2025 TETL Summer Conference

Dallas ISD: Jon Hurley, Asst Supt of Technology at Dallas ISD
Google for Education: Clay Smith, Solutions Engineer
Lenovo for Education: Travis Miller, (Texas) K12 Account Executive

This workshop empowers educators to effectively integrate Google's Gemini into their teaching practices. Participants will explore strategies for fostering digital literacy in students, discover how Gemini can help create personalized learning experiences tailored to individual student needs, and learn practical ways Gemini can support daily teaching tasks, saving time and enhancing instructional impact. Join us to unlock the potential of AI in education and transform your classroom.

Join our technology group for a collaborative space to discuss innovative ideas, address challenges, and explore solutions. Together, we'll share insights, align on technology roadmaps, and stay ahead of trends. This group fosters open dialogue to enhance growth and innovation in the tech landscape, ensuring we stay at the forefront of developments and drive meaningful change.

Join our technology group for a collaborative space to discuss innovative ideas, address challenges, and explore solutions. Together, we'll share insights, align on technology roadmaps, and stay ahead of trends. This group fosters open dialogue to enhance growth and innovation in the tech landscape, ensuring we stay at the forefront of developments and drive meaningful change.

What if you could report on anonymized traffic from VPNs and proxies? Catch the app privacy policy change before it breaks compliance? Announce an app outage before the status page is up? Reclaim ghost licenses before renewals drain your budget?
Welcome to your IT visibility platform: Lightspeed Signal + Insight. It gives you the complete visibility you need to tackle budget deficits, cybersecurity, accessibility, student data privacy, AI, and other IT annoyances that are taking your team’s time.
We’ll cover:

• How to spot proxy, VPN and Tor activity that your web filter is missing
• How to see not only who devices are assigned to, but who is actually using them
• How app traffic inspection can alert you to app outages before the vendor even knows, so you’re warning teachers before they’re calling you
• How to uncover cost savings from underused apps and devices
• How to spot (and stop) compliance risks without adding new software or teams

If you’ve ever muttered “I wish I knew that earlier,” this is the session for you.

With shrinking budgets and rising demands for up-to-date technology, how can school districts ensure they have the tools they need without breaking the bank? This panel of K-12 education leaders will share real-world strategies for overcoming budget deficits through technology leasing and financing solutions. Learn how districts are maximizing resources, maintaining sustainable tech refresh cycles, and making strategic financial decisions that support long-term success.

In the education sector, cybersecurity is a critical concern for protecting student data and maintaining operations. The "Good, Better, Best" (GBB) approach offers a tiered framework for K–12 institutions to build sustainable cybersecurity programs.

Good: Establishes foundational tools and processes to protect against basic threats.
Better: Introduces more mature and robust security solutions, including automation and broader coverage.
Best: Achieves advanced, proactive, and deeply integrated security capabilities.
The GBB approach helps schools assess their current state, set realistic goals, and make incremental improvements. The focus is on progress over perfection, building resilient systems over time.

Ever feel like your tech, curriculum, and admin teams speak different languages? You’re not alone. In this 50-minute session, we’ll uncover what really happens when departments stop working in isolation and start building together. From account provisioning and rostering to secure data practices and rock-solid infrastructure, we’ll explore how collaboration—not just tech—delivers the backbone K-12 needs.

School leaders are being bombarded with AI tools—but how do you lead with purpose instead of panic? This session goes beyond tools to explore how to strategically implement AI with clarity and confidence. We’ll examine frameworks for policy, professional learning, and ethical integration grounded in real-world examples from forward thinking districts.

In the ever-evolving world of educational technology, school district leaders must master the art of high-stakes communication. This session, inspired by Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, empowers technology leaders to approach difficult conversations with confidence, clarity, and empathy. Whether you're addressing misalignment with administrators, negotiating with vendors, or managing conflict within your team, you'll learn practical strategies to stay focused on results, foster collaboration, and maintain strong relationships under pressure. Join us to build the communication skills that drive positive outcomes and strengthen your leadership impact in public education.

Explore the critical need for scalable, technology-integrated solutions in K-12 STEM education and discover how NASA's innovative resources can equip schools to meet this challenge. Imagine equipping your district with resources like NASA STEM Kits, the High School Aerospace Scholars (HAS) program, and the HAS Middle School Mathematics Course. These aren't just tools for fostering STEM learning, digital fluency, and career readiness; they provide a framework for systemic change and instructional leadership. These initiatives offer hands-on experiences such as Python programming for rocket launches and environmental sensor analysis, alongside opportunities for students to engage with NASA experts and tackle real-world mission challenges. Beyond enriching individual classrooms, we'll focus on how these resources align with TEKS and NGSS standards, promote deeper engagement with computational thinking, and empower you, technology leaders, to drive the adoption of future-ready STEM education across your districts.