2019 TRETC: The Future of Learning

I love going to conferences to network with colleagues and discover new ideas. The Three Rivers Educational Technology Conference (TRETC) in Pittsburgh on October 14 offers a variety of opportunities for educational leaders:

  • Engaging keynote speaker – former Pixar Senior Scientist, Tony DeRose;
  • Over 40 sessions lead by local leaders and innovative educators;
  • Classroom proven strategies that teachers and administrators can implement immediately;
  • Opportunities to network with cutting edge practitioners and local start-ups;
  • Centrally located and free parking – no need for flying across the country or driving for hours to connect with districts and leaders with national and international recognition.

TRETC 2018 ShowcaseIn addition, this year’s conference at the Baldwin High School, near Downtown Pittsburgh, brings a Spotlight on Pittsburgh Innovation. This past year Remake Learning of Pittsburgh sponsored an opportunity for projects to showcase the innovations that they have developed. Over 70 projects from the greater Pittsburgh area submitted a proposal. At TRETC nine of these educational programs will give Ignite Talks and share their success stories. In addition, seven university and corporate projects will join the Innovation Zone at TRETC to highlight their stories.

TRETC has become the premier K-12 learning event in the Pittsburgh region. This year the conference also hopes to draw future educators from local universities and colleges in the region. The conference includes presentations, poster sessions, a student showcase, an Innovation Zone, an Exhibitors Space, and time to network and learn more about the amazing things happening in classrooms and learning spaces around Western Pennsylvania.

Here’s one event where everyone comes out a winner.

museumlab: Raise the Beam on Learning

About seven years ago I had a conversation with Jane Werner, the Executive Director for the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, where she mentioned that the Children’s Museum hoped to extend its educational programming to the former Carnegie Library, next door to its current building. I kept that tidbit of information in the back of my mind until I was challenged as a Board Member for the Manchester Academic Charter School (MACS) to think about where we could move our middle school students. We had outgrown our home on Liverpool Avenue and needed to find a permanent location. We had engaged an architect to look at building onto the existing site, but I was not pleased with the cost for what we would get. So, I brought up the idea of moving to the Carnegie Library to Larry Berger, the MACS Board member who was in touch with Jane Werner through his work with SLB Radio, housed in the basement of the current Children’s Museum. Larry suggested we ask Jane about the opportunity to move MACS to the Carnegie Library site. We brought up the idea to Vas Scoumis, the CEO for MACS, and that started the conversation for MACS’s involvement with “musemlab”™.

By April 2019 museumlab will become a reality – a learning laboratory where play and education will intersect, where tinkering, building and  making will be part of the educational world. According to the Children’s Museum website: The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh is growing with the creation of museumlab™, a place where youth eight and older can work with makers to create everything from furniture to apps, experiment with cutting edge technology in the creation of art, climb 3 stories on a unique sculpture, collaborate on one-of-a-kind art installations and more!

MACS will find its home on the second floor and mezzanine. On the first floor there will be public spaces for organizations and exploration by children. In the basement SLB Radio will have a new digital media studio. The museumlab partners include:

It’s an exciting opportunity for other schools, non-profits, and out-of-school programs to collaborate. The Children’s Museum has two Learning Scientists on staff who will work with the partners to use the museumlab as a place for research. How can a school take the best practices from a museum and incorporate them into a more traditional approach to learning? How can students and teachers become researchers and investigate ways for greater civic engagement and social responsibility? These are some of the possible questions that museumlab may address.

 

Preview of 2017 K-12 Horizon Report

[This year I was part of the team selecting the Emerging Technologies, Trends, and Challenges for the global K-12 world. The team had members around the world. I served on the team representing the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN). When I served as the Coordinator of Educational Technology for the Fox Chapel Area School District, I used the report annually to benchmark the district goals for integrating technology into the learning process. In my teaching at Carnegie Mellon University I always shared the document with my students who worked on their technology plans or other planning document. ]

Photo by Norton Gusky CC BY 4.0

The expert panel has completed voting and the topics for the NMC/CoSN Horizon Report > 2017 K-12 Edition have been selected — below. The K12 Project as whole is led by the New Media Consortium, in collaboration with the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) and made possible by mindSpark Learning (formerly known as Share Fair Nation). The report is set to be released in August, 2017. We’re now looking for any projects, programs, policies, or leadership initiatives that fit any of the below chosen areas, to be submitted here. Download the official NMC/CoSN Horizon Report Preview > 2017 K-12 Edition to view definitions of the topics below or check out the related discussions of all of the final topics in the 2017 Horizon.k12 Workspace.

I. Key Trends Accelerating K-12 Tech Adoption

 Long-Term Trends: Driving edtech adoption in K-12 education for five or more years

  • Advancing Cultures of Innovation
  • Deeper Learning Approaches

Mid-Term Trends: Driving edtech adoption in K-12 education for the next three to five years

  • Growing Focus on Measuring Learning
  • Redesigning Learning Spaces

Short-Term Trends: Driving edtech adoption in K-12 education for the next one to two years

  • Coding as a Literacy
  • Rise of STEAM Learning

II. Significant Challenges Impeding K-12 Tech Adoption

Solvable Challenges: Those which we both understand and know how to solve

  • Authentic Learning Experiences
  • Improving Digital Literacy

Difficult Challenges: Those we understand but for which solutions are elusive

  • Rethinking the Roles of Teachers
  • Teaching Complex Thinking

Wicked Challenges: Those that are complex to even define, much less address

  • The Achievement Gap
  • Sustaining Innovation through Leadership Changes

III.  Important Developments in Educational Technology for K-12

Time-to-Adoption Horizon: One Year or Less

  • Makerspaces
  • Robotics

Time-to-Adoption Horizon: Two to Three Years

  • Analytics Technologies
  • Virtual Reality

Time-to-Adoption Horizon: Four to Five Years

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Internet of Things