Story Chasers Inc. will host a FREE afternoon presentation and discussion forum on Tuesday, December 15th, from 1:30 to 3:30 pm at MetroTech in Oklahoma City (Springlake Campus) in the Calypso Room, focused on the recently announced Oklahoma State Department of Education's 1:1 Digital Learning Initiative. Seating is limited to 30, and registration is available via EventBrite.The focus of our presentation and discussion will be the formation of an Oklahoma collaborative for 1:1 laptop learning, utilizing a "mixed model" of hardware including netbooks as student computing devices and full-sized Macbook laptops for teachers / adult educators. Our collaborative will focus on parent communication about student learning, parent involvement in student learning, teacher professional development, student collaborative projects, web-based content management systems to facilitate constituent communication as well as safe "open web" publishing, digital curriculum, and sustainability. Technology CANNOT and DOES NOT directly improve student achievement. Student achievement can and does improve when teaching and learning practices improve, and the process of digitally transforming teaching and learning practices will be our focus in this consortium. This is not an effort to merely digitize traditional, teacher-directed instructional models. We are focused on supporting truly learner-centered classrooms, inquiry-based and project-based learning, and learner collaboration between schools in our state and with other partners around the world. PLEASE NOTE THE OKLAHOMA SDE RFP REQUIRES APPLYING DISTRICTS SUBMIT "A LETTER OF INTENT...ON OR BEFORE MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2009...[LETTERS] CAN BE EMAILED OR FAXED TO 405-522-0611... OR ARRA2D@SDE.STATE.OK.US. This meeting is scheduled for December 15th, so if you are EVEN POSSIBLY interested in applying for this grant be sure to submit your "letter of intent" NLT Monday, December 14, 2009.