October+2017+planning+meeting+(at+Montour)

Attendees: Norton Gusky (recorder), Justin Driscoll, Jordan Lippman, Justin Aglio, Ed McCaveney

Key Issues: Previous Issues
 * Tour of K-4 Elementary Building
 * Parking - close to 1,000 spaces; Montour teachers will park by high school/ TRETC attendees by elementary building and stadium
 * Signage - Montour/ Tech Council will put signs for TRETC outside to guide people to parking and registration/ Tech Council will place balloons at main entrance
 * Registration - between pillars
 * Gymnasium - opening session (seats up to 700) / vendors / featured presenters / ? closing activities (Jordan Littman needs to make final decision)
 * Cafeteria - refreshments including coffee during day / lunch / networking / ? closing activities (see above)
 * First Floor classrooms - six in each wing for presentations with STEAM rooms for larger audiences (need to get DA for presentation screens) / will place 10 adult chairs in each space / will request presenters bring own HDMI hook-up, but will have laptops available
 * Media Space - available for Innovation presentations
 * First Floor Hallway - Student Showcase
 * Second Floor Lego Maker Zone - all day hands-on activities with Lego present
 * Second Floor Overhand - ? Innovation Zone (Tyler Samstag will make final decision after visit)
 * Schedule for Day (45 minute sessions) - consensus of group
 * Registration 7:30 - 8:30
 * Opening 8:35 - 9:15
 * Session 1 9:20 - 10:05
 * Session 2 10:10 - 10:55
 * Session 3 11:00 - 11:45
 * Lunch 11:50 - 1:20 (A - 45 minutes / B - 45 minutes)
 * Session 3 1:25 - 2:10
 * Closing 2:15 - 3:15 (including survey for evaluation + visual artist for wrap-up/ gift card or vendor give-aways / voucher to TRETC 2018)


 * Closing - Jordan Lippman and Kylie Lasota will take the lead/ Hand-select 5 people representing different voices with their personal experiences with 90 seconds to share their experience/ tweet what resonated based reaction/ group based on demographics -> tweet something that resonated / draw 2 things about personalized learning that you can agree upon based on the day and one thing that you may not agree upon / share out (if time) / how will you have an impact based on what you learned / visually capture (Emily Markow) including drawings /
 * Pittsburgh Innovation Zone
 * Showcase innovations happening locally -> reach out to startups and universities with preview of what is to come
 * Limit to about 10
 * Session before lunch with quick pitch by innovators
 * Hands-on time during lunch with tables in overhang above media center - Lego Maker Space / will do activities during sessions
 * Poster Sessions
 * In hallway on first floor
 * Next meeting at Montour 10/9 at 3:45. (first 15 minutes via conference call)
 * Highlander Institute for Pre-Conference (CANCELLED)
 * Never done what we are asking at a conference / iNACOL will be the first time to pilot concept /
 * Need to share marketing plan
 * 1/2 day session (12:00 - 5:00) followed by social event
 * Goal - end with plan for pilot project in district
 * PLDC (IU 8) - Mass Customized Learning - worked with South Fayette, Montour, Avonworth, / Jordan Lippman will make intro
 * Focus on teacher empowerment in Rhode Island
 * Question of follow up funding
 * Tech Council will pay for travel costs
 * Norton Gusky contacted Todd Keruskin, Asst Superintendent from Elizabeth Forward, who is part of the regional effort on Personalized Learning funded by Grable and Zuckerman Foundations. Todd will work with TRETC to get the word out.


 * Move location to new K-4 building
 * Better space for vendors, presentations, and Innovation Zone
 * More parking with no issue with election
 * Registration at main entrance with flow into cafeteria
 * Vendors will set up in full-size gymnasium which will also be used for Opening Session
 * Media Center down the hall from cafeteria will be available for Student Showcase and Innovation Zone
 * Special classrooms (Mindcraft, LEGO, ETC) - will be used for Student Showcase - invite other schools to share Mindcraft projects, for example
 * All sessions will be on first level in one of two wings
 * Need to include better signage and banner


 * Full Day Conference
 * Open with Ignite Talks - use Featured Presenters based on their concepts 4-5 minutes
 * Ending of conference - hear from variety of people about what they learned / visual representation
 * Jordan will coordinate with Kylie
 * People can submit posters based on session
 * Have diverse perspectives
 * Use new K-4 building
 * Issue with furniture
 * Bring in chairs for audience
 * Visit on Tuesday, 7/18
 * New proposed schedule for this year
 * 7:30 - 8:30 Registration / Coffee
 * 8:30 - 9:15 Opening Session
 * 9:30 - 10:25 Concurrent Session 1
 * 10:30 - 11:25 Concurrent Session 2
 * 11:30 - 1:00 Lunch with two 45 minute periods / Student Showcase/ Innovation Zone
 * 1:05 - 2:00 Concurrent Session 3
 * 2:05 - 2:45 Closing Session


 * Vendor Status
 * On track - Integra One (Title)/ 80% come on-board between September and November
 * Justin Driscoll will share sponsor package with committee
 * Justin Aglio hoping to pull in national presenters/ vendors for TRETC including Google and LEGO


