OverDrive Education Presentations at ISTE
New to Sora? Get started here!
Discover Sora:
Visit DiscoverSora.com to try a book in Sora or activate Sora for your district. The best part? All new accounts come loaded with hundreds of no-cost titles.
Attend a demo:
Join a group sales demo to walk through Sora basics followed by Q&A.
Already have Sora? Take these next steps!
Visit our Booth #1824
Schedule a meeting with the Sora Team during ISTE!
FOLLOW US:
Visit us at ISTE booth #1824 to hear presentations from our partners! You'll learn all about Sora, OverDrive's student reading app, and can see how others are implementing digital content to engage their students and staff. Each session also offers a chance to win a tablet, so don't miss out!
Click on the drop-down arrow to see full session details and add the event to your calendar.
Monday, June 27 CST
Presenter: Leeann Morrill
Library Media Specialist
Oshkosh Area School District (WI)
Decoding digital reading: Tools & outreach to foster literacy success
Join Leeann Morrill, Library Media Specialist at Oshkosh Area School District (WI) to learn how she uses unique-to-digital tools like content bundles, simultaneous-use magazines and comics and in-app public library access to deliver titles on-demand to students. Attendees will also gain insight into some of her tricks for promoting Sora across the school, including reading contests, monthly initiatives and Chromebox displays. Finally, hear a real-world success story about how ebooks and audiobooks have made reading more accessible for ELL students.
Presenter: Bailey Hotujac
Account Manager
OverDrive EDU
Presenter: Sakeenah Daniels
Partner Relationship Manager
ClassLink
Presenter: Greg Lawrence
Director of Technology
Wentzville School District (MO)
Edtech partner spotlight: Sora + ClassLink
Sora is ClassLink-certified! Join representatives from OverDrive and ClassLink to learn about the benefits available to school partners, from easy discovery to authentication support and more.
Presenter: Sakeenah Daniels
Partner Relationship Manager
ClassLink
Presenter: Greg Lawrence
Director of Technology
Wentzville School District (MO)
Presenter: Pippa Davies
Chair Learning Commons
Heritage Christian Online School (BC)
Presenter: Cynthia Duncalfe
Curriculum Consultant
Heritage Christian Online School (BC)
Ready, Set, Go! Discover ways to foster engagement on Sora with literacy promotions and select curations
Looking for curation tips and best practices to get your student excited about your collection? Look no further! In this session, Chair of Learning Commons Pippa Davies and Curriculum Consultant Cynthia Duncalfe from Heritage Christian Online School (British Columbia, Canada) will present their simple hacks for creating dynamic, timely curated lists broken down by grade level for students’ convenience. Plus, attendees will discover how they use literacy promotions to get the word out about Sora to their entire school community.
Tuesday, June 28 CST
Presenter: Gwynn Moore
Instructional Media/Technology Teacher
Aurora Public Schools (CO)
Getting Sora started with your students & staff
With new tech, sometimes getting started is the hardest part — but this primer from Gwynn Moore, Instructional Media and Technology Teacher at Aurora Public Schools (CO), can help put you on the right track! She’ll share her end-to-end strategies for scaffolding online reading with students, starting with how to introduce the platform to your school community. Plus, you’ll learn her tricks for using the app to enhance learning, including leveraging in-app badges to motivate students to keep reading.
Presenter: Bill Bass
Director of Innovation
Parkway Schools (MO)
Bringing digital content to the forefront with Sora
From class sets to title assignments and more, learn how Parkway Schools (MO) organized to make digital content a priority in their district. Joined by Bill Bass, Director of Innovation at Parkway, attendees will discover how to pair a shared digital collection with individual school-level collections to save budget and better meet students’ reading needs.
Presenter: Rhianon Gutierrez
Director of Digital Learning
Boston Public Schools (MA)
Keys to adopting Sora in a large urban district
Get an in-depth look at Boston Public Schools’ (MA) roadmap for implementing digital books in their district of 50,000+ students. Led by Rhianon Gutierrez, Director of Digital Learning, attendees will discover why BPS selected Sora, plus why it’s important to build a support system around the platform. You’ll also learn some of their best practices for text selection, and hear real success stories from educators using the app.
Presenter: Christen Higgins
Media Coordinator
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (NC)
Curation + Outreach + Class Sets = A recipe for reading success
Join Christen Higgins, Media Coordinator at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (NC) to discover how a district-wide shared digital collection can work in tandem with individual school-specific digital libraries to engage more readers, using features like curated collections, class sets and more.
Presenter: Angela Arnold
Education Sales General Manager
OverDrive Education
Edtech partner spotlight: Sora + Google Classroom
Led by Angela Arnold, General Manager of OverDrive Education, learn how Sora and Google Classroom integrate to save teachers time and simplify how titles are assigned to students. When access is this easy, more kids can read.
Wednesday, June 29 CST
Presenter: Davina Sauthoff
District Librarian/District Canvas Specialist
Granite School District (UT)
Roadmap to holistic, district-wide Sora implementation with Granite SD
Join Davina Sauthoff, District Librarian at Granite School District (UT) for this session walking through their process for implementing Sora at the school level. Attendees will take away practical tips for how to train students and staff to access and use Sora, plus insights into strategies for using the platform in the classroom.
Presenter: Jeannie Timken
District Digital Learning Specialist
Brunswick County Schools (NC)
Strategies to get your school community reading with Sora
District Digital Learning Specialist Jeannie Timken at Brunswick County Schools (NC) shares how her district leveraged Sora during the shift to remote learning, plus their strategies for continuing engagement with and utilization of the app. You’ll learn how the district leveraged free resources from OverDrive like pre-made title lists and staff trainings to get the entire school community up to speed with Sora.
Presenter: Suzi Tonini
Supervisor of Collection Development
Denver Public Schools (CO)
Presenter: Angela Arnold
Education Sales General Manager
OverDrive Education
Transforming your curriculum with digital class sets
Room: 283-285
12:30pm-1:30pm
Are you an educator seeking a new solution to providing students with curriculum texts? Attend this session to learn how digital class sets simplify the process of ordering texts, save budget dollars, support differentiation, and give you the flexibility to select instructional titles that engage students and accelerate learning.