In Massachusetts educators are looking forward to the MassCUE  M.A.S.S. conference next week, held at Patriot Place – Gillette Stadium. I love the new online, interactive program and mobile app. You can search for topics, speakers, and breakout session times. You can create your own schedule using the program and can take it with you on your laptop or your mobile device.

I am very excited about the Keynote Speakers, too. On Wednesday we will hear from Mary Cullinane of Microsoft. On Thursday Yong Zhao, from University of Oregon, is the keynote speaker. I loved his book, Catching Up or Leading the Way: American Education in the Age of Globalization. Also, on Thursday, Rehema Ellis of NBC NEWS will be the lunchtime keynote speaker. NBC, through Education Nation, is bringing national attention to education in America.

Annamaria Schrimpf and I will be presenting on CoSN’s Framework of Essential Skills and will introduce participants to the upcoming CoSN certification for technology administrators. If you want more information on the topic, join us on Wednesday at 2:00 pm in Theater B.

Title: Who is the wizard behind the curtain?

Description: Who is the wizard behind the curtain and what skillset does he or she need to be effective? Technology is sometimes seen as a mysterious black box and technology administrators as alchemists or wizards. Well, come to this session to be demystified. During this session attendees will be introduced to the Framework of Essential Skills of the Chief Technology Officer K-12 published by CoSN. The framework deciphers the skills and knowledge that Technology Directors need to be effective, and does so using a clear and practical matrix. Superintendents will learn how this matrix can be used when hiring and evaluating this technology leader for your school system. Technology administrators can use the same taxonomy to plan their professional development and make themselves even more valuable to their districts. Schools and districts are striving to use data better, provide 21st century literacy curriculum, and to employ innovative, cutting edge practices. Technology leaders require a broad set of skills to advance the vision and to navigate through the ever-changing technological landscape. The framework provides a useful description of those skills.

Presenters:
Jean Tower
Director of Technology, Public Schools of Northborough and Southborough
MassCUE Board
METAA President

Annamaria Pisari Schrimpf
Director of Technology, Winchester Public Schools
MassCUE President
METAA Board

METAA will also be hosting a breakout session at the conference. Join us on Thursday, at 10:15, in room 13 (Blue Level)

Description: METAA, Massachusetts Educational Technology Administrators Association, is the state chapter of CoSN (Consortium for School Networking). CoSN is the lead School Technology Administrator association in the country. CoSN believes that to maximize the benefits of technology solutions the district technology leader should be part of the executive leadership team of the education organization. Come to this meeting to hear about the vast array of resources CoSN and METAA offer for the technology leader professional.

See you at Gillette Stadium next week!

Yesterday, in an official Google blog post, I read that Google significantly changed their search algorithm. “In the last day or so we launched a pretty big algorithmic improvement to our ranking.” The post explains that their goal is to bubble “better content” to the top of the search, relegating less valuable pages to the bottom of the heap. “Better” is explained as sites and pages that add value with original content, research and analysis.

METAA has organized a visit to Google Cambridge Headquarters for Massachusetts school Technology Directors (March 2, 2011). We will be hearing from several Google execs about several topics and they have set up a Google Moderator page for us to pose questions in advance of the actual meeting. I asked about the change in algorithm – I look forward to seeing how much they can (do) share.

Topics for the meeting Wednesday:

“Google pushes the edges and expands the digital world. How might Google cloud computing change the digital world you work in? Is your digital information equally accessible from work, home, and social settings? Speed and availability are the top two traits. Join METAA at Google Cambridge Headquarters and hear top Google representatives discuss cloud computing, book scanning, and career opportunities at Google. Breakout sessions will investigate Google Apps including technical integration and a deep dive demo with Q & A.”

During the MassCUE conference, Annamaria Schrimpf, MassCUE President, and I (as METAA president) met with Microsoft representatives Richard Grady and Eric Robertson to discuss software licensing options and ways that Microsoft might improve their outreach to schools in Massachusetts. Microsoft is developing a licensing program for schools that will be based on staff numbers rather than on the number of computers in a school. We are very interested in seeing this come to fruition and look forward to seeing the plan when it is finalized later this month.

Even more interesting, the conversation included a discussion of professional development, free online resources, and other ways that schools and Microsoft can work together collaboratively to better serve the educators and students of Massachusetts.

In August, I attended a three day Microsoft Institute that was offered free to Massachusetts educators. It was exceptionally well done and we all learned so much. I was blown away by the number and quality of educational resources that Microsoft offers free online. One thing Microsoft could do is to organize these resources better and publicize them to educators.

