Workshops are FREE with your conference Registration.
All workshops below are being presented face-to-face unless otherwise noted.
- The Journey from Emergency Remote Learning to a Robust Full-Time Virtual Option in One of America’s Largest School Districts: Lessons Learned
- A PLC Playbook: Flexible Content + Good Design to Support a Community of Learners
- Designing and Evaluating Innovative and Transformational Mobile Learning Tasks
- Making Connections Across Disciplines Through a Digital Scholarship Lens
- From PK to Higher Education: Learning about Emerging Technologies: An Online course
- Moving Forward: Next Steps for Addressing the Complexities of AI-Created, Student-Built Content in Education
- Humanizing the Online Course Space: Getting Learners Engaged and Keeping Them There
- Crafting Engaging and Impactful Interactive Stories
- Implementing VR in Our Classrooms: Where Do We Start?
- Enhancing Global Education by Utilizing Technologies that Support Classroom Collaboration Across International Borders
- Generational Differences: Making Instructional Decisions to Meet Different Learning Styles(Virtual)
Monday, March 13, 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM
The Journey from Emergency Remote Learning to a Robust Full-Time Virtual Option in One of America’s Largest School Districts: Lessons Learned
Abstract: This presentation will explore how one of the largest K-12 school systems in the country navigated the journey from systemwide emergency remote learning to a comprehensive full-time virtual learning option for students in grades 1-12.
A large Mid-Atlantic school district transitioned, with most other school districts, to remote learning in March of 2020. Students remained virtual through January 2021, at which time students could choose between a fully virtual or hybrid schedule. When all schools re-opened for face-to-face learning in Fall 2021, the system implemented a full-time K-12 Virtual Learning Program, serving over 3,000 students for the 2021-2022 school year. The program, now in its second year of operation, has demonstrated significant growth academically and has evolved to meet the unique needs of students who require or would benefit from a learning environment different from the brick-and-mortar school to which they are assigned. This presentation will explore the strategies and structures implemented to navigate this journey successfully.
Presenters: Doug Elmendorf of Towson University holds an Ed.D. in Instructional Technology. He is the Executive Director of Academic Programs and Options in 25th largest school system in USA and has 24+ years in education.
Monday, March 13, 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM
A PLC Playbook: Flexible Content + Good Design to Support a Community of Learners
Abstract: This workshop isn’t just about motivating and engaging participants in a professional learning community. It’s also about how to easily adapt your existing or planned learning materials to make them more widely available and more worthwhile for different learning situations and approaches to learning – be it through an online course, a workshop, a blog, or even an explainer video – to meet the needs of individual learners AND a community of learners. We’ll share some important instructional design tricks to aid you in supporting your learners and to keep them coming back, and some fun ways to keep them engaged using different technologies and through a variety of learning objects. We’ll facilitate a conversation around learning scenarios in different subject areas to apply what we share and learn together, where you can brainstorm solutions today, and later when you really need them.
Presenters: Amanda Robertson has worked in the educational design industry for more than twenty-five years and is founder and CEO of The Farthest Pixel, an educational media design firm. https://thefarthestpixel.com She has long studied how education theories and advances in modern media and design, partnered with a global Internet, can mimic and augment the natural ways we learn. Amanda has taught online in the College of Design as well as several courses in the College of Education at North Carolina State University.
Monday, March 13, 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Designing and Evaluating Innovative and Transformational Mobile Learning Tasks
Abstract: There is much discussion about the potential of mobile technologies to transform teaching and learning (Joan, 2013; Kee & Samsudin, 2014; authors, 2017), but the reality is that pedagogies have not changed significantly, even whilst mobile technologies have become ubiquitous in daily life. This workshop explores this nexus between feasibility and innovation for mobile technology-enhanced learning in education. It considers research findings on mobile technology-enhanced learning of school-aged students, and then presents participants with a new, research-inspired, professional learning app to guide them with their own innovative task designs. Innovative practices are ones that are different from conventional practices in a given context, and include the effective use of mobile digital technologies to promote creativity, communication, collaboration and critical thinking (authors, 2010; authors, 2018; P21, 2007). Drawing on our recent research (authors, 2019, authors, 2020) that used these dimensions, we note that current examples of innovative pedagogies lie on a continuum from ones that modify existing approaches, sometimes called sustaining (or incremental) innovations (Christensen, Horn & Johnson, 2008; Cranmer & Lewin, 2017; authors, 2018) to ones that create new practices This workshop explores examples from this spectrum and sets out to help participants understand what lessons can be learned from the existing research on innovative mobile pedagogies.
Presenters: Kevin Burden is a Professor of Educational Technology at the University of Hull, UK. He has led numerous technology related research projects including five Erasmus+ projects focused on the use of digital technologies in schools and teacher education. His research focuses on the use and impact of digital education with teachers and teacher educators. He has led and organised many workshops and training events for teachers and teacher educators around the work including projects in the EU, work with Hong Kong University, various projects in Columbia and extensive work with colleagues in Australia and New Zealand (see: https://www.hull.ac.uk/staff-directory/kevin-burden ). In 2019 he was awarded 1st prize at the ECEL conference on e-Learning for his work on the iPAC framework which will feature in the workshop.
