KAREN CATOR - Opening Keynote, April 21st

Apple's Director of Education Leadership and Advocacy speaks from a global experience as a leader and visionary in education technology planning and implementation. Karen is the immediate past chair of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and is responsible for strategic business development.  She manages Apple’s involvement in education policy efforts, the Apple Distinguished Educator Program, and publishes best practices in teaching and learning on the Apple Learning Interchange. 

Karen answers the question, “Why 21st Century Skills?”, and helps us to understand that “the magnitude of our competition is changing. We need to improve our global competitive position and develop within the global community. We need ALL of our students to become effective 21st Century Citizens with lifelong teaching and learning skills.”

Cator holds a Masters in school administration from the University of Oregon and Bachelors in early childhood education from Springfield College. She currently serves on several boards including the Software & Information Industry Association (Education Division) and iEARN (International Education and Resource Network).

 

Lance Rougeux - April 22nd Keynote

Lance Rougeux is the Director of the Discovery Educator Network for Discovery Education, a division of Discovery Communications, whose networks include Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, and the Science Channel. Lance shares with us how children’s interaction with digital media has shifted their expectations for learning.  What does this mean for educators today? What implications does it have for designers and developers whose products these digital natives will consume?

Lance graduated from Villanova in 1998 and started his career as a teacher at Julia de Burgos Bilingual Middle School in the School District of Philadelphia. After teaching in Philadelphia, Lance worked as an Executive Policy Specialist at the Pennsylvania Department of Education's (PDE) Bureau of Educational Technology. While at PDE, Lance spearheaded many statewide initiatives including Keystones, a program recognized as a success story in the U.S. Department of Education's National Education Technology Plan, and eSPARC, a research endeavor called the "gold" standard of scientifically-based research by eSchool News.

Lance has been featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer and was recently highlighted in The Emergency Teacher – a book about urban teaching. He holds master's degrees in Educational Leadership and Technology in Education from Villanova University and Harvard University, respectively.