This can’t-miss event is designed to specifically address the unique interests and needs of Arizona's educational IT community. With a focus on networking and professional development, this NO COST event is perfect for CIOs, CTOs and their teams from all around the state.
Register today to learn from experts in your state on topics such as:
Join us on October 4 to learn best practices from industry experts and your peers!
Keynote
Steve Uzzell, Renowned Photographer
Steve Uzzell is one of the top photographers in the country. He started in the photography business 35 years ago as the assistant to the editor of National Geographic and a member of the photographic staff. He is now in high demand as an advertising and corporate photographer and shoots for a roster of clients that includes airlines, automobile manufacturers, travel magazines and fashion houses. His work has garnered international acclaim and won numerous awards, including ten from Communication Arts. Along the way, he has photographed two books, Maryland and The View From Sterling Bluff. His work has appeared in over 80 publications.
Using his striking photographs as illustrations of possibility, creativity and vision, Uzzell inspires audiences to make any venture an adventure. In any project we undertake, preparation lays the foundation for magic to happen. “Chance favors the prepared mind,” said Louis Pasteur. After all, we will only ever see what our minds are prepared to comprehend!
General Session Speaker
John Huppenthal, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Arizona Department of Education
As superintendent of public instruction, John Huppenthal has oversight responsibility for Arizona’s public school system which includes over 1 million students being educated by over 70,000 teachers and administrators in over 1,900 schools. During his 26 years in public service, he has established himself as one of Arizona’s leading education reformers. As a state legislator, he successfully authored and passed over 200 bills, more bills than any other legislator in state history.
Since the mid-90s, Superintendent Huppenthal has spent thousands of hours in schools observing best practices and personally implementing important education reforms and programs. An Arizona resident for over 55 years, he was educated throughout Arizona’s expansive school system: attending elementary and secondary school in Tucson, earning an engineering degree from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff and receiving his MBA from Arizona State University in Tempe.
8:00 a.m. – Registration / Morning Refreshments / Exhibit Area Open
9:00 a.m. – Welcome
9:15 a.m. – Opening Keynote
Open Roads Open Minds: An Exploration of Creative Problem Solving
Steve Uzzell, Renowned Photographer
Steve Uzzell is a veteran National Geographic photographer and one of the nation’s leading corporate photographers. Uzzell’s award-winning approach to his photographic work is driven by the philosophy that an open mind allows solutions to appear in unexpected places and, above all, “preparation leads to magic.” Using his striking photographs to illustrate the creative process, he inspires us to make any venture an adventure.
10:15 a.m. – Break
10:30 a.m. – Concurrent Sessions 1
1:1 – Lessons Learned and Still Learning
Balsz School District currently has a 1:1 program for 5th through 8th graders. There are plans to expand this program down to 3rd grade within the next two years. We would like to share how we designed our network to be able to support this program with a small technical staff, our lessons learned regarding the use and management of the devices and how this program has changed instruction.
Peter Bartanen, Teacher, Balsz School District
Hazen Kor, Network Engineer, Balsz School District
Drew Miller, Technology Assistant, Balsz School District
Julie Morgenthal, Technology Director, Balsz School District
Benjamin Wright, Teacher, Balsz School District
Google Apps Integration
This session will showcase how the Snowflake Unified School District recently implemented Google Apps as part of their students' daily routine and teachers' curriculum. The speaker will demonstrate how collaboration is now occurring within the district. We will also discuss trial and error, successes and failures.
Brian Weir, Educational Technologist, Snowflake Unified School District
BYOD vs. iPads – How to Make a Choice?
With all the pressures on driving continual improvements in student performance and enhancements in classroom engagement, it is critical that schools match the right technology to their desired outcomes. There are many key questions, such as: What is the right technology platform? What is the right technology deployment model? How do we ensure that technology is actively used in the classroom? Come hear from an Arizona-based technology company and one of Arizona' leading private high schools, Brophy College Preparatory, on their views and experiences in developing and deploying technology to truly enhance the educational experience.
James Bopp, MA, Assistant Principal for Technology and Instruction, Brophy College Preparatory
Rich Fennessy, President / Chief Executive Officer, eInstruction Corporation
The Agile Data Infrastructure
Today’s school districts are faced with the challenge of keeping costs low while supporting an ever-growing array of digital resources. This session will discuss requirements for an agile data infrastructure so they can respond to changing technology needs quickly and effectively. Plans and purchases made today can lay the foundation to create an agile infrastructure. Storage agility is needed to meet the growing demands and requirements that school districts face in the coming years.
