Baltimore EdTech Forum to bring local thinkers together to discuss the future of education and technology in Baltimore
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The Baltimore EdTech Forum is an event designed to provoke visionary thinking and conversation about the future of education and technology in Baltimore. Featuring presentations and discussion with David Benn, Andres Alonso, and Kevin Tame, the event will feature presentations, a panel discussion, and a large-format audience-driven group conversation about the future of education and technology in Baltimore schools.
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David W. Benn is a principal at Cho Benn Holback and Associates. He is experienced in architecture, urban design, and campus planning. The recipient of the Cornell University Eidlitz Traveling Fellowship Award, he practiced architecture in London, Teheran and New York, and taught architectural design at Cornell University before joining Cho and Holback in Baltimore. He has won design awards from the Maryland Society and Baltimore Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the Maryland Trust, the Waterfront Center, and the Maryland Chapter of the American Planning Association. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects, the American Planning Association, SCUP, the Baltimore Waterfront Promenade Partnership, the Board of Baltimore Heritage, the Maryland Heritage Alliance and the Waterfront Center. He received his Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art and Planning in 1974. Mr. Benn received his LEED accreditation in 2004. |
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At the age of 12, Dr. Andrés A. Alonso emigrated from Cuba to the United States with his parents. Originally speaking no English, he attended public schools in Union City, New Jersey, graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University, and earned a J.D. and a Doctorate in Education from Harvard University. After practicing law in New York City he changed course to become an educator.From 1987 to 1998, Dr. Alonso taught emotionally disturbed special education adolescents and English language learners in Newark, New Jersey. He then served as Chief of Staff for Teaching and Learning and as Deputy Chancellor for Teaching and Learning at the New York City Department of Education during the launch of its Children First reform.On July 1, 2007, Dr. Alonso became CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools (City Schools). During his tenure, Baltimore City students have reached their highest outcomes in state exams, across all categories of students. City Schools saw its enrollment climb, following four decades of steady enrollment decline. It posted its best-ever dropout and graduation rates, driven largely by attention to all students, a focus on adult performance, the promotion of choice and school autonomy for all schools, and intensive efforts to engage parents and community. In 2010 City Schools settled the Vaughn G. special education lawsuit, ending 26 years of court oversight and litigation. In 2011 Dr. Alonso was appointed to a four year term on the National Assessment Governing Board, which sets policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), known as “The Nation’s Report Card.” Effective July 1, 2011 Dr. Alonso signed a new four-year contract as CEO of City Schools.Throughout his career Dr. Alonso has been defined by his fervent commitment to students and their families. He loves Cuban culture. |
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Kevin Tame is a current Teach For America corps member in Baltimore City Public Schools where he teaches 8th grade mathematics using 1:1 iPads. He was recently selected as a Regional Finalist of The Sue Lehmann Excellence in Teaching Award where he is being recognized for his transformational teaching and significant impact on student achievement. He is passionate about education and has focused much of his time and energy on changing the trajectory of his student’s lives through integrating his curriculum into technology.
Kevin and his wife Lea have two children, Joshua and Avonlea. |
 EdTech Baltimore Co-Founder |
The Baltimore EdTech Forum 2011 will be moderated by Andrew Coy, co-found of the EdTech Forum and teacher at Digital Harbor High School.
