{"success":true,"data":[{"ID":368,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1384266415,"CreatorID":334,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"How Can Unions Help Foster Educational Reform?","Handle":"How_Can_Unions_Help_Foster_Educational_Reform","ShortDescription":"Are unions impeding or accelerating the pace of innovation and reform in education? How are unions affecting the way teachers are valued by parents and the public?  What can be done about these issues? Come to this session and we'll find out ... together!","Description":"Are unions impeding or accelerating the pace of innovation and reform in education?  By fostering traditional workplace rules regarding seniority and hours worked, are we discouraging teachers who put in longer hours and go beyond the standard requirements?  How are unions affecting the way teachers are valued by parents and the public? Let's have a discussion about how education is affected positively and negatively by unions and what can be done to foster reform without giving up the benefits of collective bargaining.","Link":["http:\/\/goo.gl\/zSQduv"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"We will use the \"What? So What? Now What?\" protocol to divide the conversation into three sections, using a timekeeper to ensure all three get addressed. A Google Doc (at a minimum) will document the discussion and act as a resource for further reflection and action.","Presenter":["Whitney Hoffman","Kevin Jarrett"],"PresenterAffiliation":[],"PresenterEmail":["ldpodcast@gmail.com","kevin.jarrett@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":25,"ScheduleLocationID":6,"SubmitterID":334,"AdditionalComments":"THANK YOU!!!","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":3},{"ID":355,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1383758371,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Developing MakerSpaces that Count","Handle":"Developing_MakerSpaces_that_Count","ShortDescription":"This conversation will center around ways to integrate \"MakerSpaces\" where students can tinker, hack, and create during the school day AND get credit for it.","Description":"Two years ago, I launched the Burlington High School Student Help Desk to support our iPad deployment (1,000). This course was modeled after Apple's Genius Bar and provided students with a space for tinkering, hacking, and inquiry during one period a day. This class of students also assisted our district technology, professional development, and conferences at Burlington Public Schools. While it was not a traditional course, it still met many of the standards of the Common Core. \r\n\r\nThis conversation will center on ways in which educators, administrators and tech and library leaders can disrupt the conventional course catalog and provide ways to integrate courses that promote exploring, hacking, and inquiry driven standards.","Link":["http:\/\/andrewmarcinek.com"],"Audience":["High School"],"Practice":"Using a collaborative document, participants will brainstorm ideas for a courses that can fit the needs of the curious, driven student. Documents will be shared on a Google Site for public view.","Presenter":["Andy Marcinek"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Director of Technology","Groton-Dunstable Regional SD"],"PresenterEmail":["amarcinek@gdrsd.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":27,"ScheduleLocationID":6,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":3},{"ID":365,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1384034470,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Elementary, PBL & Public Schools. Is it possible?","Handle":"Elementary-PBL-Public_Schools-Is_it_possible","ShortDescription":"Is PBL just for grades 6-12? In this discussion we will challenge whether or not authentic problem based learning is possible in a public elementary school. We will look at three components: curriculum, aesthetics and norms and flesh out each component to arrive at a working model of PBL in an elementary environment.","Description":"Problem and Project based learning is often practiced in grades 6-12, but rarely in grades K-5. Our essential question is, how can students at an earlier developmental age gain the foundation of literacy and math skills in a true PBL,K-5 setting? Is the design of a true PBL classroom developmentally appropriate for this age group and for public schools? This will be a hands-on, minds-on session that will examine and then construct curriculum,  aesthetics and norms. Come ready to share, build and challenge.","Link":["http:\/\/pottsedtech.blogspot.com"],"Audience":["Elementary School"],"Practice":"This will be a conversation that will take place in a large and then smaller groups. The larger group will be used for identifying pros and cons associated with such a learning environment, details for consideration and determine a goal for the end product. Then, the smaller groups will focus on the details of fruition; one group will construct the aesthetics, one construct the essential elements of the curriculum and the other discuss how norms need to be structured in a K-5 PBL school. Participants will organically come to see how each group's mission is intertwined. Google docs will be used for collaboration, construction tools (such as poster boards, blocks, etc.) will be used for building. Twitter will be used to share out conversation pieces and constructed visuals. The conversation will end with participants sharing what ideas from the session they will bring back to their colleagues (our form of a \"do now\").","Presenter":["Diana Potts"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Lambertville Public School","NJEA (consultant)"],"PresenterEmail":["pottsedtech@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":28,"ScheduleLocationID":6,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"This proposal comes from the want to see more elementary focused discussions on the menu of conferences like Educon. It also comes from a discussion recently had with an educator asking the same question, \"is a public K-5 elementary school really possible?\" As an educator who sits on the elementary\/middle school fence of practice, I've wanted to see more elementary focused sessions that engage educators of this specific, earlier developmental age group and challenges traditional, elementary pedagogy. This is the right place to do so.","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":3},{"ID":304,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1381454105,"CreatorID":88,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Augmented Awesomeness: Augmented Reality in the Classroom","Handle":"Augmented_Awesomeness:Augmented_Reality_in_the_Classroom","ShortDescription":"5th-8th graders came together on Wednesdays to experiment with a promising application, Aurasma, that makes creating interactive experiences a snap through layering virtual objects over images in the Greene Street Library. What was gained from this experiment? How can you harness the potential of augmented reality in your school?","Description":"Aurasma (www.aurasma.com) is a FREE app for iOS and Android devices that brings the potential of augmented reality into your hands. Intuitive and simplified, with Aurasma you can begin to layer virtual objects (videos, animations, pop-ups, links, etc.) over trigger images in your camera's view. Think QR Codes, but instead of those squares, actual art and full scale images. At Greene Street Friends School in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, a \"Choices\" group (synonymous with electives) of 5th-8th graders spent their Wednesday afternoons experimenting with the application within the GSFS Library. As more schools come to embrace BYOD and 1-to-1 technology integration models, teachers and administrators can find innovative ways to use this technology to engage and interest students, create new outlets for students to display and reflect upon their work, and also redefine the way that students can interact with print texts. Students from the project shall be on hand to discuss their experience, what they enjoyed, and the potential pitfalls.\r\n\r\nTIP: We will make available iPads for those who do not have an Aurasma capable device already. However, if you do, I would suggest downloading the app in advance of the Conversation for our Make-n-Take plans.\r\n\r\nEDIT: (12\/16\/2013) I'm working on my presentation using a Google Document that is open for comments. Feel free to ask questions, make suggestions, etc. in this document. http:\/\/bit.ly\/educonAR\r\n\r\nUPDATE (1\/23\/2014): Rethinking the use of Twitter and will continue to use Google Doc (http:\/\/bit.ly\/educonAR) through the presentation. Added some info over the weekend and changed the setting to allow editing from everyone.\r\n\r\nUPDATE (1\/24\/2014): Added Presentation Slides: http:\/\/bit.ly\/1eYdzWd","Link":["http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/edinterwebs","https:\/\/plus.google.com\/u\/0\/communities\/114687849554484156659"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"We plan to have iPads on hand for conversation participants to experiment live with Aurasma and create their first augmented reality experience.  Students shall act as group leaders. Backchannel conversation will be funneled through GoogleDocs to create a collaborative resource take-away.","Presenter":["Christopher Rogers"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Greene Street Friends School","Philly Connected Learning Group"],"PresenterEmail":["crogers.greenestreet@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":33,"ScheduleLocationID":6,"SubmitterID":88,"AdditionalComments":"WiFi Connectivity for the iPads will be necessary for the app demonstration.","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":3}],"conditions":{"Status":"Accepted","ConferenceID":3,"ScheduleLocationID":6},"total":4,"limit":false,"offset":false}