CSBA AEC Registration, reservations open June 14
Speakers include public school advocate, video instruction innovator
Published: June 1, 2011
Early-bird conference registration opens June 14 for CSBA’s 2011 Annual Education Conference and Trade Show, which is coming to San Diego Dec. 1-3. Outstanding General Session speakers and a smorgasbord of practical and thought-provoking breakout sessions give board members, administrators and other key district staff compelling reasons to attend.
The opening day’s General Session speaker will be Jamie Vollmer, a businessman turned public education advocate who has spent the last 20 years working with school districts, education associations, foundations and chambers of commerce across the nation.
As outlined on his website, www.jamievollmer.com, Vollmer’s goal is to combat the attacks that threaten to “annihilate the emotional and intellectual ties that bind the American people to their public schools.” His book, “Schools Cannot Do It Alone: Building Public Support for America’s Public Schools,” is described as “part memoir, part how-to manual,” with guidance to help schools and parents secure the support they need to unlock their children’s potential.
Vollmer will sign copies at the CSBA Store after his General Session and continue with a question-and-answer breakout session after that.
The Khan Academy
The conference’s second day will feature Salman Khan, the enthusiastic and charismatic founder of the Khan Academy (www.khanacademy.org), who will speak on “Reinventing Our Education Future.” Like Vollmer, Khan will continue the conversation in a separate breakout after his General Session.
Khan’s “academy” is actually a website with thousands of instructional videos covering everything from basic addition to advanced calculus, physics, chemistry and biology—it even includes sample problems for the California High School Exit Exam. More than 1 million students visit the site each month. Teachers from around the world have used Khan’s videos in the classroom and as homework to reinforce new concepts.
The Harvard Business School and MIT graduate was a hedge fund analyst when he began posting videos for cousins he was tutoring in another state. Although he initially had the notion that “YouTube is for dogs on skateboards, not for serious learning,” as he told journalist Charlie Rose on Rose’s PBS TV show, Khan started receiving appreciative comments from strangers who happened upon his videos, and the medium’s potential became clear. In 2007, Khanacademy.org was born.
Those not familiar with Khan can get a taste of his work from the archived Charlie Rose interview and a talk posted from a March 2011 conference hosted by TED, an eclectic nonprofit bringing together specialists from the fields of technology, entertainment, design and beyond.
Save by signing up early
Early bird conference registration and housing reservations will open simultaneously at 7 a.m. on June 14. Early registration will cost just $425 through Aug. 14. The rate then rises to $455 through Nov. 10, with the full on-site registration fee of $525 available thereafter.
Hotel rooms near the San Diego Convention Center include the San Diego Marriott Marquis and Marina, which is the headquarters hotel, the adjacent Manchester Grand Hyatt, and the nearby Holiday Inn San Diego on the Bay. Room rates range from $159 to $240 per night plus tax.
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