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PROGRAM TOPICS WITH A DISTINGUISHED FACULTY |
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DIGITAL MINDS: TRANSFORMING TEACHING ghj_amp EDUCATION
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Leading 21st Century Schools: Harnessing Technology for Student Engagement
Students today are connected throughout their day; they expect relevance, authenticity, and connections in their educational experiences too. Technology, appropriate designed and integrated, offers opportunities to engage students, but further to help them ask important questions, develop self efficacy, and create pathways to their future.
Lynne M. Schrum, PhD, Professor, Coordinator of Elementary and Secondary Education, College of Education and Human Development, George Mason University; Editor, Journal of Research on Technology in Education; Past President, International Society for Technology in Education; Co-Author, Web 2.0: How-To for Educators (2010), Leading 21st- Century Schools: Harnessing Technology for Engagement and Achievement (2009) and Web 2.0: New Tools, New Schools (2007) |
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Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology
People around the world are taking their education out of school into homes, libraries, Internet cafes, and workplaces, where they can decide what they want to learn, when they want to learn, and how they want to learn. These developments create learning opportunities that challenge traditional schools and colleges. These changes demand a new kind of educational leadership and changing roles for government. New leaders will need to understand the affordances of the new technologies, and have a vision for education that will bring the new resources to everyone.
Allan M. Collins, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University; Cognitive Psychologist; Founding Editor, Cognitive Science; Visiting Senior Lecturer, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Author, Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology (2009) |
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21st Century Education and Understanding iGeneration Learning: How Technology Rewires Brains and Teaching Strategies
Dr. Rosen will present an overview of how technology can be both highly engaging and immensely distracting to young learners. Dr. Rosen will provide a model of the brain that highlights how, on a sensory level, technology beeps, flashes and vibrates its way into our brains. At the same time, this interaction with omnipresent technologies such as our smartphones provides constant internal distractions that are powerful deterrents to metacognition and focus, two all-important factors required for learning and pursuit of knowledge.
Larry D. Rosen, PhD, Research Psychologist; Professor, Department of Psychology, California State University, Dominguez Hills; Author, REWIRED: Understanding the iGeneration and How They Learn (2010) |
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Educating Today's Digital Brains: From Digital Natives to Digital Wisdom
All educators are struggling to find ways to engage and connect students with learning. Marc Prensky is the leading expert on how today's students (whom he refers to as Digital Natives) learn even when it isn't apparent to digital immigrants. Mr. Prensky will explain and demonstrate not only how today's students have changed, but how educators can deal with the changes and learn from them. He will also discuss what comes after Digital Immigrants and Digital Natives, when we all will have been born in the digital age. Mr. Prensky suggests that it is Digital Wisdom. Digital Wisdom is the ability to combine the things that the human brain does best (such as reasoning and balancing), with machines and other enhancements for the things the brain is less good at (such as remembering, or calculating). Such combination is necessary in order to achieve the highest state of wisdom in the digital age.
Marc R. Prensky, MBA,Founder/CEO, Games2train; Consultant; Futurist and Game Designer; Author, Brain Gain: Technology and the Quest for Digital Wisdom (2012), From Digital Natives to Digital Wisdom: Hopeful Essays for 21st Century Learning (2012), Teaching Digital Natives: Partnering for Real Learning (2010), Don't Bother Me, I'm Learning (2005) and Digital Game-Based Learning (2001) |
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Are Today's Students REALLY the Dumbest Generation?
In his 2009 book The Dumbest Generation, Emory University professor Mark Bauerlein makes the assertion that today's students are complete intellectual failures. In this presentation, full-time classroom teacher Dr. Ferriter challenges Bauerlein's assertion, arguing instead that the struggles of today's students are more likely a result of our failure to build a bridge between what our students know about new digital tools and what we know about efficient and effective learning. Dr. Ferriter will end his session with a tangible example of the kinds of learning experiences that need to become more common in today's classrooms if our students are ever to reach their full potential as 21st Century citizens.
