Learning Impact Leadership Institute 2016

K-12  Districts, Schools, and States are invited to attend this end-user Summit.

A resounding need is emerging across the K-12 sector for resources to support the process of implementing IMS standards and practices to make it significantly easier to support personalized learning. To streamline the learning curve for district and school leaders, IMS has formed several ‘Communities of Practices' to create an easy-to-use resources and facilitate the sharing of effective practices to help districts working towards integrating digital curriculum and data. To kick off the 2016 Learning Impact Leadership Institute, we will gather K-12 institution leaders together for a 1/2 day Summit to share the latest information and updates about the Communities of Practices, but more importantly to have a discussion about resources are needed, the state of market with regards to vendor adoption of standards, and to identify priorities to help focus the IMS work for the next 12 months.

Special Thanks to Our K-12 Institution Executive Board Sponsors: ClassLink, HMH, Performance Matters and SAFARI Montage!

AGENDA

1:00 - 1:15pm -- Welcome and Opening Comments

• Rob Abel, IMS Global
• Beatriz Arnillas, Houston ISD
• Tricia Kennedy, Gwinnett County Public Schools 

 

1:15 - 2:15pm -- Closing the Personalizing Instruction Gap

• Curriculum Standards Framework: As IMS and member districts continue the outreach to State education leaders, discussions continue to unfold around the support for machine-readable curriculum standards. This session will look at current status of State discussions; discuss solutioning around barriers for implementation (i.e. costing, funding, systems and staffing, etc.); and update from the TaskForce working to develop a framework. The session is led by the co-chairs for this Communit of Practice. 

           - Elizabeth Boothe, Houston ISD
           - Barbara Nesbitt, Pickens County School District

• e-Assessment & Analytics for K-12: Developing a standard nomenclature for learning objects and reading levels with statewide adoption is one key to fully leverage learning data in the classroom. When combined with descriptive analytics it brings the alignment needed for a prescriptive, personalized learning environment. The eAssessment and Analytics Community of Practice for K-12 will share their vision and progress on identifying additional assessment metadata needs, aligning assessment philosophy with metadata standards and a conceptual architecture for an environment.  

          - Leng Fritsche, Houston ISD
          - Debbie Durrance, Gwinnett County Public Schools

2:15 - 2:30pm -- Break
 

2:30 - 3:00pm -- Closing the Personalized Instruction Gap (con’t)

• Meta-tagging/Meta-data Naming Conventions: Having a wealth of learning objects is great, but without standards for tagging and naming, finding the right object or extracting learning data becomes an nearly insurmountable challenge.  See how the Meta-tagging and Metadata Community of Practice (CP) is making this easier by identifying common language for search criteria and aligning components of thin common cartridge with LTI.  An open discussion will take place for input on the progress so far and future direction for the CP. During this session, we want to hear from you to help figure out: 1) If additional LTI metadata for launching tools is needed; 2) What additional Thin Common Cartridge metadata is needed; 3) What strategies are used when searching for materials based on reading levels; and 4) What are the search criteria requirements need for Learning Systems?

3:00 - 4:00pm --  Assessment & Analytics: What Does the Road Forward Look Like? - 
A Vendor Roadmap Discussion
As districts continue to move to an integrated technology ecosystem for personalized learning great progress has been made but there is still more work to be done to close the gap and achieve a prescriptive, personalized learning ecosystem. To reach this goal, much of the work lies with the deep integration of assessments and analytics. 

The K-12 Institutional Executive Board has invited key vendors to share their current and future product plans to support this goal and to close the gap. Vendors will share with the group a brief explanation of how they are currently supporting assessments and analytics in K-12. They will also discuss key drivers that are furthering the work in the K-12 analytics and assessment arena. 

• McGraw-Hill Education, Marisa Urbano, Sr. Director of Product Management eCommerce and Integrations
• Pearson,Paul Grudnitski, Chief Architect, Pearson Assessments
• D2L, Marilyn Powers, Product Manager of Instruction & Assessment
• Learning.com, Andy Miller, Senior Product Manager, Platform Products 

4:00 - 4:15pm -- Break
 
4:15 - 5:00 pm - Discover and Share: Success Stories of Interoperability Standards in Action
From OneRoster to LTI and Thin Common Cartridge to QTI/APIP, districts and vendors are making strides for an integrated environment through interoperability.  Hear how four vendor partners are not only adopting IMS interoperability standards, but are applying the standards to help school districts succeed in addressing their specific instructional needs. Solutions range from ways to improve access to digital content and resources to use of data to personalize learning opportunities for students.

