Keynotes

KHOA DO - AUSTRALIA ( Wed 10th October PM)

Khoa Do is a film director, screenwriter and teacher who has had extensive experience working with the most disadvantaged in our community, inspiring them and guiding them to incredible success. Khoa’s belief is that everyone on a team, no matter what their background or experience, is extraordinarily gifted, and our goal is to help others to realise their true potential.

In the past ten years, Khoa has specialised in working with marginalised communities, including at-risk and homeless youths, former convicted prisoners and refugees of many nationalities.

Khoa’s own amazing story – arriving in Australia as a refugee on a tiny fishing boat crammed full of people to becoming the 2005 Young Australian of the Year is a journey of courage, resilience and hope amidst incredible opposition. Growing up in the western suburbs of Sydney, Khoa recalls going to school with sticky-taped shoes and coming home to find out that their electricity had been cut off because the family couldn’t afford to pay the bills.

In 2004, he was the youngest film director in Australian history to be nominated for an AFI Award for Best Director. Over the years, he has received many awards for his work in the community and with young people – Young Vietnamese Australian of the Year Award 2000, Young Citizen of the Year Award 2001 and the Young Australian of the Year Award 2005.

In film, he has had incredible success, being nominated for 3 AFI Awards, 3 Film Critics’ Circle Awards, 2 Australian Writers’ Guild Awards, and an Australian Screen Director’s Award. His first short film was shortlisted for a 2001 Academy Award, and in 2003, he won the IF Independent Spirit Award for his film. Khoa is currently writing and directing a four-hour television mini series for Fremantle Media and co-authoring a book for Allen and Unwin.making.

DR. JASON OHLER - USA ( Wed 10th October AM ) Keynote Presentation

Dr. Jason Ohler is a professor emeritus, speaker, writer, teacher, and cyber researcher. He is also a lifelong digital humanist who is well known for the passion, insight, and humor he brings to his presentations, projects and publications.

He has worked both online and in classrooms at home and internationally for over a quarter century helping students develop the new literacies they need to be successful in the digital age. He is a passionate promoter of “Art the Next R” and of combining innovation, creativity and digital know-how to help reinvent teaching and learning.

He is also an enthusiastic champion of the need for students to learn how to use technology wisely and safely, with awareness and compassion, so they can become informed and productive citizens in a global digital society. He has won numerous awards for his work and is author of many books, articles, and online resources.

Many call him a futurist, he calls himself a nowist, believing we have what we need now to create the kinds of communities we need to meet the challenges of the digital age with creativity and humanity. His current book, Digital Community, Digital Citizen, explores the issues of helping our students blend their digital and non-digital lives into one integrated approach to living. His previous book, Digital Storytelling in the Classroom, reminds us that he is first and foremost a storyteller, telling tales of the future that are grounded in the past.

“The goal is the effective, creative, and wise use of technology . . . to bring together technology, community, and learning in ways that work. And while we are at it, to have fun.”

GLENN CAPELLI -AUSTRALIA ( Friday 12th October PM) Keynote Presentation

An author, songwriter, radio and television presenter and creator of the Dynamic Thinking course for Leadership, Glenn Capelli has delivered a message of creativity, innovation and thinking smarter to audiences around the world. Glenn’s ability to bring together meaningful learning and laughter is the key to his successful presentation style.

Glenn is a National Speakers Association Certified Speaking Professional, a Winston Churchill Fellowship Awardee and a member of MENSA. He is also a former ‘hobo’ who backpacked his way around the world for seven years, working in a variety of roles including a fish farmer on kibbutz in Israel, a comedian in Los Angeles, a travel writer in Kenya and a summer-camp counsellor in North Carolina.

In 1987, Glenn returned home to Australia and founded the True Learning Centre, a company focussed on quality learning and creative endeavour. Today he is a leading international keynote speaker and trainer whose clients come from a variety of organizations large and small and are as diverse as the giant companies of corporate America to the tiny remote schools of outback Australia. His unique presentation style and ability to apply a diversity of teaching methodologies have made him an internationally renowned speaker in constant demand worldwide. Glenn has worked extensively throughout Australia and New Zealand, Asia, the USA and Canada, South Africa and Europe.

Glenn’s award winning television series Born to Learn, aired weekly to twenty-six million households throughout the USA. He is the co-author of Maximising Your Learning Potential and The Thinking Learning Classroom as well as the writer producer of several music CD compilations. His song Choose Joy is featured in the 2003 ABC Songbook.

Glenn’s speaking portfolio includes keynote and conference presentations and designing and facilitating training programs, along with his continued work in and commitment to improving the education experience for students, young people and teachers throughout Australia and overseas. His message is one of being a learner and thinker in today’s fast paced and ever changing world through the use of creative thinking, humour, enthusiasm and attitude.

KEVIN HONEYCUTT- USA ( Thursday 11th October AM) Keynote Presentation

Kevin grew up in poverty and attended school in many cities across the United States. As he witnessed education around the country he collected powerful experiences that still influence his conversations and his work with educators. He spent 13 years teaching art K-12 in public school and for 17 years spent summers leading creative adventure camps for kids of all ages. In 1991 he received the Making IT Happen Award which is an internationally recognized awards program for educators and leaders in the field of educational technology integration in K–12 schools. The program identifies and rewards educational technology leaders around the world for their commitment and innovation.

For the past four years he has hosted a creative learning site called ArtSnacks (http://artsnacks.org) where he shares 150+ ten minute drawing videos that support standards curriculum. This social “learning” network is his Petri-dish for learning to mentor teachers and students in virtual environments. He was selected to be in the Apple Distinguished Educator class of 2011 and spends time helping schools that use Apple’s powerful tools get the most out of them for students and teachers.
He is currently serving his ninth year as a Technology Integration Specialist at ESSDACK, an educational service center based in Hutchinson, Kansas. At ESSDACK he researches and designs programs, training and staff development with a strong passion for helping teachers and learners become successful with educational uses of technology. He shares his thinking and learning on his blog Tradigital Learning and in his podcast Driving Questions in Education. He is a school board member in the town of Inman Kansas and is currently serving in his second term. He feels that one of his most important roles is to help vision what the future holds for learners and to help move schools in right, new directions. During his classroom tenure, he developed project-based approaches to learning that infused technology and problem solving skills. He created a film program for kids and developed it into a fully functioning curriculum at the high school level. He co-developed a PBL approach called the Life Practice Model with colleague Ginger Lewman and they provide training and certification in this powerful, student driven approach to learning.

Kevin has developed online safety, anti-bullying and cyber-bullying curriculum which he shares with parents, teachers and students around the country. He certifies instructors in this curriculum and supports trainers as they go out and do this important work. His recent book Don’t Stay Under The Couch Starbuck and The Bully is the centerpiece of his Pre-K-6 curriculum. He continues to work with schools to develop innovative, engaging curriculum to better prepare learners for the world they will face when they graduate. He is passionate about meeting the needs of at-risk learners and works with kids in juvenile detention, developing approaches to re-engage the “lost” learner. Kevin travels the country and the world speaking at conferences and working with educators at the grassroots level and likes to promote a “tradigital” approach to education.

Kevin likes to bring his personal life experience and a sense of humor and creativity to the mission of helping prepare 21st century learners!