Agenda

August 13 - The Schedule is now available. 

Featured Speakers

Dr. Robert Thirsk

Astronaut Dr. Robert Thirsk was the first Canadian to take part in a long duration mission as a member of the crew of Expedition 20/21.  Robert Thirsk had the privilege of expanding the boundaries of space exploration by living and working on board the International Space Station for six months. The launch took place on May 27, 2009 aboard a Soyuz rocket from the Cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.  Dr. Thirsk returned to earth on November 30, 2009. 

Bruce Dixon 

Bruce Dixon is the president of Anywhere Anytime Learning Foundation.  He is an educator, educational software developer, business and social entrepreneur, and strategic consultant.  Bruce builds effective strategies for educational leaders and policy makers around the effective use of emerging technologies.  Bruce has worked on the development of 1 to 1 initiatives around the world, and has received an award from the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC for his work in this area.

Bruce continues to work on a diverse range of innovative projects that aim to making learning a more compelling experience for kids through their immersion in a technology-rich learning environment, and continues to challenge traditional notions of what school should be.

Sharon Friesen 

Sharon Friesen is co-founder and president of the Galileo Educational Network and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Calgary.  She consults on a wide range of teaching and learning topics related to curriculum reform and school improvement. Her research interests include curriculum theory, curriculum inquiry, professional development, mathematics education, instructional leadership, technology integration and school reform. She has co-authored two books: Back to the Basics of Teaching and Learning: Thinking the World Together, winner of the 2004 AERA Division B Book Award, and Curriculum in Abundance. She has also assisted schools to assess their technology requirements to enhance teaching and learning environments. Sharon is a recipient of numerous awards for both research and teaching practice.

Donald Knezek 

Donald Knezek is the CEO of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE®).  He is a leader of innovation for transforming education with technology and recognized globally for his leadership in collaboration, planning and standards development. In 28 years as a professional educator, he worked in a variety of academic and administrative settings, including K–12 classroom, district office, university, regional service center, state department of education, and national and international organizations.

Dr. Knezek provides leadership around the world, recently working in Brazil, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, Costa Rica, France, Germany, India, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Qatar, Singapore, Switzerland, and United Arab Emirates. He is providing consulting services to ministries of education, sharing his valued expertise in preparing education leaders and teachers to thrive in an increasingly digital world.

Cheryl Lemke 

Cheryl Lemke is President and CEO of the Metiri Group.  She specializes in public policy for K-12 learning technology, working internationally at a variety of levels with policy leaders, governors, legislators, superintendents, business leaders and teachers.  Cheryl is currently partnering with the University of Calgary in the evaluation of the Alberta Education one-to-one laptop learning program.    She recently authored two reports commissioned by Cisco Systems, Technology in Schools:  What the Research Says, and Multimodal Learning through Media:  What the Research Says.

Through Metiri Group, Cheryl provides consulting services, evaluation and research services, and public speaking and writing. She keynotes conferences at the state, national, and international levels; and has presented internationally in China, Singapore, Canada, and Australia.

Bette Manchester

Bette Manchester is executive director of the Maine International Center for Digital Learning (MICDL), a nonprofit center that supports the equity and access of one-to-one computing as it supports 21st century learning. Prior to joining MICDL, Bette was the Director of Special Programs and the Learning Technologies (Laptop) Initiative at the Maine State Department of Education.  She is a former elementary, middle and high school principal and director of special education.

David Merrill

David Merrill is co-founder and president of Sifteo, a company that is building the future of play.  Sifteo's first product is Siftables:  a tabletop gaming and education system.  A video of David Merrill demonstrating Siftables is available here.  Throughout his career his work has explored how human interactions with computers can leave the limitations of the desktop interface behind.

David is a graduate of the Fluid Interfaces Group at the MIT Media Lab.  He holds a Ph.D. and MS from the MIT Media Lab and an MS in Computer Science and BS in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University.  He was a Mayfield fellow in 2001, and was awarded graduate fellowships from Motorola and Samsung at MIT.

Bob Regan

Bob Regan is the Director of Worldwide Primary and Secondary Education at Adobe Systems in San Jose, California. In that role, Bob leads the programs and strategies for making Adobe products available to schools worldwide. A former classroom teacher and school technology coordinator, Bob has a Masters in Elementary Education from Columbia University Teachers College. Bob has pioneered techniques in accessible rich media, and actively helped shape standards around disability around the world. Bob continues to focus his time and attention on improving teaching and learning through the use of technology in schools. He is active in several organizations including the National Council on Technology and Innovation, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and the Adobe Education Leaders Program.