William M. Ferriter, MA, Teacher, North Carolina; Founding Member and Senior Fellow, Teacher Leaders Network; Teacher-in-residence, Center for Teaching Quality; Developer, Schoolwide technology rubrics and surveys; Author, Teaching the iGeneration (2010); Co-Author, Communicating and Connecting With Social Media (2012) |
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Natural Learning: Multiple Dimensions of Knowledge and Differing Uses of Technology
This talk will look at natural learning as the dance of perception and action, in which the entire body, brain and mind participate as a person makes sense of life experience. Different aspects of the overall dance combine to generate different sorts of learned outcomes. These range through rote memory, the acquisition of routine skills, having the "aha" of insight, developing new perceptual lenses, becoming expert, and the emergence of self knowledge. Your will collaboratively look at the uses (and non-uses of technology) in generating these outcomes.
Geoffrey Caine, LLM, Learning Consultant; Process Coach; Co-Director, Caine Learning Center; Executive Director, Natural Learning and Research Institute; National Director, Mind/Brain Network, American Society of Training and Development; Co-Author, Natural Learning for a Connected World (2011) and 12 Brain/Mind Learning Principles in Learning (2008) |
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Natural Learning: The Essential Bridge to Integrating Education, Technology and the Human Brain/Mind
Dr. Caine will present three things: 1) How an outdated view of learning and teaching is keeping technology and neuroscience from impacting education, 2) How shifting to a view of learning grounded in biology and neuroscience is essential to optimizing education, and 3) How two schools have made the shift and what we can learn from them.
Renata N. Caine, PhD, Professor Emerita, California State University, San Bernardino; Former Executive Director, Center for Research in Integrative Learning and Teaching; Co-Founder, Cain Learning Institute; Co-Author, Natural Learning for a Connected World (2011) and 12 Brain/Mind Learning Principles in Learning (2008) |
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MULTITASKING MINDS: TRANSFORMING ATTENTION ghj_amp FOCUS
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Attention, Engagement and the Multitasking Brain
This talk will review how the human mind and brain operate in a complex world that demands attention to multiple tasks and sources of information. Cognitive neuroscientists have measured the performance costs of multitasking, and have linked these behavioral costs (delays or errors in responding) to the functional architecture of the brain. Evidence from behavioral and neuroimaging experiments will be reviewed.
Steven G. Yantis, PhD, Chair, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University; Winner, Early Career Award from American Psychological Association and Troland Research Award from the National Academy of Sciences; Researcher on cognitive control and selective attention during multitasking; Author, "Value-driven attentional capture" (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2011) |
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Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform Schools
and How Students Learn and Live
Explore the brain science of attention and the neurobiology of learning. How and what we pay attention to is a learned, practiced skill. The talk puts the practice of attention into historical perspective, looking at the forms of task-specific, time-dependent attention literally "schooled" by the Industrial Age and then asks what new forms of attention do we need to cultivate now. It provides a critique of some cognitive studies of multitasking, distraction, and learning disability and offers new paradigms for re-evaluating attention for the 21st Century
Cathy N. Davidson, PhD, John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies; Ruth F. Devarney Professor of English, Duke University; Co-Founder, Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory (HASTAC); Author, Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn (2011); Co-Author, The Future of Thinking: Learning Institutions in a Digital Age (2010) and The Future of Learning Institutions in a Digital Age (2009) |
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Sustaining Students' Classroom Attention in the Digital Age
Multimedia access has changed the way students attend to their environment. The digital age presents a new set of challenges, but neuroscience has revealed the stimuli and circumstances that grab and sustain the brain's attention. Using strategies you already know in different ways, you'll work smarter not harder, as you incorporate these "hooks" into your instruction. You'll leave this session with classroom ready strategies to stimulate curiosity and bring learners into class with high attention. You'll discover how to promote predictions so all students remain active participants. Through the combination of curiosity and prediction you'll capture and sustain students' focused engagement as their brains construct durable memories and negativity changes to motivation.
Judy Willis, MD, EdM, Board-Certified Neurologist; Adjunct Lecturer, Graduate School of Education, University of California, Santa Barbara; Author, Learning to Love Math (2011), Inspiring Middle School Minds (2009), Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Learning (2006) and "Current impact of neuroscience on teaching and learning" (2010, Mind, Brain ghj_amp Education: Neuroscience Implications for the Classroom) |
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Digital Age Strategies for Teaching Students to Pay Attention
High levels of stimulation endemic to our digital age alter attentional processes and brain development. Dr. Palladino will explain important links between attention and the brain, with an emphasis on how technology is upsetting the balance between "top-down" (self-directed) and "bottom-up" (stimulus-driven) attention. This balance is crucial for academic success, and our students need effective ways to prevent imbalance before it occurs, and restore balance when it's lost. Dr. Palladino will present evidenced-based strategies, including five specific steps for educators to help students learn how to stay focused.
