Photos clockwise from upper left — opening keynote speaker Lisa Ling, correspondent for the National Geographic channel and Oprah Winfrey show; an attendee in one of the many workshops; an exhibit hall booth full of interested attendees; Vice President Convention Candace Threadgill; attendees learn about software at an exhibit booth; an overview of the exhibit hall; closing keynote speaker Dr. Robert Ballard, Founder and Chairman of The JASON Project, a National Geographic Society Explorer-in-Residence, and professor in the Graduate School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island.
TCEA 2009 Attendees Accelerated to the Fast Lane
The Texas Computer Education Association’s 29th Annual Convention & Exposition was held on Feb. 2-6, 2009, in Austin, Texas. TCEA 2009 was packed full of educational sessions, hands-on experiences, peer-to-peer learning, industry expert presenters, fun events, and an abundance of networking opportunities! This year’s program included something for everyone.
Opening General Session
TCEA’s five-day convention, one of the largest educational technology conventions in the nation and the largest in Texas, officially opened the main convention days at the Opening General Session on Wednesday morning.
In a live feed from Klein ISD, students greeted audience members and praised the technology in their own school, Krimmel Intermediate. In addition, the winners and finalists of the 2009 Educator Awards and Scholarships were also honored and presented to the audience. The winners were announced at a special reception on Tuesday afternoon.
Opening Keynote speaker was Lisa Ling, correspondent for The Oprah Winfrey Show and National Geographic. A role model for today’s youth and adults, Lisa Ling is a Special Correspondent for The Oprah Winfrey Show and contributor to the Oxygen Network and National Geographic Channel. From stories about gang rape in the Congo to bride burning in India, The Oprah Winfrey Show has been sending Ling all over the world to cover vitally important stories that much of the world chooses to ignore.
Prior to her recent globe trotting, Ling was known to millions of Americans as co-host of The View, where she shared no-holds-barred opinions on current events and everyday issues. Ling’s hard work continues off-camera; she serves as a contributing editor for USA Weekend and has produced eight documentaries for PBS, several of which have won awards.
Ling talked about her childhood and early career as a Channel 1 News correspondent, as well as her time spent as a panelist on “The View.” She said the story that had the biggest impact on her happened when she was 21 years old. She was sent to cover Afghanistan’s civil war and was in an “utter state of shock at the scene” that greeted her. Very young men with guns and lifeless expressions were hanging out everywhere in the country. “They never had a day of education or school,” she said. When she returned, she found it difficult and disturbing when she tried to interest her fellow Americans in their plight.
“It’s a pretty sad commentary that our knowledge of what’s happening in the world is so limited,” she said. Eventually, she took a job with National Geographic in order to increase the awareness of what’s happening in other parts of the world. She has covered such stories as Columbia drug wars, gangs in El Salvador, and China’s Lost Girls.
“In our country, we have more information than we know what to do with, but how often do we seek out information on what’s going on ‘over there?’” she said.
Sessions and Events
TCEA 2009 offered more than 400 sessions and workshops and seven featured presenters, all of whom are nationally known experts in educational technology. The convention also had an array of new events, panel discussions, and sessions on the latest hot topics in educational technology. Attendees had the chance to learn about reducing your schools’ carbon footprint or the next generation of robotics or listen to panel discussions on Web 2.0 and gaming in education. They witnessed exemplary technology integration in action in the Model Classroom Pit Stop and the Film Festival.
More than 800 exciting educational technology exhibits showcased the latest and best products. Featured were vendors who provide products and services for instructional and administrative software, Internet, LAN/WAN, staff development, desktop/network security, and more. Attendees also enjoyed the Networking Exhibit Hall Reception, a relaxed networking opportunity to connect with the exhibitors, mingle with their colleagues, and check out the latest products and services in educational technology.
