October+12,+2015+meeting

Attendees: Norton Gusky (recorder), Ron Reyer, Sandar Calgaro, Karlton Chapman, Tim Devlin, Kris Hupp, Amiena Mahsoob, Justin Driscoll, Justin Aglio, Kevin Conner, Nikki Navta, Dom Salvucci

NOTE: Comments from May, June, July, August, September, October
 * Registration - Over 100 have signed up for the Edsurge Summit, but 21 of those were teachers or other folks (vendors, university) who will be asked to attend TRETC; the Bethel Park SD will send over 200 teachers to TRETC; registration at 500 with 60 presenters, 90 vendors, 10 advisory committee members
 * Vendors / Sponsors - 27 on board / Justin Driscoll will share list with planning committee / Goal - 35 at conference
 * Conference Theme - Moving into an Edupreneurship Mindset/ Using Technology for Today and Tomorrow/ ** Digital Learning for Today and Tomorrow **, Real Time Learning/ Digital Learning and Leading
 * Pre-conference - We're going to plan on a series of pre-conference workshops at the Bethel Park High School. We'll then have a social event either at a hotel or nearby restaurant. Here are some of the issues that were discussed at the April and May meeting:
 * Keep workshops no more than two hours in length; Limit to 90 minutes
 * Start workshops in late afternoon to accommodate people traveling (3:00 or 3:30) Workshops will run from 3:00 - 4:30 and will feature students
 * Focus workshops on topics that will come out of a survey for attendees. Possible ideas: Apps in the Classroom / Touchcast for Educators / Arts and Bots with Hummingbird / Scratch for Beginners / Scratch for Experienced Users / Minecraft/ PBL Quests (Opportunity Education)
 * Opportunity Education can do a pre-conference workshop on their Next Generation Learning Program. Students that participated in the [|summer design workshop] could share their experiences, work they created, and explain the program and 'quests' more. More information about the program is available here: []. The quest model and mobile technology are in very early stages and students and teachers in Pittsburgh have been very involved in getting things off the ground. The organization will be piloting with more teachers and schools during the 2015-16 school year.
 * Consider social event at new brew pub in Bethel Park, hotel, or eating/drinking establishment near hotel Due to travel and shuttle needs keep social event at hotel / Tech Council will visit Crowne Plaza and report back to committee next month
 * Incorporate student involvement through student led sessions or a student showcase
 * Investigate shuttle service from hotel to school (and social event) for out-of-town attendees who do not have their transportation / Crowne Plaza can provide shuttle service
 * Time-line = 4:00 - 5:30 Pre-conference workshops / 6:00 - 7:30 Social and networking
 * Possible workshops - attendance slow with Minecraft leading the list (5); others less than 5
 * Apps in the Classroom
 * Touchcast for Educators - Zee Poerio
 * Arts & Bots - Tom Lauwers
 * Scatch for Beginners - Aileen Owens
 * Scratch for Experience Users (MaKey MaKey and other ways to extend Scratch) - Aileen Owens
 * Minecraft - (Fort Cherry) - Jeremy Dawson
 * Next-Gen Learning Quest! Program - Jolene Zywica
 * Entrepreneuring Kids - Dennis Henderson
 * Featured Speakers -
 * Kris Hupp - Digital Innovation and Learning Award / Teacher-facilitator Cornell School District []
 * Aileen Owens - Digital Innovation and Learning Award / Director of Technology and Innovation South Fayette School District []
 * //Vickie Hsieh - PBS Learning Media Digital Educator 2015 / 2nd-3rd grade literacy teacher at Environmental Charter School// @http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2015/04/pbs__digital_innovation_educators.html
 * Presentations - a sub-committee composed of Jana Baxter (chair), Kevin Conner, Kris Hupp, Justin Driscoll, and Norton Gusky reviewed over 50 proposals. The committee selected 42 proposals, including the 3 featured speakers. Three slots were left for vendors or other special considerations, making a total for 45 presentations for this year. / Sched.org will allow Tech Council to modify rooms based on pre-scheduling/ Will link info to Digital Signage at Bethel Park


 * Keynote Speaker(s)- Tom Murray is available for the pre-conference. Should we plan on booking him? (no cost) Whom should we add to our list of potential keynote speakers (see list on wiki - http://tretc.wikispaces.com/March+9%2C+2015+meeting Our first choice - Reshma Saujani - requested $10,000 + travel / Our second choice - Aaron Sams - is presenting in NYC on November 4, waitings to hear from Mandela Schumacher Hodge, our next choice/ Will discuss with Edsurge and see if Tom Murray is acceptable if Mandela is not available (too expensive or cannot attend)
 * Pre-conference = Tom Murray ([|http://www.thomascmurray.com/#!2014-engagements/c1d9n] No pre-conference speaker due to workshops / possibility of opening remarks by keynote speaker at pre-conference
 * Sal Kahn (Kahn Academy - []
 * Adam Bellow (eduClipper - []
 * Jason Lange (Bloomboard - []
 * Jason Singer (Curriculet - []
 * Jeff Scheur (NoRedInk - []
 * Lynda Weinman (lynda.com) - []
 * Reshma Saujani (Girls Who Code) - []
 * Derek Lomas (LearnLab) - []
 * Additional names shared by Lee Ngo to provide more diversity:
 * Mandela Schumacher HodgeAlexis RingwaldLauren Thompson Starks
 * T he Edsurge Team reviewed the list and narrowed the choices. The top three choices are: Lynda Weinman, Reshma Saujani, and Aaron Sams. 12 members of the committee have entered their votes. Here are the results:
 * Reshma and Lynda were out of our price range. Aaron was unavailable, so we turned to Mandela Schumacher Hodge. The Tech Council is negotiating with Mendala and we should have an agreement in place. Mandela agreed to be the keynote speaker for TRETC 2015.


