The comments posted by a few administrators made me realize that existing partnerships to promote technology integration in the Greater Richmond area and in Virginia are not known to many.
Starting with Greater Richmond area, the technology coordinators (that is what we were called in the mid eighties) of six school divisions - Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, Powhatan, Richmond, and Chesterfield, and a representative from the public television (WCVE) formed a group called Richmond Area Computer Leaders (RACL). We offered Forums and one annual conference. We used to call this conference "TechFest". The conference began with 50 participants and increased to 250 in early 90's. We were holding the conference at the Math & Science Center where I was the technology specialist. RACL expanded to include other school divisions and so the name is changed now to Greater Richmond Educational Technology Council (GRETC).
When the number of participants exceeded 300 in the annual conference, WCVE sponsored the conference every year and the new name for the conference is EdTech. Every GRETC leader works hard for the success of the conference. Usually EdTech is conducted in the first week of February (Wednesday and Thursday). The partnership between various school divisions is clearly evident; the teachers and administrators share their technology learning experiences with fellow teachers. Please attend EdTech 2008. Contact wbthomas@ideastations.org for information and look at their web site.
Through EETT funding, we have now formed Central Virginia Consortium for Transforming Teaching and Learning with Technology (CVC or CVTC) with 15 school divisions and DCE, Visit www.cvctech.org to learn about CVC's projects or email mano@ittip.us
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29 comments:
I was recently in attendance for one of the Central Virginia Consortium for Transforming Teaching and Learning with Technology (CVC or CVTC) trainings for Inspire Data. I found the three day training to be very beneficial in learning a new database training. At the end of the training I was provided with my own copy of the software. Unfortunately I have moved from a middle school with about 40 site licenses to a high school with no licenses so I am not sure how much of the training I will be able to put into practice
I am happy to hear that such a partnership exists to promote technology integration; however, I am also surprised that I was not familiar with GRETC. I have taught in a participating county for 4 years, and we are experiencing a technology push through the increased numbers of technology coordinators. These coordinators are a great resource to teachers because they show us how to integrate technology into our plans to improve student learning. Schools need to make their staff members aware of GRETC and encourage participation.
It is good to know that GRETC has formed, it is important to bring all the areas surrounding Richmond together. In essence you are forming a profession technology learning community. How does GRETC inform people about the conference? I think it would be a great opporunity to bring leaders together in this forum.
Creating a partnership between the areas of Richmond through the common bond of technology can have so many positive influences. Technology and its use it so multifaceted it is difficult to know every tool and every purpose. By engaging in communication with fellow educators and administrators, professionals can learn new tools and enhance the students' experience in the classroom. Hopefully this partnership will expand to include many of the regions in and around Richmond that do not have the capabilities to include technology in education. Then they can make educated decisions about its implementation in their school division.
Being able to engage multiple districts in a common area is always difficult. Many times there is an feeling of losing thier own identity. It is nice to see districts come together and work on something for the common good and not try to hord it all for themselves.
I attended EdTech for the first time last year and absolutely loved it. I found so many new ideas to incorporate in my classroom. The county I work for - Goochland - is quite technologically advanced. We use a lot of the programs presented at the conference. But it is great seeing the different ways educators infuse these programs into their students' learning. I highly recommend the conference to EVERY educator.
I had the pleasure of attending and presenting at the EdTech conference a few years ago. It was a very rewarding experience and found the sessions to be very useful and realistically implemented. It is always a great thing to share ideas!
Conferences like this help broaden my mind to all the possibilities with technology -- there is so much more than e-mail and powerpoint. I have not gone to this conference but have had the benefit of getting ideas from those who have attended.
I have never attended the ed tech conference but I am interested in attending if I ever get the chance.
Technology is such a focus in our county, it is great to have a partnership for technology in the Richmond area. It can be such a great resource for area teachers.
I didn't know this existed. I am glad to hear it. I am in a gifted Consortium and I know how helpful it is for me and my position.
I would love to go to an Ed Tech conference. I have been to some local schools for their tech trainings (like MLWGS). I really came away with a different perspective and I enjoyed the training. I just wish I had more time to spend in training.