Matthew Kearney is Professor of Educational Technology at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia. His research focuses on innovative technology-enhanced learning in teacher education and school contexts, providing new insights into the use of new and emerging learning technologies in pedagogically transformational ways. Outputs include models of exemplary practice, principles of innovation, validated instruments for researchers and educators’ professional learning, and over 80 refereed publications (see https://profiles.uts.edu.
Monday, March 13, 12:00-2:30 PM
Making Connections Across Disciplines Through a Digital Scholarship Lens
Abstract: Digital scholarship is transforming historical research, teaching, and learning, harnessing the power of data collection/visualization, and storytelling via Geographic Information Systems (GIS), citizen science, podcasting, and documentary filmmaking. Historical thinking’s reliance on the intersections of space, place, and time makes the history classroom, local history museum, and historic sites natural settings to introduce students to modern mapping tools, databases, archives, field experiences, and material culture. Powerful digital scholarship projects including Bunk, Mapping Inequality, and Southern Journey, alongside Emmy Award-winning filmmaking including The Future of America’s Past, bring inquiry and place-based learning into schools and communities across the country. Participants will reimagine how schools, museum educators, and local and public historians can work collaboratively integrating digital scholarship tools and resources to uncover the untold stories and missing pieces of what we know or thought we already knew about the American past.
Presenters: Annie Evans, University of Richmond
Monday, March 13, 12:00-2:30 PM
Implementing VR in Our Classrooms
Abstract: Implementing new technologies is scary. As instructors, we feel like we need to have complete mastery of this technology before we even think about implementing it in our classrooms. We try to learn as time permits. We do our best to develop new and exciting solutions to eliminate boredom and promote student interaction and excitement. We get lost. We quit. Virtual Reality (VR) is one of those technologies we all are in awe of and secretly want to implement in our classrooms. The technology behind it is complex, and the tools available today to develop what we need are challenging to learn. As instructors, we do not have the time to develop the environments we need to incorporate into our classes. So, the question becomes, how do we do this? How do we start? Where do we start?
In this workshop, the goal is to introduce the attendees to using VR for the first time. The workshop is built to give the instructors hands-on experience building their own VR environments. The attendees will start using Engage to build their own VR environment, and they will experiment with what this VR environment feels like. The workshop will guide them through Engage basic, where they will be introduced to the application. After the attendees create their Engage accounts, they will start creating meetings, lectures, discussions, presentations, and assignments. Not only will we text them using laptops but also using a VR visor. At the end of the workshop, we will discuss best practices.
Presenter: Dr. Gulsebnem (Sheb) Bishop is currently teaching at Campbellsville University, as an Assistant Professor of Computer Information Systems, in the Department of Business, Economics, and Technology. She graduated with a doctorate degree in Computer Science and Information Systems from Pace University, NY, in 2006. She holds an MBA and a Cybersecurity degree from Stratford University, VA. She is a certified PMP and serves in the Syracuse PMI chapter as an at-large board member. Her area of interest is software development, design and security, data warehousing and database administration, data analytics, and data science.
Monday, March 13, 12:00-2:30 PM
From PK to Higher Education: Learning about Emerging Technologies: An Online Course
Abstract: Benefits and challenges of different learning management systems, a flipped classroom and uses of digital tools for progress monitoring and parental engagement will be shared in this interactive workshop. Time will be set aside of participants to comment on tasks assigned in this three-hour graduate level university course and the assignments the PK-educators developed to meet the requirements and/or the ISTE standards. Final objective of this workshop is to discuss a possible key 
assessment of a teacher education technology course.
Presenter: Georgia Cobbs, University of Montana
Monday, March 13, 2:30- 5:00 PM
Moving Forward: Next Steps for Addressing the Complexities of AI-Created, Student-Built Content in Education
Abstract: As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more prevalent in education, students are increasingly turning to AI tools to complete assignments and projects. But AI-created, student-built (AIC-SB) content has complex implications including ethical and legal considerations. In this session, we will explore the implications of AIC-SB and have a healthy discussion with participants on what we should do next. We will examine US and Canadian perspectives. Additionally, we will discuss the role of the students, professors, and administrators in determining ownership, academic integrity, and the potential consequences of AI-generated assignments being treated as the sole property of any one party. By examining these issues, we aim to provide a nuanced understanding of the complexities surrounding AIC-SB and stimulate critical discussion on the topic.
