AUBURN — A team of Auburn Middle School students will act as reporters Thursday, May 24, tweeting live from the annual Maine Learning Technology Initiative student conference at the University of Maine in Orono.

The Maine Learning Technology Initiative is a part of the Maine Department of Education. This year’s ninth annual MLTI conference expects 1,000 students from across Maine who’ll share and learn about laptop computers and technology in education.

An initiative started by former Gov. Angus King, Maine seventh- and eighth-graders statewide have laptops, and about half of all high school students have laptops, considered an integral part of student learning.

Fifteen Auburn students, ages 12 and 13, will tweet the day-long conference, including three opening keynote student speakers, Tim Walsh a freshman at Kennebunk High School, and Emily and Katie Morse, juniors at Machias High School. The keynotes will speak from 9:10 to 10:25 a.m.

Tweeters will also cover an “uber session” from 1 to 2 p.m. Students will turn their laptop keyboards into music keyboards and perform a world premiere musical composition, along with 12 live musicians on stage, and two members of the New World Symphony playing live from Miami.

To follow what Auburn students are tweeting, the Twitter hashtag is #mlti2012. The Maine Department of Education tweets are at: https://twitter.com/#!/mdoenews

The Auburn Middle School students have experience. Last November a team tweeted the national iPad conference at the Hilton Garden Inn in Auburn. Students said tweeting helped sharpen their listening skills and gave them experience gleaning information and writing.

For more information about the Auburn Middle School tweeters, contact Peter Robinson ([email protected]) or Carl Bucciantini ([email protected]).