Elluminati Conference

Dr. Kelvin Bentley

As Director of Distance Learning for Northampton Community College, Kelvin Bentley oversees the Distance Learning Office at NCC and provides oversight for all credit-based, distance learning strategic planning, and activities that include online course development, hiring and evaluation of online instructors, and collaboration to enhance the quality of student services to distance learners.

Bentley earned a PhD from the University of Delaware in 1999 with a major area concentration in clinical psychology. He has taught at the assistant professor level and held various administrative positions at Northwestern State University, Baker Online, and Seton Hall University.

Colleen Brandao

Originally from Anaheim, California, Colleen Brandao considers herself fortunate to have experienced the rich variety of life in the United States from coast to coast. Earning a Bachelor of Science degree from St. Cloud University in Minnesota, she relocated to Florida with her husband and four children in 1986. While teaching social studies classes to middle and high school students in Florida, she decided to pursue an interest in educational technology. Earning a Masters in Instructional Technology from the University of Central Florida, her interests include online teaching and course development for Florida Virtual School.

Most importantly, she considers herself a global educator and enjoys introducing her students to the diversity of the world around them. Part of her experience includes organizing and leading educational tours in the summer for students and adults. Brandao says, “travel allows people to see how interconnected and interdependent the world is and how important that we all know how to get along in it.” An extension of her interest in travel is making connections with people in other parts of the world through Internet technologies. She regularly involves her students in online projects such as the Armenia School Connectivity Program sponsored by Project Harmony through the U.S. State Department, as well as ePals and Elluminate.

Val Brooks

Val Brooks is Deputy Director at Stockton City Learning Centre, a post created as part of the UK government’s Excellence in Cities initiative, which allocates funding to set up state-of-the-art centres for schools in inner-city areas. Brooks initiated and led many projects, encouraging and supporting teacher participation. As news of the projects spread, more schools have joined, and the variety of subjects and schools now using Elluminate Live! across Stockton (now linking internationally) has grown.

Brooks set up and maintains the Stockton CLC virtual learning environment, which is based on Moodle and used by many schools and hundreds of pupils in Stockton. Combining the use Elluminate and Moodle has been a natural progression. Before working at the CLC, Val was a secondary maths teacher and continues to lead a team of GCSE examiners for maths each year.

Gary Dietz

Bio pending

Michel Lapointe

Michel Lapointe has been working in a higher education environment for over 22 years. Holder of a bachelor degree in MIS enhanced by a MBA, Michel leads a team of 19 professionals. In 1999, Mr. Lapointe began at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Ottawa for the realization of first on-line curriculum supported by a of laptop program for all students in medicine. After numerous innovations, his team implemented a web casting solution to answer the challenges of distance education in medicine. To lift his portfolio and to support the pedagogical aspect of technology Mr. Lapointe is currently completing a Master Degree in Distance Education.

Stephen Laster

Chief Information Officer of Harvard Business School, Stephen Laster is a seasoned technologist, product strategist, and business leader with extensive background in e-learning, digital community building, CRM, personalization, eCommerce, enterprise integration, sales force automation, and order management.

As CIO, Laster leads a team of 110 professionals who oversee the school’s academic and administrative computing environment. Previously, he was director of the Curriculum Innovation and Technology Group at Babson College. In addition, Laster was CTO at Babson Interactive, LLC, where he was the primary architect and driving force behind Babson’s adoption of eLearning.

Laster sits on the board of Recycline and is an experienced speaker and consultant for companies such as Irving Oil, EMC, and Super Duper Publications. He was recognized by IBM for thought leadership in message-oriented middleware and by Ed Tech Magazine as a thought leader in educational technology. Laster holds a BA from Bowdoin College and an MBA from Babson College.

