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Flip Your Classroom, Blend Your School With Open & Innovative Tools

By Tom Vander Ark — August 23, 2012 2 min read
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On September 18, 2012 I am co-hosting a conference, OpenBlend, with the Tacoma Public Schools and the Puget Sound Educational Service District (PSESD) at
the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center. OpenBlend is a blended learning conference
featuring a full-day track of Khan Academy workshops.

The Khan Academy track includes an introduction, a planning workshop to determine the best model and level of integration, background set up for a
successful first week, and a session on comparing deployment strategies.

Charlie Bufalino will lead a virtual tour of Rocketship Education, the top performing high poverty elementary network in
California. Find out why and how they use Dreambox and ST Math in their Learning Lab.

Take a virtual field trip to Carpe Diem, AdvancePath, and Silicon Valley Flex - all successful blended high school online learning environments.

Teacher Justin Talmadge will discuss the flipped classroom on Edmodo, including how to best utilize the free social
learning platform in the classroom setting. Learn how Edmodo can support your school’s professional development plans and your professional learning
network.

Tech expert John Vaille from the PSESD and I will discuss strategies that schools can use to create and sustain high-access environments. Trying to decide
between laptops and tablets? We can help! Wondering about letting kids bring their own devices to school? We’ll talk about BYOD (bring your own device),
too.

Math guru Nigel Nisbet will share the amazing gap-closing power of JiJi the Penguin and the engaging visual approach of ST Math. He’ll discuss deployment options and talk about the support to teachers provided by this interactive
game-based approach. Find out how and why 1,400 schools are using this blended tool to boost math proficiency rates.

Neal Manegold will have attendees exploring the adaptive and engaging elementary math product from Dreambox Learning
that provides powerful reporting tools to teachers and parents.

Jessica Bonner will share iReady, a K-6 next generation instructional system that combines adaptive assessment with
engaging instructional units in reading and math.

Karl Nelson with OSPI will cover information about the multiple providers of online learning in Washington and will provide an update on the course catalog
and open resource initiatives.

Register here
if you’d like to attend the September 18, 2012 conference in Tacoma or let me know if you’d like an
OpenBlend conference in your community.

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The opinions expressed in Vander Ark on Innovation are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.