Digital Showcase – Panel II
Hear brief (10 min) demonstrations, stories or presentation from folks on the front lines of helping people make better use of broadband. Some have ideas you might be able to implement tomorrow – some are intentionally stretch goals. They are all great examples of how broadband is changing lives. Session notes and recording
Libraries
Minnesota Libraries & Libraries Without Borders bring literacy, digital literacy and library services to folks in and outside of a library. Learn about pilot projects happening in Minnesota – especially with laundromats and manufactured housing parks.
As a State Library Program Specialist with the Minnesota Department of Education, Hannah Buckland administers state aid to Minnesota’s public libraries and supports statewide library initiatives related to digital inclusion, civic engagement, and workforce development. She previously worked as the Director of Library Services at Leech Lake Tribal College in Leech Lake Nation. She is a member of the American Library Association’s Policy Corps, where she works on federal broadband issues affecting libraries, and also serves on the Minnesota Library Association Board of Directors.
At Libraries Without Borders, Adam Echelman creates partnerships and strategies to promote access to information, working with public libraries, trade associations (like laundromats), and public agencies. Adam is a Visiting Professor of Practice at John Jay College, where he teaches on outreach, organizing, and access to information for vulnerable communities. He has worked with RAICES Texas and Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services in New Haven, CT. A Yale graduate, Adam speaks Spanish, French, and Mandarin Chinese. adam@librarieswithoutborders.us
Minnesota Children’s Press Story Scouts
This is a case study of an innovative broadband-based local history project of Minnesota Children’s Press publishing club called Story Scouts for rural children ages 5-15, in Cook County, Minnesota. Our goal is to connect community, enlarge children’s agency, mentor 21st century communication and digital skills by creating and publishing local history based on primary source oral interviews and archival research. We successfully published our pilot book during Book Camp August, 2020, called Ice Cream & Fish. We are now documenting a children’s history of the coronavirus pandemic of 2020-21
Anne Brataas is an award-winning journalist, science writer, (www.thestorylaboratory.com) children’s author, (www.mirasbigdays.com) teacher, instructional designer and publisher of bespoke publications who has served a wide-range of clients for 45 years. These include Nobel prize-winning scientists, individuals and families pursuing memoirs, corporate and local history projects—and children. Since 2000, Anne has been a master teacher for the Minnesota Institute for Talented Youth in St. Paul where she is known for her innovative curriculum, particularly her movement-based curriculum for grades 4-6 on reporting, writing, illustration and digital arts — the “Aerobic Newspaper” class— during which students move the whole time. Anne prioritizes the concerns and world views of children, and works to amplify their voices through books, newspapers and websites (www.borealcorps.org) they produce. Too often children are not included in history. Their concerns and contributions are diminished, trivialized, overlooked and unrecorded. Minnesota Children’s Press is committed to changing this in rural Minnesota—particularly as the turning point year of the coronavirus pandemic radically remakes their futures. Books by kids reclaims their futures. anne@minnchildpress.org
Wolf Creek Online High School
Wolf Creek Online is an innovative Online Public School Option for all Minnesota students grades 9-12 and up to age 21. They have been teaching successfully teaching students online for years.
Tracy L. Quarnstrom has served as the director of Wolf Creek Online High school since 2003. Wolf Creek is Minnesota’s only hybrid online high school which offers students an online experience while still offering the advantages of face to face interactions several days per week. Quarnstrom has been very involved in the creation of online learning legislation in the state of Minnesota as well as in organizations that promote quality online choices for students and families. She served on the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools board of directors from 2009-2011 as well as on the government affairs committee. She was a founding member of the MNOLA (Minnesota Organization for K12 Online learning Alliance) group and served as a member of legislative committee for several years. She has taught in a adjunct capacity for Hamline University teaching classes on topic of leadership in organizations. tquarnstrom@wolfcreekhs.org
Go to Digital Showcase Panel I