One of the more satisfying aspects of this job is the opportunity to meet regularly with some of America’s most innovative educators and to pick their brains. Most recently, Tech&Learning’s SchoolCIO Summit brought about 50 of them to Texas Hill Country outside San Antonio to decipher and debate the thorniest edtech issues of the day.
From digital curriculum and social media to leveraging the cloud and BYOD strategies, district leaders shared best practices and traded war stories and lessons learned. Our crack team of editors reported and distilled the conversations into concise executive summaries you can read beginning. Want more? We interview two of our participants: Richard Culatta, Director, Office of Educational Technology in the U.S. Department of Education and Dr. William Hite, Superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia. Log onto our sister site schoolcio.com to dig into presentation resources and other materials. Also, look for further coverage in November for wrap-up from our Fall Summit.
If that weren’t enough to tire your brain, contributing editor Ellen Ullman shares some inspiring stories of US students becoming global citizens: Students in Maine participating in the Arab Spring; Students in Michigan learning about the Holocaust by interacting with Israeli students; and Wisconsin kids connecting with students from China to South Africa. Added bonus: All of these activities can ultimately contribute to meeting those pesky and imminent Common Core standards.
Of course, we wouldn’t go a month without collecting the latest and greatest edtech gear to come on the market staring on page 62. Look for these to be reviewed in the coming weeks as well. Thanks for reading!
— Kevin Hogan
Editorial Director
khogan@nbmedia.com
