How K-12 can Do More with Less

Pine Cove Consulting’s 4th Annual EduTech conference brings teachers, administrators, and technicians together from the Rocky Mountain Region to learn more about the state of the educational technology landscape.

Each year at EduTech we explore important technology issues for educators, showcase innovative solutions, and predict how technology will affect the educational space in the future.

A glimpse at some of the topics of discussion at this year’s event are One to One Computing, iPad & Mobility-Based Devices in the Classroom, and Desktop & Server Virtualization.  You will learn the latest on these issues from industry leaders from Apple, CILC, HP, Cisco, LightSpeed, and many others.

April 16th—17th, 2012
Ramkota Inn
Casper, WY 82601

Monday, April 16th:
- Registration Begins at 11am
- Conference Starts at Noon

Tuesday, April 17th:
- Conference Concludes at 2pm

LIST OF PRESENTERS

Math apps for the iPad and Polling Software in the Classroom – Devon Parks (Big Horn CSD #2)

I am a HS Math Teacher in Lovell, WY and I have a two-part presentation, first discussing how I’ve incorporated iPads and iPad apps into my math classes, then jumping into my incorporation of Turning Point Anywhere to poll my students on short answer and multiple choice questions. Both topics will be interactive and feel free to bring your own iPad to participate.

Textbooks for the iPad – Brian Black (Apple)
With video, audio, and interactivity, the textbook on iPad goes way beyond the printed page. iBooks textbooks will capture students’ imaginations and take learning to a whole new level. Learn how to create your own content using iBook Author.

Curriculum Loft and Kuno: How Can They Help with Common Core Alignment (Lesson Plan and Assessment Repositories) – Trent Windsor (Haddock)
This will be an opportunity to discuss this new software as a Common Core alignment tool (Cloud based), and possibilities of lesson plan and assessment repositories. We will look in-depth at the possibilities of tablet based instructional delivery. This is an open forum collective discussion. Critical thinkers attendance is most welcome.

Sitting Disease: Creating the Mobile Workspace – Steve Greer (Ergotron)
Are you stuck long hours sitting at your computer? If you’re not a teacher, you probably are. A 2008 Vanderbilt University study of 6,300 estimated that the average American spends 55% of waking time (7.7 hours) in sedentary behaviors such as sitting. There are affordable and ergonomic mounting solutions that gives administration workers the ability to stand at their desk throughout their day, which will improve their overall health. I’ll review the dangers of “sitting disease”, summarize a case study of a company that adopted sit/stand capability for their employees, and effective ways to increase your work health and productivity. To learn more, go to www.juststand.org

Video Conference Programming and Beyond – Julia Heighway – (Center for Interactive Learning & Collaboration)
Director of Content Services, will give an overview of several CILC services. She will share how to best utilize free tools and resources via www.cilc.org. CILC’s website is a content destination renowned for programs that range from the arts to science to history – the possibilities are nearly limitless. We will explore content provider programs, collaborations, professional development, and a few other valuable resources available to schools through interactive videoconferencing.

Strategic Grant Planning – What is out there, and how do I go out and get it? – Hillary Janison (Cisco Grants Services)
The grants services team will share best practices around securing funding for video conferencing and other technologies. Participants will also learn about three possible funding options for classroom technologies.

WAN Optimization Solutions– Justin Hill (Pine Cove consulting)
Pine Cove is looking into ways to maximize the transport of key applications across a wide area network in attempts to alleviate some of the bandwidth constraints while we wait for carrier class upgrades to the network to become available. Join us for an open discussion on some different solutions that are making this possible.

Virtualization Strategies – Chris Mizner & Dave Mirk (HP)
Why it makes sense to consider the major benefits of HP & VMWare’s virtualization technologies. Physical servers and workstations are becoming more expensive to maintain each day and incur much higher operational expenses than their virtual counterparts. Learn how to bring control back to your network.

Pine Cove Services – Brandon Vancleeve (Pine Cove Consulting)
Pine Cove provides a wide range of support services and IT solutions that may fill a void in your district’s network. We will use this session to discuss some of the major technical themes we are seeing throughout the state, and how we can work together to address them.

My Big Campus and Safe Web 2.0 in Education: Blogging, Messaging, Sharing, and Collaborating – Terrisa Metzler (Lightspeed Systems)
The benefits of collaborative, engaging, dynamic education are touted again and again. But the task for IT is to figure out how to open up those learning opportunities while still ensuring safety, security, and CIPA compliance. See how you can extend the traditional classroom into a safe online learning environment that gives teachers and students access to Web 2.0 tools and resources they need for more engaging and active learning–but also provides IT with safety, monitoring, and reporting.

