Advocacy means supporting our students, there are several ways to accomplish this. This poster session illustrates how to advocate for your students by showcasing their work and achievements publicly, safely, and appropriately. The goal is to build a bridge to the community to draw support for what your students are accomplishing in your classroom.
Objectives:
This session shows how to give voice to students from any socio-economic or ethnic background. The process shows how to utilize free resources to give voice to any and all students.
Encourages educators to build out FREE Platforms to showcase student work in a safe manner utilizing best practices for a variety of classroom levels.
Attendees will discuss and begin safely building out their platforms in ways to reach a broader community of parents and other educators to showcase student successes and build not only an audience for their work, but support for their efforts.
Since 2018, PART has operated a K-12 digital literacy program in 8 school districts across the greater Pittsburgh region. We call our program POD x TECH, in abbreviation for two components that represent growing fields of increasing significance to students workforce readiness — podcasts and technology.
Now in its fourth year, the POD x TECH program, in which PART grew the program to 15 classrooms across 12 schools, PART works directly with students in supplementing their year-long curriculum in two equally important ways, where technology is at the intersection of each student's preparedness for continuing education and entry into the workforce.
Attendees will explore PART's methodology, our successes and failures, and leave with tools for their students and schools.
Mike Zula, or “Mr. Mike” is a Pittsburgh native with an education background spanning the state of Pennsylvania, culminating in matriculation from Penn State and Pitt Law—Mike understands the education landscape in Pennsylvania and abroad as it pertains to both higher education and career readiness programs.
Mr. Mike’s passion is situated somewhere between storytelling and technology—how we tell our stories utilizing technology profoundly impacts the way in which future generations will understand our use (hopefully the responsible use) of technology.
A staunch advocate of individualized education and multimodal education methods, bringing Mike and PART into your classrooms, libraries, or board rooms provides an energetic and entertaining look at how we interact with technology in our educational journeys—journeys which are lifelong.
The Partnership to Advance Responsible Technology (PART) is a Pittsburgh-based, independent, 501(c)(3) nonprofit think-tank that engages key, multi-sector stakeholders to ensure the responsible research, development, deployment, and governance of emerging and data-driven technologies, notably artificial intelligence. The POD x Tech program is funded by the Grable Foundation.
Objectives :
Understand the methodology behind the POD x TECH program: Attendees will learn how PART integrates podcasts and technology into K-12 classrooms to enhance digital literacy and career readiness, and how this approach can be applied in their own schools.
Identify key successes and challenges in implementing a digital literacy program: Attendees will gain insights into the growth and development of the program, including practical takeaways from both its successes and challenges, enabling them to better plan and adapt similar initiatives in their institutions.
Gain tools and strategies for enhancing student workforce readiness: Attendees will leave with actionable tools and strategies to integrate technology and storytelling into their educational programs, fostering students’ preparedness for higher education and the workforce.
STEM education is pivotal for the future workforce, yet many students, particularly those from underrepresented communities and those with disabilities, lack access to engaging and hands-on STEM learning experiences.
According to the CDC, 1 in 6 children have a developmental disability, which includes both physical and mental impairments, while 4 in 10 children have persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. There is a growing demand for innovative educational programs that captivate students' interest and provide practical skills while also emphasizing interpersonal skills, collaboration, teamwork and fostering a sense of community.
Drone soccer is a thrilling team sport played with radio-controlled quadcopters in protective exoskeletons designed for collisions. Teams of five compete in a netted arena, ramming and blocking to prevent the opposing team from scoring. Before competing, students must learn to build, program, fly, and repair high-performance drones, gaining valuable engineering skills.
Objectives:
What is Drone Soccer?
Resources needed for Drone Soccer
How can United Drone Adventures support Drone Soccer Programs?
