The MLTI Student Conference has gone virtual and needs your help! Email Jon Graham at the Maine DOE by May 20th to lend your expertise to this amazing event.
From our friends at the Department of Education:
Hello CSTA Maine folks,
As some of you may be aware this year’s MLTI Student Conference is shifting to a digital
format. Deb Lajoie, the Director of MLTI, has been working with a vendor, CATES Tutoring, to
organize this event. I am helping to quickly spread the message and hopefully recruit a few
more willing presenters. Unfortunately, we are working within a tight time table and would ask
that proposals be submitted by 5/20.
Below is the official notice of the conference which has been published in the Maine DOE
Newsroom. This attachment provides detail around the conference date and time, registration
link, conference theme, and target audience.
Our goal for presenter sessions is a structure of 20/20, 20 minutes of content, 20 minutes of
student activity. Our team stands ready to provide support for your presentation. That may
include either in the development or during the online student conference as a session monitor.
The Department’s digital learning specialists, myself and Emma Banks, are definitely open to
discussion and support about sessions.
Deb Lajoie will be scheduling two meetings with presenters and our student conference vendor,
one on 5/21 at 4:00 and another meeting the week of 5/25 for a dry run of the sessions.
If you could please send along a bio for the conference web site, your official session’s title and
the number of blocks you are willing to present (1,2 or 3.)
If you have any questions please send them my way and I will try to respond in a timely manner.
- Jon Graham, Elementary Digital Learning Specialist
jonathan.m.graham@maine.gov
Here is additional information, defined by our vendor, that may be helpful to you as a
presenter:
presenter:
Event Concept: The MLTI Virtual Student Conference will be an innovation challenge fostering
research, design, and presentation skills for aspiring innovators with the goal of motivating
students to solve important issues related to Maine’s—and their—future.
Strategies: Apply design-thinking, venture development, and communication protocols.
Pre-Conference: “Understand” phase (Aim: Foster Research skills)
a. Conference web site launches Thursday, May 25
b. Students submit personal info with name, grade, school, town, county, part of
Maine, personal interests, academic interests, technical skills, something unique about
you, chosen/assigned problem space (from DECD/“other” list) and ideal career
aspiration. (Video intro optional, “Participant Profile Page”)
c. Students matched with a group of peers (ideally from across state to create
multi-disciplinary team) and problem space per DECD vision + goals (alternative:
organize groups during conference based on attendance)
d. Provide students with access to resources for research in problem areas, design
frameworks, innovation protocols, videos, and other web links related to DECD-inspired
challenges
Conference: “Explore” phase (Aim: Foster Ideation + Pitch skills)
Thursday, May 28, 9 am start
a. Welcome address:
1. Presenters’ sessions, 9:30 am start (Zoom rooms accessed via Conference
website, or pre-assigned Zoom breakout rooms in larger meeting/Webinar room)
Sample Schedule (Final TBD)
■ Block 1: 9:30 am - 10:10 am
■ Block 2: 10:15 am - 11:00 am
■ Block 3: 11:05 am - 11:45 am
1. Block session closing address + next steps (including community “voting”): 11:50
am
b. Lunch, 12 pm
c. Uber Session: “Pitch Competition” (Zoom Meeting/Webinar + pre-assigned Zoom
Breakout Rooms), 1 pm
Welcome + Overview:
1. Students (in groups of 4) organized into pre-assigned breakout rooms, 1:15 pm
2. Students use google form as tool to build rationale for a 30-second elevator pitch
(60 word limit) based on NABC+M model
3. All attendees re-assemble in Zoom Meeting/Webinar room, 2 pm
4. Spokesperson(s) for each group pitches their solution to conference attendees (a
la “Madness” T550 final)
5. Attendees vote for favorite pitch in each of DECD-related categories
6. Hosts announce and publicly recognize winners – awards
Closing Address & Next Steps:
3 pm: conference ends; all students and teachers receive digital Conference Certificate of
Completion with badge for “Pitch Challenge” credential
Post-Conference (Optional): “Prototype Competition” (“Materialize” phase; Aim: Apply New
Skills + Develop Real-World Presentation Skills)
a. Student teams can choose to take their learning even further by going deeper into their
problem space and developing a more mature prototype of their solution over the weekend for
the chance to win greater rewards
b. Student teams must register for challenge via google form (new groups are allowed) by
Friday, May 29, 3 pm
c. Each team matched with mentor (Maine tech teacher, available DOE staff, CATES
expert, or HGSE Hive peer), by Friday, May 29, 5 pm
d. Students can use empathy map (video demo provided) to better understand Maine
stakeholder pain points and better define their problem
e. Students can use market scan (video demo provided) to better understand competitive
landscape in/outside Maine and identify gaps in market
f. Students develop innovation or venture to solve defined needs of stakeholders in the
problem space per market opportunity. (Demo of solution optional)
g. Students create “pitch deck” for innovation using Richards’ 5 slides model (bonus points
for “Magic slide” with visual demo of solution per Mollick)
h. Students provide 1-2 page exec summary based on NABC+M pitch from conference,
noting relevance to DECD goals and any skills gained from block sessions.
i. Alternative to deck + summary: students who do not feel compelled to develop a 5-slide
pitch deck and/or executive summary can instead choose to create a ~1-min video presentation
or demo of their solution (perhaps leveraging a new skill developed through block sessions) and
rationale (expressed via voice-over, text, data, and/or other modes) for their solution’s relevance
to the defined need and why it can work.
j. “Office Hour” - hosted by Chris and other mentors, Saturday, May 30, 2 pm
k. Students submit to platform via google form by Monday, June 1 at 8 am (a la HIVE Pitch
Competition)
l. Submissions evaluated on Monday, June 1 and Tuesday, June 2 by panel of judges from
CATES, DOE, DECD using rubric (based in iLab) that rewards points for different categories,
including best application or use of knowledge and skills gained through conference block
sessions.
m. Finalist materials uploaded and shared via platform and Facebook by 9 am, Wednesday,
June 3, for popular voting (eg. likes on YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram) by conference
attendees.
n. 30-minute award ceremony (hosted by Beth + Chris) on Thursday, June 4, 5 pm: winner
announced in each category (including audience choice award) receives Amazon or AWS gift
card as ”funding” to continue exploring their innovation
o. All students, mentors, and judges receive digital Conference Certificate of Completion
with badge for “Prototype Challenge” credential (CATES)
p. Prototype challenge winners earn “immortality and cache” as Grand Prize Winners of
2020 MLTI Student Conference Innovation Challenge
