Belkin International Joins Esteemed Speaker & Mentor Lineup For SXSW EDU 2018

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Belkin International ? the market leader in mobile accessories, has announced Jon Roepke, director of product management for Belkin's Education division, will serve as a mentor at this year's SXSW EDU conference taking place March 5-8 in Austin, Texas and will also speak on a panel in collaboration with California State Parks on distance learning.

Mentorship

Roepke's mentor session will take place Wednesday, March 7 from 2-3:15 p.m. CT. Registered attendees can sign up for a 15-minute, one-on-one meeting with Roepke through their SXSW account. Roepke leads Belkin's worldwide education strategy and award-winning product offerings.

The mentor program at SXSW EDU facilitates meetings between experienced professionals and engaged attendees. Seventy-two mentors are scheduled for SXSW EDU this year, offering an ecelectic mix of perspectives? from classroom teachers and esteemed professors, to industry insiders and CEOs.

Attendees can sign up for a SXSW EDU mentor session here.

Speakership

Roepke will also co-present a session entitled ? "Virtual Voyaging Through California State Parks" ? with California State Parks' Brad Krey, program manager for Parks Online Resources for Teachers and Schools (PORTS), and Francesca Manheim, educational ranger at PORTS. Attendees can learn how these partners are leveraging the latest in cutting edge tech and video conferencing to treat students to virtual field trips. Utilizing hardware from Belkin, park rangers can interact with kids in real-time, studying kelp forests, redwood ecology, butterfly migration and other unique experiences. The session will take place Wednesday, March 7 at 4:30 p.m. CT in Ballroom EFG.

"Enriching student and educator experiences through the seamless integration of technology into classrooms is a mission we take very seriously at Belkin Education," said Roepke. "I'm honored to interact with and lead such an engaged audience of industry professionals and attendees at SXSW EDU this year, including our colleagues at California State Parks, as we continue to foster an important dialogue about the current and ever-evolving state of technology solutions for various classroom environments around the world."

Belkin Education solutions are designed to enhance next-gen learning environments in K-12 and secondary education markets worldwide. Among Belkin Education's long-standing partnerships is an ongoing relationship with California State Parks' PORTS ? a free distance-learning program which leverages Belkin's interactive technology to offer students, especially in lower-income schools, virtual field trip experiences in their classrooms. State park indoor studios and ranger vehicles, such as the PORTS' EduGator, are equipped with Belkin's Tablet Stage, an adjustable platform that turns any tablet into an interactive presentation tool.

A full list of speakers, mentors, networking events, sessions and workshops at SXSW EDU can be viewed here.

About SXSW EDU

The SXSW EDU® Conference & Festival cultivates and empowers a community of engaged stakeholders to advance teaching and learning. The annual four-day event affords registrants open access to engaging sessions, immersive workshops, interactive learning experiences, film screenings, early-stage startups, business opportunities and networking. SXSW EDU is a component of the South by Southwest® family of conferences and festivals. Join the passionate and innovative community at SXSW EDU, March 5-8, 2018 in Austin, Texas. For more information, please visit sxswedu.com.

About Belkin Education 

Belkin Education, a division of Belkin International, offers technology solutions for classroom environments worldwide. Through hands-on research, spending time in classrooms and frequent interaction with teachers, Belkin Education defines and develops solutions for digital learning environments.  Belkin's award-winning education product suite focuses on enabling the seamless integration of technology in the classroom to enhance every learning experience. Belkin solutions address collaboration, protection and connectivity and features the Store and Charge Go, the RockStartm 10-Port USB Charging Station, Tablet Stagetm and Belkin Stagetm app, Air Shield Protective Case for Chromebooks, Snap Shield for MacBook and Chromebook   and Universal HDMI to VGA Adapter kit with Audio. For more on our next-gen technology products, click here.

SOURCE Belkin