The second DLE was held February 25 at beautiful Lake Las Vegas, 7 miles off the famous Las Vegas strip. The keynote speaker for the event was Leslie Wilson, President and founding member of the non profit One-to-One Institute.

Guest Blogger: Joe Dockery
Joe taught the first Langauge Arts sessions in Adobe's DLE classroom at Austin, Texas February 9th.

Hp and Intel, partnered with Tech & Learning, are the major sponsors of the 2010 Digital Learning Environment Event Series. Adobe, Microsoft, Smart Technologies, DyKnow, Atomic Learning, Computrace, Vernier and KNS are also partners in the events. These are free, interactive one day events taking place in Austin, Las Vegas, San Diego, Atlanta, Boston, Washington DC, Indianapolis, Denver, Minneapolis, and Raleigh from February to May. The purpose is to provide a hands-on experience for K-12 decision makers in the area of technology integration into the curriculum. Attendees will experience state of the art technology solutions in lab environments in the areas of Science, Math, Language Arts/Literacy and professional development. The major goal is to learn how technology-rich learning environments enrich students’ learning experiences and help them achieve.

This year there are two tracks available for participants. In the Teaching and Learning Track, participants will attend sessions focused on Math, Science, Language Arts and Professional Development. In the Technology Track, IT decision makers will find solutions and ideas for cloud computing solutions, wired and wireless networking, as well as network security solutions.

Adobe Education Leaders (Joe Dockery, Ryan Visser, Chris Peters, Deborah Hargroves and Sara Martin) with years of experience integrating Language Arts and technology will be providing the training for these events in the area of Language Arts/Literacy. We will be demonstrating how technology can enhance the language arts curriculum using Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements. One of our partners, Atomic Learning, will also be demonstrating their online tutorials which support learning Adobe software as well as many other software programs.

The Language Arts standards typically have 4 major components; reading, writing, listening and speaking. The tendency in most American classrooms is to focus on paper, pencil, and listening. This is understandable since reading and writing are heavily tested on our high stakes standardized tests. Teaching and learning with multimedia technologies can address the often overlooked standards of listening and speaking as well as deepening knowledge in the total core curriculum. Further,
technology can be the hook, the spark that draws a student’s interest into the learning process. By its nature, technology embodies “active participation”. Students learn by doing, by exploring, by creating, and in the end, their creations are authentic outcomes that are valued and can be shared.

As we journey through these next 10 events, we will share our experiences and observations. For more information and to register for these events please visit: http://www.guide2digitallearning.com

In my role at my tiny school district in the central valley of California I find myself in a rather unique position. I wear the hats of classroom teacher (computer lit) and tech support and coordinator. I am also an Adobe Education Leader and in that role I have the opportunity to travel throughout the United States as a trainer and presenter. Whenever I am out of my district training I am often engaged in a discussion about one of the most basic frustrations teachers have around the country (these are teachers trying like mad to integrate technology into their curriculum.) Their frustration source-none other than their own district and school technology administrators and tech support personnel!

The fifth and final Digital Learning Environment Event was held on April 28 in beautiful downtown Pittsburg at the City Center Doubletree Hotel. The keynote speaker for the event was Holly Jobe, the Project Manager for Classrooms for the Future (CFF), Pennsylvania’s high school reform program. Holly Jobe has been involved in all levels of education. Her interests include how education technology can reform education and fully engage student in taking responsibility for learning; and educational leadership. She has served in her current position with the Pennsylvania Department of Education since 2006.