2008 Conference Keynote and Featured Speakers
Will Richardson
Thursday Keynote Speaker
Will Richardson is known internationally for his work with educators and students to understand and implement instructional technologies and, more specifically, the tools of the Read/Write Web into their schools, classrooms and communities. A former public school educator for 22 years, Will’s own Weblog (Weblogg-ed.com) is a leading resource for the creation and implementation of Web 2.0 technologies on the K-12 level. His is a leading voice for school reform in the context of the fundamental changes these new technologies are bringing to all aspects of life.
His critically acclaimed, best-selling book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Tools for Classrooms (March 2006, Corwin Press) is already being used by tens of thousands of teachers to reinvent their practice. His keynotes, presentations and workshops to audiences around the world communicate a fresh and inspiring vision of what schools can and must become.
He is a national advisory board member for the George Lucas Education Foundation, an adjunct instructor at Seton Hall University where he co-teaches with Alan November, and a monthly columnist for District Administration Magazine. He is a founding partner of the Connective Learning Group which is dedicated to assisting educators contextualize and implement Read/Write Web tools into their schools and classrooms.
Will lives along the Delaware River in beautiful Western New Jersey with his wife Wendy and his children Tess and Tucker, all of whom are bloggers.
Bernajean Porter
Thursday Featured, Friday Keynote Speaker
Bernajean, an educator for over 35 years, is internationally re-known to educators for her belief that technology can accelerate kids-of-all-ages rediscovering their joy and personal success as learners. Her philosophy of work uses cutting edge organizational processes for building local capacity to translate the power of technology’s potential into actual classroom practices for ALL students. Bernajean’s enthusiasm and vivacious presentations create an energetic climate for all learners. When it comes to doing the hard or impossible things now necessary in schools to ensure students having out-of-this-world possibilities, Bernajean’s personal motto of “Da Um Jeitinho”- there is ALWAYS a way – sets the tone for her dedicated long, term work with educators and students to increase creativity, personal voice and tap into their potential for extra H.O.T. results.
Starting as a English / Social Studies classroom teacher, Bernajean developed newspaper and writing clubs, founded a city-wide debate tournament and hosted multiple speech contests for her middle school students to hone as well as channel their communication skills. After completing her Master’s degree in Education Technology and Curriculum Instruction from Cambridge, MA, Bernajean served for seven years as Colorado’s Senior State Technology Consultant. She has been on presidential advisory boards to establish national technology programs, recognized by ISTE as Consultant of the Year, directed state-wide initiatives, and participated in multiple technology literacy challenge (TLCG) and Gates grant trainings / technology impact assessments. Bernajean’s work uses the application of systems thinking and chaos theory to deal with the challenges of change and re-culturing efforts in education today.
She is author of Grappling with Accountability 2002:MAPPing Tools for Organizing and Assessing Technology for Student Results; Evaluating Digital Products: Training and Resource Tools for Using Student Scoring Guides; DigiTales: The Art of Telling Digital Stories; The Nutz and Boltz of Engaging and Empowering Large Groups; and contributor to Snapshots: Educational Insights from the Thornburg Center.
Today Bernajean works out of her mountain home in Colorado. She is a featured speaker at numerous national and international conferences, conducts a multitude of workshops to increase the potential of technology to transform classrooms, facilitates community meetings, and co-developed with NCREL a comprehensive set of online scoring guides to help teachers evaluate student digital products. Her passion for helping others communicate, while celebrating life and developing inspiring uses of technology tools, has culminated in her newest work Digital Storytelling. Bernajean’s workshops and presentations are invigorating, fun, illuminating and stimulating!
Cheryl Lemke
Thursday Featured Speaker
Cheryl Lemke is President and CEO of the Metiri Group. Ms. Lemke specializes in public policy for K-12 learning technology, working at a variety of levels with governors, legislators, superintendents, business leaders, and teachers. She brings 25 years of experience in the public sector—as a teacher, technology coordinator, cabinet member at a state education agency—and the non-profit sector prior to her work with the Metiri Group. Ms. Lemke currently works with both the public and private sectors at the state and national level. This includes projects related to assessment of technology impacts on learning; gauging the progress of states, districts, and schools with educational technology; conducting program evaluations; convening national experts in discussions on policy issues; and designing and prototyping educational technology frameworks. As of 2006 Metiri serves as a partner in the Regional Educational Laboratory Mid-Atlantic, conducting, reviewing, and reporting educational research. She recently authored a report commissioned by Cisco Systems, Technology in Schools: What the Research Says.
Through Metiri Group, Ms. Lemke provides consulting services, evaluation and research services, and public speaking and writing. She keynotes conferences at the state, national, and international levels; and presented internationally in China, Singapore, and Australia. She is the author of the National Trends Report used in 2005 in over 100 Congressional hearings and meetings on the NCLB Title II D federal program; and an architect of Metiri’s Technology Solutions That Work, interactive database used by many states as evidence to drive practice, the designer behind three national frameworks on effective technology use that are used in thousands of schools today, including enGauge which was commissioned by the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. She also co-authored the definitive work on 21st century skills that was published by the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. She is trusted and respected by the education community for her work from policy to research and practice.