Lucy Jo Palladino, PhD,Clinical Psychologist; Consultant to improve attention and resistance to distraction; Former Clinical Faculty, University of Arizona Medical School; Author, Find Your Focus Zone: An Effective New Plan to Defeat Distraction and Overload (2011) and Dreamers, Discoverers, and Dynamos (1999, formerly titled The Edison Trait) |
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Developing Teen Brains and Multitasking
The way that teens get information, entertain themselves and interact with each other has changed more in the last ten years than in the previous five hundred- since Gutenberg's introduction of the printing press. These changes are a real challenge for neuroscience researchers because they happen so rapidly. Adolescents today average about eleven and a half hours of media time, up from six and a half hours just five years ago. So what does this mean for the teen brain? Dr. Giedd will discuss his research on the teenage brain and multitasking, the challenges of researcher in keep up with the changing world and whether we can assess the impact of multitasking and digital devices for good or for bad on the developing brain.
Jay N. Giedd, MD, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist; Chief, Brain Imaging in the Child Psychiatry Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health; Co-Author; "Anatomical brain magnetic resonance imaging of typically developing children and adolescents" (2009, Journal of American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry) |
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Memory Pathways for Long-Term Retention in the Distracted Age
What is a teacher's goal when presenting content knowledge? Long-term memory of that information, of course. For a number of reasons, achieving this goal has always been a challenge, and that challenge has only grown larger in our fast-paced, multi-tasking, multi-media world. What can teachers do to combat this trend? Mr. Wood will share with you a number of strategies you can begin to employ immediately in order to ensure long-term retention of the content you teach.
William Wood, MA, President, Open Mind Technologies; Former Teacher; National speaker on brain-based teaching |
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MEDIA MINDS: TRANSFORMING TEACHING/TRAINING WITH VIDEO GAMES
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Can Technology Make You Smarter?
What is technology doing to our brain? Can video games make us smarter? Are Social Networking Sites (SNS) hurting our students' grades? This talk explores the role of technology on Working Memory--our brain's conductor and a powerful predictor of academic success. Based on cutting-edge scientific research, we find out what tools in technology can make a difference to Working Memory.
Tracy P. Alloway, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of North Florida; Former Director, Center for Memory and Learning in the Lifespan, University of Stirling; Author, "Can interactive working memory training improve learning?" (2012, Journal of Interactive Learning Research) and Improving Working Memory: Supporting Student Learning (2010) |
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ChicagoQuest: A School Focused on Video Game Design and Game-like Learning
ChicagoQuest is a remix of the innovative education model being employed at Quest to Learn in New York City. The school is designed to enable students to "take on" the identities and behaviors of explorers, mathematicians, historians, writers, and evolutionary biologists as they work through a dynamic, standards and challenge-based curriculum with content-rich "questing to learn" at its core. This talk will include an overview of the model, illuminate early victories and challenges, and provide participants with a glimpse into what future schooling may look like.
Michael J. Donhost, EdD, Director, and Patrick M. V. Hoover, MA, Curriculum Specialist, Chicago International Charter School's ChicagoQuest, a new, first of its kind video game-based model school supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to use digital media, game theory and design principles to increase student engagement and learning |
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Co-opting the Gaming Environment to Improve Learning
This talk will look at the expanding use of the gametization of learning. Dr. Ratey will discuss the issue of using video games to teach and more directly, will speak to the use of exercise and play as vehicles to increase the speed and facility of learning. He will provide data from our study in California with Microsoft education using the Kinect machine, which is being used for brain breaks in the classroom as well as the effect on math learning of a movement and math program that was piloted.
