The 2009 K-12 School Networking Conference is Sponsored By:

Platinum
Gartner, Inc.
Pearson
SAS


Gold
Adobe Systems, Inc.
Cisco System, Inc.
Dell Inc.
IBM Corp.


Silver
Absolute Software
Alcatel-Lucent
Faronics
AT&T
Hewlett-Packard
Info-Tech Research Group
Microsoft
Public Consulting Group
SchoolDude
SAFARI Montage
SchoolMessenger.com
School Tube
Schoolwires
SMART Technologies ULC
Toshiba America
Verizon



Contributing Sponsor
Atomic Learning
Learning.com
Lightspeed Systems
Promethean, Inc.
UniServity
Verizon Business



International Symposium
Adobe Systems, Inc.
Pearson Foundation
Goethe-Institut



Media Partners:
C. Blohm & Associates, Inc.
CCI/Crosby Publishing
eSchool News Network
George Lucas Ed Foundation/ Edutopia
Linworth Publishing, Inc.
Marketing Projects/ The Big Deal Book
National Association of Media and Technology Centers (NAMTC)
Scholastic Administr@tor
Tech & Learning
T.H.E. Journal

Program Highlights

• Exhibits: The exhibit floor is an integral part of the conference's professional development opportunities. Participants should use the exclusive exhibit hall hours to visit with vendors and learn about their innovative new products and services that can help meet your district's needs and provide solutions. Attendees are encouraged to schedule appointments to meet one-on-one with vendors to gain information about new products and services. The exhibit hall is closed during educational sessions to allow exhibit staff to attend sessions or schedule one-on-one appointments with attendees.
  
  
• Birds-of-a-Feather Roundtable Luncheon: Participating in one of the small group discussions during the lunch period gives participants the opportunity to connect with industry experts and their peers to discuss current issues, hot topics, cutting edge technology solutions and/or applications, exchange information and serve as an information resource to attendees. Informal roundtables will be set for 10 participants each.
  
  
• Sponsor Demonstrations/Mini Tutorials: Select sponsors will host 15-minute demonstrations/mini-tutorials during exhibit hall hours. Demonstrations may provide attendees with information on new technologies, products, or services, share cutting-edge examples of innovative new tools, or serve as a forum on the latest industry trends. Demonstration topics and times will be posted on the conference website in February and in the conference program book.
  
  
• CoSN/SIIA Feedback Focus Group (by invitation only): CoSN and the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), in partnership with The Winter Group, will host a focus group, for district and state technology leaders to frame challenges they are facing and discuss key education technology issues in a focus group setting. Each forum has a specific focus of interest and concern to the K-12 education community, as well as to SIIA-member education technology companies. The Focus Group is by invitation only. Pre-registration is required. For more information, see www.cosn.org/events/feedback_focus_groups/.
  
  
• CTO Leadership Forum: CoSN's CTO Council provides a forum for district-level technology directors to discuss significant issues, share information with their peers and keep up-to-date on best practices and solutions to the challenges they are facing in the education technology arena.
  
  
• 2009 CoSN Leadership Awards: CoSN annually recognizes individuals who demonstrate outstanding vision in employing the use of information technologies and the Internet in K-12 education to improve learning. CoSN bestows awards in three categories for which the winners are nominated by their peers: the TEAM Award for Transformation; the Frank Withrow Award for Educators; and, the Award for Excellence in Public Service. In addition, CoSN also recognizes a Private Sector Champion and CoSN Volunteer of the Year Award; however these awards are not open to nominations. These five categories represent the major roles that are played by leaders to ensure schools use technology to transform the learning environment. For more information, see www.cosn.org/about/awards/.
  
  
• CoSN's 5th Annual Auction for Advocacy (March 11, 2009): Join CoSN for a reception and auction (silent and live) in support of our advocacy efforts to raise awareness of the necessity of funding for technology in our nation's schools. Please help ensure that policymakers continue to hear from educators about the value of investments in technology by donating an item to be auctioned or making a bid during the live event. For more information, see the advocacy section of this site.
  
  
• Spotlight Sessions: Spotlight Sessions are a special category of concurrent sessions that feature topics of high-interest presented by established leaders in the education technology community.
  
  
• Vendor-Hosted Spotlight Sessions: These sessions are educator-focused presentations hosted by a CoSN Corporate Sponsor.
  
  
• Concurrent Sessions: Concurrent sessions provide engaging content that covers vital issues and topics of importance to the K-12 education technology community and includes best practice case studies. Presentations will be conducted by leaders in the field who are transforming processes to improve overall effectiveness in teaching and learning. Concurrent sessions are 60-minute or 45-minute lecture-style presentations given by a single speaker, team or panel.