Teacher and education technology expert Hall Davidson kicked off the 2010 SLATE (School Leaders Advancing Technology in Education) Conference in Wisconsin Dells Wednesday with a simple message: Technology is an important part of students’ lives today and we have to make it an important part of a 21st century classroom.
But how do we do that? What separates a school or school district that successfully incorporates technology into learning from one that doesn’t? A very important element, Hall said, is a shared vision among school and school district leaders, teachers, staff, students and parents.
Hall’s comments set the tone for vibrant discussions that followed in dozens of breakout sessions that covered topics from using cellphones in the classroom to interactive white boards to making use of Google tools to enhance learning. This is the first SLATE Conference, and it is sponsored by the Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators (WASDA) and the Association of Wisconsin School Administrators (AWSA), with support from other organizations including the WEA Academy. It was obvious right off the bat that there is a huge need for conferences such as this, as superintendents, principals and teachers are clearly hungry for information and resources on how to best use technology to advance learning.
I stopped by several sessions (more about that later), but before heading to them Wednesday morning, I grabbed my Flip Cam, caught up with Hall – who blogs and conducts seminars for Discovery Education - and asked him about that shared vision thing. This is what he had to say ...