John J. Ratey. MD,Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; Clinical Psychiatrist; Author, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (2008) and A User's Guide to the Brain (2000) |
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Integrated Brain and Body Exercises to Increase Core Cognitive Capacities
New research in cognitive neuroscience together with computer technology provides a basis for educational programs designed to directly improve thinking abilities. Dr. Wexler will discuss his pilot studies with elementary school children in Beijing and two Connecticut schools that participated in 36 sessions each of computer exercises that intensively activate developing systems of executive function and physical exercises selected to activate the same brain systems in the context of whole body activity and social interaction. He will explain how the children showed significant improvement on multiple measures of frontal and executive functions and greater gains on school standardized achievement tests than control groups. Dr. Wexler will examine how these outcome measures differed widely from the training exercises and from one another, suggesting generalized intellectual gain.
Bruce E. Wexler, MD, Professor Emeritus, Senior Research Scientist, Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine; Director, Neurocognitive Research Laboratory, Connecticut Mental Health Center; Co-Founder, C8 Sciences, a cognitive development program that integrates physical and computer exercises to improve a child's ability to think, focus, learn, and socially interact; Author, Brain and Culture (2008); Co-Author, "Successful computer-based visual training specifically predicts visual memory enhancement over verbal memory improvement in schizophrenia" (2011, Schizophrenia Research) |
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Cognitive Fitness and Training with Innovative Technology
Today we live in a sea of information and yet our thirst for information is unquenched in part due to the overwhelming volume of information. For example, if one types "Alzheimer's" into the search box on Google, more that twenty-three million hits come up. But ask yourself this: among the bewildering barrage, is there a single gem of truth? It's clear that perusing all these sites won't help. Dr. Kosik will explore how to assess cognitive fitness and information in this age of burgeoning online tools and health Web sites.
Kenneth S. Kosik, MD, Co-Director, Neuroscience Research Institute; Harriman Professor of Neuroscience Research, Dept. of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara; Founder/Executive Director, Clinical Research, Cognitive Fitness and Innovative Therapies; Co-Author, The Alzheimer Epidemic: How Today's Care Is Failing Millions-and How We Can Do Better (2009) |
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Training Brains: Selective Attention, Academic Skills and Video Game Playing
Selective attention is known to have a profound effect of neural processing, and recent research suggests that these effects can be influenced by training. Dr. Stevens will review both the neurobiology of selective attention, as well as the results of several recent studies demonstrating the impact of different types of training on selective attention.
Courtney E. Stevens, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychology; Director, Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Willamette University; Researcher on selective attention and its role in academic foundations, including language and literacy acquisition; Co-Author, "The role of selective attention on academic foundations" (2011, Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience) and "Changes in selective attention following computerized language training" (2008, Brain Research) |
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Improving Learning, Attention and Memory...with a Video Game?
If the medium is the message, then the medium has to be right one to engage and change students' minds/brains. This presentation will look at real-world applications of the latest research on video games, using video games not to just motivate and engage, but to develop students' mental capacities. Results of a range of school implementations will be reviewed. You will examine the characteristics of computer programs that reach and teach the iGeneration.
Sarah A. Avtzon, PhD, Assistant Professor, Master's Program in Early Childhood Special Education; Early Childhood Director, Daemen College; Researcher studying the effects of computer-based cognitive skill training on the cognitive performance and achievement of you children with learning disabilities
Betsy Hill, MBA, President and Chief Operating Officer, Learning Enhancement Corporation; Former Chair, Board of Trustees, Chicago State University |
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Using Video Games in the K-12 Classroom
Dr. Annetta and his students will illustrate how they've been studying Serious Educational Games. They will discuss the elements of Serious Educational Games along with some of the cognitive science research they have been doing. Finally, they will discuss future directions for research and use of Serious Educational Games in schools.
