Education for a Digital World - Edition 2.0 Webinar Series

book cover This webinar series is based on the soon-to-be-released book Education for a Digital World - Edition 2.0, edited by Sandy Hirtz and Kevin Kelly. The series is organized in partnership with Steve Hargadon, manager of Learn Central. Book chapter authors are invited to give an overview of their chapter, followed by Q&A from the live audience. These 30-minute sessions will be recorded.

The collaboratively authored book, and its predecessor Education for a Digital World, represent a shift in how educators are sharing their research, experiences and best practices in online teaching and learning. Facilitated completely through virtual interactions, this new model of authoring went beyond writing and editing to become an international effort in community building and professional growth.

This schedule is still evolving so be sure to check back often!


Wednesday, March 31
12:00pm PDT, Elluminate recording | chapter draft

Cultivating communities of practice: Analysis of 3 case studies using the 7 principles

Facilitators: Sylvia Currie, Patricia Delich, and Paul Stacey
curriedelichstacey

In this session we will describe 3 case studies using Wenger, McDermott, & Snyder's (2002) 7 Principles for Cultivating Communities of Practice. This framework provides a close look at how our decisions about community design and technologies to support community activities were made and revised, as well as a consistent and rich view to help those involved in online and hybrid communities learn from our experiences.

About our facilitators:

Sylvia Currie is Manager, Client Services - Online Communities at BCcampus where she works with educational professionals who are interested in creating online communities of practice to support learning. She is a community steward and moderator for two online communities: SCoPE, an award winning international online community for individuals interested in educational research and practice, and the BC Educational Technology Users Group. Sylvia also coordinates and promotes professional development opportunities and services related to teaching and learning. Sylvia has been involved in online education since 1995 in many different roles. Her master's degree from Simon Fraser University focused on online communities of practice.

Dr. Patricia Delich has been guiding teachers in the use of online educational technologies for more than 15 years working with hundreds of educators throughout California and the U.S., and around the world. Dr. Delich was instrumental in developing City College of San Francisco’s successful distance education program and obtained recognition for faculty by acquiring 2 national and 11 statewide awards for exemplary online courses. As an eLearning consultant, Dr. Delich extends her expertise to colleges and universities to assist them in their online learning initiatives. Dr. Delich holds a doctorate degree in educational technology from Pepperdine University and focused her study on online course design, development, and teaching.

Paul Stacey is the Director, Communications, Stakeholder and Academic Relations at BCcampus, a collaborative online learning agency that supports British Columbia’s public post-secondary institutions in meeting their students’ learning needs. Paul leads initiatives to forward shareable online learning resources, online communities, and professional development for educators in all of BC’s public post-secondary institutions. Paul has three undergraduate degrees, and at the age of 50 completed a 100 percent online graduate program in Adult Learning and Global Change with a cohort of learners from around the world. He also serves as Associate Faculty member at Royal Roads University where he co-developed and taught an online International and Global Distance Education course for the Master of Arts in Learning and Technology program. He is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences, a webcast and workshop facilitator, and an award winner for his innovative work with educational technology.


Wednesday, March 31
12:30pm PDT, Elluminate recording

Blended Work – Experiences From International Development Projects

Facilitators: Susan Crichton and Azra Naseem
crichtonnazeem

We know about blended learning but what about blended work? When we use learning tools in academic work place applications, what changes and what are the challenges? This seminar shares the authors’ experiences from the last fourteen months as we’ve navigated the virtual terrain connecting colleagues in Pakistan East Africa, the UK and Canada. Trust us, time zones weren’t the biggest challenge!

About our facilitators:

Susan Crichton has been a teacher in BC, Alberta, California and Australia. She received her doctorate in ’98 from University of Sydney, Australia, with a focus on computer mediated distance learning. Throughout her tenure as an educator, she has been an instruction designer, courseware developer, administrator and innovator in the intersecting realms of curriculum and technologies.

Susan is a champion of learners! Whether developing self-paced curricula for school aged students in a facilitated learning centre, designing learning packages for adult community groups, mentoring colleagues in a technology enhanced professional development activity or pioneering one of the first pre-service programs for distributed and online learning, Susan is an educator whose focus is always on optimizing the learning experience so her students can achieve success.

Susan has been duly recognized for her many contributions; among these the Mashall McLuhan Distinguished Teacher award, Canadian Computer Education Teacher of the Year award and the National award from the Canadian Centre for Creative Technology. Her many research papers and projects speak to a solid understanding of the learning process and the keys to success.

