Student Tech Team Conference at UMaine Friday
Contact: Joe Carr at (207) 581-3571
ORONO — Some 800 middle school students from all around the state will visit the University of Maine on Friday May 29 for a day-long conference that will lead to more effective use of computer technology in schools while promoting technical and interpersonal skill development for the students.
The Maine Learning Technolgy Insitiative Student Team Tech Conference features hands-on participation, with students and teachers using their MLTI laptop computers that they use in school. The UMaine Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering is one of the event’s sponsors. This year’s focus is “M-STEM, Maine Learners, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.”
A full schedule of workshops is online here.
A few examples:
• Coding for Apple – Using Big Ideas to Make Little Apps (Zev Eisenberg & Colleagues – New Media Students, UMaine) Ever wonder what it takes to make an app for the iPhone? Do you have questions like, “Do you have to be part of a big company to start doing this kind of stuff?” And the answer is, “No, you don’t. They’re being built right here in Maine by current UMaine students!” Come hear from these folks who are doing it. Turns out it’s all about thinking big and working hard. Participants in this session will get an inside look at what can happen when a team works collaboratively in a digital world! Block 1 from 9:20 – 10:20 – Little Hall 140
• Searching the Web – It Is Far From Trivial! (Phil Brookhouse – MLTI Statewide Integration Mentor, Sylvia Norton – Maine State Library; Emily Albee – UMaine Graduate Student) Back for another year… In an ongoing game of “Not so trivial pursuit,” participants will be competing for prizes for themselves, and for their school! Dust off those Boolean Logic skills, and come ready to search! Offered twice: Blocks 1 & 2; 9:20 – 10:20 & 10:40 – 11:40 – DP Corbett Business Bldng 100
• Games 4 Change (Ed Latham & Olga LaPlante – MLTI Regional Mentors) Your textbook bores you to tears? Put a new spin on the old curriculum. Learning may not be child’s play, but it can be a fun game! Everyone likes playing games, but have you seen fun games that teachers would actually use in your class? Have you ever thought of creating these games or being part of a global team to make them? Come join us as we explore tons of games about the critical issues around the world. These games are interactive, free, and best of all, FUN! Engage your learning by exploring how you can teach others about the power of playing. Offered twice: Block 1 & Block 2, from 9:20 – 10:20 & 10:40 – 11:40 – Little Hall 219
• Oh My Goodness! I Blew up the Screen! (Bruce Segee – Super Computing, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at UMaine) This session will explore high resolution visualization using tiled displays. Students will generate large images (the current idea is fractals, but may be something else) based on inquiry-based exploration. Students will work in teams to not only create the images, but also to view them. Each student’s laptop will be used to display a piece of the overall image, allowing both a larger display and higher resolution than could be attained with a single laptop. Offered twice: Block 1 & Block 2, from 9:20 – 10:20 & 10:40 – 11:40 – Barrows Hall 119
• Intro to Secondlife (Blake Bourque, Sophomore Messalonskee High School; Roderic Carmichael, Senior Messalonskee High School) Second Life is a free online 3D virtual world imagined and created by its Residents. From the moment you enter Second Life, you’ll discover a fast-growing digital world filled with people, entertainment, experiences and opportunity. You will go through the process of setting up an account, and we will provide a list of areas that are educationally based, such as UMO’s BlackBear Island. We would also like to familiarize you with the unlimited possibilities of 3D construction, show some creations, and begin a discussion to see what people can imagine for possible uses of SecondLife, such as research, collaboration, exploration and experimentation. Block 2 from 10:40 – 11:40 – Neville Hall 100
• Using Social Networks in Education: Setting Up and Using Nings In a Classroom (Ernie Easter & Students from New Sweden School) Ernie Easter and his students set up the Maine Holocaust Education Network as part of their Holocaust Studies Unit. Students shared their work with each other and with other teachers and survivors who became members. In this workshop you will view this Ning which was nominated for an Edublog Award for the Best Educational Use of a Social Networking Service. Each participating school will set up a Ning that will be ready to use. Adults and students should attend this workshop together to collaborate. Offered twice: Block 1 & Block 2 from 9:20 & 10:20 and 10:40 – 11:40 – Shibles Hall 316
• Arrrgh! Pirates at WJHS! or How We Made a Teacher-Approved You Tube Video (Beth Goodwin & Students – Wells Junior High School) Discover how easy it is to make a pretty decent YouTube video to demonstrate learning. We’ll show you how we combined a Language Arts assignment, a Flip camcorder, Garage Band, and photo permissions, and made a YouTube that demonstrates learning. Watch our video for content ideas, and learn how to convince teachers and administrators with our “Top 10 Really Good Reasons For Making A YouTube video”. We’ll show you how to get your own YouTube channel, and we’ll even share our sources for talking like a pirate and acquiring your own pirate name. Block 2 from 10:40 – 11:40 – Shibles Hall 217
