21st Century NECC 2009 Washington, D.C. Spotlight (Part II)

In keeping with our "Inspiring Innovation" theme, we wanted to share a number of highlights from a knowledge-packed NECC 30th anniversary conference that took place earlier this summer along with MindShare's highly successful "Celebrate Canadian EdTech Innovation" event at the Canadian Embassy in D.C., sponsored by CeLEA, Government of Canada, SMART Technologies and MindShare Learning and ISTE. The value of human networks cannot be underestimated as the power of both formal and informal learning was evident in Washington, D.C. Below is a sampling of articles and images that we trust will provide you with a few golden nuggets of knowledge. RM

MindShare Learning Report Advisory Board members, Timothy Gard, and Chip Fesko with Robert Martellacci, President and Publisher of the MindShare Learning Report at the MindShare Learning Canadian Embassy Event.

The NECC Conference in full swing! Robert Martellacci catch's up with fellow Canadian, Jason Breukelman of Microsoft Canada and a colleague.

Malcolm Gladwell, (NECC Keynote) describes a "Tipping Point" as "a place, or moment in time of great sensitivity - a place where suddenly, the line on the graph turns upward". For me, the NECC provided that moment. It would be presumptuous of me to say that I have found my Tipping Point, but I can say that after my experience at NECC, I am back at ground Zero, only upward to go. I met true connectors. I met innovators and researchers who opened my eyes to the effects of what perseverance and determination can have when implementing change.

If you missed the NECC conference, you can get a flavour for one of the sessions led by
Colette Cassinelli, fellow Pepperdine U Alum, Educator and EdTech visionary. VoiceThread is a cool technology that is worth exploring. Checkout Colette's wiki where she has the entire session achieved for you to explore.

This year's NECC was an incredible experience in which to participate on several levels. There were so many opportunities to connect with individuals, organizations and companies with who we worked during the course of this year. One of the highlights for me was having the opportunity to connect with some of the sponsors of the Mindshare Learning 21st Century Classroom contest. As one of the fortunate recipients of the prizes, it was an honour to meet and thank the sponsors at the wonderful event at the Canadian Embassy Reception hosted by Robert and Mindshare Learning.

Busy counting his book sales. MindShare's Publisher, Robert Martellacci, contributes to Malcolm Gladwell's retirement fund in return for a Kodak moment. Name the conference the two met at recently and you can qualify to win an autographed copy of Outliers. Email your responses here. First to respond wins!

MindShare Learning Report NECC 2009 Industry Spotlight: Peter Reynolds, CEO & Founder Fablevision and New York Times Best Selling Author

Another great resource to get a flavour for what you may have missed at NECC Ning. Welcome to the NECC Ning Network, designed to help you connect to like-minded NECC attendees and extend the conversations.

 

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

Looking for a tip, or tips, to get your technology program into gear for this new school year? If you've been doing this for years there's really nothing new here for you, but then again, just maybe you can gain some insights into more than just how to better work out how you're going to engage your students using some new idea in technology. This is not going to be a list of tips about software, or hardware, or even systems because everyone's context is different, and full of good and bad things. Rather, this very general list of tips will be in the form of general guidance; sort of like the stuff someone would say to if they've lived the opposite of what you should do. Of course, I have no idea who that might be...
 
Read at your own peril!

 

 

Faronics joins technology leaders in PowerIT down day
FM 27/08/09


McGuinty Government Helps Lower Energy Costs, Create Jobs
Ontario Premier's Office 12/08/09



Carbon footprint tool from JISC helps universities and colleges tread carefully
PTN 13/08/09

Welcome to the September 2009 "Back to School" edition of the MindShare Learning Report, Canada's Leading, Learning and Technology eMagazine.

This month's Higher Education Headlines Section features Dr. Marc Glassman from the Faculty of Education at Memorial University in Newfoundland.  Professor Glassman has been involved in eLearning for decades and discusses his thoughts concerning social networking structures, and technology in general's effects upon higher education.

Our 21st Century Higher Education Spotlight features Dr. Hanan Yaniv, from the University of Calgary's Graduate Division of Educational Research.  Professor Yaniv has built a Collaborative Learning Environment in Second Life called "knoworlds" based upon the Holodeck experience simulator from the television series Star Trek.  Dr. Yaniv has created a demonstration movie for your viewing pleasure as well as a provided us with an exclusive podcast interview.  Both of which we think you'll find very innovative and interesting.

The Higher Education Headlines Section features several interesting articles including the potential formulation of a national higher education strategy, a University in the Arctic idea gaining momentum, and a professor giving credit for abstaining from social networking sites.

The GreenIT Section sponsored by Faronics, contains several resources and articles that will inspire you and help you address your institutions carbon emissions reduction efforts with specific metrics.

The Research and Tech Tools Section highlights several different articles including Elluminate's new social networking resource for K-12 (LearnCentral), the top ten IT issues for 2009, and a recent study that suggests that online education is more effective than face to face.

Each month we strive to bring you the most current and innovative Canadian education and technology resources, part of this process is acting upon the suggestions that you, our readership provides in the form of comments and critiques.  Keep them coming it's the only way we can raise the bar each and every issue.

Enjoy this month's issue and remember you are the reason that we are here.