 * Committees
 * Innovation Zone - Zee Poerio, Tyler Samstag,
 * Use setup from last year in TransformED West Space with Remake Learning in hallway
 * Include coffee in afternoon
 * Consider link to previous Horizon Reports - what has really emerged in the world of educational technology
 * Ask participants to vote on most promising emerging technologies
 * Build on last year's AR/VR focus
 * Focus on educational leaders
 * Set up meeting at Tech Council in May/June to plan
 * Use conference in conference theme with national organization, like Highlander Institute providing the leadership ( []
 * Phone meeting 7/6 with Shawn Rubin from Highlander ( [])
 * Tentative agreement to work with Highlander for pre-conference
 * Next Steps - Tech Council will send list of key marketing tasks and dates to Highlander and negotiate an agreed payment for session
 * Vendors/sponsors would pay for costs / participants would have no costs
 * Need to have an incentive for schools/organizations to bring teams - free consulting with Highlander Institute for 5 schools who participate
 * Invite schools to show off work already done around PL -> Exhibit
 * Move event to different location, possibly ETC or Energy Innovation Center
 * Student Showcase - Justin Aglio, Anne Fay, Sarah Siplak (SLB Productions)
 * Move to library/ media center
 * Include student musicians, possibly strolling
 * Provide coffee
 * Set up in larger, open space, possibly in cafeteria during one of the non-lunch sessions
 * Evaluate as part of application with presentations
 * Consider discount for people who are accepted, e.g. 50% off
 * Limit number of poster sessions - 10
 * Less formal than presentation with chance to test out ideas not ready for full presentation with greater small group interaction
 * Need to include price discount and number in proposal form
 * Draft document by week of 5/15
 * Start accepting proposals in May


 * Date/ Location - November 6-7 at Montour High School (Support from superintendent / will seek backup plan with interest from North Hills and Mount Lebanaon)
 * Discussion about changing days from Monday / Tuesday to Sunday / Monday - less traffic on Sunday for people to travel; no issues with election on Tuesday;
 * Justin Aglio suggested we consider using the new K-5 elementary building for TRETC
 * Norton will visit site with Justin on Thursday, 6/15
 * Advantages - use gymnasium for vendors; Learning Gallery for Student Showcase; Cafeteria and Library available for poster sessions and presentations; more options for presentations drawing larger numbers
 * Issue - size of seats / ability to have 500 people in one space for opening session


 * Theme: Digitizing Personalized Learning
 * Use Friday Institute criteria
 * Pedagogy and Practice
 * Technology Standards (ISTE)
 * Research and Development
 * Human Capacity (includes PD)
 * Technology Architecture
 * Definition from Office of Educational Technology, US Department of Education: Personalized learning refers to instruction in which the pace of learning and the instructional approach are optimized for the needs of each learner. Learning objectives, instructional approaches, and instructional content (and its sequencing) all may vary based on learner needs. In addition, learning activities are meaningful and relevant to learners, driven by their interests, and often self-initiated.
 * Highlight national and regional efforts
 * National - Summit Learning Schools, AltSchool, Highlander Institute
 * Link to Mid-Atlantic Mass Customization Summit with keynote from Justin Aglio and presentations by superintendents from Avonworth (Thomas Ralston) and Elizabeth Forward (Bart Rocco)
 * Look for additional resources from Personalized Conference in Baltimore that Jennifer Began from IU3 attended (Kevin Conner)


 * Conference Elements
 * Pre-Conference workshops - use workshops as lead-in to sessions when possible / include leadership training in addition to hands-on activities / embed CoSN CTO Clinic
 * Idea: Leadership Summit with focus on Change Management Process led by Summit Learning and Highlander Institute
 * Optional Idea - Workshop for Educational Leaders on Personalized Learning starting with panel of regional and national experts (Kevin Conner)
 * Full-day conference
 * 4 Concurrent sessions
 * Highlight national and regional efforts with a neutral perspective (Kylie Losota)
 * Rand Corporation, author of 2016 study on Personalized Learning, interested in presenting (Norton)
 * Opening Ignite Talks with Administrator, Teacher, and Student
 * Ed McCaveney will contact Glenn Kleinman at Friday Institute to seek possible role in TRETC
 * Idea: Summit Learning team from Fairview, Ohio and Washington, D.C
 * 'Smores - edcamp style activity - for follow-up to presentations (Norton - part of CoSN Conference)
 * I nclude poster sessions for full day (details to be worked out by planning team / Kris Hupp will chair)
 * Create Remake Learning Days Revisited space
 * I nclude a Maker Zone/Innovation Zone with hands-on activities that would include Fab Lab with 3D station and tech stations around problems such as IoT
 * Include at pre-conference Design Challenges to be displayed at full day conference
 * Use Planetarium for special presentations
 * Wrap up with people sharing out and captured with visual note-taking
 * Pre-Conference
 * Dinner for educational leaders for pre-conference with targeted workshops for educational leaders around Personalized Learning
 * Seek corporate sponsorship for pre-conference dinner tables
 * Engage educational leaders in Design Challenges around Personalized Learning
 * Suggestion to move event to more central location
 * Featured Speakers
 * Rachelle Poth - PAECT Teacher of the Year
 * Norton Gusky - PAECT Pioneer
 * Ron Bennett - PAECT award
 * Debby Reynolds - NASA Honoree
 * Other Ideas to Explore
 * EVENTZEE challenge (similar to GooseChase)
 * Include a music group, e.g. the Clarks as entertainment for full-day event
 * Free attendance for students/ participants
 * Link to Pittsburgh Resiliency Plan - leave conference with ways to solve local problems
 * Engage in city Innovation opportunities - tech hubs/ startup community