Leonard A. Annetta, PhD, Associate Professor, College of Education and Human Development; Academic Program Coordinator, Secondary Education 6-12, George Mason University; Co-Author, Serious Educational Game Assessment: Practical Methods and Models for Educational Games, Simulations and Virtual Worlds (2010), Serious Educational Games: From Theory to Practice (2008) and "Serious games: Incorporating video games in the classroom" (2006, Educause Quarterly) |
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iDISORDERS: TRANSFORMING BRAINS, BEHAVIOR ghj_amp LEARNING
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ADHD and Multitasking
This talk will include a review of definitions of "multitasking" and relate these definitions to the neuropsychological concepts of allocation of attention (initiate or focus, sustain and shift) and how the allocation of attention (focus, sustain, shift) belongs to the "executive function," the domain of cognition frequently impaired or immature in association with the diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Martha B. Denckla, MD, Batza Family Endowed Chair; Director, Developmental Cognitive Neurology, Kennedy Krieger Institute; Professor of Neurology, Pediatrics and Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Co-Author, "Attention: Relationships between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and learning disabilities" (2003, Handbook of Learning Disabilities) |
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What Is the Internet Doing to Our Brains?: The Impact of Digital Technologies on Student Learning ghj_amp Well-Being
Dr. Howard Jones will examine what we understand about the impact of technology on the brain. Many children are now growing up immersed in technology, with some alarming press articles suggesting this poses an unprecedented threat to developing neural circuitry. Although based on a formal scientific review of the evidence, Dr. Howard Jones will touch on "real world" examples of his own family experiences, to help illustrate what the scientific findings may mean for today's online family.
Paul Howard-Jones, PhD, Senior Lecturer, Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol; Author, "From brain scan to lesson plan" (2011, The Psychologist), "Toward a science of learning games" (2011, Mind, Brain and Education) and "The impact of digital technologies on human wellbeing: Evidence from the sciences of mind and brain" (2011, Nominet Trust Report) |
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Too Much of a Good Thing: Understanding and Treating Addictions to the Internet, Video and Role Playing Games
There is evidence in several countries that approximately 10% of video game players show signs of addiction to gaming, with higher rates of addiction seen for multiple player role-playing games. Dr. Stixrud will focus on the qualities of internet use and gaming that can make them addicting and on the effects that these activities have on the brain. Attention will also be given to the biological and psychological factors that place some children and teens at high risk for addiction and to the properties of the adolescent brain that make it particularly vulnerable to becoming addicted. He will conclude with a discussion of strategies for preventing and treating excessive use of technology.
William R. Stixrud, PhD, Clinical Neuropsychologist; Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, George Washington School of Medicine; Adjunct Faculty, Children's National Medical Center; Director, The Stixrud Group; Co-Author, "Use of the transcendental meditation technique to reduce symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) by reducing stress and anxiety" (2008, Current Issues in Education) |
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The Multiple Dimensions of Video Game Effects: Breaking the "Good"/"Bad" Dichotomy
Video games are at the center of a debate over what is helpful or harmful to children and adolescents, and there is research to substantiate both sides. The existing research suggests that there are at least five dimensions on which video games can affect players: the amount of play, the content of play, the game context, the structure of the game, and the mechanics of game play. This talk describes each of these five dimensions with examples, arguing that this approach can allow people to get beyond the typical "good/bad" dichotomous thinking to have a more nuanced understanding of video game effects.
Douglas A. Gentile, PhD, Associate Professor of Developmental Psychology; Director, Media Research Lab, Iowa State University; Award Recipient, Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Media Psychology and American Psychological Association; Author, "Video games affect the brain - for better and worse" (2010, Cerebrum: Emerging Ideas in Brain Science); Co-Author, Violent Video Games Effects on Children and Adolescents: Theory, Research, and Public Policy (2007) |
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Impact of Technology on Students' Cognitive Skills: Implications for Educators
The use of computers, handheld devices, multi-media, and the Internet develop some cognitive abilities at the expense of others. Dr. Palladino will give an overview of the new profile of cognitive strengths and weaknesses as suggested by recent research, including evidence-based benefits and risks of students' use of new technology. She'll discuss three central ideas, along with applications and methods for educators, to maximize benefits and manage risk, especially for students at higher risk due to individual differences.
