Tech Talk

“TECH TALK II – Using Technology for Effective Education” Conference

January 20, 2011

9:00 A.M. – 3:00 P.M.

UW-Marshfield/Wood County – Aldo Leopold Science Building

Conference Schedule

9:00 A.M.        Registration & Continental Breakfast

9:30 A.M.        Featured Speaker – Susan Walker

10:45 A.M.      Seminar

12:15 P.M.       Lunch

1:15 P.M.         Seminar

2:45 P.M.         Refreshment Break

3:00 P.M.         Closing

Cost: $15 per person – includes continental breakfast, lunch and one refreshment break

Registration Deadline:  January 7, 2010

Tech Talk Registration Form 

Tech Talk is sponsored in part by a UW-Extension Central District Innovative Funds Grant and UW-Marshfield/Wood County.

Tech Talk Wrap-Up Powerpoint Presentation  

Super-Seminar Offering: Dr. Susan Walker will conduct an engaging and interactive workshop focusing on her current research.

Additional Seminar Offerings:

Presenting from the Cloud – Going beyond PowerPoint; Viau

Constructing a Textbook-free Online Course; Hensch and Phillippi-Immel

        The content would be an overview of an online course that is textbook-free and completely online. The presentation would show how “Talk About It” discussions and “Think About It” papers are incorporated directly into the core content of the course. These components help to foster interactions among the students and they also trigger reflections by the students on the ways in which the theoretical constructs can be applied to everyday situations. The session would begin with an overview of the way this completely online course is built, and the key components of the course would be demonstrated. After that point the floor would open for questions about using these constructs or concepts in other types of situations.

Using a Wiki to Manage Your Organization’s Communications; Palmer and Fischer

            This session is targeted at educators who will learn how small organizations can use a wiki to effectively and efficiently manage their organization’s communications.  An example of a wiki that is used by a 4-H club will be presented.  The wiki has provided 4-H club members with an opportunity to:  communicate with other club members using comments, share photos, campaign for an office, sign-up for fundraisers and community service activities, and access club documents such as bylaws, agendas, newsletters, minutes, and treasurer reports.  Hear from a volunteer leader from the club via Skype regarding the benefits of using a wiki.  Participants of this session will also learn how to set-up a wiki, and the advantages and disadvantages of this technology tool.  Wikis are a collaboration and productivity tool with many applications.  For small organizations, wikis can be an inexpensive and effective way to manage an organization’s communications.  Through a 4-H club example, educators will learn first hand how a wiki has been successfully used by the club to manage communications.  Participants will also learn how to set-up a wiki for an organization, and about the advantages and disadvantages of using this technology tool.  

Learn About Your Land: Reaching out to Woodland Owners via Online Self-Paced Courses, Webinars, and Facebook; Tiles

         Building on a successful series of classes for woodland owners, we challenged ourselves to find ways to reach non-resident landowners and parents (or others) unable to commit to attending in-person classes.  The result is an effort to create a self-paced DVD, self-paced online course, webinars and better linking our web presence (Facebook & blogs) for more interactivity.  For the past 2 years, we have been conducting webinars using GoToWebinar.   At present, we are developing self-paced online content using Moodle (and its interactive content tools).  We are using Facebook to link users to our static website and our FYI blog, and are looking to use Facebook to provide learner interaction once they complete the self-paced online course. This session will focus on presenting the technology tools we are using for virtual learning.  The second part of the session will focus on a discussion of the challenges of engaging the learners with professionals and peer-to-peer beyond the course content. 

Blogging for Prevention; Lobenstein, Bayus, and Anderson

       We will share a blog site we have developed on the model of www.postsecret.com. The name of the blog site is “Think Things Through” and has two goals: 1) Give youth an opportunity to post “secrets” – things that might be bothering them, small secrets, challenges they might be experiencing, etc. – in a safe, anonymous outlet for their feelings. 2) Provide resources they can access – helplines, community resources, support groups – so they may also find help that is available. We expect the site to go live before the end of the 2010. During the presentation, we will share: what events led to the creation of the site, planning stages in development, legal concerns to protect the coalition, how we are promoting the site, initial impressions of site use and interest levels. Fellow educators will learn about a creative way to use technology to reach out to youth who may be struggling with personal life challenges and risky behaviors.

Cell Phones and Special Education Students; Uetz

     Parents and teachers of special education students will learn and discuss the issue of special education students being allowed to have and use cell phones.  Often, these students are looked at as not capable of using, or controlling the use of cell phones.  However, there are restrictions that can be put on phones and the benefits far out way the risk of abuse.  Discussion will include how to program cell phones so that students at any academic level can use them, benefits of having a cell phone for students with special needs, teaching students to use cell phones appropriately, instructing parents of the benefits, and the many functions on cell phones that can be used. Special education students often need accommodations.  One accommodation that is often overlooked is the use of a cell phone.  This can be a valuable tool for students with special education needs.  Teachers can learn how they can be used in school and community, and be able to encourage parents to allow their child to use a cell phone.

Online & On Guard: Internet Safety Strategies for Educational Professionals; Ginther and Lisowski

         Teens put themselves most at risk online by posting personal information. This interactive seminar will share recent research on the top online youth risk behaviors and strategies for building students’ online decision making skills. Educators will develop a better understanding of how to help teens maintain their digital footprint and online image, navigate online relationships and communicate safely via social media like Facebook. The seminar will also address issues sexting, cyberbullying, digital abuse and cell phone applications.  Ultimately, this seminar aims to help bridge the digital divide between teachers and students by equipping teachers with take-home methods and materials to challenge their students.

 Online and On Guard PowertPoint Presentation

More about our Featured Speaker

Susan Walker is an Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Minnesota. She is the coordinator for Families, Youth and Communities graduate program, and oversees the parent educator license, certificate and MEd programs (all of which are almost exclusively online).  Susan’s 30 years of experience includes direct service to families, educational program design, implementation and evaluation, and public policy research at the community, state and national levels, in areas including school readiness, child care, health care and parenting. Throughout this work, Dr. Walker’s specific interest is on contextual supports that facilitate positive, social change for marginalized families. 

 Dr. Walker holds a PhD in Child and Family Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Masters and Bachelors degrees in Nutrition from Penn State and Drexel Universities. While in Madison, Susan worked with UW-Extension, coordinating the statewide Parenting the First Year project and designed the School Readiness project. Before moving to Minnesota in 2007, Susan was a state specialist in Family Life and Human Development with Maryland Cooperative Extension at the University of Maryland, College Park, a position she held for 12 years.

 Her current research focuses on parents and technology, parents’ social networks and the integration of technology into parent and family education.  She is the co-PI of the Parenting 2.0 research project, a baseline study of parents’ use of technology. She is also conducting a study of community-based educators’ attitudes and supports on technology integration. She has an NSF proposal under review for a collaborative research project with Computer Science faculty to design and test new social networking technology for parents. And Dr. Walker partners with local school districts in Minnesota on the design and evaluation of online educational and social media environments for engaging parents and professionals in strengthening families and communities. A lively and entertaining speaker, Susan is frequently invited to address education professionals on trends and intentional practice in technology use.

TECH TALK Conference Co-Chairs:

Chris Viau, Wood County 4-H Youth Development Educator  -  chris.viau@ces.uwex.edu

Francis Ginther, Pierce County 4-H Youth Development Agent  -  francis.ginther@ces.uwex.edu

Molly Spaulding, Green Lake County Family Living Educator  -  molly.spaulding@ces.uwex.edu

Annie Lisowski, Buffalo County 4-H Youth Development Educator  –  annie.lisowski@ces.uwex.edu