Steve Dembo

A pioneer in the field of educational social networking, Dembo was among the first to realize the power of blogging, podcasting, Twitter, and other Web 2.0 technologies in connecting educators and creating professional learning communities.

Steve Dembo served for ten years as Discovery Education’s Director of Learning Communities and led their Innovation and Strategy team. He is the co-author of the book Untangling the Web: 20 Tools to Power Up Your Teaching. The National School Board Association named him one of 2010’s “Twenty to Watch,” a list honoring individuals finding innovative ways to use technology to increase classroom learning. In 2013 he began serving the Skokie/Morton Grove District 69 as a member of the School Board. Dembo is a course designer and adjunct professor for Wilkes University where he serves as class instructor for the Internet Tools for Teaching course within the Instructional Media degree program.

Steve Dembo is also a dynamic speaker on the capabilities of social networking, the power of educational technologies and Web 2.0 tools, and the ability of digital content to empower teachers to improve student achievement. He has delivered keynotes and featured presentations at dozens of conferences globally including ISTE, TCEA, FETC, MACUL, GaETC, METC, CUE, ICE, TEDxCorpus Christi, #140Edu, EduWeb, .EDU and the Social Media Masters Summit. Dembo was also a featured panelist at Nokia Open Labs as an expert on mobile device integration in education.

Ballroom A at 10:45 a.m.

Virtual Unreality: The Truth Behind the Hype

AR, VR and QR are the hottest #EduBuzzWords right now, but is there any substance behind the pixels? We’ll separate the sizzle from the steak and talk about meaningful ways VR is impacting education. We'll evaluate the claims being made by education VR companies, explore how the technologies are being used in classrooms today, and break down the latest hardware and software available to teachers and students.

Tech Talk

Room 16 at 1:15 p.m.

VR is Visceral: Ready Player One-to-World

VR has reached a watershed moment. We'll discuss on VR learning creates a level of presence that generates new understandings based on an experience impossible to replicate in real life.