Management

EdTech: Live from CoSN 2012

Educators and school IT leaders gather for the 2012 annual CoSN conference in Washington, D.C.

This year, the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) is gathering in Washington, D.C., with the goal of reimagining learning, say conference organizers.

Speakers and attendees can expect to hear plenty about BYOD, as schools and IT leaders warm to the idea of students bringing their own technology. But while BYOD eases schools' hardware responsibilities, it increases network and security responsibilities as IT departments must prepare to accomodate a variety of devices as opposed to one school-sanctioned device.

Aside from BYOD, educators and IT leaders can expect to hear more about integrating technology in the classroom in innovative ways. The conference's @Innovation Central will be a hotbed for brave, new concepts, as the open conference breaks with formalities in an effort to foster discussion.

Speakers slated for the main conference include:

Douglas Thomas, associate professor at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.
Karen Cator, director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education.
Mark Edwards, superintendent of the Mooresville Graded School District in Mooresville, N.C.
John Seely Brown, adviser to the provost at the University of Southern California and an independent co-chairman of the Deloitte Center for the Edge.
Bailey Mitchell, chief technology and information officer for Forsyth County Schools in Georgia.
Nichole Pinkard, visiting associate professor in the College of Computing and Digital Media at DePaul University in Chicago.

Follow EdTech: Focus on K–12's CoSN coverage here for all the latest news and events from the show.