Lucy Jo Palladino, PhD,Clinical Psychologist; Consultant to improve attention and resistance to distraction; Former Clinical Faculty, University of Arizona Medical School; Author, Find Your Focus Zone: An Effective New Plan to Defeat Distraction and Overload (2011) |
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The Darkside of Teaching with Technology
The educational marketplace is replete with advocacy for various technologies, yet few articulate the complimentary costs related to its integration. In fact, it is common to find that a particular technology may have benefits in one area but significant liabilities in others. Using examples of common and forthcoming technologies, participants will be encouraged to recognize the importance and complexity of the classroom and to acknowledge the potential costs and benefits of pedagogical strategies as they apply to educational practice and student learning
David B. Daniels, PhD,Professor, Department of Psychology, James Madison University; Managing Editor, Mind, Brain and Education Journal. Coordinator, Society for Research in Child Development; President Elect, International Mind, Brain and Education Society (IMBES) |
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The Teen Brain Goes Digital: How Do Technology and Testosterone Affect the Developing Brain
Through the use of sophisticated imaging technology and a number of longitudinal studies, we're learning that the teen years are a period of crucial brain development subject to a host of environmental and genetic factors. A large portion of the environmental stimulation teenagers are exposed to is through digital technology. In this talk, you will learn how the teen brain is handling the challenge of growing up digital and is redesigning their brains in a rapid-fire, multitasking world filled with gadgets while they deal with their ever-changing hormones and peer pressures.
Marilee B. Sprenger, MA, Adjunct Professor, Aurora University, Former Teacher; Author, Brain Based Teaching in the Digital Age (2010), The Leadership Brain for Dummies (2010) and The Developing Brain (2008) |
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Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences for Student Recall
Dr. Sparrow will discuss the implications that newer technologies, such as the Internet and mp3 players, have for the future of human cognition and memory. She will discuss research she has done in her lab on memory organization, on the feeling of control and how that impacts what we believe, and the use of different types of distractors on decision-making. She will discuss how these findings may influence the way we can most efficiently teach our students.
Betsy J. Sparrow, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Columbia University; Co-Author, "Google effects on memory: Cognitive consequences of having information at our fingertips" (2011, Science) |
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Teens, Kindness and Cruelty on Social Networks
The talk will examine the latest research on teens' behavior in online social spaces. It will cover teens experiences with positive and negative behavior online including meanness, cruelty and bullying. It will also outline the role that parents, teachers, peers and others play in managing teens' online experience, and in giving both general and specific online safety advice to youth.
Amanda Lenhart, Senior Research Specialist; Director, Pew internet ghj_amp American Life Project's research on teens, children and families; Co-author, "Teens, kindness and cruelty on social network sites" (2011, Report, Pew Internet ghj_amp American Life) and "Teens, stranger contacts and cyberbullying" (2008, Report, Pew Internet ghj_amp American Life) |
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CONNECTED MINDS: TRANSFORMING LEARNING WITH SOCIAL NETWORKS
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Help From My "Friends:" The Impact of Social Networking Sites on Low-Income Students
Digital literacy and digital citizenship, including knowing how to effectively use social media, are fast becoming required skills as college admissions officers and employers increasingly want candidates with social media savvy. For those seeking career opportunities and advancement, developing an effective social presence via LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, for example, is a must. All students are increasingly expected to develop these 21st century competencies despite wide variability in the quality of learning opportunities schools provide. Social network sites (SNSs), and the relationships that develop therein, provide supportive opportunities for learning than can compliment or supplement school-based opportunities. In this talk, you will learn what current educational research has to say about how adolescents and young adults, especially those from low-income families, are using social network sites and new social networking applications to their advantage. Ideas for how educators might build on and support these practices and challenges to integrating social media into education will be discussed.
Christine Greenhow, EdD,Assistant Professor, College of Education, University of Maryland; Assistant Professor, Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Special Education, Michigan State University; Author, "Online social networks and learning" (2011, On the Horizon); Co-Author, "Help from my "Friends:" Social capital in the social network sites of low-income high school students" (2011, Journal of Educational Computing Research) |
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Improving Student Engagement and Learning Using Social Media
While there has been growing interest in using social media in education, very little research exists on the topic. This talk will examine recent research conducted by the presenter showing how Facebook and Twitter can be used in ways that add to (as well as detract from) student learning outcomes. Data will be presented to show that social media can not only be used to engage students, but also to improve understanding of course content and reduce the college dropout rate after the first year.
