Alan November Coming to Fort Wayne

ACELINK is partnering with IPFW's Division of Continuing Studies to bring Alan November to Fort Wayne on October 10, 2005. His keynote address helps to kick off a year-long recognition of the Division of Continuing Studies' 30 years as partners in community and corporate education. Alan will be sharing how educators, business and city leaders, and students can partner together to "Create New Cultures for 21st Century Learning".

Alan November is recognized internationally as a leader in education technology. He began his career as an oceanography teacher and dorm counselor at an island reform school for boys in Boston Harbor. He has been a director of an alternative high school, computer coordinator, technology consultant, and university lecturer. As practitioner, designer, and author, Alan has guided schools, government organizations and industry leaders as they plan to improve quality with technology.

Alan is well known for applying his humor and wit to inspire us to think about applying technology to improve learning. His areas of expertise include information and communication technology, planning across the curriculum, staff development, long-range planning, building learning communities and leadership development. He has delivered keynote presentations and workshops in all fifty states, in every province in Canada, and throughout the UK, Europe and Asia.

Alan was named one of the nation’s fifteen most influential thinkers of the decade by Classroom Computer Learning Magazine. In 2001, he was named one of eight educators to provide leadership into the future by the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse. His writing includes dozens of articles and the best-selling book, Empowering Students with Technology. Alan was co-founder of the Stanford Institute for Educational Leadership Through Technology and is most proud of being selected as one of the original five national Christa McAuliffe Educators.

The day will begin at 8:30 a.m. in Neff 101. Contact IPFW's Division of Continuing Studies at 260-481-6239 for registration information and other details.

ACELINK hosts Megaconference Jr. Event

On Thursday, May 19, ACELINK and IPFW hosted a FREE event to check out cutting-edge uses of the new Fort Wayne area broadband network and videoconferencing technologies. Elementary and secondary students and teachers from over 100 schools in 11 different countries were teaching and learning at the Annual Student Megaconference. We connected to Megaconference Jr. as virtual observers, and over 30 local educators, administrators, faculty and students participated in the event.

We saw presentations like a student drum line demonstration, native American Indian dancing and costumes, a tour of Barcelona, Spain, and more. We also discussed opportunities for videoconferencing in Allen County and participating in this event next year. The Megaconference Jr. presentations were typically 12-15 minutes long, with some live question and answer opportunities. For a schedule of presentations and global participants at the event, go to the conference website at: Megaconference Jr.

Foellinger Grant funds coordinator position

The Foellinger Foundation awarded the Education Consortium a generous grant for two-year project support for construction of a broadband internet connection network to build a county-wide learning community that promotes the knowledge growth, understanding and recognition of diverse strengths that can provide a basis for a dynamic civil community.

Using these grant funds, the Education Consortium, along with IPFW's Division of Continuing Studies, hired Sandy Schaufelberger on March 21, 2005 to coordinate the content, collaboration and uses of the network among the partners and other resources.

History of ACELINK

2001 - Invent Tomorrow Education Consortium determines need for high-speed education network in Allen County, Indiana

2002 - State of Indiana answers RFP for connectivity

2004 - Invent Tomorrow Education Consortium applies for and receives Foellinger Foundation grant to implement ACELINK

2004 - Invent Tomorrow Education Consortium signs contract with State of Indiana and network installed by Comcast

2005 - 2 DS3s installed in Fort Wayne, Indiana for high-speed network then connected to partner school districts by Comcast fiber network

2005 - Consortium partners with Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne to hire ACELINK Project Coordinator

2005 - Consortium selects Verizon Fort Wayne as a vendor for Tandberg Videoconferencing equipment

2005 - State of Indiana reassigns ACENet contract to Education Consortium, assigning responsibility to Region 8 ESC

2005 - IPFW and Indiana Data Center become the Network Help Desk for the Allen County Education Network