Presenters: Dr Robin Yap is a professor, AI ethicist, and researcher for over 10 years. He concurrently has been led hundreds of teams as a senior leader in corporations like TD Bank and Accenture. He has 6 academic degrees, 3 published university textbooks, over 40 publications, and has spoken either as conference presenter or keynote averaging 10-12 conferences a year. He also has over 100k followers on his combined social media feeds. Dr. Robin Yap is a seasoned conference speaker, presenter, and facilitator and has spoken at AACE in the past. You can find more information about Robin from his e-dossier at robinyap.com
Monday, March 13, 2:30- 5:00 PM
Humanizing the Online Course Space: Getting Learners Engaged and Keeping Them There
Abstract: This session is intended to teach online course facilitators how to better humanize, personalize, design, and interact within the online course space. In this highly interactive workshop, learners will discuss their current methods of online course humanization and will learn research-driven, innovative methods for engaging students in the online forum. Many students erroneously believe that taking an online course will be “easy”; however, this is not true. In addition to extended time management responsibilities, students studying online often become disengaged due to the impersonal nature of the course. Learners will explore strategies that better engage their students and revitalize their own online communities. Using the four components of instructor responsibility as the backbone of his or her course management, each facilitator will learn, share, and try out innovative methods for structuring an engaging course and for humanizing their online interaction with their students.
Presenters: Laura Gray, College of Western Idaho
Monday, March 13, 2:30- 5:00 PM
Crafting Engaging and Impactful Interactive Stories
Abstract: An Instructional Designer and a Game Designer walk into a room and are presented with a quest. Their goal: create a simulation to practice Emergency Management skills. The outcome: a multi-week branching scenario that remembers and builds on the choices of the students over a seven-week course. In the first week, students assume the role of an Emergency Manager and make crucial decisions with consequences they see in future weeks. Deciding on that scenario was the easiest part for the designers; but then they had to figure out how to build it.
Interactive stories have been a part of education for decades and can be a powerful method of building gamification and substantial practice into a curriculum. Using adult learning theory, courses, or parts of courses, incorporate authentic stories that give students a safe place to explore new concepts. Not every course will be a good fit for interactive storytelling, but we have been able to successfully deploy it across multiple academic disciplines and want to share what we have learned.
In this workshop, we will create outlines for compelling choice-based narratives. With accessibility in mind, we will examine the elements of a good scenario and explore options for its delivery. In small groups, attendees will reimagine a well-known story, construct a series of choices, and create an outline to use as a template for future interactive story-building.
Presenters: Amy Wright is an Instructional Designer with the University of New England’s College of Graduate and Professional Studies. She transitioned to instructional design after nearly 20 years in public K-12 education, where she worked both in special education and as a high school social studies teacher. She has extensive experience in curriculum design, differentiated instruction, and interdisciplinary collaboration, and she has presented on developing classroom-community connections and integrating educational technology in K-12 social studies education.
Monday, March 13, 2:30- 5:00 PM
Enhancing Global Education by utilizing technologies that support classroom collaboration across international borders
Abstract: As the world continues to become increasingly globally interdependent, companies and businesses are seeking individuals with the skills to communicate, collaborate, and think creatively, and the ability to work with diverse teams and with individuals from different backgrounds. Workers of the future will need to be globally competent, innovative, and able to understand the value of diverse perspectives. As a science teacher that integrates an international perspective to my curriculum, I believe that exposing students to diverse cultural experiences and providing opportunities to engage in activities that promote collaboration with individuals who have different perspectives than theirs, will promote global understanding. Technology can be used to optimize classroom-to classroom collaboration across international borders and to support lessons that focus on global issues.
In this session, the presenter will highlight lessons the teachers in Wake County Public School System have learned using innovative technologies to connect teachers and classrooms across international boundaries. The technologies teachers are using to collaborate outside of their schools and communities have transformed their instructional practices and have inspired a global mindset in their students who will need to know how to thrive in a multicultural workforce.
Presenter: Monique Simmmons is alicensed North Carolina public school teacher with certification in Biology, General Science, Middle School Science, and Special Education. She is a passionate educator with 20+ years experience teaching diverse populations of students including at-risk, multiple learning disabilities, Advanced Placement, and honor students.
Thursday, March 16, 10:15-11:15 AM (Virtual)
Generational Differences: Making Instructional Decisions to Meet Different Learning Styles
Abstract: Creating an impactful learning experience for students embodied in a positive and collaborative atmosphere within the culture of an online institution can be challenging. Generational differences are becoming an increased area of interest because education institutions are comprised of and serve members of multiple generations. Given this, an analysis of the needs and advantages each generation brings to the institution is a necessity. This workshop will focus on highlighting factors unique to each generation and providing instructional approaches to meet the needs of these diverse learners while fostering a collaborative online learning and working atmosphere. A discussion on the differences and commonalities between the generations of students in graduate online classrooms will also be discussed. Attendees will leave the roundtable discussion with instructional strategies to connect with each generation of students and an opportunity to self-evaluate their own generational learning styles.
Presenters: Manuel Rosa & Jessica Fuda Daddio, Keiser University
