Keystone AEA hosted a Technology Preview Day for AEA 1 school districts on February 17, 2010, in Elkader. Approximately 132 teachers and administrators attended the event.

The day was originally designed to assist schools in making informed purchasing decisions on hardware and software products that are included in the eligible items list for the Microsoft Settlement. However, buildings that were not getting Microsoft dollars were anxious to see some of these technologies in action as well.

Presenters for the event included vendors such as 5 Star, Acer, Apple, eInstruction, Haddock Education Technology, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Midwest Computer, Pearson,

Scholastic and SMART/TI-Nspire. Keystone AEA Staff also presented sessions regarding Cognitive Tutor, Inspiration, Inspire Data, and Kurzweil-3000.

Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) grant dollars were used to bring in Tom Reardon, a high school math teacher from Ohio. Tom, pictured on the top left, is an expert in incorporating technology into the math curiculum using SMART boards, graphing calculators and teacher created websites.

Jeni Wahl and David Herzog from Midwest Computer are pictured above explaining the functions of a Mimio Pad. Jim Strayer from Scholastic, pictured on the bottom left, shared items to assist with reading interventions such as ReadAbout, Read 180, and System 44.

The Department of Education representative for the Microsoft Settlement was available on-site that day to answer questions about the application requirements. As a follow-up, Keystone will be offering a date for district teams to come together and be supported by our consultants in the actual Microsoft application writing process.