The Cloud is the Answer in a Pandemic. Or is it?
A frank discussion with educators who rely on the cloud and those who’ve decided not to use it

Date: Wednesday, March 24, 2021, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. EST
Transcript and video: http://bit.ly/transcript032421

The Cloud feels like an infinite solution to all our problems of limited storage, software support, and curriculum delivery but there are cases where it doesn’t fit in education. Is the Cloud our hope or an overrated solution? In this panel, ask questions of educators with different experiences: a classroom teacher who is using the cloud and a school district network engineer who isn’t, We’re also joined by the 30-year edtech veteran and CEO of NetSupport, who has seen it all and is frequently called to discuss this topic in keynotes around the globe. This is an unscripted Q&A session where the media and freelance writers can ask questions — emailed in advance or during the panel — and our panelists will share what they’ve learned and how they are implementing Cloud-based solutions (or not). 

Panelists:

  • Erica Smith, 6th grade teacher at Ready Springs School (CA) 
  • Monte McCubbin, systems engineer for Simi Valley Unified School District (CA)
  • Al Kingsley, CEO of NetSupport, UK school leader and co-host of NetSupport Radio

Past Press Panels

Wednesday, January 20, 2021 from 2:00 to 3:30 EST
Video and Transcript here: http://bit.ly/transcript012021

Just as colleges and universities are recovering from COVID, a sizeable demographic pothole is waiting. According to data from WICHE and the Dept. of Education, in 2025, the number of high school graduates will start to recede, choking the pipeline of traditionally aged college students at an especially vulnerable time. Estimates are that high school graduations will fall by double-digits over the decade between 2025 and 2035. Some colleges are better prepared than others but the consequences could be significant especially for private and small colleges, many of which fill a critical gap in higher ed, giving a pathway for underserved and at-risk populations to earn a college degree.

We’ve assembled 4 university admissions officers and an expert in analysis of admissions and recruitment data to take questions from reporters and freelance writers.

Panelists:

  • Keith Ramsdell, VP of Enrollment Management at Ashland University
  • Dr. Blake Bedsole, VP of Enrollment Management at Arkansas Tech
  • David Hautanen, Jr.,  Vice President for Enrollment Management at St. Mary’s College of Maryland
  • Andrew Hannah, Adjunct Professor of Analytics at the University of Pittsburgh, co-founder of Othot

Wednesday, October 14, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. EDT – COMPLETED
Transcript: http://bit.ly/transcript101420

Join women who are dedicated to changing the career aspirations of disenfranchised or marginalized students. These women will answer questions about the urgency of STEM education and how they or the organizations they work with envision the systemic change needed to have a more significant impact in young people’s lives regardless of gender and especially for those who are systematically excluded from the opportunity to pursue STEM careers.

Panelists:

Friday, July 24, 2020 at Noon PDT

NOTE: This is a PRIVATE panel not open to media but the transcript is available upon request.

Three OSU faculty join us to explain how they are managing the grading for over 800 students in their introductory math course. They use Gradescope to streamline grading and inform class instruction but have not lost touch with individual students. Contact us using the “ask a question” form or the general contact us page to request the transcript.

Is there a crisis of misinformation in education? How can students learn how to tell good reporting from bad? Myth from fact? Former Wall Street Journal publisher, Gordon Crovitz, and CourtTV founder, Steven Brill, join Cienega HS teachers and curriculum experts to answer questions about the role our schools play in media literacy. Panelists, Crovitz and Brill, are co-founders of NewsGuard which ranks source credibility of online news, frequently issuing reports on major issues such as the Black Lives Matter movement covered here in Newsweek. NewsGuard has joined forces with Turnitin to bring the fight against fake news into the classroom, teaching students how to discern fact from fiction.

Panelists

  • Steven Brill, co-founder of NewsGuard and founder of The American Lawyer, CourtTV and the Yale Journalism Initiative, author of the best-selling book Tailspin: The People and Forces Behind Ameria’s Fifty-Year Fall – and Those Fighting to Reverse It
  • Gordon Crovitz, co-founder of NewsGuard, former publisher of The Wall Street Journal and columnist, Rhodes Scholar, and former EVP of Dow Jones
  • Patti West-Smith, former supervisor of instruction and current director of teaching and learning innovation for Turnitin
  • Chris Salvagio, AP Language and Comp teacher at Cienega High School in Vail, AZ
  • Alexis Rhyner, AP Lit and AP Capstone teacher at Cienega High School in Vail, AZ

  • Thursday, June 18, 2020, 2:00 p.m. ET
  • Join: https://bit.ly/presspanel061820
  • View the time-stamped transcript and video here: https://bit.ly/transcript061820

The intent of this panel is to delve into academic integrity and cheating on college campuses including best practices to reduce cheating and instill personal ethics. Panelists will answer questions about their research, practice, and insight about cheating in academia. See this research research by Dyer, Pettyjohn and Saladin: https://bit.ly/2Yhq2mx

Panelists

  • Jarret Dyer, Coordinator of testing services, College of DuPage
  • Steve Saladin, PhD, director of testing and assessment, University of Idaho
  • Tricia Bertram Gallant PhD, academic integrity director at the University of California, San Diego and Board Emeritus at the International Center for Academic Integrity
  • Ashley Norris PhD, chief academic officer, ProctorU
  • Valerie Schreiner, chief product officer, Turnitin

Note that this panel will not focus on products. This is an academically oriented panel. Panelists have been selected based on their depth and breadth of knowledge in this area.

The intent of this panel is to delve into the physical, technological, safety and personnel issues surrounding the return to campus amid the COVID-19 pandemic. University and college leaders answer questions about their planning challenges including considerations of seat space, faculty time, safety, staffing, and the hundreds of factors involved in the decision to get back on campus. Panelists may not be in a position to state exactly what their campus will do in Fall 2020 but they will frankly address questions from the media related to this topic.

Panelists

  • Ray Lefebvre, vice chancellor and CIO at University of Massachusetts, Boston
  • Ryan Seilhamer, assist. Director of mobile strategy & innovation, University of Central Florida
  • Kevin Walthers, Ph.D, superintendent/president of  Allan Hancock College in central California
  • Matt Willmore, formerly the MobileND program manager at Notre Dame, now senior director at Modo Labs

Press Panel FAQs

  • No scripts and no presentation. Panels are for reporter questions only.
  • Reporters submit questions here or during the panel.
  • The host will ask one or more panelists to respond to questions.
  • The session is recorded and made available upon request.
  • PRIVATE questions are held till the end when the audience is dismissed. PRIVATE questions will be asked of individual panelists and their responses will be given ONLY to the reporter who asked the question.
  • These are not product panels. Occasional guests from industry may be panelists based on their knowledge of the issues.
  • Registration accepted right up to the start of the panel
  • Questions or suggested panels? Email jennifer@pandopublicrelations.com

Typical Schedule

  • 2-5 minutes per panelist for general information
  • 15-30 minutes question period moderated by Host
  • 15 minutes of private questions as needed