Texas DEN

The Region One Education Service Center and Discovery Education will be hosting a Day of Discovery on November 15, 2008 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The day will include topics such as Streaming Overview, 50 Ways and Beyond to Integrate Discovery Education, Powerful Multimedia Presentations and Digital Storytelling.

As with every Discovery Education event, there will be lots of collaboration, food, door prizes, and fun! Seating is limited, so be sure to reserve your space by clicking HERE. Be sure to stay tuned to the blog for an update after the event.

The DENliest catch season is still upon us! I hope all of our STARs are out there recruiting new STARs so that Texas can continue to be the biggest and the best!

Please take some time to welcome these new STARs:

Keishla Ceaser-Jones
Christi Hicks
Jacqueline Mamou
Joanna Ortega
Carol Richmond
Marlene Robbins
Charlotte Solorio

Recruit new STARs and be the next King/Queen Crab while earning cool stuff from the DEN!

Virtual learning is virtually everywhere! (ok, sorry about that, just had to do it!). the Region XI ESC is hosting its first-ever virtual conference! The conference will be conducted November 10-14 and will have live sessions as well as on-demand sessions.

One of the featured keynotes is Discovery Education’s own Hall Davidson! I will have an on-demand session on digital storytelling and a live one on Second Life. There is a small fee for registering ($20), but it will be well worth it! Be sure to run over and register today, because registration closes November 9 at 9:00 a.m.

Add a comment if you will be presenting at the virtual conference so we can all plan to attend!

Last Saturday, October 25, was the second Discovery Education virtual conference. The Texas Leadership Council hosted a live, in-person event throughout the day at the Notre Dame School in Dallas. Several area educators attended, watched some of the virtual presentations, enjoyed breakout sessions, and had a great breakfast and lunch from Cafe Express, courtesy of the Discovery Educator Network.

Dallas area educators now have a similar opportunity, this time hosted by Irving ISD in conjunction with the K12 Online Conference. On November 8 and November 15, The Academy of Irving ISD will be host to area educators as they participate in virtual sessions and face-to-face discussions throughout the morning. For more information, click here.

If you have never experienced the unique opportunity to participate both virtually and in person at a conference like this, you really should try it! The next DEN Virtual Conference will be held on April 25, 2009.

PC Mall Gov, along with Hewlett-Packard, InFocus, and T.H.E. Journal is sponsoring a contest that encourages middle and high school students to move towards a greener future. It is an essay contest entitled “Green Light”. Students in grades 5-12 (in two categories, 5-8 and 9-12), will submit essays of 1,000 words or less describing how they and their teachers are utilizing (or could utilize) technology to protect the environment.

The grand prize is a 30-seat “green” computer lab. Two first-place winners (one from each category) will win a “green” laptop and all winners will be recognized at the popular FETC 2009.  Application deadline is December 1. You may view the entire contest rules and submission information by clicking HERE.

Region XI (Fort Worth) is hosting a Virtual Technology Conference November 10-14, 2008. The really cool thing about it being a virtual conference is that you don’t have to be from the Fort Worth area to attend OR to present!

They are still accepting proposals for presentations. If you’d like to join Hall Davidson (keynote), David Warlick, Ewan McIntosh, and Dr. Tim Magner, by presenting at the conference, then click on over to the official website for the conference and put in your own presentation proposal! But hurry! You only have until October 1 to submit!

 At any rate, plan on attending at least part of the conference. The cost is only $20 (which is refunded to you if you present), which I’m sure is a bargain for a conference with the likes of Hall Davidson!

For several of us, September 23 was a special day that we spent, at least in part, listening to and watching the 2nd annual DEN Streamathon. For those of you who were not able to attend, the wonderful DEN has made all the sessions available for download. That’s right - you can watch and listen to the great presentations at your own leisure!

To see the list of available presentations and download them, click HERE.

Whether you’ve ever been there or not, you have hopefully heard of the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) sponsored by ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) every year. This annual conference is a definite must-attend, as there will be over 17,000 educators, administrators, and others interested in technology in education there to share their experiences, collaborate with, and learn from!

NECC 2009 marks the 30th year ISTE has hosted this conference, and it will be in Washington, D.C. June 28 through July 1, 2009. The call for participation is now open until October 8, so dust off your keyboard, type up a proposal and see what happens! Presenting at NECC is another great experience in itself, including the one-on-one poster sessions. Be sure to let us know if you get accepted! Click HERE for more details.

YouTube, in partnership with the Pulitzer Center has launched a new video contest that sounds interesting. This contest gives participants an opportunity to show their journalism skills and report on issues and individuals who are under-covered in today’s media. The first round of the contest requires entrants to produce a video about an individual in their community who they think the world should know about. Contest entries are due October 5. The individuals selected from those entries will have a second assignment - reporting about an issue of global importance.

 The contest is entitled Project Report. It is only open to those 18 and over, though, so only those students in high school who have reached the age of majority would be able to enter. However, I know there is a lot of great talent in the educators who are members of the DEN! Wouldn’t it be great for one of you to be the winner? For more information, click HERE.

Well, there seems to be lots of stuff going on right now and all of it is stuff that YOU should be taking advantage of! Aside from the fact that our very own account manager, Justin Karkow, is featured not once, not twice, but THREE times on the main DE page, there are several things you should be aware of. Read on . . .

First, the annual DEN Stream-a-thon is coming up very soon. For those of you who participated last year, you know that the Stream-a-thon is well worth the effort of attending, even if you only watch one session. For those of you who have not participated previously, take my word for it and plan on attending at least for a part of the day. You will be glad you did! For a list of the Stream-a-thon sessions and registration information, click HERE.

Next, Discovery Education hosted its first ever National Training Academy this summer and it was a huge success. They will be hosting another on October 26-28, so you will get another chance to attend and enhance your knowledge about technology integration. For more information and registration, click HERE.

Last, but certainly not least, is the upcoming EdTechConnect webinar on September 17 with Tim Magner, who is the Director of the US Department of Educational Technology. Yes, you read it right — the DIRECTOR. Don’t miss this opportunity to ask Tim questions about the future of technology in schools. Read more about it and find registration information HERE.

Also, be watching for details about the upcoming Fort Worth Museum tour later in September. It’ll be a change to network and have fun with area educators!