Remembering the Future: A Game with Learning Mirrors
The COVID pandemic has emphasized a need for school plasticity in a rapidly changing landscape: the initial overnight transition to emergency remote learning was only a harbinger of many further shifts, and more yet to come. In this context, it is crucial to implement teaching practices that can do more than just preserve minimal learning levels – they need to actively improve student outcomes as the world changes around them. We will see how to develop new ways of using technology that address this challenge of antifragility by reframing how we think about two existing models, SAMR and the EdTech Quintet. In particular, we will translate recent research results into hands-on methods for learning design that can scaffold robust teaching practices. The goal here is not to deliver a prepackaged static set of methods – rather, it is to start a conversation that can generate flexible practices as the times demand.
Dr. Ruben Puentedura, Ph.D. is the Founder and President of Hippasus, a consulting firm based in Western Massachusetts, focusing on transformative applications of information technologies to education. He has implemented these approaches for over twenty-five years at a range of K-20 educational institutions, as well as health and arts organizations.
He is the creator of the SAMR model for selecting, using, and evaluating technology in education, which currently guides the work of the Maine Learning Technology Initiative, as well as multiple other projects worldwide. He is also the author of The EdTech Quintet, a categorization of the core technology toolset required for education derived from the Horizon Report.
His current work explores new directions in mobile computing, digital storytelling, learning analytics, and educational gaming, focusing on applications in areas where they have not been traditionally employed. He can be reached at rubenrp@hippasus.com and on Twitter @rubenrp.
Developing Digital Detectives: Essential Lessons for Helping Learners Survive and Thrive During an INFOdemic
In this fun, interactive keynote, we’ll tackle what Jennifer considers the most important work of our time: helping today’s learners develop into Digital Detectives, capable of evaluating information to determine what’s been designed to inform us vs what’s been designed to influence, manipulate or even harm us. Participants will walk away from this session with practical tips for getting started tomorrow along with the reignition of the ethical imperatives driving this work. The road ahead is long and difficult, and our students need guides along the way. Jennifer has built this session to be your map and compass. Let’s get started!
Jennifer LaGarde is a lifelong teacher and learner with over 20 years in public education. Her educational passions include leveraging technology to help students develop authentic reading lives, meeting the unique needs of students living in poverty and helping learners (of all ages) discern fact from fiction in the information they consume. A huge fan of YA Literature, Jennifer currently lives, works, reads and drinks lots of coffee in Olympia, Washington. Follow her adventures at www.librarygirl.net or on Twitter @jenniferlagarde.
Vermont Information Technology Association For The Advancement Of Learning