TEEN conclave highlights educational technology
Students may have had the day off from school Nov. 3, but Marion High School/Marion Middle School campus was teeming with more than 300 teachers and administrators from five area school districts.
Educators from Marion, Hillsboro, Peabody-Burns, Centre, and Herington school districts gathered for a groundbreaking collaborative inservice training, sponsored by the Technology Excellence in Education Network (TEEN).
"This was the first time all five districts have gotten together for an event like this," said Shelli Elliott, executive director of TEEN.
Educators spent the day learning from their peers about innovative ways to incorporate technology in their classes, to better meet the learning needs of today's students.
"There were 25 different classes they could attend," said Elliott.
"There is so much talent in all of these districts, and allowing these people to present showed off their talents and skills," she said.
Participants listened to a keynote speech delivered by Tonya Witherspoon, director of technology and virtual services for ESSDACK, an educational service center in Kansas.
Witherspoon used quotations and examples to highlight differences in information processing and learning styles between teachers and their students.
"How many of our kids have ever seen a phone on a hook?" she asked, pointing out a familiar phrase to adults that has little meaning for today's youth.
In the middle of her talk, Witherspoon demonstrated the technique of using a laptop computer and webcam to make a short stop action video. She indicated techniques such as this can more fully engage students in learning than traditional classroom methods.
"It really made them think about their teaching, and how kids learn," Elliott observed.
Feedback from the participants was overwhelmingly positive, according to Elliott.
"The one comment I received throughout the day was 'When we do this next year
TEEN is an interlocal consortium formed in 1992 by the five participating districts to use technology to share resources for the mutual benefit of their students.
