ATLIS 2016 -- Atlanta, GA -- Day 1

I'm in Atlanta staying at the Loews Atlanta Hotel in Midtown Atlanta in order to attend

ATLIS 2016 National Conference:  Rising Above the Cloud

After registering earlier today, I attended my first session:

What's Next?  Transformative Trends in EdTech

Presenters:

Esin Sile, MindBridge Partners
Keith Gillette, MindBridge Partners
Scott Roy, Carney, Sandoe and Associates

The organizing principle for this session was roundtable discussion (there were three round tables with chairs in the conference meeting room).

The presenters offered survey results that asked respondents the relative importance they would assign to three trends:

• Student Data Privacy -- Protecting Student Rights in an Interconnected World
• 1-to-1 & BYOD -- Implementation Imperatives in Enabling Digital Learning
• Maker Movement -- Opportunities for Integrative Instruction, Innovation, and Problem-Solving

Polling the people in the room, the organizers decided that we would divide into three groups (one at each table) and discuss and explore the Maker Movement topic for 20 minutes or so and then report back to the full group.  The presenters provided us with a series of questions to frame our discussion.

Our table had a lively discussion after which our volunteer note-taker represented our discussion back to the group.

In fact, this discussion lasted nearly an hour.  After the table groups shared their individual discussions, the presenters decided we would simultaneously discuss the other two topics at separate tables for about 20 minutes.

We finished the session with brief sharing from both the Student Data and 1-to-1/BYOD groups.

Those of us in the session were generally impressed by the set of questions that facilitators had formulated for each topic.  It seems like a good idea to document those questions here.

Trend #1: Student Data Privacy
Protecting student rights in an interconnected world

Questions:
1. Do you have an established student data privacy policy at your institution? Who maintains it? How is it disseminated?
2. On what, if any, local, state and federal privacy standards is your student data privacy policy based?
3. What student data privacy best practices have you implemented in your institution?
4. How do you manage parental consent? Do you use any third-party tools to manage parental consent?
5. Do you allow faculty to create student accounts with outside vendors or do you manage that centrally?
6. If you allow faculty to create student accounts, how do you screen provider privacy policies?
7. When collecting assessment data to personalize student learning, what uses are acceptable and unacceptable? Who should have access to performance data tied to individual students?
8. How do you teach students and parents about the importance of protecting student identity and personal data online? Do you have a digital citizenship curriculum?
9. How do you manage student data privacy, password policies, data storage and encryption with cloud providers and third party vendors? Do you have established measures
such as policies, assessments, and training at your institutions?
10. At your school, is there a defined protocol for retiring accounts if a student leaves or graduates?


Trend #2: One-to-One and BYOD
Implementation imperatives in enabling digital learning

Questions:
1. For what percentage of your student population have you implemented a 1:1 or BYOD program?
2. At what grade levels do you think a 1:1 student:device ratio is appropriate and why?
3. What device requirements have you set for your 1:1 or BYOD program and why?
4. If you allow it, how does your faculty manage variation in platform capabilities in lesson design and delivery?
5. What adoption resistance have you faced among your faculty & how have you addressed it?
6. What resistance have you faced among your parents and how have you addressed it?
7. What faculty professional development strategies have you found effective in supporting your program?
8. What percentage of your faculty use of technology fall into each of the SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition) levels?
9. By what metrics do you measure 1:1/BYOD program success?
10. What role have students played in your 1:1/BYOD program?
11. How do you address equity issues arising from families with different financial circumstances in a BYOD environment?
12. How do you manage application deployment and licensing for your students' devices?
13. What about a 1:M environment?


Trend #3:   Maker Movement
Opportunities for integrative instruction,  innovation, and problem-solving

Questions:
1. How and why have you integrated the maker movement and related PBL, Design Thinking, & STEAM threads  into your curricula?
2. Have you established a 'maker space'? If so, what technology is available in it? How & why is it used?
3. Does your school have a dedicated faculty member spearheading maker movement initiatives?
4. What level of involvement does the curriculum director have in relation to your makerspace initiatives?
5. Is your maker movement affiliated with your robotics club(s) or do you share resources between the groups (lab, equipment, faculty)?
6. Are there formal opportunities (newsletters, open house, competitions) for showcasing student work in the areas of maker space?
7. What is the relationship between your library your maker space?
8. What resources do you use for educational and professional development to support your students and staff with maker initiatives?
9. How are you measuring the effectiveness/success of your maker space initiatives?
10. How is your maker space movement funded?