NJASA

17^th annual TECHSPO conference, Bally’s Atlantic City, Jan. 26-27, 2012

• Dr. Richard Bozza, executive director of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, is available to comment on how schools have gone beyond ‘technology for the sake of technology,’ and now are using it as a meaningful tool to advance the curriculum.

TRENTON, N.J. — January 12, 2012 — Once-banned cell phones are now a welcome presence in many New Jersey’s classrooms. Educators are embracing smart phones, iPads and similar devices, as well as social media platforms from YouTube to Twitter, to help teach and engage their students.  Incorporating technology more deeply into the New Jersey curriculum is the focus of this year’s TECHSPO, a statewide technology conference by educators for educators.  

The17^th annual TECHSPO conference will be held at Bally’s Atlantic City on Jan. 26-27, 2012. Sponsored by the New Jersey Association of School Administrators (NJASA), the conference is the largest of its kind in the state, and will be attended by superintendents, school board members, curriculum directors and teachers throughout the state.

Statewide curriculum standards require students to master 21^st century skills and TECHSPO will showcase new technologies, as well as introduce ways to use them in meaningful instruction. Highlights of two days full of group instructional sessions include:

·         Paradigm Shifts Made Possible With Technology

·         So Many Apps…How, What, Which to Use? Using the iPad to Create the 1:1 Learning Climate

·         Addressing the National Common Core Standards and Complying with QSAC

·         Blocking and Unblocking Student Access: A Case Study in YouTube and Twitter

·         Your Techsposure to Deploying iPads

·         Keys to Effective Online Teaching

·         Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT)

·         Digital Dialogue: Using Tech Tools to Launch a Love of Literacy

·         Tweeting to Raise Student Achievement

·         Bullying and Social Networking: Legal Challenges for Students, Staff and Boards of Education in the Age of Cyberspace

·         The 21^st Century Classroom

·         Web 2.0 for Administrators

The Exhibit Hall will be open throughout the conference. Exhibitors will showcase, and in many cases demonstrate, new technology for the classroom.

“Technology is no longer just a tool to engage students,” said Dr. Richard Bozza, executive director of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators (NJASA).  “Technology is an integral part of creative thinking and problem-solving in the classroom. It is a way to more deeply engage students in learning.”

TECHSPO will feature keynote addresses by two visionaries in the educational technology field:

·         Ian Jukes, director of the 21^st Century Fluency Project, will deliver the keynote speech on Thursday, January 26, 2012, at the Opening Session, at 9 a.m. Jukes is a teacher, administrator, writer, consultant, and university instructor—one of the top ten educational speakers in America. His self-avowed mission is to ensure that children are properly prepared for the future. As a result, his material tends to focus on many of the pragmatic issues that provide the essential context for educational restructuring.

·         Educator and administrator Jhone Ebert is the keynote speaker for Friday, January 27, 2012, at 9 a.m. Ebert is an award-winning mathematics teacher, the Clark County School District’s first Virtual High School principal, and current chair of the Nevada Commission on Educational Technology. She identifies 21^st century learning as part of a greater learning community that includes online learning and 24/7 access to resources. Students benefit from highly interactive and explorative learning experiences that also teach valuable technology skills.

Pre-registration for the conference is required. For more information, visit www.njasa.net or email libbyd@njasa.net.