Reynol Junco, D.Ed,Psychologist; Professor, Department of Academic Development and Counseling; Director of Disability Services, Lock Haven University; Lab Mentor, Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University; Author, "The Effect of Twitter on College Student Engagement and Grades" (2011, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning), Using Emerging Technologies to Enhance Student Engagement (2008) and Connecting to the Net Generation: What Higher Education Professionals Need to Know About Today's Students (2007) |
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Using Social Networking to Improve Student Learning Through Classroom Salon
This talk will introduce an innovative social collaboration tool called Classroom Salon (CLS). Developed at Carnegie Mellon University, CLS is a combination of electronic books, social networks, and analytic tools that enables students to learn by participating in social networks and allows instructors to easily analyze student participation. Dr. Gunawardena will cover tablet technology and social networks, including CLS web-based software, and will demonstrate the use of CLS to help students master critical skills and collaborate. Learn how to create Salons, how to use them in your class, and how to use the built-in tools to analyze student activities.
Ananda D. Gunawardena, PhD, Associate Teaching Professor of Computer Science; Carnegie Mellon University; Advocate of using Tablet PC's and social networks in education; Co-Developer of "Classroom Salon," a social networking application that engages high school and college students in online learning communities that effectively taps the collective intelligence of groups and improves study skills |
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Social Networking: Educational Opportunities or Cause of an iDisorder?
One of every four and a half minutes on the Internet is spent on Facebook and 95% of teens and young adults visit the site daily. This makes social networking a perfect educational opportunity to engage students as they are already visiting often. In this talk, Dr. Rosen will discuss the positive aspects of social networking as well as highlighting potential problems in the form of an "iDisorder," where people exhibit signs and symptoms of psychiatric disorders which may be partially caused by their excessive use of technology including social networking.
Larry D. Rosen, PhD,Research Psychologist; Professor, Department of Psychology, California State University, Dominguez Hills; Author, iDisorder: Understanding Our Obsession with Technology and Overcoming Its Hold on Us (2012), Me, MySpace and I: Parenting the Net Generation (2007); Co-Author, Technostress (1997) |
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The Challenges of Teaching Students I the Age of Xbox, YouTube and Texting
Teachers are increasingly faced with the challenge of instructing students who demonstrate short attention spans, are quick to boredom, have immature self-regulation skills, and resist engaging texts in depth, as well as with unprecedented levels of anxiety - all of which may be related, at least in part, to the 24/7 use of technology. Educators understandably feel pressure to adapt to the changes in brain functioning caused by technology by bridging the gap between their students' digital lives outside of school and their experience in the traditional classroom. This talk will focus on the benefits of using the remarkable power of technology to meet our educational goals while also using tools such as movement, meditation, mindfulness, and the arts to balance the stress, the mind-scattering, and the mind-racing that result from extensive use of technology.
William R. Stixrud, PhD, Clinical Neuropsychologist; Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, George Washington School of Medicine; Adjunct Faculty, Children's National Medical Center; Director, The Stixrud Group
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The Connected Educator: Learning and Leading in a Digital Age
Here, now - a revolution in technology has transformed the way we can find each other, interact and collaborate to create knowledge as connected learners, to develop the social fabric, capacity and connectedness found in communities of practice and learning networks. Because learning is now an anytime, anywhere, anyone experience for educators to fully understand the implications of an interconnected, networked world for their students, we must begin to see ourselves as a part of a global community of learners. This means a willingness to share what happens in our classrooms with others beyond our own hallways and to collaborate and reflect with other educators without the constraints of time and space. In this interactive presentation, Dr. Nussbaum-Beach will explore the question: What does "do-it-yourself" professional development look like in the 21st Century?
Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, MSEd CEO and Co-Founder, Powerful Learning Practice; has over 20 years of educational experience as past Classroom Teacher, Technology Coach; Charter School Principal, District Administrator, University Instructor and Digital Learning Consultant; Co-Author, The Connected Educator: Learning and Leading in a Digital Age (2012)
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VISUAL MINDS: TRANSFORMING READING, MATH ghj_amp SCIENCE
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Reading Intervention, Technology and Brain Plasticity
This talk will examine brain-imaging research into the neural correlates of successful reading intervention in students with developmental dyslexia. It will also address training-induced plasticity using a variety of intervention types, including those that rely on computer-based technology.