Sharing is always beneficial for all parties. I realized that there were many state and regional confernces but did not realized that they were in our backyard with surrounding localities actively involved. what a great way to help keep this area growing and markets, home and industry, moving in a positive direction by supporting schools systems. I am pleased to learn that these activities are taking place at all levels, it is great to know that leaders are modeling expectations and walking the walk as they prepare their schools to educate the 21st learner.
I did not know about the partnership within the area for training. We have county integrators (the number of them is increasing -- not surprising) and I wonder if our county uses this partnership for training of integrators or teachers. Technology is always changing and it is good to know that the area counties are partnering to meet the needs of the students/teachers in the technology arena. I would like to see it shared with more schools. I have taught in Hanover and Chesterfield and I didn't know about this.
I have not attended EdTech but would like to if I had the chance. Louisa County High School has an initiative this year to increase the use of technology in curiculum development. It would be interesting to see what kinds of ideas one could get while attending the EdTech conference!
I have not had the opportunity to attend an EDTech conference and would love to attend one just to see how much we've learned and utilized in our division and how much more we need to learn. I've heard about the conference through our technology department. I'm always up to learn new software programs and how we can utilize the programs into the Special Education Dept. to use with our students.
It's nice to hear that the surrounding counties can come together to share their expertise. But you're right, not many people seem know about it. The information doesn't seem to be trickling down to the teachers who could benefit.
What a wonderful opportunity for school divisions to share their best practice. I enjoy the concpet of growing as a state body versus counties in isolation. While I have not participated in this, I have on a smaller scale when we hosted a techfest for our feeder pattern a few years ago to get us all on the same page.
I have heard about the EdTech conference, but have never attended. I think it would be very beneficial to attend and learn what else is available. There are so many technology resources that I either do not know about or do not know how to use. Having a greater knowledge base would help me, not only in the classroom but in my every day life. Technology is changing so much in this time period, and I definitely need to work hard to make sure I stay current!
I teach at a technical center in central virginia and do not believe that anyone on our staff has ever attended on of your conferences, at least not any that teach T&I classes. I guess we are the last to get to these types of learniong and teaching.
I think that this is a great partnership! Unfortunately, I haven't heard of GRETC before now. I hope that EdTech 2008 is being shared with all teaching staff in the surrounding counties.
I attend EDTech every year. It is a good opportunity to share and learn about new techology for instruction and you cannot beat the cost. It is also a good way to get free software. However, very few teachers or administrators from my divison take advantage of the training.I have also attended workshop at the Math and Science Center. They offer courses for credit too.
What a great way to share ideas and learn from one another. This sounds like a great organization and something that I would definitely like to take part in.
What a wonderful opportunity! I am disappointed to say that as a teacher in the area I have never heard of this before. I hope that this year there will be more advertising in our county.
I am surprised that most of us have not heard of this. Makes me wonder if the leaders in our county are aware of this wonderful opportunity. I hope that we can all take advantage of attending this consortium.
SCOTT W-(I don't have a Googgle account, so I am using my wife's) I have not heard of the EdTech conference before, but it sounds like a great oppurtunity to learn new things and to collaborate with others. It sounds like a great way to hear about all of the new technologies that are now in education. Our students can benefit greatly from what educators learn.
I am surprised so many have not heard of this, including myself. I don't know if my county is included in the partnership since its expansion, but we do have a Technology conference each winter. Different schools do presentations and it is neat, but I don't think it is nearly on par with this conference. Ours feels more like a show and tell than a sharing of ideas.
Have you tried advertising the EdTech conference on each school system's Intranet page? It may help spread the word about such an awesome resource.
Even though it is taking some time for the word to spread to all of us, it looks like it has been growing with more and more participants every year, which is wonderful! Today's learners are primarily digital learners, and it is so important for us to keep up with them.
I have heard of EdTech when I worked in Henrico County. We would get an email to advertise when it was coming. I have not been able to attend. However, it sounds like a great opportunity for teachers to get enthusiastic ideas about how they can use different types of technology in their classroom. It is also an opportunity for teachers to share what's available within their particular district. EdTech sounds like a great opportunity for administrators as well to see how they can better support their staff.
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