The Tech Forum New York 2011, which was held Oct. 21 at the Westchester Marriot Hotel in Tarrytown, drew educators and technology directors from a variety of regional school districts, including many staffers from the LHRIC and SWBOCES who were hoping to learn more about the latest trends in technology. Punya Mishra, a professor of educational psychological and educational technology at the College of Education at Michigan State University, delivered the keynote presentation. Dr. Mishra urged participants to "break out of the box" in order to benefit from the true transformative effects of technology. "We are using it, but clearly that's not enough," he said.
The rapid rate of technological change, while apparent everywhere, can be a big challenge for teachers who are under increased pressure to learn new ways of integrating technology into the classroom, he said. While billions of dollars have been spent on the acquisition of new software, hardware systems and training, Dr. Mishra added that technology integration has been disappointing, asking the question: "How can we use technology to innovate?"
Dr. Mishra argued that to fully integrate technology into the curriculum, teachers must integrate their own knowledge of student thinking, their knowledge of the subject they're teaching, and increasingly, their knowledge of technology. The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge framework (otherwise known as TPACK), which Dr. Mishra helped establish, can benefit teachers interested in designing effective transformative learning experiences for their students, he added.
Other highlights of the day included several workshops concerning such topics as one-to-one initiatives, the educational uses of cell phones and technology-based assessment tools, to name a few.
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