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Jason Margolis
Technology Correspondent
BBC's The World
Jason Margolis is the technology correspondent for the BBC public radio program The World. In his reporting, Jason tries not to focus exclusively on gadgets and gizmos, but rather on how technology affects people. For example, he traveled to India to do several stories about how American-installed computers and the Internet and are helping improve life for rural farmers, many of whom had never seen a computer before.
In addition to his on-air work, Jason also puts out a weekly technology podcast, compiling tech-related dispatches from BBC reporters throughout the globe. Prior to joining The World, Jason worked in Sacramento for KQED Public Radio and was a newspaper reporter with The Seattle Times. His reporting has focused on environmental issues, forestry, and agriculture in California's Central Valley. He has also covered politics and the occasional sports story.
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Dr. Vijay Kumar
Assistant Provost and Director of Academic Computing
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Dr. Vijay Kumar is assistant provost and director of academic computing at MIT. Through these roles he influences the Institute's strategic focus on educational technology and promotes the effective integration of information technology in MIT education. Vijay is the principal investigator of Open Knowledge Initiative (OKI), a member of the Council on Educational Technology (MITCET), the steering committee of the MIT-Microsoft Alliance's Project I-Campus, and the Advisory Committee of MIT OpenCourseware (OCW).
Additionally, Vijay is a member of the Applications Strategy Council for Internet2 and serves on the Advisory Board for GELC (Global Education Learning Community). His extensive engagement with professional organizations has included serving on the governing boards of the Seminars on Academic Computing (past chair), the New England Regional Computing Program, NERCOMP (past chair) and the Corporation for Research and Educational Networking (CREN); membership on the advisory groups of Apple Computer, CISCO, NIIT, India and the Smart Node (Cornell Supercomputing Facility, Senior Associate in the American Association for Higher Education's Teaching Learning and Technology Group), as well as serving on various EDUCAUSE committees.
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Dr. Barbara Kurshan
Executive Director
Global Education & Learning Community (GELC)
Dr. Barbara "Bobbi" Kurshan is executive director of Global Education & Learning Community (GELC). Bobbi brings three sets of skills that will help grow GELC: start-up and fundraising experience, curriculum development and product evaluation skills and technology expertise.
Bobbi has extensive experience in using technology while supporting the growth of new companies and also developing new innovative software products. She developed the first children's software products for Microsoft - Creative Writer and Fine Artist - and also created award-winning products for McGraw-Hill, Apple, CCC (Pearson) and others.
As a professor, Bobbi helped students research the impact of technology on learning. She also has published articles based on personal research, exploring women's attitudes toward technology, children's computer usage tendencies, and new ways of learning. Bobbi authored the first introductory computer science textbook on VAX Basic designed to teach practical programming applications. She has been quoted in many influential journals, such as School Library Journal, and serves as a reviewer and advisor to research projects for the National Science Foundation and other government and business groups. |
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Timothy J. Magner
Director
Office of Educational Technology
U.S. Department of Education
Tim Magner is the director for the Office of Educational Technology for the U.S. Department of Education. The Office of Educational Technology is responsible for coordinating the development and implementation of the Department's educational technology policies. The Office's main goal is to maximize technology's contribution to improving education through developing national educational technology policy and implementing that policy department-wide, to support the goals of NCLB.
Tim's work experience includes serving as the deputy executive director for the Council of Chief State School Officers, the deputy director for the Office of Educational Technology, the executive director K12 Education for the Microsoft Corporation and the director of the Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF). He also served as the director of technology for the Framingham Public Schools in Framingham Massachusetts, and taught graduate courses in educational technology at Framingham State College and George Mason University. Tim began his career as a high school social studies and theater teacher at the middle and high school levels in the U.S. and Europe. Tim received his bachelor of arts from the College of William & Mary and a masters degree in Education from Harvard University. |
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Patrick M. Supanc
Vice President, Pearson School Technology
Patrick Supanc is a vice president with publisher Pearson Education. His responsibilities at Pearson include digital content and product strategy. Prior to joining Pearson earlier this year, Patrick was Senior Director for K-12 Markets at Blackboard where he was responsible for the company's strategy and operations in the school market. During Patrick's tenure, K-12 became Blackboard's fastest growing client community. Patrick has also held education policy responsibilities with the World Bank, Education Development Center and the United Nations, was a Fulbright scholar to Chile and a university professor in Indonesia. He holds a bachelor's degree in international affairs from Princeton University and a master's degree in public policy from Harvard University. Patrick is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a writing coach for College Summit, an education non-profit. |
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