Guinevere F. Eden, PhD,Associate Professor, Director, Center for the Study of Learning, Georgetown University; Co-Author, "Gray matter volume changes following reading intervention in dyslexic children" (2011, Neuroimage) and "A randomized, controlled study of computer-based intervention in middle school struggling readers" (2008, Brain Language); Editor, Learning, Skill Acquisition, Reading, and Dyslexia (2008) |
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How Digital Media are Redefining Reading
New technologies have historically reshaped how we do numerical calculations, navigate through space, and use language. This talk will explore ways in which digital media such as computers, tablets, eReaders and mobile phones are redefining what it means to read. Drawing on survey data from young adults, your will consider the cognitive and social implications of reading in hard copy versus reading onscreen.
Naomi S. Baron, PhD,Executive Director, Center for Teaching, Research, and Learning; Professor of Linguistics, Department of Language and Foreign Studies, American University; Former Guggenheim Fellow and Fulbright Fellow; Author, Always On: Language in an Online and Mobile World (2008) and Alphabet to Email: How Written English Evolved and Where It's Heading (2001) |
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Neuropsychology of Visual Process in Reading: Implications for Technology and Intervention
This presentation will discuss the role of visual processing in reading typically referred to as orthographic processing. A basic neural network diagram will be provided specifying the types of visual processing available to a developing child and how different visual input is categorized and processed by different parts of the brain. Methods for assessing a child's orthographic processing capabilities and ways to address orthographic processing difficulties, including technology, will be discussed.
George McCloskey, PhD, Professor and Director, School Psychology Research, Department of Psychology, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine; Author, Essentials of Executive Function Assessment (2010) and Assessment and Intervention for Executive Function Difficulties (2009) |
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The Effects of (Online) Play ghj_amp Communication Using New Technologies on Achievement
Access to the home computer and high-speed Internet continue to change and transform our lives. This presentation will describe changes in the media use of American children between 2003 and 2008, with a focus on computer use for play, messaging, websites, and studying. It will then show their influence on individual achievement from childhood to adolescence and discuss implications for parents and educators.
Sandra L. Hofferth, PhD, Professor, Department of Family Science, College of Health and Human Performance; Director, Maryland Population Research Center, University of Maryland; Co-Author, "Electronic play, study, communication, and adolescent achievement, 2003-2008" (2011, Journal of Research and Adolescence) and "Home media and children's achievement and behavior" (2010, Child Development) |
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A Neuro-Psychological Game-Based Approach to Teaching Reading: Get Smart and Learn
The purpose of this presentation is to summarize the theory behind and evidence for two game-based reading programs, both of which are designed to teach reading skills and the use of good neuropsychologically defined abilities. The online game will be shown as will the way in which it encourages the students to; 1) use strategies; 2) attend to relevant and ignore irrelevant stimuli; 3) follow the sequences of sounds and letters and; 4) understand how information is organized into a cohesive whole. These four abilities defined the Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, and Successive (PASS) theory of intelligence, which will also be described. The theory and research underlying the Skatekids and Ramps to Reading games will be described.
Jack A. Naglieri, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, George Mason University; Research Professor, University of Virginia; Senior Research Scientist, Devereux Center for Resilient Children; Researcher on a study of online reading programs on reading scores; Co-Author, Helping Children Learn (2003, 2010), Assessment of Autism Spectrum Disorders (2009), A Practitioner's Guide to Assessment of Intelligence and Achievement (2009), and Helping Gifted Children Learn (2010, Second Edition) |
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Learning to be Scientific: Reinventing Science Education with Virtual Worlds
What does it mean to be scientific? Being scientific includes understanding content, developing habits of mind, and using scientific inquiry skills. Becoming scientific should be the main goal of K-12 science education, and yet most schools focus on content alone. In this talk, Dr. Ketelhut will focus on what research tells us are affordances of game-based learning in science education for promoting scientific thinking. Further, she will discuss the new direction that research is taking in exploring these environments for assessment of scientific content and inquiry.
Diane J. Ketelhut, EdD, Associate Professor, Science, Technology and Math Education, University of Maryland; Former Director of Research, NSF-Funded Multi-User Virtual Environment Project, Harvard University; Co-Author, "Game-based learning and teachers" (2011, Computers and Education) and "Designing for real-world scientific inquiry in virtual environments" (2010, Educational Research) |
