What, where and when?
SchoolNet is pleased to announce another very exciting event that is not to be missed – the first of its kind on the African continent! On September 26th & 27th SchoolNet and Parklands College will be hosting a Google in Education Summit in Cape Town at Parklands College – This type of summit is very popular overseas so we are thrilled to be able to bring it to South Africa.
This not-to-be-missed two day event focuses on deploying, integrating, and using Google Apps for Education and other Google Tools to promote student learning in K-12 and higher education.
The Google in Education South Africa Summit brings together world-class educational technology leaders. All presenters are Google Certified Teachers, Google Apps for Education Certified Trainers, Google Employees, and teachers with local success stories! The first five international presenters have been announced. Read more information about these presenters at http://za.gafesummit.com/presenters. More will be added to the conference website in the coming days so check back often for more presenters from the Google Apps for Education Team… and more Google engineers! Local educators are invited to submit conference presentations.
Special early bird rate
We have negotiated a special rate with the conference organisers – the EdTech Team from the USA. Early registrants pay only US$199 as long as they register before July 26.
Please keep visiting http://za.gafesummit.com/ for more information.
We would love you to join us at this event and also make it known to your education contacts.
Presenters to date (Keep visiting http://za.gafesummit.com/ for more)
Mark Wagner
Formerly a high school English teacher, Dr. Mark Wagner has since served as an educational technology coordinator at the site, district, and county levels. He now serves as President and CEO of the EdTechTeam, which provides professional development and consulting services to learning institutions, non-profits, and for-profit entities around the world.
In this capacity, Dr. Wagner leads a series of Google Apps for Education Summits around the globe in partnership with Google in Education. He was the director of the Google Teacher Academy and the Google Workshops for Educators by Computer Using Educators (CUE) from 2008-2012. He has also been the professional development coordinator for CUE, the educational technology
coordinator for the California League of Schools (CLS), the director of professional development for California Vision Technologies (CVT), and the provider of the technology module for Orange County’s Administrator Training Program. In addition, he works directly with school districts, independent schools, and other organisations that provide educational products and services. Mark Wagner has a Ph.D. in Educational Technology and a master’s degree in cross-cultural education. His doctoral research focused on the use of video games in education, and specifically on the potential applications of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) as constructivist learning environments.
Chris Bell
Chris Bell currently serves as the District Coordinator of Instructional Technology for Saddleback Valley Unified School District in Southern California. In this capacity, he oversees the instructional technology implementations in the district including mobile device initiatives, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) classrooms, and online learning.
He currently teaches computer programming for middle/high school students, Leading Edge Certification courses for the online teacher, and is adjunct faculty for the University of La Verne School of Teaching and Educational Leadership.
Chris is a Google Certified Teacher, Google Apps EDU Certified Trainer, a Lead Learner for the CUEtoYOU Speakers Bureau, Orange County CUE Board President, and co-chair of CUE/iNACOL’s e-Learning SIG (eLSIG). He is also a sitting member of several advisory boards with a focus towards online & blended learning. Chris is a core member of EdTechTeam and serves as the Director of Online Learning.
Jim Sill
After almost a decade in the video and television industry, Jim Sill hung up his producer hat and embarked on a career in education. Using his industry experience, he created an award winning video production program at El Diamante High Schoolin Visalia, CA. By involving students in real world video projects, they garnered awards and recognition at the local, state, and national level. With experience producing local television and industrial videos for non-profit organizations, many of his former students now work in the industry.
As a Google Certified Teacher, Apple Distinguished Educator, Google Apps Certified Trainer and Apple Certified Trainer, Jim leads professional development workshops on Google’s collaborative tools, social media, and video production. In 2012, Jim was featured in Edutopia and their Teach2Learn series for his work in Building Career Skills in Video Production. He was also awarded The Computer Using Educator (CUE) Outstanding Teacher Award in 2009 and nominated for the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Outstanding Teacher Award.
Wendy Gorten
Wendy Gorton is an enthusiastic Google Certified Teacher, Google Apps EDU Certified Trainer, and lifelong learner. Currently, she is a 5th grade social studies teacher and technology developer in New York City. She has taught 4th graders in Los Angeles, and has been an elementary technology coordinator, a university technology specialist, an online teacher, a curriculum developer, and a research assistant. She is passionate about project-based learning and using technology like Google Apps to open her students up to collaboration and to the world! She is particularly passionate about international education, and was recently based out of India as a secondary technology integrator at an American school. She loves working with international teachers to find out how technology can make learning come alive for their students. She has been a conference and webinar presenter for ISTE and CUE, and she has lead educational workshops in Canada, the US, Jamaica, Austria, and the Czech Republic – on topics such as Google Apps, iPad applications in the classroom, professional development, curriculum development, project-based learning, grant-writing, and global collaboration. Her Master’s degree is in educational technology. Jamaica and Nepal.
Molly Shroeder
Molly Schroeder is an Elementary Technology Integration Specialist for Edina Public Schools. She previously taught 5th grade for 10 years prior to being the Technology Integration Specialist. She is responsible for training elementary teachers in how to better integrate technology into the classroom and curriculum. She is also owner of a Technology Consulting company, Flipped Education. Flipped Education produces unique, personalized professional development in technology integration for school districts around the country. In 2011, Molly helped to create and produce Flipped Education’s first conference Superhero. Superhero is designed to match technology-education minded attendees with innovative and engaging presenters to change education through technology. Superhero is built to expand personal learning networks with a weekend of socialization, learning and fun in northern Minnesota.
She is a Google Certified Teacher and Google Apps for Education Certified Trainer. She has presented at the Google Teacher’s Academy and she presents at conferences, workshops and National Conventions on how to integrate Google Apps and other emerging and engaging technologies into the classroom. Her background is in elementary education and she also holds a certificate in Educational Technology and Gifted Education.