Westfield High School Students Present At NJ Tech Conference

by Lorre Korecky

Madeleine Armstrong and Alex (Raphael) Cestero, sophomores at Westfield High School, showcased their talents and the school’s initiative at the annual Ed Tech conference hosted by the New Jersey Educational Computing Cooperative (NJECC) on January 7 at Montclair State University.

A consortium for K-12 educational technology, NJECC invited the students along with Instructional Technologist  teacher, Adam Pizzi, to highlight Westfield High School’s Digital Learning Center, which opened its doors in the fall of 2014. Modeled somewhat like a “genius bar,” the Digital Learning Centerserves as a training hub/professional development center for both teachers and students, where tech-minded students called Digital Ambassadors provide assistance during scheduled times in a dedicated computer lab at Westfield High School.

They also run a website and twitter feed to publish and share best practices in digital teaching and learning.

At the conference, attended by approximately 600 technology educators, the students were approached at their booth where they displayed on computer screens several digital projects the Digital Ambassadors helped create. They also attended breakout sessions and heard keynote speaker Jonathan Rochelle, Director of Product Management at Google and a co-founder of Google Docs and Google Drive.

Explained Madeline, “The NJECC Conference was a great experience and an incredible opportunity to see others’ views on instructional technology and how other teachers and districts are moving forward in this field.

While we were there, the DLC had the opportunity to conduct podcast interviews with some of the teachers in attendance. It was great to hear about how some of the latest applications are being used in high school classrooms.” Pizzi added, “I attend the conference every year and it is always an opportunity to hear about best practices in teaching and learning as well as discover some of the emerging trends and developments in the world of instructional technology.

I thought it would be a great experience for my two lead WHS Digital Ambassadors to attend. They really got a chance to see what is possible within the context of 21st century learning.”