There is no denying the extreme impact technology is having on our nation’s education system. A growing number of schools leverage the latest advancements in technology to create innovative and adaptable learning environments for their students. Ohio’s students, as a result of this trend, are well equipped with the technological literacy needed to enter the 21st century workforce.
The Ohio Educational Technology Conference (OETC) is the largest P-20 state educational technology conference in the nation. Each year, more than 5,000 educational technology professionals and enthusiasts come together to explore the forefront of P-20 learning and innovation in Ohio and across the world. This year’s conference will be held February 10-12 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.
Everyone wants a world-class education, an education that prepares future generations for success and prosperity. As result, educational systems all over the world have engaged in massive reforms, from redesigning curriculum to enhancing teacher preparation, from improving accountability systems to importing policies and practices from abroad. In his keynote speech at this year’s conference, Dr. Yong Zhao will cover the upcoming education reforms and the patterns of U.S. and Chinese education standards. Attendees will walk away with a global view of where technology and education stand for the future.
Danielle Feinberg began her career at Pixar Animation Studios in February 1997, and since then she has worked on nine of Pixar’s 13 feature films – “A Bug’s Life,” “Toy Story 2,” “Monsters, Inc.,” the Academy Award®-winning “Finding Nemo,” “The Incredibles,” “Cars,” “Ratatouille,” “WALL•E,” and most recently, the Academy Award®-winning “Brave,” for which she served as director of photography-lighting. Feinberg became interested in computer science as a young scholar. During her keynote presentation, Feinberg will describe some of the key adventures and obstacles with code that led her from stealing textbooks to finding bliss in a career combining art and technology. Through her diligence and fortitude, she was able to turn her passion for coding into a remarkable career.
Other featured speakers throughout the conference will give attendees an opportunity to sit back and focus on how national leaders in education technology are putting their own spin on things. Richard Byrne will share his top online resources from 2014, and Ohio State’s own Giorgio Rizzoni will talk about his expertise in the STEM fields and his involvement with OSU’s Center for Automotive Research (CAR). Finally, on February 12, Vicki Davis will chat about her contribution to 21st century teaching and her blog, CoolCatTeacher.
New to the conference this year are OETC’s pre-conference workshops, slated for February 10. Attendees can attend a morning or afternoon hands-on learning session designed to give them an in-depth look at a popular EdTech topic of their choice. The workshops range from flipped staff meetings and Google power users to robotics and Minecraft. These workshops will allow attendees to start their three-day, technology-focused conference on a powerful note.
With almost 500 submissions, the competition for session presentations was tough. Those chosen will cover topics such as PARCC, Google culture and blended classrooms, to name just a few.
“Over the last few frigid days, I have been fortunate to attend the Ohio Educational Technology Conference. I have been attending this conference every year for the past 10 or so years,” said Scott Sibberson, a technology support teacher in the Dublin City Schools, wrote of last year’s conference. “One of the best parts of being at the conference was being able to touch base with outstanding technology educators.”
For three days, the Greater Columbus Convention Center exhibit hall will be the home to a wide variety of enthusiastic exhibitors. Guests can explore a trade show floor full of more than 200 exhibitors. Among the most popular are Pearson, a large provider of K-12 online resources, and Microsoft, the engineers of surface tablets becoming popular in P-20 classrooms. All exhibitors are eager to meet the leaders of Ohio’s widespread education technology movement.
“This is an exciting time for education in our country, as new policies change what we teach and new technologies influence how we teach our children. The rapidly shifting education landscape has many educators and administrators excited about the future,” noted Polycom’s Marc McCormick shortly after last year’s conference. “These [OETC conference] attendees were superintendents, principals, technology coordinators and teachers – all of them invested in educating America’s youth, and all coming from across the great state of Ohio to discuss the trends and technologies shaping education today.”
Perhaps the biggest takeaway of the entire conference will be an attendee’s increased awareness of how to incorporate the latest technology learning curves into districts and institutions across Ohio. Whether its flipped classrooms, distance learning, or BYOD, all attendees will leave the conference with plans for bettering their own classrooms based on the ideas shared at OETC 2015. For more information or to register online for the conference please go to our website at http://oetc.ohio.gov/.
We hope you will join us!