TCEA 2009 also offered more chances to have fun: dancing the night away with the Texas Unlimited Band at the Thursday evening social; experiencing a unique night at Austin City Limits as Austin’s own Mother Truckers performed on the stage of PBS’s longest running popular live concert music series; and preparing for a day of intense educational sessions while having a cup of coffee and listening to live music at Wednesday’s Tune Up Your Morning.
Special Events
Thinkfinity Trainer Network sponsored several special sessions as well as their own exhibit hall booth at the convention to better acquaint educators with their resources. On Thursday evening, attendees were asked to wear their free Thinkfinity t-shirts and participate in a special drawing for prizes. TCEA has received a $70,500 grant from the Verizon Foundation to continue to raise awareness and train teachers to use the free educational resources available on Thinkfinity.org. With the grant, the Verizon Foundation has now invested $134,150 with TCEA to provide innovative online resources and professional development for teachers throughout Texas. For more information about this opportunity, contact Training Director Monica Martinez at mmartinez@tcea.org.
TCEA launched a new advocacy network called TexTAN at the TCEA Advocacy Panel and Reception on Tuesday, Feb. 3, during the annual convention.
TexTAN is a tool that will enable educators and others to engage in the political process easily and help project a unified voice in support of a common cause — improving teaching and learning through the effective use of technology. TexTAN is a part of ETAN, a tool that was established to influence public policy-makers at the federal, state, and local levels and to increase public investment in the competitiveness of America’s classrooms and students.
TCEA hosted a legislative panel discussing the use of technology in the classroom. Panelists were Rep. Rob Eissler, Rep. Scott Hochberg, Rep. Dan Branch, Rep. Harold Dutton, Rep. Dora Olivo, and Rep. Diane Patrick.
You can register for ETAN at http://www.edtechactionnetwork.org. Find out more about TCEA’s legislative positions at http://www.tcea.org/textan. For information, contact Jennifer Bergland at jennifer_bergland@tcea.org.
Closing General Session
The Closing Keynote was Dr. Robert Ballard, Founder and Chairman of The JASON Project, a National Geographic Society Explorer-in-Residence, and professor in the Graduate School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island. The discoverer of numerous historic shipwrecks, including R.M.S. Titanic, Bismarck, and PT-109, he is a world-renowned scientist, explorer, and author.
Ballard outlined the history of his work in undersea exploration. “Seventy-two percent of the earth is a very alien world,” he said, “It is freezing cold and totally dark and is a very difficult place to work.”
Although Ballard is known for his discovery of the sunken Titanic, he said his greatest accomplishments are discovering things undersea that we hadn’t known about. He and his team of explorers discovered a 42,000-square-mile mountain range that was not known about until the 1960s. The mountain range is the largest geographic feature on the planet. “This is where the earth creates its outer skin when lava forms a new crust for the earth. The earth has a continuous face lift,” he said. In conjunction with the mountain range, thousands of active volcanoes erupt lava all the time. They also discovered exotic life forms in the area, which defied previous theories of what was needed to maintain life.
This year, Ballard and his team will activate a dream he has had for 20 years, namely to broadcast live over a closed TV channel while an unmanned vehicle films undersea. In sites scattered through the country, scientists will be able to watch in real time as the camera films from miles underneath the sea.
Ballard’s education component, The Jason Project concentrates on getting middle school students interested and involved in science. “We need to focus on middle school because that’s where the battle is won or lost,” he said. The Jason Project web-based program gives students the opportunity to be explorers without giving them pat answers. Find out more about The Jason Project at http://www.jason.org/public/home.aspx.
Also at the closing session, new board members were sworn in and introduced. The 2010 Vice President Convention Lacey Gosch was introduced and she unveiled her convention logo and theme, “Charting New Waters.”
One of the highlights of the closing session is always the door prizes give-aways at the end of the event. TCEA gave away great prizes contributed by exhibitors or by TCEA as an organization. Mediatech gave a 21st Century Classroom, which included control systems and furniture.
