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Past Presenters At BJLA
Allison H. Fine
What happens when blogs, Facebook and cell phones intersect with illiteracy, hunger, AIDs and many other worthy causes? Connected activism results; the intersection of easy-to-use social media tools and idealistic activists. Allison Fine writes about this explosive intersection in her award-winning book, Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age (Wiley & Sons, 2006).
She is a Senior Fellow on the Democracy Team at Demos: A Network for Change and Action in New York City, Allison’s research and writing focuses on the intersection of social media and social change. She has recently published a paper on young people and activism commissioned by the Case Foundation, Social Citizens, and edited a collection of essays, Rebooting America, of transformative ways to reinvent 21st century democracy using new media tools.
She is also a Senior Editor at the Personal Democracy Forum. Her articles have been published in the Boston Globe, San Jose Mercury Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. She is also a frequent contributor to Huffington Post, Personal Democracy Forum, Alternet and the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
Allison served as the C.E.O. of The E-Volve Foundation in 2004-2005, and was the Founder and Executive Director of Innovation Network, Inc. from 1992-2004. She is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and New York University, and was a Trustee and Fire and Police Commissioner of Sleepy Hollow, New York.
Barry Bogage
Powerpoint Presentation - "The Good"
Barry Bogage is an international business development professional with 20 years experience developing and executing strategies to identify, cultivate and close new business opportunities. He has been the executive director of MIDC since 1992. His responsibilities there include targeted trade development to assist Maryland and Israeli companies expand through international trade and technology joint ventures.
Prior to that, he was director of business development at Welsh Development International, the international trade office of the Welsh Development Agency.
Barry was director of the Howard County Office of Economic Development, Ellicott City, Maryland, and director of research for Prince Georges County Economic Development Corp. in Landover, Maryland.
Barry has a bachelor’s degree in government and politics and history from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Betsy Lowry
Dr. Lowry is the Assistant Dean for Teaching, Learning and Assessment for the Johns Hopkins University School of Education, and Associate Director for the Johns Hopkins Center for Technology in Education (CTE). She is a primary architect of CTE’s model for online learning and a primary inventor of a suite of electronic learning tools, including an Electronic Learning Community, a Digital Portfolio, an Online Learning Management System, a Data Aggregation and Reporting System, a Teacher Compass evaluation tool, and a Student Compass progress monitoring application. Dr. Lowry’s team provides ongoing facilitation and evaluation to more than 30 professional online learning communities (>10,000 registered participants), and multiple online graduate and professional development programs. Dr. Lowry recently conducted a scientific study of the efficacy of online team-based learning communities for teacher professional development.
Since joining JHU in 1996, Dr. Lowry has provided direction and leadership for many of CTE’s most challenging and innovative projects, all of which incorporated a Web-training or online learning component, working with local, state, and international audiences, including: a Federal Star Schools grant to apply gaming and simulations in K-12 instruction, a federal Title II Teacher Quality grant, a Department of Justice School Safety Project, a Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) partnership grant, and a federal Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Technology grant. Dr. Lowry also directed CTE’s work in developing and implementing a national evaluation, data collection, and reporting system for the federal Technology Innovation Challenge Grant (TICG) program, working closely with the American Institutes for Research and the U.S. Department of Education.
In the School of Education, Dr. Lowry teaches doctoral and graduate level courses, co-developed the Teaching with Technology for Collaborative and Project-Based Learning graduate certificate program, and currently leads a national partnership with the International Society for Technology in Education to offer an online graduate certificate in administration and supervision. Dr. Lowry has published articles, research papers and chapters, and has presented in hundreds of local, state and national conferences and forums on topics addressing teaching and learning with a focus on online team-based learning communities. She is a reviewer for leading journals and conferences in the field of distance education, facilitates national Webinars in the field, and leads committees and task forces on online learning within Johns Hopkins University and the state of Maryland.
Dr. Lowry is a Sallie Mae award-winning teacher with 5 years of experience teaching elementary and middle school English and Special Education. Her commitment to using technology and high performance teaming to enhance instruction for all students grew from her experience in implementing a school reform initiative, Success for All, in schools across the country under the direction of Dr. Robert Slavin. Dr. Lowry co-developed CTE’s TeamTech Learning System, which is now known as Boundless Learning, and has been instrumental in planning and delivering innovative online synchronous and asynchronous professional development to support that system, including mentoring models and online communities of practice. She completed her doctorate in teacher development and leadership at JHU, received her MS in administration and supervision from JHU, and received her BS in special education from James Madison University.
