Site Visit to Minuteman High School
Attendees will receive a tour of Minuteman High School, enjoy lunch at the school's restaurant, and meet some of the school's students and staff during a closing panel. Minuteman High School is an award-winning public regional career technical education high school, with an adult continuing education program, which integrates academic and technical learning. Attendees will see first-hand how Minuteman challenges all students to aspire to their full potential, accelerate their learning, and achieve success in the 21st century global community. Minuteman offers 19 career technical majors, 14 sports teams, and 20 clubs and activities.

Parking Map.

Opening Dinner 

Relax, meet new friends, and reconnect with colleagues at the opening Summit dinner at Buttercup, a contemporary American farm-to-table Restaurant and Craft Bar owned and operated by a husband and wife team. 

For those attendees staying at The Verve Hotel: A Coach Bus will depart and leave at 8:00 AM to take guests to The Connors Center for the Tech & Learning Regional Summit. Please gather in the lobby of the hotel 10 minutes prior from departure time.

Registration and Breakfast
Attendees arrive to register, network, and enjoy breakfast, as well as get their “Passport to Prizes” pass. Throughout the day, attendees will complete their Passport by visiting with our partners either in scheduled meetings or during lunch if they do not have scheduled meetings. 

Welcome and Introductions
Edtech luminary and international keynote speaker Carl Hooker brings his enthusiasm and passion for education to the Summit as our host and MC for the day. Carl has been a part of a strong educational shift with technology integration during his 23 years in education, and he will facilitate fun and interactive conversations throughout the day to ensure attendees walk away with innovative ideas they can put into action. 

Keynote: What Does It Means to Be Innovative? 

Risk-taking and celebrating failure are key building blocks to drive innovation. During this  interactive session, Carl Hooker leads attendees through a series of improv activities designed to help activate the creative side of their brains. Come prepared to move, think, and leave your inhibitions at the door. It’s not how you fall down, it’s how you get back up! behind failure and the roadblocks to creativity. After all, It’s not how you fall down, it’s how you get back up!
 

Working Groups and Sponsor Meetings 
Attendees either participate in a facilitated small group discussions focused on important topics related to strategic planning or meet with industry partners. Topics will include:

• How Refocusing CTE Programs Can Help Boost Students and Communities

• Professional Development 

• Esports

• Data Privacy and Security

• How Refocusing CTE Programs Can Help Boost Students and Communities: How Refocusing CTE Programs Can Help Boost Students and Communities: Career and technical education is a proven pathway to help students build practical and vital soft skills that will not only prepare them for a variety of future careers, but will also help local communities thrive. In this presentation, Dr. Kathleen A. Dawson shares her experiences in building innovative CTE programs in large districts like Boston, Nashville, and Guildford County and how she is bringing this vision to her current work as Superintendent-Director of the Minuteman Regional Technical School District.

• Professional Development: The best PD provides consistent, relevant, and actionable assistance to educators. In this session, attendees will share strategies to provide PD that is current and impactful to staff and leaders. 

• Esports: More Than Just Gaming: Certified Esports Coaches James Rand and Kyle Gunderman of Griswold High School discuss how K-12 esports programs provide students with meaningful career and STEM education alongside their tournament experience.

• Data Privacy and Security: Kim Ramos, District Technology Instructional Coach at North Kingstown, RI, leads a discussion on  how to teach staff about keys to student data privacy and their role in district cybersecurity.

Lunch & Networking

Lunch Demo from HiveClass: Hive Class shows how they are reimagining physical wellness education during this interactive demonstration.

Meet Our Partners
Attendees meet with our event partners to learn more about their offerings and solutions – and complete their Passport to Prizes!
 

Working Groups and Sponsor Meetings 
Attendees either participate in a facilitated small group discussions focused on important topics related to strategic planning or meet with industry partners. Topics will include:

• Emerging Technology

• Life After ESSER

• Changing Pedagogy

• AI, LLM, ChatGPT, OMG: An Important Chat

• Emerging Technology: Discover how your teachers can create Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) experiences for students, and begin incorporating new technologies into their classrooms. Hakan Satiroglu, CEO and Co-Founder of XR Terra, provides a demonstration of their free XR resources for schools.

• Life After ESSER: How are you preparing for sustaining and refreshing your tech? As ESSER funding winds to an end in September of 2024, how is your district preparing for upgrades and refreshes? This session offers the opportunity to share ideas and strategies. Case study presenter: Kadion Phillips, Director of Technology, Oxford Public Schools.

• Changing Pedagogy: Søren Vrist Christensen, a pedagogical coordinator from Denmark, shares a number of hands-on examples on the application of flipped classroom, agent-based modeling, EdTech and gamification to enhance and sustain student engagement.

• AI, LLM, ChatGPT, OMG: An Important Chat: Michael Hale leads a workshop where attendees will practice a conversation model that educators can use to talk with colleagues, students, etc. about the importance of embracing AI in education. We will explore the current thinking of a few experts in the field along with a few examples of how AI can be a powerful tool in education.

Failfest: Putting Innovation Into Action 

Carl Hooker started our day with his keynote, “What Does It Means to Be Innovative?” We’ve spent the day sharing our risks, “failures”, and success. Now it’s time to put our learning into action. Carl leads the group through a series of Risk-taking and celebrating failure are key building blocks to drive innovation. During this  interactive session, Carl Hooker leads attendees through a series of failure/risk-taking activities that can help attendees learn specific ways they can put their learning into action.   

 

Awards Ceremony & Passport to Prizes Drawing
The winners of the Tech & Learning Innovative Leader awards will be announced. Afterward, we will draw Passport to Prizes winners.