{"success":true,"data":[{"ID":43,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1319147185,"CreatorID":54,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Searching for DaVinci","Handle":"Searching_for_DaVinci","ShortDescription":"True learners are multidimensional; they are passionately curious about the world around them.  Leonardo da Vinci was the quintessential example of a Renaissance man.  Scientist, inventor, painter, sculptor, architect, cartographer, mathematician- the list goes on.   Is your classroom currently set up to foster the da Vinci's of the world?","Description":"Education likes to imagine itself as creating a population of individuals who excel in a range of subject areas, after all, we include a variety of subjects and topics that we push students through so that they can learn a little bit of everything.  The problem is that our students don't really excel at any of them because they aren't given the opportunity to become passionately curious about any of them.  The boxed curriculum in many of our classrooms is one dimensional, it's purpose has become to prepare students for testing.  \r\nAre we creating a classroom culture that nurtures the da Vinci's of the world?  A culture that encourages curiosity, passion and exploration?  To create a culture in your classroom that builds a true learning community, students need to have room to explore their passions.  They need to be given the opportunity to view learning as life.  Students should see that subjects of learning are not really separate entities, but rather that learning is multidimensional, overlapping and interwoven.  When you look at what da Vinci accomplished, it becomes apparent that this was someone who understood that all learning is life, that it is connected.\r\nThis is a call to create a classroom culture that nurtures da Vinci: an invitation to make learning more like life.","Link":[],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"What? So What? Now What? protocol","Presenter":["Kelly Tenkely","Michelle Baldwin","Anastasis Academy Faculty"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Anastasis Academy","Lone Tree","Colorado","USA"],"PresenterEmail":["ktenkely@gmail.com","michellek107@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":6,"ScheduleLocationID":9,"SubmitterID":54,"AdditionalComments":"Additional Anastasis faculty may join us in person or via Skype","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":46300,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":1},{"ID":38,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1319119983,"CreatorID":62,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Tradition vs Innovation, a Battle of  Beliefs","Handle":"Tradition_vs_Innovation-a_Battle_of_Beliefs","ShortDescription":"In a world where students are constantly plugged in, how do we find the balance between engaging them on their level and teaching them the face to face skills of real life interaction? In this conversation we will debate the benefits and challenges of a traditional vs an innovative curriculum.","Description":"In a world where students are constantly plugged in, how do we find the balance between engaging them on their level and also teaching them the face to face skills of conversation and real life interaction? When children share the same physical space, how do we ensure they also share the same mental space? \r\n\r\nIn this conversation we will debate the benefits and challenges of a traditional vs an innovative curriculum. We will consider the time honored experiences that we have all had and try to reconcile them with a 21st century skill set. Using a debate format, the presenters will each represent a side of the issue, taking questions from the group and following up with a conversation to further explore and debrief the experience.\r\n\r\nIn this session we will attempt to answer the following questions:\r\n - How do we find the balance between plugged in and unplugged learning?\r\n - How much technology should happen in the classroom and how much at home?\r\n - How does the digital divide impact our choices about how and what to teach?\r\n - What are the essential face-to-face skills that we dont want to lose?\r\n - What are the essential technology skills that students must learn?","Link":[],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"We will attempt to bring this conversation to life through the use of a debate format, role playing and possible use of the ping pong protocol. We plan to engage everyone in the room and push them to question their assumptions and explore both sides of the issue.","Presenter":["Liz Davis and Lisa Thumann"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Director of Academic Technology at Belmont Hill School in Belmont","MA and Innovative Learning Technologies at the School for Global Education and Innovation at Kean University","NJ"],"PresenterEmail":["lizbdavis@gmail.com","lisa.thumann@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":8,"ScheduleLocationID":9,"SubmitterID":62,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":46301,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":1},{"ID":12,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1316177728,"CreatorID":53,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Question IT: Are We Mad?!","Handle":"Question_IT-Are_We_Mad","ShortDescription":"Time to bust some myths! Many one-liners and simplistic claims are made, like \"Kids don't need to memorize anything. They can just Google it!\" Or, Its not about the tool. Its about the learning. We think such claims may be dangerous and misleading. Lets chat and deeply explore some myths.","Description":"The intention of this conversation is to encourage us to question the superficiality and decontextualized statements that we often hear and see repeated and retweeted. Although the intent of these well-intentioned claims may often be clear to those of us who have been around for a while, we believe it may mislead many who are newer to the profession.  Many of the claims infer a simple dichotomy  e.g., 'memorize' or 'don't memorize'. Things are generally not that simple and a statement like that needs to be fleshed out and understood more deeply. Other such myths include: \"Kids are great with computers.\" Hmmmmmsocial networks maybe!  Or, \"Its not about the tools, its about the learning.\" HmmmmMcLuhan may have had something to say about that one!  How about, \"Lectures are bad pedagogy.\" Always? For all people? At all times?  Another common one is, Kids can multitask. These are extremely complex points. Lets have some conversation about some of them.","Link":["http:\/\/peterskillen.org","http:\/\/brendasherry.com"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"It would be our intention to introduce the problem, state\/share the myths we have in mind (some of which are listed above), evoke some others from audience members, then allow the audience to determine which ones to discuss. Although we have our own opinions to share on these topics, there are many folks who will have ideas and perspectives that we have not thought of. It is those which we wish to elicit and support. We will use various techniques to include all voices. We will get through as many as we get through.  We will also have a creation space (Google Doc or wiki) to collect thoughts from those present (both physically and virtually).","Presenter":["Peter Skillen","Brenda Sherry"],"PresenterAffiliation":["YMCA of Greater Toronto","Upper Grand District School Board"],"PresenterEmail":["peter@peterskillen.org","bsherry1@me.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":9,"ScheduleLocationID":9,"SubmitterID":53,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":46303,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":1},{"ID":27,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1318534778,"CreatorID":62,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"So you're connected...Now what?","Handle":"So_you-re_connected-Now_what","ShortDescription":"This conversation is looking at the impact of increased social media use by administrators and the impact it has had directly on learning bu students.","Description":"As a follow up session from last year at Educon 2011, where we asked how we can get more administrators involved in social media, we are now seeing a huge influx in use from educators and administrators alike.  With this increased use in the area of social media, we want to start exploring what the impact has been.\r\n\r\nIn this conversation, George Couros and Patrick Larkin will share some of the success they have had through the use of social media in schools and the impact it has had directly on student learning, but we would also want you to be prepared to share your stories and evidence that it has impacted learning with your own students.  Please bring stories, data, and any other evidence to share so we can build a compelling case to encourage others to develop their own learning in this area.\r\n\r\nAlthough this session is directed at school administrators, we encourage all educators to come and share their stories as it will only help to further education for all students.","Link":[],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"Collecting stories through the use of tools such as Google Docs","Presenter":["George Couros","Patrick Larkin"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Parkland School Division","Burlington High School"],"PresenterEmail":["gec127@gmail.com","burlingtonhigh@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":14,"ScheduleLocationID":9,"SubmitterID":62,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":46304,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":1}],"conditions":{"Status":"Accepted","ConferenceID":1,"ScheduleLocationID":9},"total":4,"limit":false,"offset":false}