 

Marlene Scardamalia

Marlene Scardamalia holds the Presidents' Chair in Education and Knowledge Technologies at OISE/University of Toronto and directs IKIT, the Institute for Knowledge Innovation and Technology—a worldwide network of innovators working to advance the frontiers of knowledge building in various sectors. Marlene led the team that created CSILE (Computer Supported Intentional Learning Environments), which was the first networked knowledge building environment for education. The second generation version of this technology, Knowledge Forum®, is in use in 19 countries, in education, health, business, and professional organizations.

 Sessions 

(updated June 14, 2010)

Teaching and Learning

Authentic Education Using Laptops

Lakeland Catholic School Division: Scott MacDonald and Jacy Burkholder

Authentic education makes learning more meaningful for the students because they recognize that what they are doing is bigger than their class. During this session, the presenters will map out a few lessons they did with students. Participants will understand the value attached to digitally rich and authentic learning opportunities for students when they are provided with an opportunity to showcase their learning for an audience outside of the class.

 

 Wired on PE

       St. Albert Protestant: Glenn Wilson
Going far beyond Wii and pedometers, this heart-thumping, brain stretching presentation shows how educators can be part of the solution for positive active lifestyles in the 21 century learner.

 

Using Moodle in the Junior and Senior High Humanities Classroom

Palliser School District: Michael Saad

Wondering about how to use Moodle in your junior or senior high English or Social Studies one-to-one classroom?  This session will provide an overview of lesson ideas and activities you can use to make the most out of the Moodle Course management system and maximize student engagement.

 

 Learning With Technology Infusion Project

St. Albert Catholic School District: Dean McKinney, Karen Armitage, Billie-Jo Grant, Nina Easaw
This One-to-One project focused on enhancing teaching practices in our grade four classrooms by focusing on improving teaching practices, meeting the 21st Century skills needed in a digital world, and creating higher quality learning opportunities.

              

Mobile Devices & English Language Learners: Engaging Students, Empowering Teachers

Calgary Board of Education: Pauline Auld

Participants will come away with an understanding of the challenges and benefits of using one-to-one mobile learning devices with English Language Learners at the elementary, junior and senior high school settings.  The impact on both student learning and teacher practice will be discussed.

  

Digital Story Telling, Moodle and MARVIN

Palliser Regional Schools: Darlene Hubber

Five teachers in Palliser Regional Schools were named Canadian Finalists in the Microsoft partners in Learning Innovative Teaching Award program.  Their project, "Everybody's Gotta Story" was chosen to participate in the Worldwide Innovative Education Forum in Salvador Brazil in November of 2009.  The project connected students using a learning management system and involved the use of a range of web based tools and animation software from Microsoft to guide students through the process of telling their own life stories. Participants will get an opportunity to see how learning management systems like Moodle can be used successfully within an elementary school setting.

  

Technology in any Class

Elk Island Public Schools: Melissa Kerr

This session will demonstrate how different online programs can be used to help meet curriculum outcomes.  You choose the technology based on what outcomes you are trying to meet.  Different tools will be demonstrated like the use of Moodle, wikis, podcasts, and different Web 2.0 applications.

 

Teaching and Learning for Deep Understanding

Calgary Science School: Neil Stephanson
The Calgary Science School (CSS) is currently in its fourth year of 1:1 computing.  This session will highlight some of the promising practices from our school, combined with student exemplars and teacher reflections.

 

Clicks & Mortar Schools: Teachers Collaborate with Moodle

Peace Wapiti School District: Joan Coy and Debbie Terceros

Teachers of many subject areas in our large rural division have created a Moodle site that enables collaboration and sharing to improve teacher practices and ultimately, student learning.

Evidence of student engagement and promising strategies will be shared, using the Numeracy site as an example, to show the virtual supermarket of resources created by teachers for their use in the classroom.  Come and see how the classroom has changed!  

 

 Discover Moodle

Peace Wapiti School District: Joan Coy and Debbie Terceros

Students have access to on-line, interactive, teacher created activities, assignments and assessments as well as high quality on-line courses on their Moodle site (24/7) in addition to classroom instruction.  This facilitates differentiation, student-directed learning and assessment for learning in every class. Evidence of student engagement and promising strategies will be shared. 

 

 On-Line and Software Resources to Support One-to-One ESL Students

Calgary Board of Education: Richard Tapp

During our school's three year ELS One-to-One laptop project we introduced a number of resources intended to help support ESL student in the acquisition of the English language.  This presentation will introduce the different resources and provide video feedback from the students on their view of the resource.

 Created Graphic Organizers Using Technology to Organize Thinking and Represent Understanding

Edmonton Catholic School District: Danny Maas
The development of visual literacy skills and knowledge construction can be enhanced by having students create their own visual representations of conceptual understandings and thinking. In this session, participants will be shown specific examples of different types of graphic organizers for different purposes.

 iLEAD: Shaping Learning Communities that Fit the Needs of the 21st Century Learners (and Teachers)

Edmonton Catholic School District: Jeff Johnson
The presenters will share an overview of ILead – Edmonton Catholic Schools’ leadership project. They will provide a variety of concrete examples of how individual leaders in the district are living out the expectations of iLead in their own schools.    

