Presented by Dr. Doug Brubaker, Superintendent, Texarkana Independent School District (TX); Dr. Michael T. Conner, Learning 2025 National Commissioner; Dr. Mary Wegner, Assistant Professor and Superintendent and Educational Leadership Coordinator, School of Education at the University of Alaska Southeast; and Paula Maylahn, Project Director, CoSN (Consortium for School Networking)
Moderated by Ann McMullan, Project Director, CoSN (Consortium for School Networking) EmpowerED Superintendent Initiative

This edLeader Panel series is presented by CoSN and AASA.
Sponsored by ClassLink

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Learn more about viewing the live presentation and the recording, earning your CE certificate, and using our new accessibility features. This program may qualify for CoSN CETL® Recertification.

Over the past two years, K–12 education institutions have increasingly looked to digital content and e-learning technologies to meet their ever-evolving education needs and goals. When effectively implemented, technology-based products, services, and resources can have a very positive impact on education as well as improve efficiency and outcomes in teaching, learning, and classroom and school management. And yet, as reliance on technology tools for learning and school operations grows and users become more sophisticated in implementing technology tools, gaps in the integration and interfaces among different applications can still pose problems and challenges.

In this recorded edWebinar, school leaders share successful policies, strategies, and training solutions to help districts assure the interoperability of their academic and operational systems.

This recorded edWebinar is of high value to superintendents, preK-12 school and district leaders, aspiring school leaders, chief technology officers, and other information technology education leaders.

About the Presenters

Dr. Doug Brubaker joined Texarkana Independent School District as Superintendent in January 2021. Over a career spanning 26 years, he has served in a variety of leadership roles in school districts ranging in size from 7,000 to 60,000 students. Over the past year, Dr. Brubaker and his team have launched the TISD’s Imagine 2026 strategic planning initiative, working extensively with stakeholders to identify and prioritize the district’s greatest needs. He also served as Superintendent of Fort Smith (AR) Public Schools from 2017-2020. In May 2018, in part due to broad-based support for goals identified through the strategic planning process, FSPS passed its first millage referendum in over 30 years. Establishment of a dedicated funding stream for technology upgrades was a key accomplishment. Dr. Brubaker has CoSN CETL certification and a Ph.D. in educational computing from the University of North Texas.

Michael T. Conner, Ed.D. is the Superintendent for Middletown Public Schools in Middletown, CT. Previously, Dr. Conner served as Chief Academic Officer (Norwalk, CT), Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning (Willimantic, CT), and Principal of Augusta Lewis Troup School (New Haven, CT). He also serves as an adjunct professor in the NEAG School of Education at the University of Connecticut.

Dr. Conner obtained his Bachelor of Arts in elementary education/humanities from Lasell University. He also received his Master of Science degree from the University of Bridgeport, Sixth-Year Diploma from Southern Connecticut State University, and Doctorate in Education from Cambridge College. Dr. Conner completed the Executive Leadership Program at the University of Connecticut, the Harvard Superintendents Institute, and the prestigious AASA/Howard University National Urban Superintendents Academy in Washington, D.C. Dr. Conner obtained his Graduate Diploma in business analytics from Harvard University and an Advanced Certificate in management, innovation, and technology from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

Dr. Conner was selected by the National School Superintendents Association (AASA) to serve on the National American Rescue Plan Committee and Learning 2025: National Commission on Student-Centered, Equity-Focused Education as a commissioner. His recommendations as a commissioner on the Learning 2025 National Commission are embedded in the landmark report entitled An American Imperative: A New Vision of Public Schools.

Dr. Mary Wegner is the superintendent and educational leadership coordinator for the School of Education at the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau, Alaska. Her work focuses on transforming the learning landscape to be relevant for today’s students and providing equity in educational opportunities. Dr. Wegner is a strong advocate for digital-rich learning environments and promotes critical thinking and creativity as essential skills, as well as policies and funding that promote the value of public education to society. Dr. Wegner serves on the Juneau Human Rights Commission, holds a doctorate in educational technology from Pepperdine University, and a master’s in educational technology from the University of Alaska Southeast. Her bachelor’s is in elementary education and special education from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Dr. Wegner is Past-President of the Alaska Society for Technology in Education (ASTE) organization and was honored when President Obama highlighted her work as Superintendent of the Sitka School District.

An independent consultant, Paula Maylahn has 38 years of experience working across the K-20 spectrum. She has led CoSN’s interoperability initiatives since 2015 and developed CoSN’s Interoperability Toolkit. Paula is a frequent speaker at education industry conferences, is a published writer on education topics, and authors CoSN’s annual IT Leadership Survey Report. Prior to establishing her consultancy in 2008, Paula was a senior vice president at Pearson. During her tenure there she held a variety of management roles including in higher education where she helped establish digital publishing standards in their STEM division. Paula currently serves on the council for the Women’s Education Project.

About the Host

Ann McMullan is Project Director for CoSN’s EmpowerED Superintendents Initiative. Ann served as Executive Director for Educational Technology in Klein ISD near Houston, Texas until September 2013, when she and her family moved to Los Angeles, California. For 16 years Ann led the district team that provided professional development on technology and 21st century instructional strategies to 4,000 educators serving 50,000 students. She was co-chair of the Texas Education Technology Advisory Committee which developed the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology.

Today, Ann works as a public speaker, writer, and consultant focused on leadership to meet the needs of today’s students. Ann serves on the edWeb.net Advisory Board, ClassLink’s Senior Advisors Group, and is a founding member of  ERDI’s EdLeader Alliance. She also volunteers as a leadership consultant with Executive Service Corps of Southern California, serving non-profit associations. Ann is co-author of Life Lessons in Leadership, available on Amazon.com.

Learn more about viewing the live presentation and the recording, earning your CE certificate, and using our new accessibility features. 

Join the Super-Connected community to network with educators, participate in online discussions, receive invitations to upcoming edWebinars, and view recordings of previous programs to earn CE certificates.

AASA is the premier association for school system leaders and serves as the national voice for public education and district leadership on Capitol Hill.

CoSN (the Consortium for School Networking) is the premier professional association for school system technology leaders. CoSN provides thought leadership resources, community, best practices and advocacy tools to help leaders succeed in the digital transformation. CoSN represents over 13 million students in school districts nationwide and continues to grow as a powerful and influential voice in K-12 education.

ClassLink empowers your students and teachers with instant access to their learning resources. ClassLink® LaunchPad includes a library of over 6,000 single sign-on apps and instant links to file folders at school and on Google, Office 365, Dropbox, and Box cloud drives. ClassLink Roster Server easily and securely delivers class rosters to any publisher using open technology standards. ClassLink Analytics gives decision makers the usage data they need. ClassLink is ideal for 1 to1 and BYOD initiatives.