Event Title
Keynote: Adding Value: Avoiding Trendy Tech Traps in Education
Location
Moakley Auditorium
Start Time
18-8-2011 9:00 AM
End Time
18-8-2011 10:20 AM
Description
From graphing calculators to Kindles to the latest, greatest, prettiest gadget Apple can sell us, technology is a seemingly endless series of shiny objects that grab our attention and beg for us to find ways to shoehorn them into the classroom because they’re just so cool. Worse still, many of them seem like they could actually be really disruptive, making administrators with more progressiveness than technical savvy salivate at the sheer disruptive potential of it all. And yet, in the middle of all the glitz, hype, and marketing glow around the “next big thing,” some absolute gems emerge that really can transform the way we educate our students. The trick, of course, is knowing the difference.
Keynote: Adding Value: Avoiding Trendy Tech Traps in Education
Moakley Auditorium
From graphing calculators to Kindles to the latest, greatest, prettiest gadget Apple can sell us, technology is a seemingly endless series of shiny objects that grab our attention and beg for us to find ways to shoehorn them into the classroom because they’re just so cool. Worse still, many of them seem like they could actually be really disruptive, making administrators with more progressiveness than technical savvy salivate at the sheer disruptive potential of it all. And yet, in the middle of all the glitz, hype, and marketing glow around the “next big thing,” some absolute gems emerge that really can transform the way we educate our students. The trick, of course, is knowing the difference.
Comments
About the Presenter
Christopher Dawson grew up in Seattle, back in the days of pre-antitrust Microsoft, coffeeshops owned by something other than Starbucks, and really loud, inarticulate music. He escaped to the right coast in the early 90s and received a degree in Information Systems from Johns Hopkins University. While there, he began a career in health and educational information systems, with a focus on clinical trials and related statistical programming and database modeling. This focus led him to several positions at Johns Hopkins, a couple-year stint in private industry, teaching high school math and technology, and 2 years as the technology director for his local school district. Most recently, he started his own consulting business and is now the Vice President of Marketing for WizIQ, Inc., a virtual classroom and learning network provider. He lives with his wife, five kids (yes, 5), 2 dogs, and a hateful cat in a small town in north-central Massachusetts. Although he is no longer teaching, his roles with WizIQ and ZDNet allow him to continue helping students and teachers add value to education with technology rather than merely adding to the bottom line.