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Graduate students to host first-ever Georgia Southern Technology in Education Conference

Previous graduate students in the Ed.S. Instructional Technology program capstone courses have completed research papers to culminate their work in the program. This semester, however, faculty proposed a new idea to assist with the development of leadership skills resulting in students coordinating the first-ever Georgia Southern Technology in Education Conference (GTEC). The conference, which is free and open to the public, will be held virtually on Thursday, April 14, from 6-9 p.m. 

Presentations from the graduate students will include low-cost tech, online tools and application, curricular inclusion, fast formatives, gamification, increasing engagement and more.

“This is the first time this has ever been done in our program,” said Lucas Jensen, associate professor of instructional tech. “They have built the entire conference from scratch, including the schedule, presentations, marketing materials, registration system, website, and more. They plan on conducting professional development relevant and useful educational technology topics that will benefit teachers, instructional technologists, and beyond.”

The one-day conference will utilize the expertise of 14 graduate students who are completing the education specialist degree this semester.

“We want to provide attendees with tools and knowledge that they can use in their classrooms immediately,” said Ed.S. Candidate Ben Lingenfelter. “In some cases, we also want to help them change their mindsets about technology and how it can help them in their day-to-day work.”

The conference tagline, “Learn from the experts…and from colleagues,” was coined after many of the candidates expressed their initial lack of confidence as “experts.”

“Many of us haven’t thought of ourselves in this way, in this role, so we needed to change the way we thought about ourselves,” added Lingenfelter. “With the new degree, we have new qualifications and need to grow into our new roles as tech coaches.”
For more information and to register for the conference, visit www.gtec.tech

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