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Baltimore EdTech Forum to bring local thinkers together to discuss the future of education and technology in Baltimore
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 School Board Member |
David Stone has more than 25 years of experience in the field of special education as both a teacher and an administration for students ranging from Pre-K to graduate students. He has lived in Baltimore for more than two decades with his wife Heather and their three sons (two of whom attend public schools). Mr. Stone serves as a Baltimore City Public School System Board Member, is the Senior Director of Operations for Special Education at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, and teaches graduate students at Johns Hopkins School of Education. Additionally, Mr. Stone sits on the Maryland Association of Boards of Education, the Steering Committee of the Council of Urban Boards of Education, and the Maryland Association of Nonpublic Special Education Facilities. He is an active member of the Downtown Baltimore Family Alliance, the Citywide Special Education Advocacy Project, the Greater Baltimore Committee on Education, and the South Baltimore Learning Center. |
 College Professor |
Amy Hurst studied computer science and film studies at Georgia Institute of Technology before earning a masters in 2007 and then PhD in 2010 from Carnegie Mellon University in Human-Computer Interaction. She is currently a professor of Human-Centered Computing at UMBC. Dr. Hurst studies and develops technology that “is rooted in real world problems and constrained by pre-existing human behaviors” which seeks to “automatically adapt to existing human behaviors based on unobtrusive detection of human actions.” She actively seeks to solve current social problems with technology and focuses specifically on improving computer access for individuals with disabilities and the elderly. In addition to presenting at numerous conferences such as the Conference on Computers and Accessibility, Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces, and Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, she has also been published in leading journals such as Journal of Knowledge, Technology, and Policy and Machine Vision. |
 Computer Programmer |
Kyle Fritz is a Baltimore-area programmer and software developer who has worked on countless projects and is an active member of numerous programming communities. As an employee of healthcare IT startup Vigilant Medical, he has been at the forefront of solving complex problems relating to secure networking and filesharing systems in hospitals with simple and elegant solutions such as ImageShare, which is currently used in over 10 hospitals and sent more than 1 million images last year. His passions and interests have driven him to innovate and develop new ways for technology to be used in tandem with the real world. He has, through these explorations and in response to needs within his own family, developed countless tools to empower those with disabilities. Kyle is an active member of local and national programmer communities and has been a presenter at events such as Betascape, Ruby on Rails, and Baltimore Area Microsoft Developer’s Network. Kyle Fritz studied biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins University. |
 EdTech Baltimore Co-Founder |
The Baltimore EdTech Forum 2011 will be moderated by Shelly Blake-Plock, educator and blogger-in-chief at TeachPaperless. |
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There will be a special presentation by BoardSpeak, a recent team from the Education Hack Day hosted at Digital Harbor High School. Creators of BoardSpeak:Ted O’Meara
Avery Erwin-McGuire
Alex MacDonald
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Ted has worked the across the gamut from Fortune 100 companies to fresh, up-and-coming startups. He is a big proponent of the Ruby language, User Experience, and striving to build and design simplistic and enjoyable interfaces. He is also a graduate student at UMBC in the Human-Centered Computing program, and focuses his research on the cognitively impaired. When he is not consulting commercial operations, Ted likes to build software that is accessible and affordable for all users.
Avery is an undergraduate Computer Science major at Goucher College, currently engaged in robotics research. She has an extensive history in animal behavior, having volunteered at the Bronx Zoo and many neighborhood rehabilitation centers. Her caretaking experience includes exotic snakes, large livestock, and birds of prey. One of her main interests is technology in special education, fostered by several years’ work and volunteering at a summer camp for children with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder.
Alex MacDonald started coding in BASIC in 1998, in a small seaside town in Massachusetts. He’s since resettled in Charm City and continues to develop software. Currently, he supports integration and testing efforts for the James Webb Space Telescope at the 
Baltimore EdTech Forum to bring local thinkers together to discuss possible futures for education and technology in Baltimore
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The Baltimore EdTech Forum is an event designed to provoke visionary thinking and conversation about the future of education and technology in Baltimore. Featuring presentations and discussion with Dave Troy, Tom Murdock, and Shelly Blake-Plock, the event will feature presentations, a panel discussion, and a large-format audience-driven group conversation about the directions education and technology could take in Baltimore schools.
 Tech CEO |
A serial entrepreneur with over 25 years experience in technology and design, Dave Troy is CEO at 410Labs and creator of Shortmail.com and Twittervision.com. Troy served as a co-chair of the Mayor’s Broadband Task Force which is aimed at implementing a plan for municipally-sponsored broadband in Baltimore. He is co-organizer of CreateBaltimore — a participant-created conference for artists, coders, crafters, curators, designers, entrepreneurs, hackers, connectors, activists, makers, educators, museum staff, performers, tinkerers, writers, and others who want to work together to enrich life in Baltimore. |
 Moodle Rooms Co-Founder |
Tom Murdock is co-founder and chief-architect of Moodlerooms where he has worked to craft a balance between enterprise and open source teaching and learning software. For 15 years, he engaged students as a classroom teacher, a boarding school parent, a wilderness expedition leader, and an English department chairperson at Cranbrook Schools in Michigan, as well as St. Paul’s School in Maryland. Designing Moodlerooms to deliver innovative Software-as-a-Service e-Learning solutions to support the learning mission of institutions worldwide, Murdock is a champion of the needs of instructors who perform the most complex and demanding work of educational communities on a daily basis. |
EdTech Baltimore Co-Founder |
Shelly Blake-Plock is blogger-in-chief at TeachPaperless.comand founder of GrowConnected, an ed tech consultancy specializing in networked education. A faculty associate designing and leading courses on 21st century education at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education, Blake-Plock is working to empower Baltimore’s teachers and students through social tech integrated learning and access to mobile education. |
EdTech Baltimore Co-Founder |
The Baltimore EdTech Forum 2011 will be moderated by Andrew Coy, teacher at Digital Harbor High School.
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