Caren Levine
Enhance Your Technology and Networking Know-How Learning More Resources Digital Intimacy (NYT Article)
Caren Levine holds a B.A. from Barnard College in Ancient Studies and an MA in Jewish Studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary with a concentration in Jewish Education. In addition, she studied in a number of programs at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Moving from Ancient Studies to new media, Caren has completed work toward her doctorate in educational technology at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her dissertation is a case study of online learning for professional development. Caren is an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship program. She also holds an ASTD E-Learning Instructional Design Certificate. Caren brings with her over 20 years of experience in educational technology and Jewish education. Recent interests include technology stewardship in support of communities of practice, promoting 21st century skills, social media, and other resources for professionals in educational and non-profit organizations. Caren serves as CAJE’s Chair of Online Initiatives, is the Lead Docent for ISTE in Second Life, volunteers as a Reading Buddy in a local public elementary school, and spends lots of time at a small airport in New Jersey.
Jason Cohen
Jason Cohen is the E-Communications Director for The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore. Jason manages The Associated’s electronic marketing and communications strategies, ePhilanthropy efforts, and web site (www.associated.org), as well as consulting with all supporting agencies on their electronic communications activities. Prior to joining The Associated, Jason served as Director of Interactive for Renegade Productions, and as Business Development Specialist for Ajilon Consulting, an IT services company located in Towson. Jason’s work passion is the integration of technology and marketing.
Larry Footer
The Bad and the Ugly on the Internet: Challenges for Israel
Laurence J. Footer is the chief technologist at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where he spearheads the organization's technology initiatives. Mr. Footer is also chief executive officer of an Internet software company he founded in 2000. His area of expertise is the intersection of policy and technology, especially as it pertains to the "war of ideas" being waged for hearts and minds in the larger war against al-Qaeda and like-minded jihadists. In this capacity, Larry has briefed the U.S. national security advisor and has advised the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on strategies for the U.S. government to both pursue as well as avoid, self-regulation of jihadist media by Internet providers, and al-Qaeda's Internet activities and strategies.
Working under the premise that classical counterinsurgency strategy should be applied throughout every aspect of the war, Mr. Footer is applying these theories in practice by launching FDD initiatives to both prevent jihadists from radicalizing the next generation of terrorists over the Internet as well as empower the online activists advocating liberal democratic reform in the Middle East. As part of this effort he founded Cyberdissidents.org, an FDD project to research and analyze the online activities of democracy advocates in Arab and Muslim countries, translate and republish their blog postings, and highlight repression against this group by authoritarian regimes.
Larry also teamed up with Peter Bergen (CNN's terrorism analyst and one of the first members of the Western media to interview Osama bin Laden) to co-author "Defeating the Attempted Global Jihadist Insurgency: Forty Steps for the Next President to Pursue against al-Qaeda, Like-Minded Groups, Unhelpful State Actors, and Radicalized Sympathizers." Their essay was published as a chapter in a special edition of The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science entitled "Terrorism: What the Next President Will Face" and edited by Richard Clarke, former National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counterterrorism at the U.S. National Security Council.
Laurence Footer is currently enrolled at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies pursuing a Master’s of International Public Policy degree.
He can be reached at lfooter@defenddemocracy.org.
Lisa Colton
Web 2.0 and Beyond Social Media - Resources
Lisa holds a B.A. from Stanford University, and studied in Israel for 2 years at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, Livnot U'lehibanot and the Yakar Learning Community, among others. Lisa’s work experience includes teaching and curriculum development, Jewish education and communal development, and extensive experience in design and publication of community directed media. Lisa's interest, involvement and dedication to the Jewish community led her to found Darim Online. She has a deeply held passion for Jewish education and community building, and has personally contributed to many Jewish education efforts in Seattle, San Francisco, Israel, Virginia and Vermont. In addition to her work with Darim, Lisa has served as a board members and president of the board of the University of Vermont Hillel, and is the recipient of the Hillel "Exemplar of Excellence" Award and the Jewish Communal Service Association of North America's "Young Professionals" Award.
