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| Ken Conn is married
to Jill, also an educator who is working on her master’s
degree in mid-management. Her goal is to become an assistant
principal. They have two children, Keaton, 11, and Kylie,
4. Keaton is an avid sports fan and will begin junior
high next year. Kylie, a red head with a personality to
match, enjoys dancing and making her family laugh. She
will start pre-school in August. |
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....online
with Ken Conn!
From a classroom without walls to learning without limits, Ken Conn wants to reach more people with his goals for education. Conn is the incoming president of Texas Distance Learning Association.
Conn, a former public school teacher, will start a new position as education account manager with Data Projections, Inc.
“I don’t necessarily view it as moving from education to sales, but as a change in my education audience,” Conn said. “In the opportunity afforded me with Data Projections, Inc., I have the ability to reach more people and continue to share my vision for the power of videoconferencing in education.”
Most educators who are involved with distance learning have been in the higher education arena. Conn is among the teachers who became enamored with breaking digital ground.
“For me, it happened in 2003 as a sixth grade science teacher during my first videoconferencing experience,” Conn recalled.
Students had been assigned to notice chemical and physical changes as they made “silly putty.” Students were to put their putty through various challenges including seeing whose putty would stretch the farthest without breaking.
“As the students worked on this task I observed the walls of the physical classroom disappear when one of the students at the Alternative Learning Center, with a smile on his face, shared the record-breaking length of his “silly putty” giving him the title of owning the ‘most elastic silly putty’,” Conn said.
In that year, Conn was named Lamar Consolidated ISD’s Teacher of the Year. Just as the physical walls came down, Conn next began branching out as an instructional technology coordinator at Navarro Middle School. After coordinating the campus’s integration and the district’s distance learning program, in 2005, Conn expanded his borders to the district level as instructional technologist.
A member of TxDLA for less than five years, Conn has advanced his mission of learning without limits to serve in leadership.
“In my interactions with more and more people, especially those new to the distance learning arena, I can help continue to spread an awareness about TxDLA and the resources and benefits it has to offer,” Conn said. “From a TxDLA officer standpoint, I can support three of our eight TxDLA goals of openness, connectedness, and collaboration.”
As president Conn looked to spread the word about this state association and connect with other like-minded organizations. He plans to work on guidelines and procedures associated with the standing committees, increase the stability of regional groups and the Executive Partnership Council, and improve member benefits and resources.
A challenge the new TxDLA president sees for educators is helping them to realize the potential in distance education.
“The tools that we currently have available at our disposal are not only powerful and easy to use, but they are also becoming more and more cost effective,” Conn said. Ever the advocate for this cause, Conn added, “The efficiency of distance education provides in staffing and other resources, not to mention the all important concept of time management, how could you not consider exploring it as an option.
“What all of this says to me personally is that distance education in not a possibility in our future, but a certainty,” Conn concluded.
Contributed by Cheryl LaRue, North
Lamar ISD
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