 

Digital Citizenship – How to get the ball rolling!

Chinook’s Edge School District: Carmen Christie-Bill
During this presentation, practical resources and proactive strategies will be offered in how we can get the ball rolling the right direction towards positive digital citizenship, while learning the importance of having students playing by the “rules” and having this modeled to them.

 

Collaborative Professional Development in a One-to-One Learning Environment

University of Lethbridge: Doug Orr and Dave Hinger

During this interactive session participants will and use web 2.0 technologies to collaboratively communicate with their professional colleagues collaboratively identify criteria to assess the value and appropriateness of emergent technologies for teaching and learning. 

 

 Recording Student Voice using Digital Audio Tools

Edmonton Catholic School District:  Daryl Jones

 Participants will gain a greater understanding of the use of digital audio tools in the classroom and appreciate how they can enhance the learning process for students of all levels and abilities.

 

ePortfolios

Edmonton Catholic School District:  Daryl Jones
Participants will have a greater understanding of the features of Adobe Acrobat Pro and how they lend themselves well to the implementation of eportfolios in the classroom. 

 

Leading Innovation

 Lessons Learned for Enhancing Leadership for the 21st Century

Centre for Global Education: Terry Godwalt

This session will examine how the centre for global education, and its various partners, are bridging the gap, providing and connecting over 10000 young people from every corner of the planet with authentic 21st century learning opportunities.

 

Digital Bootcamp for Educational Leaders

Parkland School District:  Nicole Lakusta

The presenter will describe the process involved in working with educational leaders to collaboratively develop and implement a shared vision for comprehensive technology integration. Participants will leave this session with a personal vision of what effective technology looks like at the division, school and/or classroom levels.

 

 If you give a class a set of laptops... the Ripple Effect

Calgary Catholic School District: Trisa Soroski and Melina Akins

The presenters will share their experiences with the One to One initiative in the Calgary Catholic School District, where five classrooms ranging from Grade 4 to 10 were given laptops for the duration of the three year project.  The presenters will discuss the initial stages of the project and how it has permeated the culture of the schools involved.  This session will look at strategies to develop capacity and build 21st Century learning environments.

 

 Leading Innovation

Rocky View School District: David Peat and Kevin Wttewaall

Participants will gain an understanding of the complexity of system-wide change.  The importance of establishing common directions, language, and conceptualizations of 21st Century Learning at all levels of an organization will be emphasized. 

 

Lessons Learned for Enhancing Leadership for the 21st Century

Medicine Hat School District: Tim Johnson

This session will help participants gain an understanding of the roles and supports needed in implementing 21st Century Learning pedagogy in school jurisdictions. Explore how leaders play an integral role in the buy-in and sustainability of a new initiative.

 

Research

Impact on Teacher Generation and Career Cycle on Teacher Laptop Use

University of Calgary: Susan Crichton and Karen Pegler

What has emerged from three years of research in the Emerge project?  The researchers will release the key findings from the three years of study.  They will examine changes in the dimension scores and shifts in classroom practices found in the data with regard to educational and technical merits of one-to-one mobile computing supporting 21st Century learning.

 

Hot Off the Presses: Research Trends from Emerge

University of Calgary: Jennifer Lock and Cheryl Lemke

What has emerged from three years of research in the Emerge project?  The researchers will release the key findings from the three years of study.  They will examine changes in the dimension scores and shifts in classroom practices found in the data with regard to educational and technical merits of one-to-one mobile computing supporting 21st Century learning.

 

Enhancing the Capacity of Educational Leaders
Alberta Education: Dale Howard
Enhancing the Capacity of Education Leaders is focused on supporting the development of educational leadership through professional development opportunities that enhance educational technology leadership.

 

 Technical Practices 

Moving to True Anytime/Anywhere Access: A Year of Implementing a Student Portal and Google Apps in Edmonton Public Schools

Edmonton Public School Board: Terry Korte and Tara Copeman

In this presentation, Terry will demonstrate how the my.epsb.ca student portal and Google Apps extended the Emerge 1 to 1 laptop project for both teachers and students, and was rolled out to over 20,000 users.  Tara will provide a school-level perspective of the implementation as both the technology lead at the school and as a teacher.

 

 Leveraging the Success of One to One Mobile Computing

Wolf Creek School District: Mark McWhinnie and Greg Esteves

This presentation will discuss the high degree of technical planning and pedagogical implementation necessary to ensure that the success of a 1-to-1 experience can be provided to students across an entire school division.