ConnectKentucky Hosts Successful 2010 Tech Day in Kentucky

2010 Tech Day in Kentucky Features CyberSafeKY Training, Technology Roundtables, and Donations from AT&T and Lexmark

FRANKFORT, Ky. — More than 120 students, parents, community members, and technology advocates participated in the 2010 Tech Day in Kentucky, held Thursday, February 18 in Frankfort.

In the opening events, 80 students at Hearn Elementary School, along with their parents, participated in a cybersafety training. The cybersafety training class is part of an ongoing partnership among ConnectKentucky, the Kentucky Attorney General's Office, and the Kentucky Department of Education.

Called CyberSafeKY, the training provided children with a basic understanding of the safe use of social network sites and what parents need to monitor with their children’s use of the Internet. Since CyberSafeKY began in 2009, more than 25,000 parents and children have participated in 100 different training awareness classes. Topics covered during the session included cyberbullying, cyberpredators, responsible use of social networking sites, and more.

Along with the CyberSafeKY training, Franklin County Schools received a donation of 150 printers from Lexmark. This printer donation was facilitated through ConnectKentucky’s Computers 4 Kids (C4K) initiative, which provides computers and enhanced technology tools to low-income households, schools, community centers, libraries, and nonprofit organizations that provide after-school educational programs to underprivileged children.

In addition, the AT&T Foundation awarded a $15,000 grant to ConnectKentucky. The grant from the AT&T Foundation, the corporate philanthropy organization of AT&T Inc., will benefit ConnectKentucky’s Computers 4 Kids. Previously, the AT&T Foundation awarded C4K $150,000 to distribute computers to more than 20 nonprofits in Jefferson, Franklin, Madison, Washington, and Boyle counties.

Following morning events at Hearn Elementary School, Tech Day events continued in Frankfort, with a proclamation reading, the announcement of ConnectKentucky’s Technology Awards, and technology-related roundtable discussions.

The Green River Area Development District (GRADD) received the Corporate Citizenship Technology Award, which is given to a company, organization, or foundation that has successfully shaped its mission and business strategy to promote broadband technology adoption in the Commonwealth.

The GRADD received the award for the public-private partnership known as ConnectGRADD, which is bring broadband to the rural areas of Daviess, Hancock, Henderson, McLean, Ohio, Union, and Webster counties. ConnectGRADD is currently providing service to over 1,500 residents of the region with a goal to double subscription.

“ConnectGRADD is opening many doors that were previously closed to citizens in rural communities.It offers them unprecedented access to economic development, entrepreneurship, education, and entertainment opportunities — just to name a few,” said Jiten Shah, executive director of GRADD.

“ConnectGRADD, Inc. is honored to receive this prestigious award. We pledge to continue our strong partnership with ConnectKentucky to accomplish our shared vision of bringing broadband Internet availability to residents across the Commonwealth.”

ConnectKentucky also hosted two roundtable discussions about technology applications, benefits, and use in education delivery and eGovernment in Kentucky. Over 35 people participated in the panel discussions.

The technology education roundtable was moderated by Allen Lind, chief information officer for the Council on Postsecondary Education, and featured a group of Kentucky’s educational technology leaders including representatives from the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, the Kentucky Community & Technical College System, the Kentucky Department of Education, and Eastern Kentucky University.

Participants discussed how technology is impacting Kentucky’s educational delivery system, recent technological innovations, and future applications.

The eGovernment roundtable was moderated by Allen Eskridge, CIO and Assistant Secretary of State and featured panelists from the Commonwealth Office of Technology, Cisco Systems, Officescape, and Dataseam.

This discussion focused on how government can use technology to better serve citizens, recent technology improvements in Kentucky state government, and how technology can be leveraged to improve government and lower costs.

“I was very pleased with the number of new ideas that emerged from the workshop. The panels stimulated a great deal of discussion regarding information innovation strategies and next-generation infrastructure needs,” said Dan O’Hair, Dean and professor at the College of Communications and Information Studies at the University of Kentucky. “Having nonprofit, government, for-profit, and educational representatives interact as part of the discussion added to the value of the workshop.”

This is the fourth time ConnectKentucky has held the day-long Tech Day in Kentucky.

 For additional information, visit the ConnectKentucky website at www.connectkentucky.org.