Learners, Laptops and Powerful Ideas 2

June 4, 2003 Archives

Contact: Media contact: Tom Bickford, Agent Institute, UMaine, 207-581-2012; Nick Houtman, Dept. of Public Affairs, 207-581-3777

ORONO– Hundreds of Maine educators, school administrators, learning and technology experts from around the country and pioneers of global learning and technology will gather at the University of Maine, August 13-15 for Learners, Laptops and Powerful Ideas 2: The Second Maine International Conference on Learning with Technology.

The event will highlight dozens of state, national, and international programs and speakers, including:

  • The Maine Learning and Technologies Initiative makes Maine the first state in the world to provide every seventh and eighth grade student and teacher with a personal computer.
     

  • Elliot Soloway, professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Information, School of Education, and Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.  Author of Artificial Intelligence and Learning Environments and Empirical Studies of Programmers (Human/Computer Interaction Series, Vol. 1).
     

  • Seymour Papert, Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (recently named by Newsweek as one of ten national innovators in education) and the first educator to advocate the use of personal computers in learning (1968).  Author of the pivotal book MindStorms, now in its third edition.
     

  • John P. Bailey, director of educational technology for the U.S. Department of Education and long time activist in both state and federal government for the development and application of educational technology policy.
     

  • Alain Jaillet from the Universite Louis Pasteur de Strasbourg, director of MULTI-media ULP and lecturer of sciences of education to the faculty of psychology and sciences of education (ULP).

Teachers from around the world and every Maine school district are invited to join internationally respected experts to discuss aspects of learning and transformational change with personal computers. The conference features plenary sessions, panel discussions, hands-on workshops and presentations on historic precedent and lessons learned in Maine classrooms.

Conference sessions will recognize the balance between technological innovation and practical classroom concerns to help teachers meet this historic challenge in education. Teachers and students in the forefront of learning with technology will focus on topics such as:

  • Curriculum and learning with personal computers in all fields — the humanities, sciences, mathematics and the arts;
     

  • Teacher Professional Development;
     

  • Diversity in Education and Technology;
     

  • Public and policy support — educating parents, teachers, administrators, school boards, city councils, the media, and elected officials about the power and potential for Maine education and economic opportunity;
     

  • Nuts and Bolts — translations and transformations in the classroom and school – including issues of computer care, security, trouble-shooting and classroom organization.

At least three pre-conference workshops will be held on August 11th and 12th providing in-depth use of multimedia and iMovie, the LEGO MindStorms Robotic Invention System, and the use of different programming models in middle school education.  More information is available on the conference website.

Learners, Laptops and Powerful Ideas: The Second Maine International Conference on Learning with Technology is sponsored by the University of Maine Computer Science Department and the Agent Institute in collaboration with the Seymour Papert Institute of Blue Hill.  Early bird registration is only $200 and $250 after July 7th.

Thomas Bickford, executive director of the UMaine Agent Institute and Seymour Papert, professor emeritus at MIT and distinguished computer scientist at UMaine are the co-chairs.