The Wired Classroom

METC 2010 will be held February 8-10 at the St. Charles Convention Center in St. Charles, MO. Call for presenters is currently up until August 20. Online registration begins October 1! Cooperating School Districts recently announced 2010 keynotes: Wesley Fryer and Deneen Frazier Bowen.

Wesley Fryer is a digital learning consultant, author, digital storyteller, educator and change agent. With respect to school change, he describes himself as a “catalyst for creative engagement and collaborative learning.” Wesley serves as a co-convener for the annual K-12 Online Conference and is the co-director of the statewide Celebrate Oklahoma Voices digital storytelling project. His blog, “Moving at the Speed of Creativity” was selected as the 2006 “Best Learning Theory Blog” by eSchoolnews and Discovery Education. He was named an Apple Distinguished Educator in 2005. He was an elementary classroom teacher for six years in Texas public schools before serving as a college director of distance learning for five years. Wesley is completing his doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction at Texas Tech University, studying the impact of podcasting and coursecasting on student learning in higher education.

Wesley will conduct a preconference workshop on Monday, February 8. On Tuesday, February 9, he is keynote speaker and presents two additional breakout sessions.

For more than a decade, Deneen Frazier Bowen has been applying her acting, teaching and technology experience to help teachers and schools expand students’ learning opportunities through harnessing new technologies. She has traveled the country consulting with and speaking to schools, school districts, foundations and organizations.

Deneen spent several years working first as an elementary and then as a high school academic technology coordinator. In 2000, she designed and directed the Catalyst Communities program to explore how online communities can strengthen local schools. In 2001, she moved to Austin where she directed the online learning community for Teachscape, a developer of online professional development courseware for teachers. Since 1992, Deneen’s consulting business has provided technology-based professional development consulting services to educators nationwide. She holds a bachelor’s in communication from the University of California-San Diego and master’s in secondary education from George Mason University.

In her ‘spare’ time, Deneen is an accomplished and versatile actress who loves to bring life to the characters she portrays. With ActWith, Deneen masterfully weaves together her insights as an educator, talent for engaging audiences and technology expertise.