Integrating OER Into a Strong Instructional Model…and Four Other SXSWedu Sessions You CANNOT Miss

We’re heading off to Austin, Texas next week to present our session on Integrating Open Educational Resources Into a Strong Instructional Model at SXSWedu 2012. For those who are attending, here are four other sessions – in addition to ours – that should not be missed. For those who are unable to attend, don’t fret. We’ll post our keynote right here on the OLE blog, so stay tuned.

1. Integrating OER Into a Strong Instructional Model

When: March 7, 2:00PM – 3:00PM
Where: Hilton Austin Downtown, Room 406
Speakers: Marc Nelson (OLE), Lindsay Bellino (OLE)

Description:
Great educational resources can come from just about anywhere, but how can you organize those resources in a strong instructional model that betters teaching and learning? In this workshop we’ll explore tools and tips for finding and evaluating the best of OER. We will look at mixing and matching OER, popular Web 2.0 interactivity, and more traditional resources to form authoritative teaching and learning materials that engage your students and transform instructional delivery.

2. Re-envisioning Pedagogy: Educators as Curators

When: March 6, 10:15AM – 11:15AM
Where: Hilton Austin Downtown, Room 412
Speakers: Corinne Weisgerber (St. Edward’s University) Shannan Butler (St. Edward’s University

Description:
The advent of social media platforms paired with revolutionary changes in technology has brought about a new ecology of information which holds the potential of fundamentally altering the way we learn and teach; but only if we open our classrooms up to this new reality.

In this presentation, we will argue that the role of a teacher be re-envisioned as that of a curator of ideas. A museum curator scours the art world, selecting the finest works and then gathers them together around a unified theme, provides viewers with a frame to understand the artists’ messages and hosts conversation around the collection. Much like the museum curator, the 21st Century teacher must comb through an overabundance of information in order to discover the significant and relevant, then bundle those ideas into course modules, contextualize them for the classroom and create an environment for students to explore those ideas and enter into conversation.

The ultimate goal should be to arouse students’ intellectual curiosity with a model of how to discover, acquire and critically evaluate information. In essence, this session is about teaching students to become curators themselves.

3. College Readiness is Not a Cut Score

When: March 6, 11:30AM – 12:30PM
Where: Hilton Austin Downtown, Room 412
Speakers: David Conley (Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC))

Description:
From the New York Times to your local newspaper, an increasing number of headlines proclaim that most students are unprepared for college. Such “unready” designations are primarily derived from students failing to meet a specific score on a large-scale standardized assessment such as the SAT, the ACT, or state exit exam. While these news stories bring urgency to the college readiness policy agenda, a cut score definition of college readiness is problematic for a number of reasons. First, cut scores obscure the full continuum of options for post-secondary education. Second, these exams account for just one dimension of college readiness, content knowledge, and do not address the thinking skills, learning behaviors, and contextual knowledge necessary for a successful transition into college and career. In this SXSW session, Dr. David Conley will present a more comprehensive definition of (and more authentic ways to measure) college readiness.

4. Using Technology to Make Learning Personal

When: March 6, 3:15PM – 4:15PM
Where: Hilton Austin Downtown, Salon C
Speakers: Mark David Milliron (Western Governors University Texas)

Description:
The hype around the use technology to “transform” traditional learning is everywhere and exhausting. Ironically, what technology might be best used for is to enable what we’ve long known works well in teaching and learning: engagement. It also might be best used to help stimulate what we’ve long known is a key to student success: academic tenacity. Most of all, all this technology might actually make learning more personal, optimizing our face-to-face time with students. Come join a conversion about all of this and more as we explore the strategic use of data analytics, digital curricular curation, “flip” models, competency-based progression, and more.

5. Redefining “Data Driven”

When: March 6, 2:00PM – 3:00PM
Where: Hilton Austin Downtown, Room 404
Speakers: Ash Bhoopathy (BetterAt), Ian Needham (Chicago Public Schools), Jac de Haan (Technology with Intention), Marilee Bowles-Carey (IIT Institute of Design)

Description:
Ever since NCLB cemented the idea of standardized testing as the holy grail of accountability, teachers have struggled to figure out how to leverage data to improve instruction in the classroom. The problem is two-fold: First, test data is but one type of data that can help a teacher adapt instruction. Second, standardized test data is not available when the teacher needs it most, in real time. By the time teachers receive standardized test data, those students have moved on to the next grade. This talk will describe the varieties of data a teacher can capture in real time and offer a framework for ensuring that the data captured is meaningful and actionable for both teachers and students.

Meaningful Data: Actionable, Capturable, Transparent

Honorable Mentions

• iBook – Going Mobile in the High School Classroom
• Why Digital Writing Matters in Education
• Flipped Classroom: Social Media for Educators
• Developing a Culture of Sharing
• School 2.0: Teachers and the Future of Education