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 * Future Ready - We agreed to use this program as a strategy to align TRETC with a national event. Let's review how we can build on the Future Ready program. Norton communicated with Tom Murray from Future Ready. Tom could not attend this year's TRETC. There will be one presentation by Justin Aglo from Montour that will focus on the Future Ready movement.
 * Edsurge Summit - We formed an Edsurge sub-committee that developed a list of potential priorities. Jana Baxter took the list to a meeting of superintendents. She'll report on their reaction. Here are the potential priorities:
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 * Members of the planning committee will vet the vendors based on the priorities - need to identify judges. The following people have agreed to act as judges: Kris Hupp, Lee Ngo, Tim Devlin, Karlon Chapman, Ron Reyer, Zee Poerio, Sandra Calgaro, Cindy Shaffer./ Norton submitted names with bios and photos to Edsurge / Norton will check with Edsurge on next steps/ Edsurge followed up with judges and companies have been selected
 * Letter to Educational Leaders: This year the Three Rivers Educational Technology Conference ( www.tretc.org ) will join with the Edsurge Summit ( @https://www.edsurge.com/summits/pittsburgh-tech-for-schools-summit-2015/overview ) for a unique event, on November 4 . The two events will share a keynote/ opening activities and lunch. Each event will have its own sessions during the rest of the day. The Edsurge Summit will target educational leaders, while TRETC will focus on educational practitioners. The Grable Foundation is providing support for the Edsurge Summit.

Your institution has been recognized as an educational technology leader in the region. You have the opportunity to become a national showcase. As a showcase institution your logo will be spotlighted on the Edsurge website and in promotional materials. You will send a team (at least two) of your key Central Office administrators to the Summit for the entire day on November 4 at no charge. It is recommended that you send a team comprised of a curriculum person, an instructional technology person, and your superintendent and/or assistant superintendent, as well as any site-level administrators who research and recommend technology solutions. Michelle Spencer from Edsurge will contact you to explain more details and the paperwork you will need to sign.

Since you will be able to send a team of administrators at no charge to the Edsurge Summit, we also expect you to send a team of educators and if possible, students, to present and/or attend the conference. We are accepting proposals for presentations until September 15 . ( @http://www.pghtech.org/events/tretc-2015/call-for-presentations.aspx )


 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Special Events - Should we shoot for any special activity, like the Red Chair?
 * Badges - reach out to local company through Tech Council to design digital badges <span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Tech Council will discuss with local vendor, Savvior,/ Justin D will check with Dustin Stiver at Tech Council
 * Use Beacon technology to push information to attendees (Ron Reyer shared a video with an example - <span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">@https://youtu.be/oASynt0pQag / Tech Council will discuss with local vendor, Savvior, possibilitiy of using Beacon technology to make TRETC more interactive/ Norton and Justin met with Savvior, a local company, to discuss use of Beacon technology. Ron Reyer outlined ways to use the Beacon technology at TRETC./ Need to hold off on use of Beacon Technology
 * Startup Alley and other ISTE ideas - invite startup companies for $175 and set up high top tables (4 tables in a 10x10 area) / Pitch competition for students and teachers with ideas for new company or product / Issues with competition for existing vendors / Need to work out cost and benefits with Tech Council / Will re-examine for 2016 TRETC

>> Classroom management >> Classroom assessment >> Game-based learning >> Media Making >> Robotics >> STEAM >> Early Childhood Education
 * <span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Conference Tools - What's the status of a tool for mobile devices? How can we keep TRETC alive year-long? (Justin will share some new developments.) Updated version of web tool now supports mobile technology / Tech Council in conversation with Bloomboard and MediaQuest to develop Virtual TRETC that would include videos and other digital resources on a for-pay basis / TRETC attendees gain 1 year access to resources as part of registration/ Virtual TRETC and involvement of Bloomboard will be considered for 2016/ Sched.org will provide a tool to keep TRETC alive beyond November / Will be able to create groups based on enrollment in workshops
 * Conference Pricing - Consider lower cost to $99 due to reduced expenses and opportunity to draw more people/ Price reduced to $99
 * Other Things - Ron Reyer shared how he used sched.org for a recent Bethel Park inservice / The group discussed using new tools for video streaming - Periscope and Merikat.
 * Red Chair - Zee Poerio will coordinate the event with help from Sandra Calgaro / Zee waiting to hear from Red Chair
 * Mobile FAB Lab - Norton Gusky wlll check with Science Center to determine availability for TRETC/ / Science Center will participate
 * Remake Learning Zone - Norton Gusky will ask Sunanna Chand to coordinate with IU 1,3, and 7 Maker activities / Will investigate use of Bethel HS library for event/ Ryan Coon from Sprout Fund taking lead
 * What do People Make - idea for theme area
 * Poster Sessions - will offer opportunity for presenter applications not accepted/ consider for TRETC 2016
 * Campfire - will incorporate into networking activity during lunch break / Possible Topics (Jordan Littmann) - will set up special section in food court for tables for conversation and have other tables for open seating / Use digital signage to alert people to topics with location in food court
 * Doing Business with Schools
 * Professional development
 * Transportation - issue with getting to Bethel Park with current construction / Will post on website, Sched.org, and in email alerts /
 * CoverITLive - Jana Baxter will set up / Norton will ask committee members to help monitor the postings