Embedding Educational Research from Incubator to Launch: The Iterative Process

Presented by Aileen Owens, Director of Technology and Innovation, South Fayette Township School District, McDonald, PA; and Lynette Lortz, Computer Science Teacher, Grades 8-12, South Fayette Township School District, McDonald, PA
Hosted by Christina Luke, Director of Program and Product Evaluation, Digital Promise
Sponsored by Digital Promise

Watch the Recording

“Where do we begin?” Making the change from a traditional school culture to one that embraces the innovation mindset might seem overwhelming. This edWebinar helps you make the transition as seamless and effortless as possible by providing you with some simple starting points based on educational research you can enact on your own. In this presentation, Aileen Owens and Lynette Lortz from South Fayette Township School District in McDonald, PA, addresses:

• Examples of how they have used a variety of incubators to pilot innovative curricula for the classroom
• The role of educational research in incubating and nurturing new ideas to identify what fails and to track successes
• Their discoveries and how they overcame challenges along the way
• Tips for starting this process and creating a pathway of success in your district

Gain an understanding of how incubators are a solution for changing the paradigm from a traditional system to a system that embraces innovation, and how educational research is used to create flexibility and support the iterative process. This recorded edWebinar will be of particular benefit to K-12 teachers, librarians, and school and district leaders.

About the Presenters

Aileen Owens is the director of technology and innovation for South Fayette Township School District in Pennsylvania. Since 2010, she has focused on building a K-12 vertically aligned pathway in computer science and embedded computational thinking as the new literacy at South Fayette. Challenged by the Grable Foundation to make innovation happen, and to support equity in education in Southwestern Pennsylvania, Aileen directs the STEAM Innovation Summer Institute providing outreach in computational thinking.

Aileen is the recipient of Education Week’s Leaders to Learn From 2018, and the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) Frank Withrow Outstanding CTO Award 2016. Recent publications include chapters entitled “Computational Thinking and Participatory Teaching as Pathways to Personalized Learning” in the book Digital Technologies and Instructional Design for Personalized Learning, March 2018; and “A Future-Focused Education – Designed to Create the Innovators of Tomorrow” in the book Emerging Research, Practice and Policy on Computational Thinking, March 2017.

 Lynette Lortz began her career in education in 2012 and joined South Fayette School District in Pennsylvania in August 2014. Lynette holds a Master of Library Science from the University of Pittsburgh and a Bachelor of Arts from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She is certified in library science (K-12) and business communications information technology (K-12) and currently teaches AP computer science principles at South Fayette High School and Python programming in the middle school.

About the Host
Christina Luke, Ph.D. leads the Marketplace Research initiative at Digital Promise which is focused on increasing the amount of evidence in the edtech marketplace. Before joining Digital Promise, Christina led program evaluations for federal and state initiatives and delivered professional development and technical assistance to school districts at Measurement Incorporated. Formerly a high school English teacher, Christina left the classroom to study education policy with a desire to improve student outcomes by offering a practitioner’s perspective to education research. Christina earned a Ph.D. in education administration and policy from the State University of New York at Albany and a bachelor’s degree in secondary education and English from Boston College.

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Digital Promise was created with the mission to accelerate innovation in education to improve opportunities to learn.