• Classlink
• SAFARI Montage
• Performance Matters
• HMH

5:00pm - 5:30pm -- Taking IMS Standards to the Next Level:  Where do we go next? 
The day concludes with an open dialogue and brainstorming session that reflects on the sessions. This session serve as a planning time to outline the work for the Communities of Practice and the K-12 Institutional Executive Board for the next 6 to 9 months.

5:30pm - 6:30 pm -- Reception 

 

 

Today's EdTech landscape is fast-moving and rapidly changing, making it a challenge for districts. Districts are trying to use digital content and tools to engage students in learning. Although there are many challenges to transforming to a student-centered approach, none are greater than the challenge to prepare teachers for the change.How are you preparing your teachers? Join Beatriz Arnillas (Houston ISD), Tricia Kennedy (Gwinnett) and Tom Ingram (Escambia) as they examine the greatest educational problems facing K-12 districts and how some districts are leveraging IMS standards to assist them in preparing teachers for their 21st century learners.

A well crafted digital learning ecosystem has the potential to assist in transforming the learning environment to a student-centered approach. However, we must plan carefully for the future. Although we have immediate needs to address, the systems we build must be prepared to leverage the technologies of tomorrow, including advanced algorithms to improve learning. A panel of districts will discuss the current status of their edtech ecosystems, their goals and their vision for the future.

Establishing productive processes and identifying EdTech requirements are critical components to ensure interoperability standards have their desired results. It can be challenging, however, to identify the business requirements and how to effectively articulate them to suppliers. Join Mark Walls [Gwinnett] and Jamey hynds [Katy ISD) as they discuss how districts are implementing effective business requirements for interoperability.

Students are beginning to learn computer science at an early age in this unique school that puts technology at the center of all of their school activities. Learn what happens inside and outside the classroom when student have access to mobile computing 24/7. Session attendees will leave with ideas and models for offering K-5 Computer Science to students in their own districts.

Finding the right technology that actually solves a problem can be daunting at best. Join Joe Catania from Newburgh ECSD (New York) as he discusses how they took action to provide their learning community with effortless access to a dizzying array of digital tools. He accomplished this by implementing ClassLink's Single Sign On platform and staying true to IMS interoperability standards. See how this strategic move was important to the academic mission of the district and the ways that it is helping them realize their future-ready goals.

In Texas, the number of available STEM jobs is more than double qualified candidates. To prepare graduates, schools must engage students in computer science and STEM at a young age. Join district leaders to discuss how a game design platform has transformed teaching and learning and engaged students in CS-STEM.

With the push for digital content and assessment in Education there is huge demand for competency aligned content and assessment that is interoperable. In US it is mandated that K-12 content be aligned to Curriculum Standards (or competencies). International educational organizations have also recognized this issue and some countries are ahead of the game in addressing. IMS has started work with an official Taskforce to create a Curriculum Competency Framework and is working with districts in 4 states to establish projects with the State organizations responsible for publishing the compentencies. This session will provide updates on the Taskforce activities and progress on the State initiatives.

Student data has the great potential to reshape the curriculum, drive personalized learning, and drive informed decisions. It also has the potential to create problems relating to the privacy of students. Understanding how to balance the technologies that drive a digital curriculum with protecting student data and privacy is essential. This session will examine concerns faced by districts specific to student data privacy and security, along with Internet safety.

Volusia County Schools is a large, urban district located in central Florida and extending to the coast of Daytona Beach. Our student population is 62,000. We are the largest employer in the county with approximately 4,000 instructional and administrative personnel. Under the direction of a new Superintendent, School Board and Senior Staff, we have embarked on a journey in the last year to break down the silos between technology, curriculum, facilities, and professional learning to unify our efforts under three guiding principles and one vision that includes a superior 21st century education fueled by a commitment to future ready, personalized learning for all. Rather than making sweeping change through dissemination of new technology and shifting funding toward 100% digital materials, we are focused on the growth mindset of the leadership, instructional personnel, students, and community stakeholders. More important than the tech, is preparing every adult to embrace the shift toward a future ready district through public focus groups, intensive professional learning, expansion of access, and curation of digital curriculum that supports all learning environments from virtual instructional program to blended learning classrooms and everything in between.

09:00 am - 10:30 am     Introductions, Status Updates:
                        - EBA
                        - QTI v2.x/APIP v1.x
                        - aQTI subgroup progress/issues
10:30 am - 10:45 am     Break
10:45 am - 12:00 pm     Architecture & HTML5/Rendering Issues
12:00 pm - 13:00 pm     Lunch
13:00 pm - 15:00 pm     Change Proposal discussions, reviews, and approvals
15:00 pm - 15:30 pm     Break
15:30 pm - 16:30 pm     Change Proposal discussions, reviews, and approvals
16:30 pm - 17:00 pm     Agree Actions, Timelines, and Deliverables