Susan joined the Faculty of Education at the University of Calgary in 2001 in the Specialization of Educational Technology.


Wednesday, April 7
11:30am PDT
, Elluminate recording

Towards implementation of eLearning at a multi-campus university

Facilitator: Azra Naseem
nazeem
This session will present the case of Aga Khan University (AKU), to develop a nuanced understanding of the processes of eLearning implementation at a multi-campus university. The authors will describe the step-by-step processes, and identify successes and challenges from the perspective of faculty and staff members charged with initiating and implementing the use of eLearning at the University. The session will conclude with a number of implications, as well as guidelines for other universities opting for campus-wide eLearning implementation.

About our facilitator:
Azra Naseem is Senior Instructor and Head of eLearning & Open Learning at Aga Khan University, Institute for Educational Development in Karachi, Pakistan.



Wednesday, April 7
12:00pm PDT, Elluminate recording

Internet as a Platform

Facilitator: Shawn Berney
berney

Shawn Berney will present the upcoming collaborative effort titled "Internet as a Platform". This collaborative work includes contributions from Peter Rawsthorne and Iwona Sokalska. The presentation will highlight:
1) The impact of technology design on learning environments.
2) The impact of technology projects on educators, administrators and developers.
3) The tactics, strategies and processes that can help move technology projects into the fabric of our daily reality.

About our facilitator:

Shawn Berney currently works as a PHP Web Developer / Programmer in the online advertising industry. He is an advocate of Open Source software and believes that collaborative development of technology and technical tools can support our transition to a knowledge based society. Over the past several years, Shawn has worked to promote and develop new technical tools for the service based tourism industry. These development efforts, and other topics, are discussed in his Blog, in his online portfolio and the website from his entrepreneurial venture - Interactive Event Technologies.



Wednesday, April 7
12:30pm PDT Elluminate recording

Creating Online Assessments and Preparing Learners for Authentic Displays of Learning

Facilitators: Alice Bedard-Vorhees and Lisa Marie Johnson
bedardvorheesjohnson
This session examines how various strategies support the development of lower level knowledge and skills that ultimately allow successful learners to become “curators” of sources into final projects and papers with the wealth of resources available at this time. Furthermore, portfolios are a place where those artifacts of learning can be displayed, either within a course, or as a cornerstone assessment experience for program-level purposes. In exploring instructional assessments that move students along this spectrum from assessment to portfolio, the following categories are presented: self-assessments and feedback loops, various activities that allow for student practice with faculty feedback, scaffolding, reflection, the gamut of learning expectations embedded in research-based projects and papers.

About our facilitators:

Dr. Alice Bedard-Voorhees’ enthusiasm for technology stems from the opportunity to create learning access, success, and community for 21st century learning. Her dissertation was a quantitative study entitled, Shorter Term Success: Preparedness, Persistence, and Performance in Ten and Fifteen Week Online College Algebra Courses. It was driven by the desire to understand what Distance Education statistics were truly communicating about learner success

In addition to her current work as Director of Innovations for Teaching and Learning with Colorado Mountain College, which has twelve residential and community sites serving 12,000 square miles in the Rocky Mountain region, Bedard-Voorhees has provide elearning faculty development across the US, in China, Oman, Dubai, and South Africa. In 2004, MERLOT.org adopted the Virtual Speaker Bureau that she helped develop with faculty at Colorado Community Colleges Online.

Lisa Marie Johnson has been teaching online since 2002 and designing online learning since the 1990s. Since 2007, she has served as the Associate Director of Training and Professional Development with the Colorado Community Colleges Online. Lisa Marie earned an M.Ed. in Broad Field Social Studies with an emphasis in Technology in Education from Georgia State University. She is currently completing her dissertation with Capella University toward a Ph.D. in Education with an emphasis in Instructional Design for Online Learning.



Wednesday, April 14

12:00pm PDT, Elluminate recording

Adventures in Virtual Collaborative Authoring

Facilitators: Sandy Hirtz and Kevin Kelly
hirtzkelly
The collaboratively authored book, Education for a Digital World 2.0, and its predecessor Education for a Digital World represent a shift in how educators are sharing their research, experiences and best practices in online teaching and learning. Facilitated completely through virtual interactions, this new model of authoring went beyond writing and editing to become an international effort in community building and professional growth. The success of the first edition has resulted in a second, more inclusive book that offers improvements on the last version and addresses the constant changes in the global eLearning landscape.

