December

=Educational Technology Leadership Conference=

The 13th annual Educational Technology Leadership Conference was held in Roanoke, Virginia, December 4-7, at the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center. Over 900 attendees attended informative concurrent, poster, and spotlight sessions on a variety of topics related to the effective implementation and application of educational technology.

The Pokemon Learning League Project Launch was held at a preconference event on December 4 where attendees received information about the pilot Virginia will be conducting with 4,000 fourth grade students to determine the effectiveness of this online instructional web site. To find out more about the project, contact Jean Weller at jean.weller@doe.virginia.gov.

Two additional project launches occurred at the conference//. Share The Skies// makes available to Virginia's public schools a telescope located in Australia to allow students to study the night sky during school hours. This project enables students to remotely control via the Web a telescope and to capture images of stellar objects. Two students from Cloverdale Elementary School in Botetourt County demonstrated the use of the telescope for the audience.

//Thinkfinity//, formerly //Marco Polo//, was also featured at the Educational Technology Leadership Conference. Verizon Foundation has added new partners, new features, and new excitement to this site, and Virginia has renewed its commitment to this national project. Hands-on and online training sessions on integrating technology continues to be a part of this project.

The Internet Safety spotlight session featured Donna Rice Hughes discussing her new online resource designed to educate and empower parents and caretakers to protect children in their care from Internet dangers. The site, http://www.protectkids.com/, provides a non-technical guide called "Rules 'N Tools" for parents and caretakers.

A surprise visitor to the Internet safety spotlight session was introduced by Sheriff Brown of Bedford //County's Blue Ridge Thunder.// Eric Estrada spoke briefly about the need to teach students about Internet safety and then posed with attendees of the session for pictures.

The 2007 Educational Technology Leadership Conference provided a wealth of information about technology topics of current interest to Virginia's educators. More than one attendee commented that it was the "best conference yet" and had provided attendees with resources and information that would be shared and implemented when they returned to their school divisions.

=Instructional Telecommunications Services Contract Presentation for State Board of Education=

Educational services staff from the five public television stations along with Lan Neugent and Linda Holt from the Department of Education shared information about the programming and services provided to schools through the Instructional Telecommunications Services Contract.

Each station provided a snapshot of the types of services they provide regionally to the schools they serve. Linda Holt provided an overview of the contract process.

Dr. Mark Emblidge, President of the State Board of Education, also serves as chair of the Virginia Public Broadcasting Board, and he felt that the members of the State Board of Education would benefit from receiving information about the support of the public television stations for Virginia's schools.

=Did You Know?=

Teachers often have great ideas for engaging their students in active learning, but may lack the resources or materials to implement these ideas. Now, through a not-for-profit Web site, [|www.DonorsChoose.org], Virginia teachers may submit project proposals for funding through charitable donations. See Superintendent's Memo No. 242, http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/suptsmemos/2007/inf242.html, for more information.

The Office of Educational Technology provides information briefs on topics of interest to school divisions. These information briefs are located at http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Technology/OET/fyi.shtml.

//Technology Sparks// highlights connections between subject-area Standards of Learning for grades 6-8 with the computer/technolgoy SOL for the same grade levels. These documents help teachers visualize how technology can enhance their SOL-based lessons and SPARK their own ideas for integration. Copies of this notebook were provided to each technology coordinator or their designee who attended the Educational Technology Leadership Conference.