Here are some of those tools:
Educator Competency Wheel
The number of competencies reflected here may be overwhelming at first, but this would be a really good conversation starter in your school district to uncover the really important skills you are looking for in the people you want to hire and retain.
http://www.microsoft.com/education/competencies/

Teacher Guides
“Watch videos, and download guides and e-books to inspire your class and to help you make the best use of tools and technology in your lessons.”
http://www.microsoft.com/education/teachers/guides/

Auto Collage
AutoCollage allows you to select a folder or group of digital images and very quickly create a collage. I found it even easier to use than the collage feature in Picasa.
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/cambridge/projects/autocollage/

World Wide Telescope
Microsoft’s answer to Google Earth.
http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/

PhotoSynth
Use Photosynth to take your photos, and mash them together to create a 3D scene. See the site for some excellent examples.
http://www.photosynth.net/

SongSmith
This is Microsoft’s challenge to Apple’s Garage Band.
It lets users create music and in addition to playing your own instruments or writing music, you can sing a tune into a microphone to automatically make musical arrangements.
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/songsmith/teachers.html

Windows Live Movie Maker (Windows 7 and Vista only)
Use this to turn your photos and videos into a finished product.
http://explore.live.com/windows-live-movie-maker?os=winxp

Photo Story
Create slideshows, add special effects, titles, captions, soundtracks and narration to create a powerful photo story.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/photostory/default.mspx

Mouse Mischief
Mouse Mischief is a program that allows you to connect up to 25 wireless mice to a single computer and every student in a classroom can interact with a presentation, answering questions and collaborating.
http://www.microsoft.com/multipoint/mouse-mischief/

DreamSpark
Professional software development tools free to students.
https://www.dreamspark.com/default.aspx

Kodu
A very cool visual programming language made specifically for creating games.
So easy even an adult can use it. The worlds that are built and ready to use are so good that your students can create a professional looking application.
http://fuse.microsoft.com/project/kodu.aspx

The Massachusetts Educational Technology Administrators Association (METAA) together with the Consortium of School Networking (CoSN) is offering an exceptional one-day clinic focusing specifically on the School District Technology Leader/CTO.  The agenda is designed for your district’s technology team with sessions on leadership, managing technology and support resources, and understanding the educational environment. These tracks align closely with CoSN’s Framework of Essential Skills for CTOs.
Make sure to take advantage of this PD designed especially for Technology Leaders and Teams.
We need you to attend and to bring your team in order to make this event a success.  We have assembled a great team of presenters for the clinic’s sessions, keynotes and sponsor sessions.
ACTION ITEM: Register yourself and your team.

What: School District Technology Leader/CTO Clinic, produced by CoSN and METAA

Where: Holy Cross – Hogan Center, Worcester, MA

When: Monday, April 26th, 2010

Register: http://www.techdirectors.org/events/

Some highlights you won’t want to miss:

KEYNOTE: Bob Moore, Senior Manager, Business Development, Global Education, Dell, Inc.
The Future of IT Infrastructure (and How it Will Fundamentally Change the Role of the CTO)

KEYNOTE: Jeff Mao, Learning Technology Policy Director, State of Maine, DOE
At the Point of Learning: Maine’s 1:1 laptop program

SESSIONS:

BYOT ~ Is your wireless network ready for Bring Your Own Technology?
Panel Session

Structure Should Liberate, Not Confine
Jeff Mao

The State of Federal Education Technology Policy
Keith R. Krueger & Jeff Mao
Hear the latest developments on federal ed tech funding, ESEA reauthorization, the E-Rate, as well as the Race to the Top and i3 innovation programs

Web 2.0 in Our Schools: Protect? Preserve? Progress?
Keith R. Krueger

Cyberbullying
Ellen Miller

Reaching Out to Our Struggling Students in Reading and Math
Tom Plati

These are just a few of the sessions planned for April 26th.
Join us for a powerful day of professional development and networking with colleagues.

CoSN, in conjunction with METAA, the Massachusetts state CoSN chapter, will host a CTO Clinic on April 26, 2010 at Holy Cross in Worcester. CTO Clinics provide professional development designed specifically for the school Chief Technology Officer (administrator for technology).
See the announcement at:
CoSN Events
and on METAA’s web site:
METAA Events

CoSN members from the New England region will be encouraged to attend. Remember – CoSN Institutional members receive one free registration to a Regional CTO Clinic. Join METAA & CoSN now and save the date for the clinic.