About our facilitators:

Sandy Hirtz is a web based technology specialist encompassing the creative, instructional, strategic, business, and technical realms of technology-enhanced communication. She works with others to create effective online experiences using synchronous teaching and learning tools and foster partnerships between educational institutions, associations, corporate entities, and other groups whose missions include reaching a global audience.
Sandy specializes in the development of online learning communities and utilizes collaborative technologies to enable education stakeholders to collaborate and learn from peers and industry leaders.

Dr. Kevin Kelly, Manager, Online Teaching & Learning and Media & Distribution Services, Academic Technology (AT), SF State; EdD in Organization and Leadership from the University of San Francisco; lecturer, SF State and Santa Clara University; participant, CSU team, National Coalition on E-Portfolio Research. Areas of expertise: Instructional Design Theory, Project Management, Needs Assessment, Instructional Multimedia Development, Integrating Technology into Curriculum, grant writing, institutional technology decision-making and adoption, organizational change, strategic planning; co-author of chapters about Emerging Technologies for eLearning and other online teaching and learning topics (see http://col.org/digitalworld)



Wednesday, April 14

12:30 PDT Elluminate recording

Immersive Gameworlds for World-Wide Change

Facilitator: Natasha Boskic
bosnic
This presentation will give an overview of the Chapter that talks about the role of video and computer games in the context of contemporary educational practice. The Chapter looks at designing games for learning through engagement in building narratives and making positive modifications in real life behaviour. The question is whether those can have the ability and power to bring social changes and eventually to solve important world-wide issues.

About our facilitator:

Natasha Boskic is an Educational Technology Manager in the office of External Programs and Learning Technologies (EPLT) in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Her main work is in instructional design and faculty training. Her specific focus is on online collaborative and communication tools, student engagement, and different delivery models. Natasha works locally in Canada and internationally. Her current projects in the area of eLearning are web accessibility and media, and First Nations education.

Natasha obtained her undergraduate degree in English Language and Literature at the University of Novi Sad, Yugoslavia (now Serbia), and her Masters in Distance Education from Athabasca University, Canada in 2003. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Language and Literacy at UBC.



Wednesday, April 14
3:00pm PDT, Elluminate recording

Co-Creation of Content to promote Learning, Activism and Advocacy

Facilitator: June Kaminski
kaminski

This session will introduce educators to the use of a variety of ICTs to promote activism and advocacy, and in the process – learning, using a co-creation of usable content approach within the online learning environment. A key question that will be addressed is: How can communicative and creative technologies be used to stimulate meaningful activist engagement with ecological, sustainability, environmental and quality of life dialogue and praxis in education and society at large?

About our facilitator:

June Kaminski is a PhD Candidate in Curriculum Studies and Technology Education at the University of British Columbia. Her focus is educational technology, informatics, aesthetics and distance education for nursing. Currently, she is working on her PhD dissertation work on the investigation of nursing informatics culture in education. She earned both her Bachelors and Master's of Nursing from UBC, and has taught BSN nursing students at Kwantlen University College since 1989.

June is Past President and Director of Communications for the Canadian Nursing Informatics Association (CNIA). She is enjoying working with this dedicated group of informatics leaders, determined to make the organization the national voice for nursing informatics. June is the Editor in Charge of Virtual Nursing Practice and Culture for the Online Journal of Nursing Informatics (OJNI), as well as a Board member for the journal. She is also Editor in Chief for the Canadian Nursing Informatics Journal. She is the Vice President, Planning for Sigma Theta Tau, Xi Eta Chapter. June directs a freelance writing and web design service. She also has a keen interest in First Nations healing and pedagogy.



Wednesday, April 21
11:30am PDT, Elluminate recording

Mobile Learning: Small Technologies Massive Contribution

Facilitators: Brown Onguko and Symon Ngatia
brown
Our presentation will focus on implementation of mobile learning in a developing country setting. We talk about the design, implementation and research done in one mobile learning project implemented in East Africa.

About our facilitators:

Brown Onguko is a lecturer at the Aga Khan University, Institute for Educational Development, Eastern Africa. His teaching areas are: Educational Leadership, Monitoring and Evaluation and ICT and Education. His research interests are in the areas of mobile learning, leadership preparation and blended learning. Brown is currently a full-time PhD student at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He is pursuing PhD in Educational Technology and his research will focus on design and implementation of teachers continuing professional development with handheld devices in challenging contexts.

