ICLS Keynote Speakers

The following leaders in education, research, and industry gave keynote addresses at ICLS 2000. These speakers were selected to represent the range of settings that the Learning Sciences must address as we move towards "complex, real-world settings."

  • Juanita Clay-Chambers
    Associate Superintendent, Educational Services
    Detroit Public Schools
  • Mike Lorion
    Vice President for Education
    Palm, Inc.
  • Mary Ellen Munley
    Director of Education and Outreach,
    The Field Museum of Natural History
  • Linda Roberts
    Director, Office of Educational Technology,
    U.S. Department of Education
  • Nora Sabelli
    Senior Program Director
    National Science Foundation



  • Juanita Clay-Chambers
    Associate Superintendent, Educational Services
    Detroit Public Schools

Keynote Title:
"Leading Systemic Reform in Urban Schools:
Triumphs and Challenges"

Juanita Clay Chambers presently serves as the Associate Superintendent, Division of Educational Services, Detroit Public Schools. She has served the school district over thirty years in several capacities including assistant superintendent, director, supervisor, specialist, and teacher. Responsibilities include leadership of all units in the following areas: Curriculum Services, Student Support Services, School Transformation, Grant Procurement and Compliance, and Adult Education. She presently serves as Project Director, Dwight D. Eisenhower Program; Project Director, Detroit Urban Systemic Initiative; Project Director, Center for Learning Technologies in Urban Schools; and Project Director, Mathematics and Science Centers Program.

Dr. Chambers possesses a Doctoral degree in Educational Administration and Master's and Bachelor's degrees in Science Education from Wayne State University. She serves as international, national, state and local consultant in the following areas: Systemic Reform, Curriculum Development and Planning, Standards-Based Instruction, Mathematics and Science Education, Integrating Technology Into the Existing Curriculum, and Constructivist Teaching and Learning Practices.

Mrs. Chambers has received numerous awards and recognition, some of which include:
- Outstanding Administrator of the Year Award, Wayne State
University College of Education
- Distinguished Service Award, Metropolitan Detroit Science Teacher Association
- Outstanding and Dedicated Service to Educational Quality
- Michigan Technology Council Can-Doer Award
- Building Learning Communities for Mathematics and Science Literacy, Michigan's Best Award

 


  • Mike Lorion
    Vice President for Education,
    Palm, Inc.

Keynote Title:
"Handheld Technologies in Teaching and Learning"

Mike Lorion is the Vice President of Education at Palm,Inc and is responsible for extending Palm's handheld computing leadership by providing in Palm-based education solutions to students and faculty throughout the world.

Mike joined the Palm team in February of this year after spending nearly 12 years at Apple Computer,where he distinguished himself in both the retail and education arenas of the personal computer industry. For the past 4 years, Mike served as Vice President of the Apple Education Division. Overall, Mike is in his 23rd year in the computer industry and prior to joining Apple, held positions as a manager for Digital Equipment Corporation and Data General in Massachusetts.

Mike is an alumnus of Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts. He currently is a trustee of the National School Boards Foundation and served on the board of directors of Smart Valley, Inc.. Mike,his wife Sandy, and his daughter Marisa reside in Almaden Valley, California.

 


  • Mary Ellen Munley
    Director of Education and Outreach,
    The Field Museum of Natural History

Keynote Title:
"Transforming Experiences in Museums: Lessons for the Learning Sciences"


  • Linda Roberts
    Director, Office of Educational Technology,
    U.S. Department of Education

Keynote Title and Overview:
"Building New Tools for Teaching and Learning:
A National Perspective"

What is the role of government and the public and private sector in developing the next generation of educational technology applications? How can learning sciences, technological advances, and classroom worlds come together? What are the challenges, what are the opportunities?"

 

Linda G. Roberts is Director of the Office of Educational Technology and Special Adviser to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education. The November 1998 Smithsonian Magazine cites Roberts' "championship thinking" and says she is "America's advocate for educational technology at the highest levels of government."

Dr. Roberts coordinates the Department's technology programs and plays a key role in developing the Clinton Administration's Educational Technology Initiative. Roberts steered the development of the Technology Innovation Challenge Grants, the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund, the Regional Technology in Education Consortia, the new Technology Teacher Training Program, the new Community- Based Technology Centers Program and the new Learning Anytime Anywhere Partnerships Program; a total of more than $700 million in FY99 budget.

As Senior Adviser on Technology, Dr. Roberts represents the Secretary on interagency committees and is also a member of the White House educational technology working group.

To stay in touch with the field, Roberts travels extensively, speaking at conferences, conducting teacher and student forums while visiting schools and state agencies and meeting with developers in high tech companies to stay in touch with advances in technology. Department of Education on-line discussions, national conferences and working seminars are also critical components of these outreach efforts.

Roberts' work has been widely recognized. She was Electronic Learning Magazine's, Technology Educator of the Decade, the recipient of the U.S. Distance Learning Association's Eagle Award for outstanding contributions to public policy, the Federal 100 Award in Information Technology, and the Computerworld/ Smithsonian Award for Leadership and Excellence in Educational Technology. Roberts also serves as a member of the George Lucas Education Foundation Board and served on the Advisory Board of the Children's Television Workshop for many years.

Roberts' career started in 1962 when she was an elementary classroom teacher and reading specialist in Ithaca, NY and Brookline, MA. She later taught elementary, secondary and adult reading programs in Oak Ridge, TN and then joined the faculties of the University of Tennessee and Lincoln Memorial University. Prior to joining the Department, Roberts was a Project Director and Senior Associate with the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), where she headed up three major assessments on educational technology: Power on! New Tools for Teaching and Learning, Linking for Learning: A New Course for Education, and Adult Literacy and New Technologies: Learning for a Lifetime.

Roberts holds a B.S. from Cornell University (1962), an Ed.M. from Harvard University (1963), and an Ed.D. from the University of Tennessee (1973).



  • Nora Sabelli
    Senior Program Director
    National Science Foundation

Keynote Title:
"Why what we do should matter: The sciences of learning and the world of practice twenty years from now"

 

Nora Sabelli received a Ph.D. in Chemistry (Theoretical Organic) from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina for research performed at the University of Chicago. After a career as a research scientist and faculty member, she is focusing on helping understand how to provide quality science, mathematics and technology education reflective of current scientific advances and technology trends. She is currently Senior Program Director in the Directorate for Education and Human Resources at the National Science Foundation, and was in 1998 on detail to the National Science and Technology Council, working at the Office of Science and Technology Policy on issues of research, technology, and education. Her work at NSF included coordination of the NSF-wide program of Research in Learning and Intelligent Systems; the Research on Education, Policy and Practice Program, and membership in the NSF-wide Knowledge and Distributed Intelligence implementation group. Former positions include Senior Research Scientist and Assistant Director for Education, National Center for Supercomputing, Applications, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.