Harold “Rusty” Brown, Senior Systems Engineering Manager, NetApp SLED
11:30 a.m. – Lunch
Noon – Luncheon General Session: Arizona Department of Education
1:15 p.m. – Concurrent Sessions 2
Technology Test Drives: Maintaining Innovation with Limited Funds
With limited funds and a desire to maintain innovation and accountability, Dysart Unified School District implemented the Technology Test Drive process. This process allows a school to purchase a small number of devices based on specific student outcomes. Find out how this process guided purchasing decisions, improved teacher training and empowered the district to make future purchases based on student data.
David Beard, Technology Training Specialist, Dysart Unified School District No. 89
Sunshine Darby, Technology Training Supervisor, Dysart Unified School District No. 89
Cristy Diaz, Technology Training Specialist, Dysart Unified School District No. 89
Julia Ebel, Technology Training Specialist, Dysart Unified School District No. 89
Emil Pluhar, Technology Training Specialist, Dysart Unified School District No. 89
Blended Learning, PBL and Flipped Classroom
This session will showcase blending online content with Project-Based Learning (PBL). Attendees will hear from chemistry teacher Sandy Rollefstad and students about their experience with blended learning, PBL and flipping their classrooms. We will also address the technology needed to support this classroom model, key technology considerations and lessons learned.
Jon Castelhano, Director of Technology, Apache Junction Unified School District
Sandy Rollefstad, Teacher, Chemistry and AP Biology, Apache Junction Unified School District
Tracy Watanabe, Technology Integration Specialist / Common Core Co-Coordinator, Apache Junction Unified School District
Integrated System for Educator Evaluation and Student Assessment
Flagstaff Unified School District (FUSD) recently launched an integrated system to manage student assessment and reporting, and leverage that data as part of teacher and administrator evaluations to address the mandate of Arizona Senate Bill 1040. This single system provides one repository for assessment data with upgraded reporting and more efficient online evaluation processes aligned to curriculum, resources and data. In this session, you will see a demonstration of FUSD’s configurable, user-friendly effectiveness platform and learn more about this effective method of ensuring professional growth of its educators while positively impacting student learning.
Robert Hagstrom, Director, Research & Assessment, Flagstaff Unified School District
Mary Knight, Director of Technology, Flagstaff Unified School District
Can You Secure and Manage Your Un-tethered Classroom?
Technology has granted the ability for students to learn anywhere and at anytime. Gone are the days of necessary physical attendance. With such change and benefits come additional risks and challenges. To effectively secure and manage the un-tethered classroom and enable e-learning, these five areas must be addressed:
This session will provide insight into how to solve these five technology challenges.
Dawn Swainston, National Manager, Programs and Alliances for State, Local Government and Education, Symantec
2:15 p.m. – Break / Refreshments in the Exhibit Area
2:30 p.m. – Concurrent Sessions 3
Agile Ed Tech
Unleash the creativity and focus innate in each of your staff members to become a fast, nimble, adaptive and innovative force to add value to education. Learn how Scrum and Agile Product Development Framework can empower self-organizing teams to not only help education technology develop 21st century learners, but grow your team to be exemplars of 21st century skills, serving as role models to students and school staff.
Shane Darr, Software Support Specialist, Liberty Elementary School District
Laurence DeMoise, PC Technician II, Liberty Elementary School District
Jodi Obenstine, Director of Information Technology, Liberty Elementary School District
Rob Reinhard, Network Administrator, Liberty Elementary School District
Loretta Zumbro, District Technology Coach, Liberty Elementary School District
Device Choice(s) on "Teacher Refresh"
Site/classroom-based decisions on "teacher refresh" of computing devices will be explored. Over 2,000 classrooms choose any device(s) at two equal distributions of $1,200 per FTE each, over a one-year period, totaling at least $2,400 per classroom. Site-based collaborations and decisions are made to invest on teacher, student and learning environment hardware/software, with the only requirement of achieving teacher "baseline" functionality.
Jeff Billings, IT Director, Paradise Valley Unified School District
Best Practices: Preparing Your Wireless Network for Mobile Learning
Schools have quickly become the forefront for the "all-wireless access layer" with the influx of wireless devices through BYOD and 1:1 educational initiatives. As a result, mobile devices and applications have become more prominent in the classroom, making high-speed wireless networking fundamental to learning and communication experiences. In this session, you’ll learn about the diversity and explosion of mobile devices and applications in education, the dilemma they pose on your campus’ network and how you can prepare for them in terms of scalability, service survivability, integration, application control and Simpli-Fi-cation with distributed Wi-Fi and routing solutions.
Charles Bettinelli, Regional Sales Manager, Aerohive Networks
3:30 p.m. – Adjourn
