Keynote Speakers
Dr. Ted S. Hasselbring
Research Professor of Special Education, Vanderbilt Peabody College
Learning to Read with Technology
It is all too easy to dismiss certain students as "un-teachable". We set out with broad aspirations of educating all, but with a limited amount of time and resources, there are always students who slip through the cracks. In this presentation Dr. Hasselbring will discuss how technology can support older struggling and reluctant readers become fluent and successful readers. He will make a case for why technology may be our best hope for keep students in school and on track.
About Dr. Hasselbring
Over the past thirty years, Dr. Ted S. Hasselbring has conducted research on the use of technology for enhancing learning in students with mild disabilities and those who are at-risk of school failure. Dr. Hasselbring began his career in higher education in 1977 as an Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University. Prior to joining the faculty of NCSU he was a special education teacher in New York. In 1982, Dr. Hasselbring joined the faculty of Peabody College of Vanderbilt University where for eighteen years he served as the Co-Director of the Learning Technology Center and conducted research on using technology for providing instruction in reading and mathematics. This research resulted in several widely used computer intervention programs for struggling learners, these include READ180, FASTT Math, and Simon SIO. In 2000, Dr. Hasselbring left Vanderbilt and joined the faculty of the University of Kentucky as the William T. Brian Professor and Endowed Chair in Special Education Technology. While at Kentucky he also served as the Executive Director of the National Assistive Technology Research Institute. In 2006, Dr. Hasselbring returned to Vanderbilt to resume his research and development activities in computer intervention.
Dr. Sandra Harpole
Associate Vice President for Research
Director of the Center for Science, Mathematics, and Technology
Professor of Physics at Mississippi State University
Preparing Students to Compete in Today's Knowledge-Based, Global Economy
Mississippi students must have the ability to compete for jobs that will drive the economy of our state and nation. As a significant portion of our scientific and technology workforce approaches retirement, it is critical that we better prepare all students to enter the workforce. Educators must become aware of requirements and expectations of employers, have a knowledge of career opportunities for all of their students, and develop the ability to integrate workplace values and skills into the curriculum. Industry-Education Partnerships, funded by the National Science Foundation and in partnership with industry, is designed to build successful partnerships between the classroom and the real world with the overarching goal of better preparing students to compete in today's knowledge-based, global economy. Teams of science, mathematics and technology teachers along with counselors and administrators experience the workplace to become equipped with the tools to integrate real world applications and workplace skills and values into the curriculum.
About Dr. Harpole
Sandra H. Harpole is a graduate of Mississippi State University with a B.S in 1971, M.Ed. in 1983 and a doctorate in education in 1986. She taught chemistry and physics at West Point High School from 1971-1987 and has been a member of the faculty at Mississippi State University since 1987.
Among the honors Dr. Harpole has received are the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Teaching, the John Grisham Master Teacher Award, the Mississippi Science Teachers Association Outstanding College Science Teacher Award, the Faculty Achievement Award for her contributions in service, Outstanding Faculty Woman at Mississippi State University twice, and a Distinguished Service Citation from the American Association of Physics Teachers. She was recently recognized as a Dynamic Woman of Mississippi and as a member of the class of 2008 Top Fifty Business Women in Mississippi.
She has received numerous state and national research grants for teacher enhancement and training in science, mathematics and technology. She currently directs grants with awards totaling $10,000,000 and serves as co-principal investigator on two additional National Science Foundation grants totaling over $875,000. She is principal investigator and director for Mississippi NSF EPSCoR.