My name is Brian Seymour. And my mission is to create technology opportunities for all students.
Brian is the Director of Instructional Technology for Pickerington Local School District in Ohio, formerly a high school science teacher, instructional coach and curriculum coordinator. Brian is currently leading Pickerington Schools through 1:1 process, which is currently the largest school district in Ohio to go completely 1:1. Brian is also leading the district through a change in pedagogy to adopt a brand of blended learned they have termed “Tradigital Learning.” Brian is the 2017 ITIPOhio Outstanding Tech Admin of the Year. Brian was also named the Ohio’s Making It Happen Award for 2017. Brian was named in 2019 as the national School Leader of the year by EdTech Digest. Brian was named one of the Connected Educators of 2014 by Battelle for Kids. Brian was a member of the White House’s CSforAll steering committee.
Brian has a Bachelor’s in Science and Education from Bowling Green State University, a Master’s Degree in Geosciences from Mississippi State University, a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership from Ashland University, his Superintendent License from The Ohio State University, and is currently working on his Doctorate Degree in K12 Organizational Leadership from Franklin University.
Under Brian’s leadership, Pickerington Schools was awarded the coveted Distinguished District award (2018) from ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). Additionally, Pickerington Schools have been named a Distinguished District by The Center for Digital Education (2017), The Learning Counsel (2017/2018), National School Boards Association (2018), WOSU Classroom (2018) and District Administrator Magazine (2017). Through Brian leadership of creating the PLSD technology plan, Pickerington School’s technology plan named a model school district for the Future Ready program and for Ohio’s Future Ready initiative.
Brian has also been served as one of the ISTE Community Champions in assisting schools to integrate more tech into the classroom and is one of the leaders on the ISTE leadership teams for Technology Coordinators PLN, Learning Spaces PLN and Computer Science PLN. Additionally, Brian is currently serving as the Past Chair for the WOSU EdTech Steering and Advisory Council and a member of the National Council for Digital Convergence. Brian is also an expert member of the Future Ready created Mentors K-12 Brian was selected in 2017-2018 as one of the OhioASCD Emerging Leaders.
He believes in a pedagogy first approach to technology integration, in which the teaching and learning must drive the use of technology.
This whirlwind session will introduce you 60 different website, apps, and EdTech resources that you can immediately use with your students.
Technology integration is far more than just iPads and Chromebooks. This session will discuss numerous gadgets and gizmos that teachers and students can use in their classrooms to help create more engaging and deeper lessons.
The newest EdTech push is going One2One with devices. But just purchasing a bunch of devices and putting them in the hands of the students. Schools need to be strategic about their technology plan to integrate technology into their curriculum. Schools need to look through a lens of teaching and learning first and the device is a tool to enhance teaching and learning. Learn from my experiences (positive and negative) as we lead a large school district through the process of adopting a blending learning approach and a One2One program.
Learning with technology is more than just handing a device to students. It takes a purposeful plan that includes enhancements to teaching and learning with a vision of the curriculum. "Tradigital" Learning is our version of blended learning, where teachers keep the best practices of a traditional classroom and combine it with the best practices of a digital classroom. "Tradigital" Learning is a thoughtful way move from traditional teaching and learning to a more student-centered way of teaching and learning. Come and discover numerous ways to integrate "Tradigital" Learning into your classroom.
As schools continue to use more and more technology, we must examine the physical spaces that our student live and learn in while at school. Are computer labs necessary in a 1:1 environment? How can we change the media center, open areas to improve teaching and learning? In integrating technology too many times that starts and stops with the device and does not go into accessories or the physical spaces. This session with go into depth about the visionary leadership that a leader or even a classroom teacher needs to have when looking to create or put a technology plan into place. Also look into numerous areas and ways to create digital age learning environments. How can we take our current (or possibly outdated) room setups and create areas that students want to learn in and teachers want to teach in.
Social Media is one of the best ways to communicate and learn new things. But for the most part, educators see it as a distraction and most do not want it in their classroom. This session we will talk about the positives of social media and how it can be effectively integrated into any classroom. Your students use social media all of the time, why would you not want to bring a powerful tool into your classroom?
Come and see the newest technology to engage students and extend lessons. Virtual Reality has the ability to take students to faraway lands or shrink down inside a cell or the human body. Does virtual reality have the ability to help close the achieve gap, by giving students new virtual experiences? Come, learn and play with virtual reality goggles and learn how to use them in the classroom. Participants will use a variety of apps from ViewMaster to Google Expeditions.
In today’s world of big data, we are asking educators to use data to drive instruction. But how is that possible. Teachers need the correct tools, methods, and strategies to collect, analyze and use data to positively impact teaching and learning. In this session, we go through the story of Pickerington Local Schools and how the District went from collecting data by hand to using a powerful tool that allows for online assessment delivery, collects, stores and analyzes data. NOTE: This is a vendor session, and includes a slight sales pitch on Illuminate Education.