Keynote Speakers
Tuesday, March 27th
Jaime Casap, Google Education, USA
Iteration and Innovation in Education
Biography: As the world gets more connected, it also gets more complex. We now operate on a global scale and our job in education is to help learners develop the knowledge, skills, and abilities they will need to thrive in this new environment. We are preparing them to solve global problems we haven’t defined yet, using technology that hasn’t been invented, in roles that do not exist. To thrive in this new era, learners need to know how to learn, problem solve, iterate, create, collaborate, communicate, and to think critically. What we need more than anything in education is a culture of innovation and iteration in order to build new learning models supported and enabled by technology to foster student focused learning.
Abstract: Jaime Casap is the Education Evangelist at Google. Jaime evangelizes the power and potential of technology and the web as enabling and supporting tools in pursuit of promoting inquiry-driven project-based learning models. Jaime collaborates with school systems, educational organizations, and leaders focused on building innovation and iteration into our education policies and practices. He speaks on education, technology, innovation, and generation z, at events around the world.
In addition to his role at Google, Jaime serves on a number of boards for organizations focused on education, innovation, and equity. Jaime teaches a 10th grade communication class at the Phoenix Coding Academy in Phoenix and is an adjunct professor at Arizona State University, where he teaches classes on policy, innovation, and leadership. He also consults with organizations around the world.
Wednesday, March 28th
Karen Cator, Digital Promise, USA
Biography: Karen Cator is President and CEO of Digital Promise and a leading voice for transforming American education through technology, innovation, and research. From 2009-2013, Karen was Director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education, where she led the development of the 2010 National Education Technology Plan and focused the Office’s efforts on teacher and leader support. Prior to joining the department, Cator directed Apple’s leadership and advocacy efforts in education. In this role, she focused on the intersection of education policy and research, emerging technologies, and the reality faced by teachers, students, and administrators. She began her education career in Alaska as a teacher, ultimately leading technology planning and implementation. She also served as Special Assistant for Telecommunications for the Governor of Alaska. Cator holds a master’s in school administration from the University of Oregon and received the 2014 College of Education Distinguished Alumni Award. The American Association of Publishers has awarded Cator with the 2014 Visionary Award. She received her bachelor’s in early childhood education from Springfield College and received the 2015 Distinguished Alumna award. She is an Aspen Pahara Fellow, the past chair for the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and has served on boards including the Software & Information Industry Association-Education.
Abstract: Over the past several decades, the student population in the United States has grown increasingly more diverse. More recently, research from the learning sciences has advanced our understanding of learner variability and the importance of grounding educational practice in the individual, rather than the fiction of an average student. Additionally, technological innovation has moved closer to realizing the promise of evidence-based personalization. A deep belief in the urgent need to address learning equity gaps drives us to ask: How might we improve the quality and precision of personalization in order to support the full diversity of learners in the new world of technology supported teaching and learning? And, how might we increase research use in the design, development, and improvement of education programs, products, and practices?
Thursday, March 29th
Richard Culatta, ISTE President, USA
Biography: Richard Culatta, chief executive officer, brings vast experience in education policy, teacher preparation, educational technology and innovation to his role with ISTE. Culatta is a longtime ISTE member and a past recipient of the ISTE Making IT Happen Award. Prior to joining ISTE, Culatta served as the chief innovation officer for the state of Rhode Island. In this role, he focused on developing partnerships to improve opportunities for students, including launching a program to make Rhode Island the first state to offer computer science in every K-12 school and creating a state vision for personalized learning. As the director of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology, Culatta was at the helm of numerous efforts to expand connectivity to schools across the country, promote personalized learning and develop the National Education Technology Plan. He also pioneered new ways for the department to engage with educators and tech developers. Prior to his role with the Department of Education, Culatta served as an education policy adviser to U.S. Sen. Patty Murray. He was also the learning technologies adviser for the David O. McKay School of Education at Brigham Young University where he redesigned the technology component of the teacher prep program. He also served as the director of operations for the Rose Education Foundation, which brought the first internet connections to schools in rural Guatemala. Culatta began his career in the classroom as a high school teacher and, across his career, has coached educators and national leaders around the world on using technology as a tool to reimagine learning. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Spanish teaching and a master’s in educational psychology and technology, both from Brigham Young University.
Abstract: Technology provides a powerful tool to support teachers, close skills gaps, and empower learners. However, the ability to realize these benefits depends entirely on teachers moving beyond thinking of technology as a way to deliver digital content and instead leveraging tech as a problem solving tool. This session will explore the challenges and opportunities of preparing teachers to thrive in a connected world.