Five universities team up to push for the lion's share of research dollars
TGM 24/08/09

The leaders of the universities of British Columbia, Alberta, Toronto and Montreal, as well as McGill, are pushing for what they describe as a national strategy for higher education.


U of C 'moving to the next level' with new digital library
CH 20/07/09

When it opens in fall 2010, the University of Calgary's new Taylor Family Digital Library will be the most technologically advanced student library in Canada, marrying traditional resources such as printed books and periodicals with modern media, including digital video, e-books and touch-screen information kiosks.


Canadian Arctic University idea gains momentum
CBC 04/08/09
 
The calls are growing to establish a university in Canada's North as more northerners and academics say they need a permanent institution north of 60 where students and researchers can study.


TWU Professor offers bonus credit to students who abstain from social media
MNCV 23/07/09
 
A professor at Trinity Western University has started a voluntary media fast to help students understand the anxiety caused by their addiction to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.


B.C. astronaut first Canadian to receive honorary degree in space
CC 09/07/09
 
Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk became the first Canadian to receive an honorary doctor of laws while in space on Wednesday, and Vancouver Island residents will now be able to watch as he orbits the Earth.


More Higher Education Headlines...

Event: ....... Synergy09, Canada, China, India
Date: ......... September 17, 2009
Location: ... Toronto, ON

Event: ....... Edge 2009 International Conference
Date: ......... October 14-16, 2009
Location: ... St. John's, NFLD

 

More on Upcoming Higher Education Events...

Higher Education: Ask a Professor

Dr. Marc Glassman
Professor of Education
Memorial University




For the past 32 years, Dr. Marc Glassman's knowledge, passion and commitment to the literacy movement in Newfoundland and Labrador has been far-reaching and significant. Dr. Glassman is a member of the Faculty of Education at Memorial University and instructs in the area of literacy education. He has undertaken a number of special initiatives in the community that have helped a diverse group of children, parents, and low-literacy adults overcome the barriers to language and literacy development. He has inspired and challenged his undergraduate and graduate students, and he has provided professional support to teachers in the K-12 classroom and to instructors and volunteers in adult literacy programs throughout the province. He has been a pioneer in the area of applying technology to the development of literacy in Newfoundland and Labrador and continues to be innovative and creative in advocating for literacy.

There was no shortage of news in the MindShare Musings department. Congrats to Kathy Hurley, Vice-President at Pearson U.S. and former TLC colleague as she takes on the new chair of The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. I'm sure we'll be exploring partnering opportunities while at EdNET in Chicago in a couple of weeks. It was great to catch-up with Jeff Hainbuch, Superintendent at the TDSB. Jeff shared that he'll be working with one of his schools to implement a literacy project using Apple iTouch devices. I would be remiss if I didn't highlight one of Jeff's principals, Anthony Vandyke with whom I've had the pleasure of collaborating along with Jeff over the past year in transforming my alma mater, George Harvey C.I. into a 21st Century School by infusing a variety of new technologies. It's an awesome transformation that I look forward to sharing more on in future issues.
 
On the industry front...... Peter Schneider joins netTrekker as International Sales Manager, where he's wasted no time in forging several partnerships internationally. I enjoyed catching up with Peter recently to discuss the Canadian market and how to best serve K12 educators with the latest and greatest digital learning resources from netTrekker. Welcome to Shann McGrail, who takes over the reins from Mike Parkhill as the new Director, Academic Sector at Microsoft Canada.  Shann comes with impressive credentials. She has worked in the High Technology Industry for the past 18 years.  For the last twelve years, Shann has held a number of sales, services leadership and senior program management positions at Microsoft Canada.  She has received awards for Services Delivery Excellence and has been recognized as the Manager of the Year for business performance and people leadership.   In her most recent role as Business Director, she reported to the President and oversaw subsidiary performance, employee readiness, communication and change leadership. In addition, she is the spokesperson for Microsoft's focus on women in IT and the executive sponsor for Digigirlz, a Microsoft program aimed at inspiring young girls to consider careers in technology.  She has completed her Coach Training at Adler International Learning and an online MBA program through the University of Indiana.

It is rare to see talented leaders actually retire in education. Case in point, Kelvin Ogilvie, former President of Acadia University has been appointed to the Canadian Senate recently. This should bode well for education in Canada to have an advocate at the Federal level.

To twitter, or, not to twitter, that is the question? Ok, I love twitter as I've shared with you in a previous article. It can be very powerful, if used effectively. Here's some cool free curriculum I learned about via twitter. Adobe HED free curriculum. I enjoy sharing nuggets of information and picking up on the short news bites, but to those who want to share absolutely everything on twitter....we really don't have the time to read useless information...smile. Sorry, I couldn't resist.
 
On the twitter front, I'm intrigued by Toronto District's new Director, Chris Spence and his use of tech.  He's strategically using tech to communicate with his teachers via twitter and video recorded messages. I'm sensing that Dr. Spence is on a mission to make his mark in the TDSB.
 
The search is on to replace the highly respected Chris Kelly, Superintendent, Vancouver School Board who retires at the end of the month.  Any predications as to where Chris might land? Perhaps a role with the B.C. Ministry? I could see Chris making a valued impact on education across Canada as an executive with ERDI Canada.

More MindShare Musings here...

 

Robert Martellacci, M.A. EdTech