Voice from the Industry
The Very Preliminary Agenda for EdNET 2020
Frank Catalano, Principal, Intrinsic Strategy — Friday, April 01, 2011
As an industry professional, you have to plan ahead. It’s in that spirit we give you advance notice of the agenda of what is certain to be a groundbreaking education industry event: EdNET 2020. It’s a conference with the vision to spot industry developments and trends in a clear-sighted way.
With less than a decade remaining to the opening session in San Diego, we present the very preliminary agenda for the EdNET 2020 keynotes and sessions. Note that most speakers and several panels are yet to be confirmed. We anticipate announcing the venue soon, but please be aware that the guest cottages at Nelson Heller’s estate are already fully booked.
Sunday, September 27
2:00 – 8:00 pm Registration and Cyber-Attendee Networking Area
The Cyber-Attendee Networking Area is the hub of EdNET. Meet fellow attendees and their avatars or use the adjacent Cyber Lounge to wirelessly update your embedded EdNET Directory chip with new attendees and their images.
4:30 – 6:00 pm Business Networking Forum
Thirty seconds of fame! Introduce yourself and your organization. Let other attendees know your objectives (and current place of employment).
6:00 – 7:30 pm Kickoff Reception
Sponsored by Pearson
Monday, September 28
Monday program sponsored by McGraw-Hill-Pearson
8:30 – 10:00 am Keynote Address: Education Secretary Bill Gates
The outgoing U.S. Secretary of Education reflects on the transition to a fully competitive grants- based department.
10:00 – 10:45 am Networking Break
Sponsored by Pearson Scholastic
10:45 – 11:45 am Implementing Common Core State Standards
As states, districts, and schools begin to approach full implementation of Common Core State Standards curriculum and assessments, the final obstacle remains — one of math. What exactly is meant by “15%”? Do calculations of additional permitted state-specific standards have to occur in base 10, or is base 8 or 12 acceptable? And can the percentage be indexed for inflation, grade or otherwise?
12:00 – 1:00 pm Luncheon
Sponsored by Pearson Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
1:15 – 2:30 pm Education Executives Advisory Board: Dealing With the Teacher Shortage
How are districts dealing with the increasingly critical shortage of teachers brought on by age-related retirements and either abandonment of the profession by those laid off during the Great Recession or their emigration to better-paying teaching positions in the EU, Middle East, and New Zealand?
Join these influential superintendents as they discuss their perspectives: Are the latest computer-adaptive systems advanced enough to count toward lowering the student-teacher ratio? Is the latest trend of free-with-order — providing a contract teacher with every basal course purchased — an acceptable solution, or does it confuse the contractor’s career path?
5:15 – 7:30 pm Business Opportunities Fair – Exhibits Reception
Continue networking with free cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and complimentary organizational charts of the industry’s largest companies.
Tuesday, September 29
Tuesday program sponsored by Pearson Amazon
8:30 – 9:45 am Keynote Address: The Big-Box Charter Opportunity
Building on its foundation’s long-time support of education, Wal-Mart recently created a national chain of federal charter schools. What are the stable business opportunities for curriculum and assessment products when the average class size is frequently rolled back, and how does a vendor deal with the logistics of just-in-time education delivery? How do traditional education suppliers work with a customer who already sells everything needed for school uniforms, lunches, and technology? Can student teachers double as greeters?
9:45 – 10:45 am Birds-of-a-Feather Roundtables
This is your opportunity to participate in an intimate discussion on topics important to your business. Choose from ever-popular and evergreen roundtables: “Issues surrounding the pending reauthorization of ESEA/NCLB,” “Why investors shun education,” “Games in learning,” “Classic Frank Catalano first questions,” and “State budgets: the new normal?”
11:15 am – 12:15 pm Implementing One-to-One
Hear about the lessons learned from the surprisingly successful initiative to provide interactive whiteboards to every student. What are the market needs created by these innovative IWB 1-1 “slates” in the areas of educational content, parent professional development, and home/school transportation services? Can carrying these devices between classes count toward physical education requirements?
12:15 – 1:15 pm Luncheon
Sponsored by Pearson, a division of Disney
3:00 – 4:30 pm View From the Catbird Seat – Envisioning Tomorrow
Join the industry’s leading market analysts as they explore where the market is going and what it means for vendors. The issues of the future always seem to have an echo in the past, and the tough ones are never really fully resolved but rather, re-captured and re-constructed, are put in a new economic, political, and technological setting. Because education is all about people. And people are maddeningly, amazingly, and consistently predictable about one thing: Education is broken. And the best way to fix it is to go back to how it was when they were kids.
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Frank Catalano is the principal of Intrinsic Strategy (http://intrinsicstrategy.com), a marketing, product, and brand strategy consultancy. He works with companies in digital technology, content and services, primarily in the education and consumer markets. Frank tweets from http://twitter.com/FrankCatalano. He is also a former officer of the Science Fiction Writers of America. And he really does like Pearson. Really. A lot.