Friday, March 30th
Hall Davidson, Discovery Education, USA
Bold New K-12 Alphabet: AR, AI, VR, MR, QR
Biography: Hall Davidson’s educational career spans 40 years. He taught middle and high school English, mathematics, Spanish, and bilingual mathematics. Davidson has been a college faculty member teaching technology for teacher credential candidates. He left the classroom to teach math on television in Los Angeles on an Emmy-winning program and spent 20 years teaching, leading staff development, championing content creation by students and teachers, and ultimately producing television series on educational technology, parenting, and performance. He co-authored TechWorks, an internationally distributed classroom technology kit and developed free online kits to encourage project-based learning with media. He provided input and helped launch the California Education Technology Blueprint, 2013-2016 and served on the board of Computer-Using Educators for six years. He currently serves on the board of ISTE, the International Society for Technology in Education.
For twenty years Davidson coordinated the nation’s oldest student media festival, the California Student Media Festival, where he reviewed over a thousand student projects. He has keynoted major technology conferences and consulted for professional organizations as diverse as the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the California School Library Association. He has two children who attended Los Angeles public schools, one of whom finished graduate work in education at the University of Southern California and is currently teaching middle school in California. A graduate of Vanderbilt University and George Peabody College for Teachers, Hall Davidson joined Discovery Education in 2005 where, as Senior Director of Global Learning Initiative, he works with educators around the world.
Abstract: The world where our students will live and prosper has changed again. AI (artificial intelligence) is becoming a fact of life. It will impact jobs, learning, and life. AR (augmented reality), VR (virtual reality), and Mixed Reality (MR) are now in traditional industries from design to manufacture. They are real. Time to get these technologies into classrooms where they can integrate into traditional subject matter. The goals and mission of education will be well served by this alphabet of the future. Find see ways to bring these to student learning and see how they are being integrated in classrooms around the world today. Being a digital citizen has taken a dramatic turn. Make sure teachers can make students ready for their world
Invited Talks
Date TBA
Charlie Fitzpatrick, Esri, USA
Explorers, Thinkers, and Problem Solvers Get GIS, Sometimes Before Their High School Diploma
Abstract: Esri’s program supporting instruction in K12 schools began in 1992. Over 25 years, we have seen students do powerful work with GIS, in school and out, in big cities and small towns, in all subjects, and even at very early age … and witnessed colossal flops. GIS offers “good news and other.” What commonalities are visible among teachers and students who succeed? Why do some never quit, and others never start? What guidance exists to help more succeed?
Biography: Charlie Fitzpatrick is a K12 Education Manager for Esri, maker of geographic information system (GIS) software. Charlie works with students, teachers, local and state education coordinators, teacher educators, and education influencers across USA. He supports Esri’s offer of free GIS software and learning resources to every K12 school and formal youth club for instruction. Before joining Esri in 1992, Charlie taught social studies in grades 7-12 (mostly 8th grade geography) for 15 years in Minnesota, and helped educators of all levels teach with computers. From the National Council for Geographic Education, Charlie received the Distinguished Teacher Award (1991) and George J. Miller Lifetime Achievement Award (2016). When not carrying the GIS message out on the road, he resides in Arlington, Virginia; when not playing with maps and computers, he likes to scuba dive around coral reefs.
Invited Talks
Date TBA
Kristina Ishmael, New America, USA
One Resource At A Time
Abstract: Open educational resources (OER) have enormous potential to shift traditional textbook-centered classrooms to flexible, personalized learning environments with timely and relevant materials. Let’s look at the role OER play in the open ecosystem and how OER can increase equitable access, empower educators, and change teaching and learning.
Biography: Kristina Ishmael is a Public Interest Technology and Education Policy Fellow at New America where she supports state education agencies, school districts, educational service agencies, and educators transitioning to Open Educational Resources (OER) to rethink teaching and learning. In this role, Kristina builds awareness of OER through professional learning, documents best practices and lessons learned, and collaborates with national networks to move OER out of niche market into mainstream teaching and learning conversations.
Previously, she was the K-12 Open Education Fellow at the Office of Educational Technology, where she developed and grew the #GoOpen movement. Prior to her work at the U.S. Department of Education, she worked as the Digital Learning Specialist for the Nebraska Department of Education where she collaborated with 245 public school districts and 17 Educational Service Units, led professional learning, and advocated for school libraries. This experience granted her a unique perspective on deploying educational technology to provide equitable access and opportunities in urban, suburban, and rural school systems. Before her role with the state, Kristina was a teacher to high risk elementary ELL students in Ralston Public Schools and a second grade and kindergarten teacher in Omaha Public Schools.
