On Friday, Aug. 7, more than 400 teachers attended a special workshop at Park Vista High School.
School district administrators know that there’s a need to increase the student use of technology for learning in the classroom, which is why the Department of Educational Technology hosted an internal mini-conference to start teachers on the path to change that.
Under the leadership of Gary Weidenhamer, director of educational technology, and Mark Howard, chief of performance accountability, the EdTech team hosted the technology mini-conference, which included 12 breakout sessions, as well as internationally acclaimed speaker Rushton Hurley, who began and ended the day with his inspirational, fun and informational keynote speeches.
“We know that if used in innovative ways, technology can be the key to making lessons more rigorous and meaningful,” Howard said. “We are at a critical point in education now, where we have the perfect window of opportunity to put the ownership of learning into the hands of the students. Technology allows us to do this.”
The teachers at the mini-conference got a chance to see some innovative, yet simple ways to engage students in the actual learning process using technology, Howard said.