Symon Ngatia graduated recently from The Aga Khan University, Institute for Educational Development, Eastern Africa with a M.Ed. (Educational Leadership and Management) and is the current Dean of Studies and Biology Teacher at Gituamba High School in Kenya, East Africa. He is also a Part-time lecturer at the Kenya Institute of Management. His assignments at the institute include: teaching Research Methods and Management Information Systems as well as supervising students in research projects. Recent research undertaking focused on possibilities and constraints in use of mobile technologies in supporting learning in an East African tertiary institution.



Wednesday, April 21
12:00pm PDT, Elluminate recording

Learning Management Systems

Facilitator: Don McIntosh
Don Mcintosh
This session will be an overview of the features and trends in Learning Management Systems (LMS) available both for education and business. The processes of identifying needs and selecting from the many options available will also be discussed.

About our facilitator:

Don McIntosh, President of Trimeritus eLearning Solutions Inc. has a Ph.D. in Instructional Design, 20 years of experience in technology based instruction in both academic and corporate settings and a thorough knowledge of the eLearning industry.


Wednesday, April 28
12:00pm PDT, Elluminate recording

Quality in E-learning: Engaging Learners

Facilitator: Randy LaBonte
labonte
A fundamental question in understanding quality in e-learning is not only how to define it, but how to foster quality instructional and leadership practices – to be better than face-to-face teaching. This session provides an overview and discussion about a quality-driven approach and invites discussion about what constitutes effective learning, and quality, in an e-learning environment. A description of British Columbia’s K12 quality review process for it distributed learning schools is provided.

About our facilitator:

A senior manager in corporate, non-profit and educational organizations for 25 years, Randy LaBonte has extensive background in technology-based solutions and online learning. He obtained his doctorate researching leadership in use of computer-mediated learning technologies, and presently provides consulting services for education, government, and corporate organizations on e-learning and educational technologies.



Wednesday, April 28

12:30pm, Elluminate Recording

Collective Intelligence and Idea Generation in eLearning Environments

Facilitator: Niki Lambropoulos
lambropoulos
Web 2.0 offered the opportunity to work, learn and have fun together by breaking time, space, and cultural and even personality boundaries. Such convergence of minds can produce unlimited opportunities for creating new context which in turn is the context of reference to generate new ideas. Participation in such collective intelligence eLearning contexts requires adaptation to different teaching and learning styles occurring simultaneously creating major pedagogical and technical challenges for eLearning 2.0.



Tuesday, May 4

12:00pm PDT, Elluminate recording

Developing Higher Order Thinking Through Blogging

Facilitator: Brad Ovenell-Carter
Brad Ovenell-Carter
The idea that students are digital natives is a myth. Like any other idea up for adoption, there is a normal distribution of interest in and ability with social media and other emerging web technologies among K12 students. To be sure, many are quite comfortable, if not always wise, users of social media such as Facebook or IM. But none of the potential educational advantages of such tools or of cloud computing are self-evident; and just as students had to be taught to see a pencil as a learning tool, they need to be taught to see the web as a learning tool. Just as we say let’s do some writing, not let’s do some penciling, we ought to focus on ends, not means, when introducing new technologies to a whole school or even a single classroom of students.

This session explores our relationship to technology in general and in this light, how best to frame emerging technologies for so that students--and teachers--can see how they can use them to boost learning. Over the past year, we have developed a workflow using blogs to extend classroom discussions and encourage higher order thinking in students. I will share results of the work-to-date as well as some tools for measuring the quality of student blog posts.

About our facilitator:

Brad Ovenell-Carter is assistant head at Island Pacific School where he teaches English and philosophy, and is a student in the Graduate Liberal Studies program at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Brad says: There's a lot of hullabaloo about technology these days and let me say I am a bit old-fashioned in this regard: I like Homer and Milton; I think Greek and Latin are fine things to know; and, were it not for the squeaks, I would prefer a chalkboard to my Mac. Unless technology lets me do something I couldn't otherwise do with a stick in the sand, I don't see much sense it.

Despite this, I feel that the only way to make fair assessments of emerging web technologies and the way they are shaping how we teach is to get dirty with them. I moved my whole school over to Google Apps in the fall of 2009 and over the past year have led our staff and students in experiments with wikis, blogs, instant messaging, and web conferencing. A Stick in the Sand is where I blog about making emerging web technologies work in grade schools.

Last modified: Wednesday, 1 August 2012, 11:35 AM