Ricardo Varguez
Thursday Featured Speaker
Ricardo Varguez is currently teaching Spanish at Westside High School in Omaha, Nebraska. His passion for languages and technology have made him a leader in integrating instructional technology into Westside High School’s World Languages department. In only five short years, Ricardo has become a top-notch ambassador for instructional technology in his state and field.
Besides his effective teaching of World Languages (Spanish) 9-12 at Westside High School, his local achievements include serving as a presenter for various state organizations and ESUs and as a featured presenter at local Apple seminars. He consistently works to design technology based activities that other teachers can implement, including speaking and listening lessons, instructional podcasts, iMovie culture projects, and the use of e-mail to assess speaking and writing skills. He is the Spanish team leader for his department and works to improve his school further by serving on the Staff Development Cadre.
Ricardo is also an award winning teacher. He was awarded the Lundquist Excellence in Teaching Award by Westside High School students in 2007. He also received the 2007 Excellence in Teaching with Technology Award by the Nebraska Educators Technology Association in 2007. In October of 2007, he received the Outstanding Language Teacher of the Year award, awarded by the Nebraska International Langages Association (NILA). He has presented multiple sessions on technology and world language education for Westside High School, ESU #11, and NILA. He will be a featured presenter at the Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in Dearborn, Michigan in March of 2008. He is currently studying his PhD in Educational Studies at UNL with emphasis in Intructional Technology and World Language Teaching.
Dr. Tim Tyson
Friday Featured Speaker
Dr. Tim Tyson, named one of Georgia's High Performance Principals by State Governor Sonny Perdue, served as the principal of Mabry Middle School in Cobb County, Georgia. The School Library Journal has referred to Dr. Tyson as the "Pied Piper of Educational Technology," and his innovative use of technology to maximize student achievement has been featured in a variety of national education magazines. Also, under his leadership, Mabry Middle School earned the prestigious School of Distinction Award for Technology Innovation from Intel Corporation and Scholastic.
Dr. Tyson began the school's annual, student-led, digital film festival, which has received attention from the Lucas Foundation, Georgia Public Broadcasting, and internationally renowned education reformers. MabryOnline.org, a collection of over 100 blogs which served as the school web presence through June of 2007, features his former students', teachers', and administrators' digital media creations, and served up over 1.5 million files a month to users all over the world. The site also offers the Global Learning Collaborative, an interactive project collaborative for educators, practitioners, and students around the world.
Hundreds of educators from all over the country and several foreign countries visited Mabry during his tenure there to see firsthand the innovative ways technology was being used to maximize student achievement. Though a self-described geek, Dr. Tyson believes that technology is neither "the answer nor the magic bullet" but a tool that, when appropriately leveraged, brings people together so that they can collaboratively create and share with unprecedented ease and facility.
When he is not traveling, reading, dabbling with photography, digital video, or on the computer, he enjoys arranging and composing music. With a global vision for making our world a better place, he values the creation of beauty in all of the many different forms it can take--the most powerful of which, and closest to his heart, is helping children reach their highest potential. His passion is unmistakable, and his goal in every keynote address and workshop is the same: to empower people by making learning irresistible.
Howie DiBlasi
Friday Featured Speaker
Called "The Emerging Technology Evangelist,” the Colorado resident is currently the C.I.O. (Chief Information Officer) for the Durango School District. Dr. Howie DiBlasi was recognized as “Vocational Teacher of the Year” for the State of Arizona and nominated as a finalist in the “Top Secondary Leaders in America”. He has been featured in several magazines as “A CIO that really thinks outside the box”.
His recent presentations and sessions have been to standing room only attendees in Florida, California, Colorado and Texas. His passion is 21st Century Learning and he describes himself as a “Zealot” (a person who shows zeal or fanatic). His 2007 N.E.C.C. Presentation “17 Free Software Applications for the 21st Century” was selected as one of the ‘Best Of The Best” by I.S.T.E. and the Senior Director of ISTE Education Leadership.
An expert in his field, Howie conducts interactive seminars on 21st Century Learning, Visual Literacy, Interactive Video Conferencing, Digital Interactive Learning and Making Show-N-Tell Cool. He recently presented at Alan November’s “Building Learning Communities” in Boston. A recent comment at the Texas Distance Learning Conference was “I have not heard someone think that far out of the box in years.” Howie’s programs are fun, educational, high energy and full of practical, take-home value. He has presented at over 50 Technology Conferences, is a recognized leader, and his professional focus is 21st Century Learning and Digital Literacy.
As an experienced classroom teacher for 20 years, 10 years as a computer business owner, and 15 years as a C.I.O., he brings understanding of the business and the educational worlds together.
Howie serves as a state board member to C.A.L.E.T. (Colorado Association of Leaders in Educational Technology), President Elect and Communications director for I.S.T.E –Interactive Video Conferencing Special Interest Group. He is known as a highly energetic, compassionate and approachable speaker. He is a trainer that blends humor, applicable stories of best practice and high levels of audience involvement. Over the past fifteen years, he has presented programs, courses and speeches to thousands of administrators, teachers, technology specialists and professionals around the country. He lives in Durango, Colorado, has been married to his wife Joan for 42 years, and has two children and four grandchildren.
“I guess I am crazy enough to think I can change the world and hope I have a small impact on what we do as educators,” DiBlasi said.