Pre-Session Networking

Please plan to join us before the keynote to network with your colleagues, view session highlights and hear from the conference sponsors.

Welcome

Opening Remarks

Nancy Pratt, President, AzTEA

Keynote

Atomic Habits: How to Get 1% Better Every Day

How can you achieve dramatic improvement in your personal and professional life? The natural impulse is to attempt big steps to improve. However, taking big steps often results in failure or only temporary gains. You rarely see the permanent results you want. The key to successful change is small habits. In this enlightening talk, James Clear focuses on the science of small habits, how they work and how their effects compound and multiply over time. You will come away with practical strategies that you can immediately apply in your daily life.

James Clear, Habits Expert, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author

Break

Visit the Virtual Exhibits.

Concurrent Sessions 1

One Data Alley to Rule Them All

In this session, you will learn the good, the bad and the ugly of creating a district-wide data PLC to streamline our data practices and helped create data dashboards, COVID screeners, PLC data tools and virtual hall passes.

Luke Allpress, Intervention Coordinator, Administration, Agua Fria High School

Lauren Owens, Technology Integration Specialist, Educational Services, Agua Fria Union High School District

Sean Smith, Director of Data and Assessment, Educational Services, Agua Fria Union High School District

Austin Wren, IT Programmer, Technology, Agua Fria Union High School District

Cultivating Resilience in Education

Following a most challenging year, many leaders in education seem ready to jump right back into “normal” work routines. The global pandemic has led to a new “normal,” leaving those in education to define this new “normal.” This session will guide participants in the discovery of the resilience within themselves and ways to cultivate that resilience.

Break for Lunch

Concurrent Sessions 2

Tech for Good: Internships on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

Fifteen, diverse young women from Paradise Valley Schools came together for the WIT 2021 Summer Internship on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. From content of the Sustainable Development Academy, the City of Phoenix and the Economic World Forum to problem solving in virtual sessions through Google’s JamBoard, Classroom and Meet, topics were intense. Science, economics, English, history, technology and the arts all unfolded in a celebration of cross-disciplinary projects designed to “Learn Something and Do Something.”

Jeff Billings, IT Director, Paradise Valley Unified School District

WIT Interns

Technology Departments Lead the Way: Robotics in the Classroom

Principals, teachers and the community all want robotics at the schools, but most don’t know where to start. They aren’t sure what to purchase, don’t have confidence in their ability or don’t feel they have the time to learn enough to teach their students. See how our instructional technology coaches created a library of programmable devices to bring robotics into our district classrooms!

Shawn Abele, Instructional Technology Coordinator, Gilbert Public Schools

How to Deepen Your Privacy Efforts and Safeguard Student Data

Ensuring students’ and staff members’ data is protected is critical. Discover how districts can easily manage student data privacy compliance by employing a deeper approach to application privacy monitoring, including utilizing a data analytics tool like CatchOn that provides third-party badging certifications from IMS Global Learning Consortium and SDPC.

Leo Brehm, Product Manager, CatchOn

Cybersecurity Incidents: Preparing for the Inevitable

Can you list all the times you’ve been notified that your personal information may have been compromised? Cybersecurity incidents have become so commonplace that they’re often not newsworthy. Regardless, they still have significant short- and long-term ramifications for businesses and individuals. In this session, we will move beyond the conversation of buying yet another tool or technology to look at what should be done before, during and after the inevitable incident to reduce risk, minimize impact and manage the message.

James Brummett, Security Principal, Insight

How to Leverage Technology to Address Learning Gaps with eBooks

COVID-19 accelerated technology adoption in K-12. But now that schools have these devices, what’s the best way to use them to support learning? See how districts are embracing digital books to address learning gaps by delivering students equitable access to a broader range of diverse reading resources. Discover how schools are adapting and quickly meeting the needs of large numbers of students, and leveraging the power of anytime, anywhere digital book access to build cost-effective district-level collections. We’ll also discuss how students are being protected through secure single sign-on authentication and the privacy ebooks afford to explore and learn at their own pace.

Suzy Nash, Account Executive, Education, Sora by OverDrive Education

Virtual Networking Reception

Network with your colleagues and discuss technology solutions with the event sponsors at the Virtual Networking Reception on wonder.me. Five lucky reception attendees will be chosen at random to win a gift card!

End of Day 1

Pre-Session Networking

Please plan to join us before the panel to network with your colleagues, view session highlights and hear from the conference sponsors.

Welcome

General Session Panel Discussion

Last Year’s Silver Lining

None of us want to repeat last year, but we made tremendous headway in many, many ways. The gap between IT and practitioners narrowed considerably. We accomplished things in a month that normally take a year (or more). We had more freedom to innovate. We forged unexpected partnerships. We procured at record speeds. We made headway in closing the digital divide and improving digital citizenship. All were great things we have long desired. But now is not the time to relax! This session’s passionate panel explores how to build on our progress and take advantage of new opportunities.

Moderator: Nancy Pratt, President, AzTEA

Jeff Billings, IT Director, Paradise Valley Unified School District

Dean Farar, Chief Technology Officer, Technology Department, Yuma Union High School District #70 and Yuma Elementary School District #1

Nan Williams, Executive Director, AzTEA

Closing Remarks and Adjourn

Conference times, agenda and speakers are subject to change.