• DataStudio Sensors – Real Time Data Collection (Kevin Crafts & Students – Bristol Consolidated) Data Studio software teamed up with Pasco digital sensors encourage the “doing of science as meaningful work.” Participate in several hands on science experiments (we will be wearing safety goggles) facilitated by students that demonstrate the use of Data Studio with Pasco digital sensors to record and graph data in real time. The instantaneous, graphically represented results make a real difference; the time between hypothesis and conclusion is shortened because the data collection is not dependent upon traditional tedious lab procedures. Activities that would not be possible with traditional lab equipment are now available to all! Come do science! Offered twice: Block 1 & Block 2 from 9:20 – 10:20 & 10:40 – 11:40 – Barrows Hall 221
• Multi Track Recording, Editing and Mixing in Garageband (Alan Kaschub – USM School of Music) Garageband is a useful tool for producing podcasts, adding sound to movies and also great fun to experiment with. It also happens to be a very powerful music production tool. This session will explore some of the more advanced features of Garageband and show students how they can be the musician, engineer, producer and distributor of their own music. Offered twice: Block 1 & Block 2, from 9:20 – 10:20 & 10:40 – 11:40 – Little Hall 110
• All About Me: Learning to Use Keynote (Georgina Grenier – MSAD #17) Have fun learning to use transitions, builds, and actions, as well as adding movies, music and hyperlinks to tell the world about yourself in a visual presentation using Keynote. A library of images, shapes, and actions will be provided to help you begin, and may be kept on your laptop for use in future projects. Block 1 from 9:20 – 10:20 – Jenness 104
• Museum Box – Thinking Cubed (Dan Ryder, English Teacher; Travis Tierney, English Teacher, Kim Ferrari, English Department Senior Student Intern – MSAD #9 – Mt. Blue High School, Farmington) Discover how a scrappy, ragtag collection of teachers and students from both sides of Routes 2 & 4, took a chance on awesome and used the online archiving organizer, Museum Box, to craft n
ew ways of demonstrating their understandings about life, literature, and Web 2.0. Participants will laugh, cry, and learn how art, technology, language arts, student aides, and calculated risk-taking integrate for the betterment of all mankind — or at least the students and educators of Maine. Offered twice: Block 1 & Block 2, from 9:20 – 10:20 & 10:40 – 11:40 – D.P. Corbett Business Bldng.
• Play Ball! Using Video and Your MLTI Laptop to Improve in Your Sport (Jake Bailey – MSAD #4) You will be using a math formula and video to determine speed or to watch your mechanics to help you improve your game or overall skills. It is fairly simple – you only need basic math abilities and your laptop! And trust me, the math involved is nothing too hard. You can do it! I promise. And hey, you’ll get better at your sport! Block 2, 10:40 – 11:40 – DP Corbett Business Bldng 111
• Gimp & Comic Strip Design (Scott Bosworth & Students – Skowhegan Middle School) Have you ever dreamed of being a comic book artist or an illustrator? Well, now there is a program called Gimp that can help you do just that. Gimp is a program for editing pictures thats uses layers to help organize your image. You can create special effects to add artistic pizazz to your photos. You can design name tags, create characters or just experiment. You can then put your new image creations into Comic Life to create your own personal comic book. Offered twice: Block 1 & Block 2, from 9:20 – 10:20 & 10:40 – 11:40 – Jenness 100
• Beyond Your Front Yard: Using Google Earth For More Than Finding Your House (Jim Wells – MLTI Statewide Integration Mentor) Google Earth has so many amazing uses, it will be hard to fit even a few of them into an hour! Create a tour of Maine, use placemarks to show why and where your town should build a skatepark, simplify your history project, and then buzz the summit of Everest in a jet fighter. Bring some ideas to share, and leave with a fresh view of the planet. Offered twice: Block 1 & Block 2, from 9:20 – 10:20 & 10:40 – 11:40 – Barrows Hall 131
• Photocharades (Carol Waldron, Technology Coordinator/Teacher at Appleton Village and Hope Elementary Schools; Argy Nestor, Visual and Performing Arts Specialist, Department of Education) Join us in Photocharades for some fun with digital photography. Work in groups to make words come alive as you act out quotes or phrases and capture them on the screen. The arts, social studies, science, health, math, world languages, literacy, and technology can all be creatively connected as we play with words. Come join the fun! Offered twice: Block 1 & Block 2 from 9:20 – 10:20 and 10:40 – 11:40 – Shibles Hall 311
• Faces and Places in iPhoto ’09 (Trey Bachner – Apple, Inc.) Browse and search photos not just by when they were taken, but by who appears in them and where they were taken. In this session we will explore some of the powerful new options for organizing photos in iPhoto 09 using “face detection” and GPS location tags. Block 1 from 9:20 – 10:20 – DP Corbett Business Bldng 113
• Photo Booth & iSight Overview (Jonathan Carr – Apple, Inc.) The MLTI laptops now run Leopard, the latest version of Mac OS X, which includes a new application called Photo Booth. With the built-in iSight (if your computer is so equipped), or an external USB or FireWire camera, you can do all kinds of cool stuff with Photo Booth, ranging from pictures of your friends in Ancient Greece for history class to fractals for math and physics, and all kinds of cool stuff for art. Photo Booth is a great way to get creative on your Mac! So bring along a camera if you can, and be sure to come to this session ready to be excited about the possibilities. Block 1 from 9:20 – 10:20 – Jenness 102
• The Past Meets The Future! Help Your Town’s History Come to Life! (Laura Richter & Students – Skowhegan Middle School) Have you ever wanted to get involved with helping out your town by providing visitors and residents with a lively, informative and interesting podcast about the history of the area? Well, we can show you how to access old photographs of your town, import them into iPhoto and make a nice podcast in Garage Band. Your whole town will thank you over and over! Block 2 from 10:40 – 11:40 – Little Hall 130