edACCESS 2012: Topical Presentations

Demo Showcase: Bring the Excitement Home!
Lessons Online Learning: Fad or the Future?
BYOD vs. Standardized Devices

Demo Showcase: Bring the Excitement Home!
Moderator: JT Amirault, Groton School, MA

This session will provide many easy ways to bring some of the conference excitement home. Presenters will provide an assortment of ten to fifteen minute demonstrations that showcase a variety of useful ideas and techniques.  You'll be able to reproduce some of the demonstrations post-conference by following written instructions posted on the edACCESS wiki. The goal of this session is to expose you to at least one useful technique or tool you can demonstrate back at your school. We encourage every school to contribute at least one demonstration to this session. Please contact JT to schedule your demo.

Online Learning: Fad or the Future?
Facilitators: Joel Backon, Emily Jee, Tom Phelan, & Brad Rathgeber

Independent Schools have been very circumspect about online learning. How and where could online learning fit in with our face-to-face relationship-centric learning environments? Online courses can increase curricular diversity and allow for different types of student engagement.  Are these benefits worth the cost of resources for our schools? In this workshop we will explore the current state of online learning through the examination of several existing online education programs, and then open the floor for a serious discussion about the implementation of online programs in independent schools.
BYOD vs. Standardized Devices

Panel: Ryan Bennett, Eric LaCroix , Carolynn Parisi, & Charles Thompson

Deciding on the type of technology program to implement or expand for your school requires that your school leadership weigh a number of high-level factors. This panel will examine some of the important issues surrounding the design, implementation and support of various device programs. Panelists working in BYOD and various standardized environments will compare and contrast their system and offer the pros and cons of each.