The Regional technology and Learning Leadership Summit is a unique opportunity for educators from diverse backgrounds to come together with a collective purpose: to find uncommon solutions to common challenges. Educational leaders not only have the opportunity to network, innovate, and create solutions, but they also have a voice to share strategies they have tested in their schools or districts.
The Connors Center in Dover, Massachusetts, provided a beautiful, lush backdrop of trees and grass that stood strong in the context of the ongoing conversation among educators, educational technology partners, and other attendees about the arrival of technology in the schools. As part of a professional learning experience, attendees were tasked with creating an action plan based on the various activities they would participate in throughout the day.
Get your feet wet
Throughout the summit, there was a concentrated focus on ai, which was reinforced by a bold and entertaining introduction by Carl Hooker, the event's master of ceremonies. After splitting into teams, attendees were tasked with putting together a two-minute presentation outlining an action plan to be incorporated into the upcoming school year.
Throughout the day, while some attendees took time for one-on-one meetings with vendor partners, others participated in roundtables based on common educational challenges that were facilitated by experts in multiple fields.
The roundtables covered topics that impacted educators, students and parents, and included:
- ai Media and Literacy
- Personalized learning training
- Create a personal wellness plan
- Integrating technology into the MTSS Structure
- PD in the age of ai
- Address chronic absenteeism
- Data privacy and cybersecurity
Preventing chronic absenteeism
Michael Hale, Director of College, Career and Citizenship at Casco Bay High School in Portland, ME, led an in-depth conversation about chronic absenteeism. Hale disclosed the alarming rate at which high school students who regularly miss school are likely to miss graduation: 30%! Hale also addressed other possible detrimental effects of chronic absenteeism, such as decreased health and poor future employment prospects.
To address the problem of chronic absenteeism, Hale discussed how her district employs a multi-tiered support system designed to assist and encourage regular student attendance. The system involves support, prevention and intervention if necessary, designed to help remove barriers that prevent students from attending school.
<h2 id="implementing-ai-across-a-district”>ai implementation across an entire district
Kerry Gallagher, assistant principal of Teaching and Learning at St. John's Prep in Danvers, MA, and Kelley Papa, instructional coach at St. John's Prep, discussed how their district put together a comprehensive plan to integrate artificial intelligence in a way that helps foster an acceptance of the culture among students, teachers and parents. The process acts as a cycle that will constantly evaluate the opinions of all participants to know which direction to take with ai.
Gallagher presented an action plan that worked with existing school policy. The plan is designed to evolve as the needs of students and educators evolve. The main idea behind the process is not only to educate students, teachers and parents about the potential of ai, but also to demystify ai from the established reputation it gained through early media coverage. Approaching ai with understanding makes its use more acceptable, and Gallagher and Papa have paved the way for a roadmap for the ever-changing landscape of ai in education.
Gamifying schools, waiting for what's cool
Dan Ryder, Director of Design and Innovation at Community Regional Charter School, presented a human-centered, game-based problem-solving model to help reimagine how to address educational challenges. The presentation was accompanied by a short activity in which participants divided into groups of two, learned about playing styles, and finally each created a game that their partner would enjoy playing.
After the presentation, attendees had the opportunity to learn more about the most cutting-edge technology companies. This provided quality time with industry innovators to glimpse what the future of educational technology could look like.
Artificial fans are absolutely amazing
Once the day reached its final moments, the original teams organized at the beginning of the summit reconvened and, armed with the knowledge gained during the day, created compelling proposals for introducing ai into a school. Some groups had used ai tools to create and sing unique songs about the benefits of students and teachers using ai. Other groups used ai to create works of art and emphasize the usefulness of artificial intelligence.
Innovative and celebrated
Following the team presentations, tech & Learning recognized the innovative leaders present for their achievements. He Innovative Leader Award The winners were:
Innovative District Instructional technology Specialist: Russell Levendusky
Innovative Director of Design and Innovation: Dan Ryder
Innovative Deputy Director: Kerry Gallagher
The best example of virtual learning: Jacqueline Gardy
technology and learning Regional Leadership Summits They offer a wonderful opportunity to collaborate with passionate educators from across the country. Whether orchestrating unique solutions to complex and ongoing challenges, or staying at the forefront of the educational technology space, the connections made and time invested here become indispensable in helping advance the educational efforts of students, teachers, and parents.
