Henri Landwirth
Philanthropist and Humanitarian
Founder, Hate Hurts

Henri Landwirth—Holocaust survivor, immigrant, retired hotelier, and humanitarian—has experienced the very worst and the very best life has to offer. His experience demonstrates the ability of the individual to choose the direction of one’s own life and to overcome personal challenges and adversity. Landwirth will talk with educators about his life and his newest foundation, Gift of Life in America, which sponsors Hate Hurts, a comprehensive program of teacher training, classroom instruction, and community service—a program that compels us to do all we can to stop hate and heal the wounds it inflicts.

Marc Prensky
The Original “Digital Natives” Author

Who are the Digital Natives? They are our students—native speakers of technology, fluent in the digital language of computers, video games, and the Internet. Today, more and more of our students lack the true prerequisites for learning—engagement and motivation—at least in terms of what we offer them in our schools. In this talk, Prensky describes several key areas where change in attitudes and behaviors on the part of educators is necessary, including understanding our students, dealing with exponential change, achieving mutual respect, sharing our successes, and engaging and motivating students.

Adair Lara
Author and Former Columnist
The San Francisco Chronicle

Are you an artist? How can you tell? Adair Lara, noted author and writing teacher, talks about the impulse to make birdhouses, sew Christmas ornaments, take photographs, try out new food dishes, or scribble down words for others to read: the desire to put something in the world that wasn’t there before. Why do we do such things when the big box store is down the road, stocked with birdhouses already, and the bookstore shelves are groaning with books? What is this mad impulse to make things, and what are its satisfactions?

Jason Ford
Professor, Game Design and Simulation
Kingwood College, Texas

The 1999 movie The Matrix seems to have been prophetic as we have students today who have been “wired-in” to a digital media world since the day they were born. In this session, we will look at this student of a new generation and the educational trends that will allow us, as educators, to enter “the matrix” and get plugged into reaching our students. Join us for an exploration of “the matrix” that includes the exciting world of gaming in the classroom and the effective use of virtual communities.

Carl Bernstein
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author and Journalist

Come and join us for a unique opportunity to hear legendary Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist Carl Bernstein. He co-authored All the President’s Men and The Final Day with Bob Woodward and His Holiness: John Paul II and the History of Our Time with Marco Politi. He is also the author of Loyalties, a memoir about his parents during McCarthy–era Washington, and Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton. He has written for Vanity Fair, Time, USA Today, Rolling Stone, and The New Republic. He was a Washington bureau chief and correspondent for ABC News and most recently joined CNN as an analyst for the 2008 election season.

Rena Palloff and Keith Pratt
Managing Partners
Crossroads Consulting Group

What are effective means by which to engage students in discussion? How can a waning discussion be enlivened? What are fishbowls, and how can they be most effectively used in an online or hybrid class? How can other techniques such as debates, simulations, and WebQuests be integrated into an online or hybrid class and assessed? Participants will leave the session with concrete ideas and techniques for engaging students in several environments and enlivening the discussion component of an online course.