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Dr. Marzano at ICE Conference 2010

ICE Conference 2010 is still months away, but the ICE Conference planning committee is already hard at work with a goal of making our upcoming conference the biggest and best ever. One of the first tasks of the members of the conference program sub-committee each year is to select the individuals who will be the featured keynote speakers on Thursday and Friday. These nationally known speakers are often in high demand, and so our committee members always act quickly in order to secure the services of individuals who will deliver an interesting and engaging message to our members.

We are extremely pleased that one of our keynote speakers at ICE Conference 2010 will be Dr. Robert Marzano, a nationally recognized authority on instructional design and research that reflects best practices for enhancing student achievement. Dr. Marzano is a leading researcher in education and is the author of more than 30 books and 150 articles on topics such as instruction, assessment, writing and implementing standards, cognition, effective leadership, and school intervention. His books include Designing & Teaching Learning Goals & Objectives, District Leadership That Works, Designing & Assessing Educational Objectives, Making Standards Useful in the Classroom, and The Art and Science of Teaching. Click this link for more information about the Marzano Research Laboratory.

Dr. Marzano will do the keynote presentation on Friday, February 26, and then do spotlight presentations later in the day so that interested ICE members can learn more about his research and his professional development programs. We are excited that he will be able to join us at our conference next February, and we hope that you will make plans to attend.

Share Your Expertise - Conduct a Workshop!

Have you ever considered leading a workshop at the ICE Conference? There are many valuable programs and activities each year at the conference, but the half-day and full-day workshops are certainly among the most valuable learning opportunities. If you have a good working knowledge of software applications or other technology resources and a passion to share your ideas with other educators, I would encourage you to consider becoming a workshop presenter.

Full-day workshops are scheduled on Tuesday and Wednesday of the conference week and meet from 8:30 am-3:30 pm. This schedule gives presenters the opportunity to cover topics in much more detail than they could in the shorter breakout sessions later in the week, and it gives participants the time they need to practice the skills and techniques they have just learned. Topics for these all day sessions might include specific software applications, new and innovative lesson activities, emerging technologies, and new Web 2.0 tools and other web-based applications. ICE pays $350 to presenters who conduct full-day workshops.

Half-day workshops are scheduled on Thursday and Friday and meet from 10:00 am-12:30 pm. The format is similar to the all day workshops described above, but the time schedule is condensed so that participants can attend these special workshops and still have time to take advantage of some of the other conference activities. Thursday workshops are offered in labs that are equipped with laptop computers, while the Friday workshops are offered as “Bring Your Own Laptops (BYOL)” events so that participants can work on their own computers. Presenters who conduct half-day workshops are paid $175 and are also given free admission to all conference programs on the day that they present.

If you are interested, it is easy to sign up to be a workshop presenter. Just click the link below to go directly to the online proposal form or go to the ICE web site to access the form:

http://proposals.iceberg.org/login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fDefault.aspx

We hope you will join us this year!

Be a Presenter at ICE Conference 2010

ICE Conference 2010: A Learning Odyssey is months away, but the process of building the program for the conference begins right now. We have been working with a new company that will assist us with all phases of our conference planning and management tasks, and we are ready to unveil the first segment of that new system—the online proposal submission tool.

If you are interested in being a presenter at our next ICE Conference, please click the link below to access the online submission form. Our first priority is to get a full schedule of full-day and half-day workshops in place, but we are also interested in developing a strong and diverse program of general breakout sessions and poster sessions:

Click Here to Be a Presenter

People who conduct full-day workshops on Tuesday and Wednesday are paid for their services and those who conduct half-day workshops on Thursday and Friday morning get free admission to the conference for the remainder of the day of the workshop.

If you have developed some successful technology-infused classroom activities that you would like to share with other educators or enjoy demonstrating some of the exciting features of software applications or new Web 2.0 tools, please consider signing up to present at the ICE Conference.

If you have presented in the past, you will see a few changes when you use our new online proposal submission tool. You will be asked to create a new user account the first time you access the system, but once you have done this, you will use the same log-in information each time you wish to add new proposals, edit existing proposals, or sign up for other conference-related activities.

The expertise and passion that our members bring to the ICE Conference make it one of the premier technology conferences in the nation. Please consider sharing your knowledge and help other educators to learn more about the many ways that technology resources can be implemented in their classrooms. Thanks—have a great summer!

ICE Conference 2009 was a Huge Success!

Continuing in the pattern of steady growth that has characterized the ICE Conferences that have been held at Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles in recent years, ICE Conference 2009 was the biggest event that ICE has ever hosted. We had over 1,800 attendees on Thursday alone and over 3,000 unique registrations for the entire conference. These are both new high water marks for our annual event. Many thanks are due to the large group of conference committee members, tech staff members, and ICE volunteers who worked hard to make sure that everything ran smoothly over the four days of workshops, breakout sessions, and special activities.

