Two Important Issues Worth Supporting

http://www.edtechactionnetwork.org/action/write-elected-officials
On February 5th, House Education & the Workforce Ranking Member George Miller (D-CA) introduced the Transforming Education Through Technology Act (H.R. 521). Endorsed strongly by CoSN and ISTE, this bill would establish a $500 million block grant program to support school technology infrastructure and professional learning needs and a $250 million competitive grant program to promote innovative technology programs in schools nationwide. With no dedicated federal funding for education technology and education technology professional learning since 2010, this legislation will help jump start the conversations we need to have to ensure that our students and educators are equipped with 21st Century skills. Ultimately, this legislation will take significant steps to make sure that our teachers are prepared to personalize student learning and schools have the infrastructure to deliver online assessments in 2014.


http://wh.gov/LVL7
Education, like every sector in America, is undergoing a digital transformation. As students and educators embrace personalized instruction, online and mobile learning, adaptive assessments and data-driven decision making, and develop critical thinking, collaboration, communication and digital citizenship skills, demands on school networks will continue to skyrocket. Unfortunately, unlike the business and healthcare sectors, K–12 investment in school broadband infrastructure has lagged. Even the successful E-Rate program cannot meet rapidly escalating school needs for increased bandwidth. The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) recognizes that we as a nation must invest in school broadband connectivity to ensure our students graduate equipped for success. Act now!

Another Hotel Is Available

We now have another hotel available with group rates.

Hampton Inn & Suites

Raleigh Downtown

600 Glenwood Ave

Raleigh, NC 27603

The Hampton Inn & Suites Raleigh Downtown hotel is conveniently located in downtown Raleigh, NC, in the well-known Glenwood South District, full of fabulous restaurants & nightlife. Whether you’re here on business in the area or on a family vacation, you can count on our great value Raleigh, NC hotel to offer a full package of thoughtful amenities included with your stay.

Make yourself comfortable in a warm and inviting guest room with features to help you relax and stay productive. Get to work at the desk with ergonomic chair or work in comfort with the lap desk as you watch the 32-inch HDTV. It’s easy to stay in touch with the office and home with free high-speed internet access in every room.

  

A brand new (12/9/12) hotel located on the R line, the free downtown bus loop. 

$149/night PLUS $6/day parking includes free wifi, breakfast, and secured parking lot

A web page reservation link should be ready by January 14

Meanwhile, reservations may be made by telephone

919-825-4770

Group Name: NC TIES 2013

Group Code: NCT

Updated 

We have and a fourth hotel.

Clarion Raleigh Hotel State Capital  
320 Hillsborough Street
Raleigh, NC 27603

Rate: $99 per night. Free parking. Free high speed Wi-Fi is scheduled to be installed prior to arrival . (On the R line, the free downtown bus loop)  The hotel is under new management and undergoing an estimated $2.5 million renovation scheduled to be completed by July 2013. NCTIES has been assured that guests will be in renovated rooms and not inconvenienced by work elsewhere in the hotel.

RESERVATIONS:            
Method:  Individual Call In.  Guests may call 919-833-0501 to make reservations within the Group block until 30 days prior to arrival date (February 20, 2013). After this date, reservations will be taken based on availability.
Clarion Raleigh State Capital does not guarantee specific room type availability.

Student Showcase

We are excited this year to invite students and teachers to share some of the amazing learning that is occurring in schools throughout North Carolina! If you are interested in sharing a project that your students have participated in this year, we encourage you to submit a proposal for the Student Showcase Session.

The format for the Student Showcase Session is as follows:
Each group will have an exhibit table that is approximately 3' X 6' but will not have a backboard or something to project onto.
You may bring a backboard if you like, but it is not required. Many exhibitors just pull up their web sites or examples of student projects on computers that they bring. (Wireless access is available.)
On Thursday conference participants will visit each exhibit & have an opportunity to network one-on-one to learn about the various projects and talk with students.
Each group may bring 1 teacher per 5 students or up to two teachers and no more than 10 students.  Before and after the showcase, we encourage students and teachers to attend other sessions to take full advantage of this learning experience!

The deadline for submitting a showcase proposal is Friday, December 14. Notification of acceptance will be sent out to the primary contact by Friday, January 11.   If selected to present at the showcase, two teachers and the students they bring will receive complimentary registration for the conference.

http://center.uoregon.edu/conferences/NCTIES/FORMS/CFP/cfp_login.php?formid=359555

Important Links

The NCTIES board is getting very excited about NCTIES13: Game On Play to Learn.

