Synergy 2006, held at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge, was sponsored by BATEC as well as The Center for IT Education, Nashville, TN; IT @ Sinclair Community College, Dayton, OH; Convergence Technology Center, Plano, TX, and National Center for Telecommunications Technology in Springfield, MA, and the National Science Foundation. This conference amassed some of the nation's leading thinkers in areas of workforce development and teaching innovation to work with teams of educators from across the country seeking to achieve productive education reform through the use of information technologies.
Industry tells us that because problem definition is every bit as important as problem solving, we need to give students activities that build not only their technical skills but also their problem solving and employability skills. The overall structure of Synergy 06 modeled an approach to teaching and learning that addresses this challenge and is unique among conferences and professional development seminars.
Dynamic speakers contributing to the thought-provoking discussions at Synergy 06 included Jeff Taylor, the founder and former CEO of Monster.com and founder of the newly launched Eons venture; a CIO Panel consisting of Mary C. Finlay, Deputy CIO, Partners Healthcare; Stephen R. Olive, VP Information Solutions (IS) and CIO, Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems and Lou Piazza, Vice President of Operations, Whaleback Systems; Chris Dede, the Timothy E. Wirth Professor of Learning Technologies at Harvard's Graduate School of Education; and John D. Bransford, the University of Washington's James W. Mifflin University Professor and Professor of Education.
Part of the National Science Foundation's push to prepare the next generation of innovators in the technical arena, Synergy '06 brought together teams of educators from across the USA seeking to use information technology tools and processes to reform and refine all levels of education - K-12 and higher education. Participants experienced new tools and approaches to help students develop and practice the skills and attributes required for success in the 21st Century workplace and learned how to put these tools and approaches into immediate practice. Throughout the conference educators explored new models for IT-embedded programs and curriculum, sustainability of long term program improvement, improved relevancy of curriculum content and activities, and more productive relationships with business. For more information, please visit the website at www.synergy06.org.