Preparing for 1 to 1 Computing – Rick Vancleeve (Pine Cove Consulting)
As many districts prepare to move towards 1 to 1 Computing initiatives, we have developed a series of thought provoking questions to ensure our customers are prepared; technically, programmatically, and instructionally. We will go through some of our discussion points and open it up to the group to discuss how we can properly prepare for this initiative.

Preparing for the Mobility Movement – Dan Russell (PCC), Stan Hedges (Big Horn CSD #2)
As the demand for mobility based devices and applications exponentially grows, how do we plan to strategically manage these devices within our districts’ networks? This session will discuss some successful solutions options for implementing mobility devices, including a demonstration of VDI (Virtual Desktop) technologies. We will show ways in which teachers have bridged the gap between iPads and mission-critical applications.

Do More With Less – Brandon Vancleeve (Pine Cove Consulting)
Join us for a discussion on how to get a handle on your district’s technology spending. We will take a “non-techy” look at multiple technology solutions and strategies that will help you truly budget for your technology expenditures and help your teachers and students excel in the 21st Century.
Other Presentations:

• Flipping the Roles of Student and Teacher – Mike Patrick (Billings Public Schools)
• Virtual Desktops In the Classroom – Stan Hedges (Big Horn CSD #2)
• Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Initiatives – Mike Stroud (Pine Cove Consulting)
• Comparing Cloud Services: Google Apps vs. Windows Live
• Here Comes Windows 8, Are You Ready? – Microsoft
• Student Response Systems – Turning Technologies
• Teaching Strategies with Promethean – Washakie CSD #1
• Data Continuity and Offsite Backup & Recovery – Dan Russell (Pine Cove Consulting)
• iPad Syncing in the Classroom – Corey Carson (Apple)

2010 was a great year for some schools in Montana and Wyoming. With the aid of Pine Cove Consulting, schools across those states were able to attain $2 million to fund school technology programs through the Rural Utility Services grant offered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The grant specifically seeks to tend to rural areas looking to enhance public education through increasing technology in classrooms, libraries, and administrative offices. This technology can be used to connect these schools with other educational facilities, no matter the distance, to allow teachers and students to collaborate together to bring new, interactive learning opportunities to students.

Altogether, 21 schools benefited from the help of PCC and the RUS grant. The schools were able to acquire videoconferencing units, large flat-screen displays, virtual fieldtrips, and a wide variety of other technologies to provide students with a unique learning experience.

The brief survey, open to all Wyoming residents who are interested in distance learning opportunities, is available at www.wainhouse.com/wysurvey. Consultants from Wainhouse Research will also travel around the state to gather feedback from residents.

“As the task force takes inventory of the state’s educational opportunities, services and programs — which range from elementary school classes to college degree programs to professional development training — the feedback of residents will help provide a vital perspective for decision makers,” says Maggi Murdock, University of Wyoming associate provost and dean of the UW Outreach School. She is also co-chair of the state task force.

The task force is working on the survey with Wainhouse Research, a Massachusetts-based independent market research firm, and two partners, the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC) and Pine Cove Consulting.
Several state agencies — including UW, the Wyoming Department of Education and the Wyoming community colleges — are also involved in the project.

For more information on the survey, e-mail Monica Cougan, CILC director of business development, at mcougan@cilc.org.
To learn more about the work of the state task force, go to the Web site at http://sites.google.com/site/wyovideo.

Take Monday, May 11 as an example. On that day, students from Froid, Belt, and Butte we the only Montanans involved in a nation-wide TV hookup with NASA. Students from those three schools—along with students from several other states—were able to talk with astronauts about a space shuttle launch held that day.

The launch program hookup was part of the VisionNet system based in Great Falls.

But Froid School’s ties to on-site learning go well beyond VisionNet. Earlier this year, the school district received an $88,000 Tandberg “Learning Beyond Borders” grant. Those funds allow students and faculty to have live interaction via 42-inch TV with instructors from just about anyplace in the United States—and beyond.

According to Froid Superintendent of Schools Roger Britton, “We had a live program about the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. We invited the entire community to set in on the hookup with Australia. We could talk to a diver about everything we saw on the screen, from starfish to sharks. And the whole program, community included, cost us $250 in grant funds.”

Added Britton, “It seems there’s no end to the possibilities where we can go— from the Manhattan School of Music to Alaska to the Great Wall of China. All those trips are live and they are all paid for by grant funds.”

He continued, “We just recently got it all together and working. A lot of credit goes to Geoff Casey, our science teacher; Alex Ator, our math teacher; and Duane Larsen, our art teacher. Mr. Larsen is planning a live tour through the Philadelphia Museum of Art.”

Britton said, “We’re so loaded with technology this year it’s unreal. It’s giving our kids opportunities to experience places they might never see otherwise and to learn more about the world.”

Article from Sheridan County News May 14, 2009