President, MindShare Learning™

 

"Thank-you for forwarding a copy of the current MindShare Learning Report. I enjoyed it very much, especially the digest format expanding out to full articles and the seamless integration of multimedia. I very much appreciated the ease with which I was able to move from topics that interested me to the full background article or multimedia content."

 

Dr. Alexander McAuley, Professor of Education University of Prince Edward island. 

 

 

Timothy Gard, B.Ed, M.A. has had over a decade of hands-on involvement with students and teachers in information and communication technology. He loves innovative ideas, integrating technology across the curriculum and engaging students in the ever-changing world of technology. He currently teaches media literacy and communication at Sir Adam Beck J. S. in the Toronto District School Board.

  
Q: Ask a Teacher - What is a flat classroom and how has it changed your teaching practice?

A: A flat classroom has come to mean many different things to many different people. I believe the whole idea and movement came out of Thomas Friedman's work entitled, The World is Flat, however I can't be entirely sure. Regardless, the concept has a spawned a whole new excitement for engaging students in meaningful learning. I believe that a flat classroom is a classroom that is engaged in multi telecommunication technology to collaborate, publish and interact with peers, experts, and other audiences locally, nationally and internationally.

Run a "Green" IT department and stay on top of your most critical issues
IT Business Edge is your free technology intelligence agent. Our staff of veteran journalists and researchers pull information from hundreds of sources daily to bring you only the most critical insights on your top IT priorities.
 

 

GreenIT Conference
The Green IT 2009 Conference & Exhibition allows Senior IT & Business Executives to establish and develop a corporate strategy to drive an energy efficient, cost effective and sustainable IT infrastructure through a comprehensive educational program.
 

 

Green Metrics: Measure By Measure
InfoWeek | 30/10/08
You can manage what you can measure. You can tame what you can name. However you choose to say it, it's becoming abundantly clear that any efforts to go green must begin with accurate and actionable measurements of energy consumption.

     
Click here to read All Green IT Events

 

  
I couldn't resist giving my alma mater a plug as they've created an awesome wiki that nicely summarizes some of the best Web 2.0 tools for education as part of their academic work. This is an index to the new collaborative tools that were chosen by cadre 11 of Pepperdine University's students in the online Masters in Educational Technology (OMET) program. The students' share their experience in distributed learning and cognition as "webgifts to one another in their cadre and to those who visit here. Each of these students have selected one of the many new and free "web 2.0" application to first learn about and then create or collect the tools that will help us learn about the tool as easily as possible.

Special thanks to Dr. Margaret Riel, our former professor and thesis advisor for giving us permission to highlight her students' excellent work.

 

Timothy Gard, B.Ed, M.A






HP Mini Note 2133: A Review from an Educator's Perspective
 
Okay, HP owes me some commission! Over the short period of time that I used the HP Mini Note 2133 I must have sold a half dozen, or more. Why? Well, let me tell you. The ultraportable device sports an 8.9-inch screen that is crisp, clear and though small, surprisingly easy to read, but with some reflection. Add a 120 or 160GB HD, 1 - 1.6GHz Via processor, up to 2GB of Ram, several USB ports, an ExpressCard slot and both wireless and Bluetooth capabilities, what's not to like? Moreover, it's robust in construction which is necessary if you're going to use it in an educational setting. It's light, comes with long battery life (4.5 hours) and a built in webcam, and has a pleasing look. For a full list of specifications, visit http://www.hp.ca

  

Welcome to the November 2008 edition of the MindShare Learning Report, Canada's Premier Education and Technology eMagazine.

This month's "Higher Education Section" features observations by Dr. Sandy McAuley, an Education professor from the University of Prince Edward Island. Dr. McAuley discusses how he is transforming his educational teaching practices for the 21st century.

 

 

Publishing your scholarly work
UA | 06/10/08
Learn how to approach a publisher, and why securing Aid to Scholarly Publications Program funding is a baseline for the publication of a scholarly work in Canada, in this comprehensive panel presentation.
 

 

Bell e-Learning Centre officially opens - connecting rural Albertans to e-learning opportunities through the SuperNet
CNW | 08/10/08
The official opening of the Bell e-Learning Centre took place today at the Community Learning Campus (CLC) on the grounds of Olds College.
 
 
Ontario Students to McGuinty: Get serious about education, reduce tuition fees now.
CNW | 09/10/08
Students are outraged that their tuition fees increased more than in any other province for this academic year. Data released today from Statistics Canada shows that Ontario now has the second highest tuition fees in Canada and the highest fees for graduate students.
 

Click here to read all Higher Education Headlines

Event: ....... ECAR Symposium 2008
Date: ......... December 5-8, 2008
Location: ... Boca Raton, Florida

Event: ....... Building Engaging eLearning Interactions
Date: ......... December 11-12, 2008
Location: ... Online


Click her to view all Higher Education Upcoming Events

Dr. Sandy McAuley
Education Professor
University of Prince Edward Island
 

 

 

Q: How are you transforming your teaching practices in the 21st century digital classroom, and what does this look like?

 

I can't remember an October month that was busier than this just passed...talk about accelerated learning!  It was great to get back to Pepperdine University where I presented on a panel at the faculty retreat. I caught up with my former professors and co-directors of the online Masters program, Dr. Margaret Riel (a world renowned researcher and originator of the Learning Circles theory) and Dr. Paul Sparks, who inspired me to excel throughout my time in the EdTech Masters program. It was also good to chat with Dean Margaret Weber, who has done a masterful job at building on the quality of the programs offered in the faculty of education & psychology.  It was a stroke of genius in attracting Dr. Eric Hamilton, Associate Dean of the faculty of Education and Psychology.  I'm most appreciative of the invitation to participate in the retreat. One of the highlights of the retreat was meeting up again with Kenneth Starr, Dean of the Faculty of Law, who gained international attention for investigating U.S. President Bill Clinton.  He's a true gentlemen and great scholar.

While in the L.A. area, I took the opportunity to meet up with my client, Hugh Neilson, North American Sales Director at EPSON.  As the global brand leader in projection technology, I'm impressed with how EPSON is strategically evolving their digital solution product offering for the education market as part of their Brighter Futures program. The recently launched document camera is very portable and cost effective. Judy Burns, EPSON's Canadian account manager tells me the document cameras are "hot" sellers given its generous price point. EPSON is a generous supporter of the 21st Century interactive classroom project at George Harvey Collegiate Institute in Toronto.
 

Robert Martellacci, M.A. EdTech