Speakers
Speakers at Technology & Learning's Tech Forum are innovators in the field of educational technology. With years of experience as conference presenters, educators, school leaders and Technology & Learning authors, they offer a unique perspective on technology challenges and solutions.
Keynote Speaker
Hall Davidson
Director
Discovery Educator Network
Hall Davidson is director of the Discovery Educator Network, a new division of Discovery Communications focused on moving into the world of channel-less video-on-demand. Before joining Discovery, he served for 15 years as director of educational services at KOCE-TV, a PBS station in Orange County, California. He is festival director for the California Student Media and Multimedia Festival, the nation's oldest media festival for students, and on the faculty of Golden West College, where he teaches a course on Technology in Education for teacher candidates. In addition, he serves on the board for California's Computer-Using Educators, the academic advisory committee for California State University at Fullerton, and the Blue Ribbon Technology Awards Committee of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. A former classroom teacher and a frequent speaker and author, Davidson has taught mathematics on television (on a program that earned an Emmy) and produced educational PBS series on such topics as information literacy and the Internet. He was recently elected chair of the School Site Council at Franklin Elementary in the Los Angeles Unified School District where his two children attend school.
OTHER SPEAKERS
Tony Anderson
Chief Information Office
Fullerton School District, CA
Before becoming CIO of the Fullerton School District, Tony Anderson worked as a school psychologist, coordinator of state and federal projects, director of student information and evaluation, and director of information services. He is a past president of Computer-Using Educators, Inc. and recipient of the Gold and Platinum Disk Awards from that organization, recognizing his achievements in the field of educational technology. In 1996, Apple Computer selected Anderson as an Apple Distinguished Educator. He is a key player in the Fullerton School District’s one-to-one laptop program, which is now in its third year of operation. Fullerton’s technology programs have been honored with awards from the American Association of School Administrators, Project Tomorrow, and eSchool News.
Dr. Philip Brody
Assistant Superintendent and CTO
Clark County School District, NV
Phil Brody has served as assistant superintendent and chief technology officer of the Clark County School District, in Las Vegas, Nevada, since 1998. In this capacity, he oversees the technology program in the fifth largest and one of the fastest growing metropolitan school districts in the country. Under Brody’s direction, the district has recently completed the installation of converged gigabit Ethernet wide area network that provides data, voice, and video connectivity throughout this district. Before assuming his current position, Brody served as executive director of technology services (and, before that, director of technology development) for the St. Louis Public Schools; a faculty member and director of the Instructional Technology Center at the University of Kansas; and an instructional design specialist at the University of Southern Colorado. Brody is author of the book Technology Planning and Management Handbook: A Guide for School District Educational Technology Leaders and was named by Computerworld as one of its Premier 100 IT Leaders for 2004.
Dr. Lynell Burmark
Author and Consultant
Sunnyvale, CA
Lynell Burmark earned her Ph.D. from Stanford University, where faculty and students elected her to receive the Walter Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching. After eleven years of classroom teaching K-16 and nine years in administration, she joined the Thornburg Center for Professional Development. She now consults to high-tech companies and school districts, and presents at dozens of conferences every year. Burmark's book, Visual Literacy: Learn to See, See to Learn, a widely adopted textbook for teacher education and instructional technology programs, won the book of the year award for publisher ASCD and is now expanded, updated, and available as an eBook. Visit her website — www.educatebetter.org — for more information.
John Fleischman
Director of Technology Services
Sacramento County Office of Education
With more than 25 years of experience in education as a teacher and project director, John Fleischman is currently responsible for all of Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE)’s information and educational technology operations. He possesses an extensive background in creating and implementing informational and instructional media for use in a variety of educational environments. Fleischman’s present area of focus is on building Web-based solutions for education, including data management systems and comprehensive online learning resources. Working at the state and national level, he is guiding development of a range of technology initiatives such as the California Distance Learning Project, Outreach and Technology Assistance Network, and AdultEd Online. He is the author of numerous publications and is frequently requested as a presenter at both state and national conferences. He also serves on a variety of advisory boards and committees for a number of different projects and organizations including the CA Learning Resources Network, National Institute for Literacy, and the Internet2 K20 Committee.
Andreas Ua'Siaghail
President and CCO
Resolve Labs
Andreas Ua'Siaghail (pronounced O'Shields) is president and chief creative officer of 23 YYZee - Pax Warrior Media, which develops and produces educational software, new media, game-based content and interactive documentaries. Educated in communications, linguistics and design, he has been producing, hosting and broadcasting since 1981. He has focused on new media since 1992, leading teams in the development of over 60 computer-based training modules and well over 100 websites. Ua'Siaghail is co-creator and producer of the games-based eLearning module "Pax Warrior" which won best eLearning in the Americas and Oceania at the World Summit on the Information society.
Gigi Kelley
1:1 classroom teacher
Fullerton School District
Ginette (Gigi) Kelley is a GATE-certified teacher in the Fullerton School District where she now teaches in a fifth grade 1:1 classroom. She was named an Apple Distinguished Educator in 2005. Recently she has worked on distance learning projects connecting her classroom with classrooms across the country. She has served as a facilitator on an American history grant where she worked with teachers to develop curriculum tied to state standards, as well as a lead teacher in a history/social science curriculum project within the Orange County Department of Education. Kelley has been teaching since 1992 after receiving her teaching credential from California State University San Bernardino and is currently working toward her Masters Degree in Educational Leadership.