The call for presentations is still open.  Learn more about the different types of presentations and pitch us your best ideas here: http://go.ncties.org/presenters

Registration is also live.  You can learn about the various types of registration and register for the conference here: https://center.uoregon.edu/conferences/NCTIES/2013/registration/

Once you have registered for NCTIES, head over to our hotels page and book your room.  http://go.ncties.org/hotels

Digital Transformation of Education

September 19, 3:00 - 4:00 pm EDT

Karen Cator is Director of the Office of Educational Technology, U.S. Dept. of Education and coordinated the development of the National Educational Technology Plan. Mark Edwards is Superintendent of the Moorseville North Carolina School District, where he has led a successful and nationally recognized reform effort, including a 1:1 technology initiative that has increased student achievement.

Karen and Mark will discuss the interplay of national goals and local actions, and how they see our schools moving forward with technology-enabled teaching and learning in the next few years.  Glenn Kleiman, Executive Director of the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at NC State University will facilitate the discussion.

Participants are invited to submit questions for Karen and Mark before and during the session. Before the session, please send emails to Lisa Hervey at lisa_hervey@ncsu.edu or Jaclyn Bell at jbell@ncsu.edu

To participate in this event held in Blackboard Collaborate:

Prepare yourself and your computer at least one hour in advance: beta.epiced.org/webconference

Use the following link to access the event no later than 15 minutes prior to the event: https://collaborate.wolfware.ncsu.edu:443/join_meeting.html?meetingId=1336767363906

Epic-ed is a part of the national Connected Educators Project, funded by the United States Department of Education.

connectededucators.org

Aaron Slutsky to become a Google Certified Teacher

We are pleased to announce that Google has selected Aaron Slutsky as an attendee at the next Google Teacher Academy, to be held in Seattle, Washington on July 28, 2011.  Aaron is currently the Director of Technology for McDowell County Schools and serves on the NCTIES board of directors.

Aaron was also invited to be part of the inaugural class at the first YouTube Teacher's Studio.  Applications for the YouTube Teacher's Studio were only open to the 50 attending Google Teacher Academy and just 15 were invited to attend.  This workshop will occur the day before the Google Teacher.  Google believes that this program has the potential to spark a transformation in the way teachers connect with students, both in the classroom and outside.

I am very excited to attend both the Google Teacher Academy and the YouTube Teacher's Studio.  I hope to share what I learn at the 2012 NCTIES Conference. ~Aaron Slutsky

The Google Teacher Academy is a free professional development experience designed to help K-12 educational leaders get the most from innovative technologies. Each Academy is an intensive, one-day event where participants get hands-on experience with Google's products and technologies, learn about innovative instructional strategies, and receive resources to share with colleagues. Upon completion, Academy participants become Google Certified Teachers who share what they learn with other K-12 educators in their local regions and beyond.

Google Certified Teachers are exceptional K-12 educators with a passion for using innovative tools to improve teaching and learning, as well as creative leaders and ambassadors for change. They are recognized experts and widely admired for their commitment to high expectations for students, life-long learning and collaboration.

The Google Certified Teacher program was launched in 2006 with the first Academy held at Google headquarters in Mountain View. The program has since held several academies around the globe, expanding the ranks of Google Certified Teachers. The Google Teacher Academy is produced by Google, in collaboration with CUE and WestEd, both educational non-profit organizations.

You can follow Aaron on twitter http://twitter.com/#!/aslutsky or circle him on Google + http://gplus.to/aslutsky

You can follow NCTIES on twitter at http://twitter.com/ncties

2011 Amended By-laws and Constitution

On behalf of our NCTIES board members, we have been working to review and make changes to our current bylaws. At our summer retreat, we passed a motion to send our proposed amended bylaws and constitution to our membership for a vote.

Current bylaws are in black
Deletions are represented with a strike through
Proposed changes are in red
(Click here to see our proposed amended bylaws and constitution)

Reason for amending the NCTIES Constitution and By-laws is...
to ensure representation for all areas of our state.

The NCTIES board currently has one regional director from each of the NC Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) Instructional Technology regions defined in 2006 plus two at-large directors. In 2011, the NCDPI Instructional Technology division redefined state regions. Over the years, NCTIES has aligned our regions to match changes made by NCDPI in the instructional regions. The proposed change to our by-laws will more closely align the NCTIES board to the NC State Board of Education (NCSBE) education districts. Future changes to the NCTIES board will be made as there are changes made to the NCSBE education districts.

Reason for amending the "Standing and Other Committees" in the NCTIES By-Laws is...
to the align NCTIES awards with ISTE awards listed below:
SIGMS - Media Specialist Technology Innovation Award
ISTE Outstanding Teacher
ISTE Outstanding Leader
Making IT Happen


As required by our bylaws, all proposed bylaws and constitution amendments are scheduled for a 30 day posting period (July 16 - August 16) , after which they will be put to a vote (August 16 - 19) by our membership via a separate e-mail that will be sent August 16.

Sincerely,

2011-12
NCTIES Board Members