She Snoops for Scoops: The Personal Side of the EdNET Community

She Snoops for Scoops: The Personal Side of the EdNET Community

Vicki Smith Bigham — Friday, July 20, 2012

Whoohoo and hello weekend! I am ready for one, friends! How about you? Don't you dare start your weekend, though, before you check out this week's scoops. Read on....

New roles for some....

First, a correction to my post last week about Mark Oronzio, CEO, Oronzio Consulting, joining the advisory board of a Portland, Oregon start-up called Membean. Membean is a cognitive vocabulary learning environment that allows a student to build a deep understanding of words while actively preventing forgetting. Teachers can track every student and construct instant assessments. Mark reports they are getting rave reviews from users, but I provided the wrong link for the company website - check it out here! And if you want to learn more about Mark and his work and interests or connect with him, just go to his LinkedIn profile!

Alex Bloom has been appointed the new president of WebAssign. He comes to the company from Appia, a Durham, N.C.-based mobile content distribution company, where he served as chief operating officer. He previously was CEO and president at Handango in Dallas, vice president/general manager at Motricity in Durham, and director of content and programming at Verizon Wireless in New Jersey. Alex has extensive experience in taking digital media to the consumer. He has developed content platforms, managed product and process development, and managed strategic partnerships with media companies and content owners. He has spent much of his career in the mobile industry and has run direct-to-consumer eCommerce businesses, eReader businesses, and content distribution businesses. He graduated with a degree in commerce/marketing from the University of Virginia. Please join me in congratulating Alex on his newest role at abloom@webassign.net.

SmartBrief Education has some exciting new hires! Melissa Greenwood has joined the team as Senior Education Editor. She comes from LRP Publications and was formerly an educator. And Tom Whitby has joined the team as their Social Media Consultant and Contributing Editor. Tom has over forty years as an educator and is a legend in the education twitterverse. Joe Riddle, Publisher, says his whole team will be at EdNET this year so look for them there or drop a note to Joe now on the great new hires at jriddle@smartbrief.com.

Kudos to three gentlemen!

ASCD CEO and Executive Director Dr. Gene R. Carter was honored this week by the association's Board of Directors for his 20 years of service to the organization. An award was presented to Dr. Carter by ASCD President Debra Hill at the close of the association's summer board of directors' meeting in Alexandria, Virginia. Dr. Carter is a veteran educator with experience as a private and public school teacher, public school administrator, superintendent of schools, and university professor. He assumed his position of Executive Director and CEO of ASCD (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) in 1992. Before joining ASCD, Dr. Carter served for nine years as the superintendent of schools in Norfolk, Virginia, where he succeeded in reducing the dropout rate, implemented a district-wide school improvement program, established an early education center for 3-year-olds and their parents, and implemented a regional scholarship foundation for public school students. During his 20 years as the association's CEO and Executive Director, Dr. Carter has had many achievements. Among the highlights are
• a global expansion effort growing ASCD's presence in more than 145 countries
• the reshaping of professional development for educators at all levels through the creation and implementation of outstanding solutions such as ASCD's PD In Focus® and PD Online®
• the launch of the association's Whole Child Initiative, which helps educators, families, community members, and policymakers move from a vision about educating the whole child to action

A native of Staunton, Virginia, Dr. Carter received his bachelor's degree in history from Virginia State University and received a master's degree in educational administration from Boston University. Having taught U.S. government, world history, and English for nine years, he attended Teachers College, Columbia University, and received a doctorate in instructional and curricular practice in 1973. He has also received an honorary Doctor of Law degree from Virginia State University and an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Old Dominion University. He has participated in international educational seminars in Europe, Asia, South American, Africa, and Australia. Dr. Carter has also led professional delegations to Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean.
To learn more about Dr. Gene R. Carter and his history as an educator, please visit his biography. Join me in congratulating Dr. Carter on this much deserved recognition and watch for his "Voice From the Field" article in the August 10th issue of EdNET Insight News Alert. 

Our friend Chip Fesko, Senior Director of Advertising, George Lucas Educational 
Foundation, Just had his children's book of original poems and watercolors, Fireflies & Honey Bees: Children's Poems for You and Me, published on Apple ibooks.

It is narrated by English actress Eila Ulyett and enhanced with interactive links by Technical Director John Barrett. The book is available for download on your iPad with iBooks 2 or on your computer with iTunes. To read this book, you must be using an iPad with iBooks 2. I am so, so impressed! Tell Chip you agree and congratulate him on the publishing of his new work at chip.fesko@edutopia.org.

And the wonderful Dr. David Moursund has just completed a new book that he wants to share with the world. This free book is titled Using Brain/Mind Science and Computers to Improve Elementary School Math Education and is available for download. Dave says the book is specifically designed for use in the preservice and inservice education of elementary school teachers whose duties include teaching math. It provides an introduction to brain/mind science and computers as they relate to teaching and learning math. The goal of the book is to improve the quality of math education that elementary school students are receiving. The book can be used as supplemental reading in a math methods course or a math for elementary teachers course. It can be used in inservice education workshops for elementary teachers and for self-instruction. It contains a large number of links to materials currently available on the Web, and it contains an extensive index.

You should also be aware of the wide range of free materials Dave makes available for teachers through Information Age Education (IAE).

Be sure to check out all of these amazing resources and pass this information on to others. You can say hello to Dave at moursund@uoregon.edu.

EdNET News....

For you stragglers, I want to remind you that the special early bird savings for EdNET 2012 ends on August 17, 2012. Register now to save $200 on your single registration OR save an extra $100 with multiple registrations. To register, visit www.ednetconference.com.

If you want to see the list of non-procrastinators, check out the growing list of people already registered to attend.  You know your name needs to be on that list!

And for all of you early registrants, watch for the announcement of the all-new-for-2012 online networking directory of conference participants. You are going to be so jazzed by all the enhanced features and tools available in this new networking tool. Complete your own networking profile outlining your reasons for attending and your organization's goals; browse other attendee profiles and make connections before you head to Baltimore; manage your schedule and set up 1:1 meetings with other attendees; join groups of others with similar interests; and more. Start making your connections now!

Granddaughter #2, 17-year old Claire, is here from Oregon for ten days, and we are so happy to have her. She and her sister used to vow never to come to Houston in the summer, but she is here, and she is smiling—and I think she intends to be in the pool a lot! We have a good family weekend ahead of us, and I hope you have fun plans for your own. Enjoy! Till next week....Vicki, the Snoop