Eva LaMar
One-to-One Laptop Initiative Program Development Specialist
Springfield Public Schools, OR
Eva LaMar has an extensive background in educational technology. She has won numerous national awards for classroom projects as well as being featured by the George Lucas Educational Foundation and Edutopia Magazine. She is an Intel Teach to the Future senior trainer, Macromedia Educational Leader, Apple Distinguished Educator and director of The Geo-Literacy Project. LaMar has presented at NECC, California CUE, NCCE, and CAG conferences. She is currently the one-to-one program development specialist for Springfield Public Schools, where she directs Oregon's first one-to-one laptop program. She is also co-directing the "Day in the Life of a one-to-one learning enviroment" along with Dr. Kyle Peck.
Dr. Linda Marks
Superintendent of Schools
Golf School District 67, Morton Grove, IL
Dr. Linda Marks has held the position of superintendent in Illinois’ Golf School District 67 for fifteen years. During that time, she implemented a technology plan which led to her district’s receipt of the NSBA “Salute District” designation. She is also a founding member of the First in the World Consortium, a mathematics and science initiative that identifies world class teaching and learning techniques. Superintendent Marks has presented numerous workshops, taught at several universities in Northern Illinois and served as a consultant to assist districts in strategic planning and system wide change.
Susan McLester
Editor in Chief
Technology & Learning Magazine
Susan McLester is editor in chief of Technology & Learning magazine. She has been an editor at T&L for 13 years, concurrently writing a weekly column for the L.A. Times' Tech Times section, articles on technology for Newsweek, Parenting, Entertainment@Home, and other publications, and presenting at a range of education technology conferences, including T&L's Tech Forum. She has acted as a juror for the Bologna Book Fair's New Media division and has spoken about educational technology on Bloomberg Radio, Microsoft NBC and other television shows. She is also an experienced middle and high school teacher, book editor and writer.
Judy Salpeter
Program Chair
Technology & Learning Events
Judy Salpeter, an experienced educator and education technology specialist, is program chair for Technology & Learning Events. On the editorial staff of Technology & Learning magazine since 1985, Salpeter served as editor-in-chief from 1994 to 2000. In addition to overseeing content for Technology & Learning Events, she is now consulting editor to the magazine and works as a freelance writer, consultant and conference planner. Over the years, she has written for publications including Business Week and Newsweek, authored a software program (Mystery Sentences, Scholastic, 1984) and a book (Kids & Computers: A Parents' Handbook, SAMS, 1991), and edited a number of publications for the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN).
Charles Sinicki
Project Facilitator
Clark County School District, NV
Chuck Sinicki has been an educator for 14 years, 10 of them in the computing field as a classroom teacher, educational computing strategist, project facilitator of instructional technology and most currently, a data coordinator. He has been instrumental in the implementation of handheld technology in the classroom over the past five years. Sinicki is an active Palm Education Training Coordinator (PETC) who has presented at numerous national, regional and local conferences and webinars on topics such as eBooks and handheld database applications.
Scott Smith
Director of Instructional Technology
Visalia School District
Scott Smith has 25 years of service in public education as a 7-12 teacher, site administrator and district director. For 10 years, he directed the Educational Technology Masters Degree program at Fresno Pacific University, where he developed the popular Summer Technology Festival. In 1998, Smith founded the annual Innovations in Education conference in Tulare County, which just completed its 9th year serving over 250 local educators. In 2003 he launched the annual Slick Rock Student Film Festival. Now in its fourth year, the program is expecting over 100 student film entries. In addition to his role as director of instructional technology for the Visalia School District, Scott Smith serves as the Board President for CUE.
Mark Wagner
President, Educational Technology and Life Corporation
Irvine, California
A former high school English teacher, Mark Wagner has since served as an educational technology coordinator at Estancia High School, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, and the Orange County Department of Education. He is now the president of the Educational Technology and Life Corporation, which provides professional development and consulting services to schools, districts, and other educational institutions. In this capacity, he coordinates the state-wide CUEtoYOU professional development program for Computer Using Educators, Inc. He also writes for the Infinite Thinking Machine, a blog and Internet TV Show produced by WestEd and sponsored by Google. In addition, he provides training for administrators through Orange County’s AB 430 program. Wagner’s work with schools and districts includes writing educational technology plans, leading pilot projects for emerging technologies, and working with parents to help them understand the powerful new tools their students use everyday. He is currently working towards a PhD in Educational Technology at Walden University, where his research focuses on the use of video games in education, and specifically on the potential applications of massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORGPs) as constructivist learning environments.
David Warlick
Director
Landmark Project, NC
David Warlick is the Director of the Landmark Project based in Raleigh North Carolina. A former history teacher, district level administrator, and IT specialist with the North Carolina State Department of Public Instruction, he is a nationally and internationally recognized leader in innovative applications of technology, especially the Internet. He has spoken at conferences, seminars and workshops in most states and many other countries; writes for a number of magazines and journals; and has developed numerous curriculum projects over the global network, including the second oldest continuing online project, the Global Grocery List. Warlick is the author of Raw Materials for the Mind: 4th Edition, Redefining Literacy for the 21st Century, and Classroom Blogging: A Teacher's Guide to the Blogoshpere.