There were several new venues that were set up this year to offer additional information for attendees and to provide new opportunities to learn about emerging technologies. The ICE booth pictured above was expanded significantly and was filled with visitors throughout the conference. A new Thursday keynote luncheon event was held for the first time, and David Thornburg spoke to a sold-out audience at the Advanced Center for Training facility. The poster sessions, Assistive Technology Playground and Second Life Playground were all housed in the Marsalis Rooms near the Atrium this year, and the presenters were busy through all of the scheduled sessions on Thursday and Friday. Another new venue was the Personal Learning Network (PLN) Plaza near Preservation Hall, and it was also busy throughout the conference.

As noted above, special thanks go out to the dozens of committee members and volunteers who have met regularly since April, 2008, to plan and organize all of the procedures and activities that are essential for a successful conference. Each morning during the conference, an army of tech specialists wearing red shirts met to discuss the computer installations and network configurations that would be required to support the presentations and demonstrations for that day. In other locations around the conference center, dozens of ICE volunteers were helping attendees to get their materials and find the locations for the presentations they hoped to see.

ICE Conference 2009 is still fresh in our memories, yet the planning for the 2010 event will begin in just a few weeks. If you enjoyed the conference, please consider volunteering to help with next year's conference - "ICE Conference 2010: A Learning Odyssey." It promises to be bigger and better than ever!

Get Ready for ICE Conference 2009

Happy New Year!

Now that the holidays are behind us and we look ahead to new challenges and experiences in 2009, it is a great time to remind you that registration for ICE Conference 2009 is already in full swing. Pre-Conference booklets that contain information about workshops, featured speakers, and special events were mailed to all ICE members and school officials at the beginning of December. If you did not receive a copy in the mail, you can visit the ICE Conference 2009 web page and download a copy of the booklet in PDF format or just click the link below to download the file.

Download Ice_2009

I encourage you to register now if you want to be sure of getting a seat in one of the many full-day and half-day workshops that are being offered this year.

Conference Details

Name: ICE Conference 2009: “Connecting to the World of Tomorrow”

Dates: February 24-27, 2009

Location: Pheasant Run Resort and Conference Center

Web Site:  Click here to view the site.

Online Registration Form: Click here to access the form.

Personal Learning Network Plaza

One of the new activity areas at the conference is the PLN Plaza, a place to expand your own personal learning network. Scott Meech is one of the organizers of this space and he has shared the following description:

Are you a blogger?  Do you use Twitter, Plurk, Ning, Facebook, MySpace, Listservs, or any other of the many social networking resources that are available to teachers and students today?

Even if you are not actively using these resources and are just curious to learn more about them, please plan to stop by the new "Personal Learning Network Plaza". Take a seat and open up a dialogue with your fellow ICE members. You will have a chance to learn more about "social networking" and meet others who are as passionate about education as you are.

The PLN Plaza is a great opportunity to meet people in person, face-to-face.  For many, the best part of a conference is the opportunity for conversations that go beyond the sessions.  It is always fun to meet people you have never spoken to in person before but with whom you have interacted online. Perhaps you will meet someone who is already in your network.  You might even meet someone who can become a part of your existing or new network.

Just as we are looking for ICE members to visit the new PLN Plaza at the conference, we are also seeking people who blog to commit to a 10 minute “meet and greet” session and talk about their blogs and their blogging experience.  There will be two Promethean Boards on display Wednesday evening and all day during the conference on Thursday and Friday.  The boards will display Twitter accounts, Summize.com, and Plurk.  Additionally, our bloggers will have their blogs on display during their “meet and greet” sessions. Look for more information on the ICE web site in the weeks ahead.

Regardless of your motivation, the new "Personal Learning Network Plaza" is a great place for open discussion and to interact with many other ICE members!

 

Be a Presenter at ICE Conference 2009

I hope that you are enjoying your well-deserved summer break! Even though the next ICE Conference is many months away, the members of the ICE Conference Committee have already been at work for the past several months planning the next event scheduled for February 24-27, 2009.

I am writing to let you know that we have just opened up the process for accepting proposals to present at ICE Conference 2009, and I would encourage you to consider sharing your expertise with other educators from across the state. We seek presenters for half-day and full-day workshops, general breakout sessions, and poster sessions. You can find more information on the ICE web site, and if you are interested in being a presenter, all of the online registration forms are on the site as well:

www.iceberg.org

Just look for the link labeled “ICE Conference 2009” and select the link to the proposal form that best matches your interest.

Our last conference was a resounding success and ICE Conference 2009 promises to be even bigger and better. If you know of other colleagues who might be willing to serve as conference presenters, please pass along this information to them. Be sure to save the dates and make plans to join us next February!