Raven McElman

Positive, passionate, and progressive are the words Raven McElman uses to describe her approach to work and to life. A Training and Development Specialist for Florida Virtual School, McElman might also be describing the way the school approaches its mission of educating young people. She worked in the Baltimore Mayor’s Office of Manpower Resources and helped found the Summit Charter School in Orlando, Florida, for students with learning disabilities. She also served as the legal compliance manager for CNL Group, a real estate investment firm, and worked as a regional manager for New Forum Publishers.

McElman graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Sociology. She has completed the majority of her coursework towards a M.S. degree in Human Resources Management from George Washington University.

Blaine Morrow

Blaine Morrow is Director of CCC Confer and 3C Media Solutions, two technology projects that serve the California Community Colleges, the largest higher education system in the U. S. He is the author of five books and more than 30 journal articles on information technology, and has taught technology courses for Michigan State University, Palomar College, and Wayne State University.

Morrow has been a technology director for three school districts, the project coordinator for Kids Learning in Computer Klubhouses (KLICK), a co-founder of LUC (Librarians Using Computers), designer of the MEET (Modeling Effective Educational Technology) project, and a frequent presenter at national and international technology conferences.

Susan Patrick

In September 2005, Susan Patrick was named the President and Chief Executive Officer of the North American Council for Online Learning (NACOL). She is the former Director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education. Patrick managed the federal government’s educational technology policies, served as co-chair of the federal government’s Advanced Technologies Working Group for Education and Training; and was a member of the Secretary’s Rural Education Task Force.

Patrick served Governor Jane Dee Hull of Arizona as Strategic Communications Manager and legislative liaison, where she managed legislative technology policy, media and strategic communications for the Government Information Technology Agency. She received the 2001 Governor’s Spirit of Excellence Recognition Award for the Telecommunications Open Partnerships for Arizona (TOPAZ) initiative.

Patrick holds a master’s degree from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication in Los Angeles and a bachelor’s degree from Colorado College.

Saroj Primlani

With over 20 years experience in the assistive technology/technology accessibility field, Saroj Primlani provides leadership, advocacy, and expertise to promote the principles of Universal Design and universal access to IT resources at North Carolina State University. In addition to consulting and training on accessible web/electronic electronic content development, she works with vendors and developers to conduct testing and evaluation of software applications and tools with a focus on proactive and scalable solutions for accessibility challenges.

Prior to working at NC State, Primlani owned and directed Adaptive Technology Centers (ATC), Raleigh, NC. Under contract with various state rehabilitation agencies, federal, state and local governments, public schools, and universities, ATC provided evaluation, integration, and assistive technology training for people with disabilities to expand work and educational opportunities.

Ben Rogers

A digital media engineer in Duke University’s Office of Information Technology, Ben Rogers is responsible for a variety of digital media capture, delivery, and communication infrastructures. Previously, he served North Carolina universities in innovative synchronous distance education initiatives through UNC’s Partnership for Minority Advancement in the Biomolecular Sciences (PMABS). Rogers was IT Director of UNC’s Institute for Science Learning, and his specialties include collaborative technologies, instructional technology, and video game design for learning. Rogers holds a degree in computer science from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Stephen Rowe

A university lecturer in auditing and other accounting subjects for over 20 years at Southern Cross University in Australia, Stephen Rowe has been active in online delivery since 2000. For the past 2 years, he has been responsible for driving adoption of Elluminate Live! within the university.

Rowe received the university’s 2006 Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching for enhancing student experiences in online learning and a national 2007 Carrick Institute Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning for pioneering online teaching approaches that have transformed student learning and created institutional change. He is currently investigating the impact of innovations on how lecturing staff go about their business at a university for his PhD.

Mike Skurek

Mike Skurek comes to the Northern Ozaukee School District with a broad range of experience as a teacher, coach, technology staff developer, and curriculum specialist (at all grade levels) for both the Wisconsin Rapids Public Schools and CESA 5. Since completing his undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, he has completed master's degree programs from University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in curriculum and technology emphasis and from Cardinal Stritch University in educational leadership.