet Portal & EZPost -Homework Posting Board for Teachers

Carole Schuster & Nicole Robert, MECnet

MECnet portal can easily handle all of your e-mail needs and is loaded with useful features such as spell check, calendar, file storage, threaded discussions, and more. In addition we have integrated EZPost which allows teachers to easily post homework assignments, announcements, web links, and classroom FAQ's. MECnet portal and EZPost is available to all educators.

Apple OSX/Windows Acitive Directory Integration

With the introduction of Windows 2003 and Mac OSX 10.3.3, there are a slew of new options related to integrating your PCs and Macs on the same network. This tip will help you lay out some of the options available. The benefits far outweigh the costs. A single network, that provides data access to both PCs and Macs not only saves administrative costs, it lets you focus on selecting the right application (and desktop) for a particular task. A user can log into any device and have access to 'both sides of the network.'   Background: The road to PC and Mac co-existence on a network has been rocky to say the least. Most networks have opted to create two separate networks, with minimal connectivity. An occasional 'Mac share' on the PC side or PC access on the OSX server is the result. Update: Since OSX and Active Directory, there has been a growing movement to integrate the two into one authentication and access system. The initial links between OSX and Active Directory required a lot of engineering and customization. Most of those wrinkles have been worked out with 10.3.3 and 2003, giving a network admin several options for integration.

Transforming Middle School Mathematics Using Interactive Whiteboard Technology

Sue Scott-Mitchell, Educational Consultant with RM Educational Software, Inc, Former Mathematics Classroom Teacher

If you are looking to improve math performance and test scores within your school district, implement or further develop a standards-based curriculum, integrate technology more fully into your math curriculum, or discover new ways to engage and inspire your students with the challenge of mathematics, then this presentation will be of particular interest to you. Find out how RM Math Framework Edition can help you meet all of your strategic objectives within middle school mathematics. RM Math Framework Edition is a whole-class teaching system which utilizes interactive whiteboard technology to deliver a dynamic, and highly interactive, middle school math curriculum. Independent evaluations have shown that RM Math Framework Edition can make a significant difference to student motivation and engagement, with a corollary improvement in test scores and overall math performance at all attainment levels. The presentation will focus principally on the application of software and interactive whiteboards within the middle school math curriculum, but Sue will also demonstrate how RM software and interactive whiteboards can enhance teaching and learning across the curriculum, including the literacy, science, and geography. RM Math Framework Edition is currently supported only on the PC platform.

SEMSNet- The Secure Massachusetts Pure Web Based IEP Software  

Plan to attend this workshop and learn why the majority of MA schools are using SEMS software today!   Our solution centers around a pure web based school district data base. Teachers love the easy of use and 24/7 access to our software.   Technology directors appreciate our secure hosting solution that requires no hardware installation or maintenance.   District office staff depends upon the ease of reporting and our company commitment to meeting state requirements. SEMSNet includes iShare, iKeep, i504, iHome, and iMedicaid.   Come and learn more.

Safeguarding against security vulnerabilities:

Is securing your school's network and protecting your student and faculty data important to you? If so, you should plan to attend this session! During this hour-long session Cisco will help you to better understand the security threats and vulnerabilities that exist today that can seriously jeopardize your network. Our data expert will provide details outlining preventative measures that can be taken to safeguard against this malicious behavior.

TheWholeTeacher: Standards-Based (and Traditional) Grading Made Easy! TheWholeTeacher.com is an online suite of browser-based products designed to help teachers manage lessons and grade books based on the Massachusetts State Frameworks. Our product is the newest and most powerful ally to teachers and administrators who are trying to satisfy the demands of accountability without placing an additional burden on teachers. Teachers, administrators and parents can now track the progress of their students and lessons against the Massachusetts State Frameworks while actually saving time with tedious and repetitive paperwork. Teachers love our easy-to-use web applications and pragmatic approach! We can show you how to trim valuable time spent planning, scheduling, and grading while satisfying current trends in accountability. During this session, we will show you how to quickly build and schedule assignments that are linked to the State Frameworks. You will be able to score assignments that are linked to multiple standards and keep detailed notes for each student. We'll show you how to print multiple-language progress reports and add a valuable new dimension to your grading while saving your valuable time. We will draw a name for a free one-year subscription during each session. Join us in our courtyard demo room to see how you can become a Whole Teacher!

Creating the Highly Interactive Classroom

Bob Grela, Northeast Educational Consultant, eInstruction

The Classroom Performance System (CPS) uses hand-held student response pads to greatly increase engagement while ensuring 100% participation. It will also automatically grade objective papers (quizzes, homework, tests) Comprehensive assessment and performance data, linked to individual state standards, is being compiled simultaneously behind the scenes. CPS is installed in over 7,000 classrooms in all 50 states.