teachers' conference 2012

Cathy N. Davidson served from 1998 until 2006 as the first Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies at Duke University, where she worked with faculty to help create many programs, including the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience and the program in Information Science + Information Studies (ISIS). She is the co-founder of Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory, HASTAC (“haystack”), a network of innovators dedicated to new forms of learning for the digital age. She is also co-director of the $2 million annual HASTAC/John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Competition.

During her time as the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Duke University, she has published more than twenty books, including Closing: The Life and Death of an American Factory (with photographer Bill Bamberger) and The Future of Thinking: Learning Institutions in a Digital Age (with HASTAC co-founder David Theo Goldberg). She blogs regularly on new media, learning, and innovation on the www.hastac.org website as "Cat in the Stack" as well as on www.dmlcentral.com and Psychology Today.com. In December 2010, President Obama nominated her to the National Council on the Humanities.

Keynote Title: “Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn”

Description: When Cathy Davidson and Duke University advocated giving free iPods to the freshman class in 2003, critics said the university was wasting their money. Yet when students in practically every discipline invented academic uses for the music players, suddenly the idea could be seen in a new light—as an innovative way to turn learning on its head. This radical experiment is at the heart of Davidson’s inspiring new book. Using cutting-edge research on the brain, she shows how “attention blindness” has produced one of our society’s greatest challenges: while we’ve all acknowledged the great changes of the digital age, most of us still toil in schools and workplaces designed for the last century. Davidson introduces us to visionaries whose groundbreaking ideas—from schools with curriculums built around video games to companies that train workers using virtual environments—will open the doors to new ways of working and learning. A lively hybrid of Thomas Friedman and Normal Doidge, Now You See It is a refreshingly optimistic argument for a bold embrace of our connected, collaborative future.

Dr. Steven L. Layne serves as Professor of Literacy Education at Judson University in Elgin, IL, where he teaches course in children’s literature and directs the university’s Master of Education in Literacy program. Steve is a respected literacy consultant, keynote speaker, and featured author throughout the world, and his work as an educator, researcher, and writer of books for children and young adults has garnered critical acclaim from organizations such as USA Today Newspaper, The Milken Family Foundation, the National Council of Teachers of English, and the International Reading Association. Author of 21 books, Steve lives with his wife Debbie, a K-12 curriculum coordinator at Westminster Christian School in Elgin, their four children:  Grayson, Victoria, Jackson and Candace, and one very adorable 65 lb. collie named Shelby in St. Charles, Illinois. 

Keynote Topic: Balcony People: Teachers Make the Difference

Description: Can you identify the people whose contributions to your life have altered your direction, smoothed the path ahead, or guided you across treacherous ground? Chances are good that several teachers made that list! Those who have helped us become all that we are – our personal cheerleaders – deserve to be remembered. These are our balcony people, and award-winning author and educator Steven Layne reminds us that teachers reserve a tremendous number of balcony seats in the lives of their students. This energizing and poignant keynote speech has been acclaimed by teachers internationally as one of Steve’s finest addresses.

Dr. Jason Ohler is a professor emeritus, speaker, writer, teacher, researcher, and lifelong digital humanist who is well known for the passion, insight, and humor he brings to his presentations, projects and writings. He has worked both online and in classrooms at home and internationally for over a quarter century helping students develop the new literacies they need to be successful in the digital age. He is a passionate promoter of “Art the Next R” and of combining innovation, creativity and digital know—how to help reinvent teaching and learning. He is also an enthusiastic champion of the need for students to learn how to use technology wisely and safely, with awareness and compassion, so they can become informed and productive citizens in a global digital society. He has won numerous awards for his work and is author of many books, articles, and online resources. His current book, Digital Community, Digital Citizen, explores the issues of helping our students and ourselves blend our digital and non-digital lives into one integrated approach to living. His previous book, Digital Storytelling in the Classroom, reminds us that he is first and foremost a storyteller, telling tales of the future that are grounded in the past.
“The goal is the effective, creative, and wise use of technology . . . to bring together technology, community, and learning in ways that work. And while we are at it, to have fun.”

Keynote Topic: Expanding literacy to embrace the skills and perspectives associated with digital literacy, the cornerstone of life in 21st century.
Keynote Title: New Media, New Literacies – Educational Transformation Through Digital Creativity

Description: Our 21st century mission as educators: to help students become active media creators as well as critical media consumers. To do that, we need to help them migrate from text-centrism to new media, adopt art as foundational literacy, and tell media stories in compelling, innovative ways.