Do you have a teaching or leadership strategy that is responsive to the rapidly changing needs of a knowledge-based global society? If so, why not join the Advanced Broadband Enabled Learning (ABEL) program in York’s Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation as it explores strategies for the effective use of technology in teaching and learning with its first annual leadership symposium.
ABEL’s Mobilizing 21st-Century Teaching & Learning Symposium will take place on Friday, Feb. 19, from 8:30am to 4pm, in the Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) Building at York’s Keele campus. The one-day symposium will prepare leaders to design strategies for system change that embrace the needs of the 21st-century learner and the role that technology plays in supporting effective instructional practice. The event will be a gathering of directors of education, superintendents, principals, faculty, and leadership development and curriculum consulting staff.
The symposium will open with a keynote address by 20-year educator Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach (left), a published writer, doctoral candidate at the College of William & Mary, president of 21st Century Collaborative and co-founder of Powerful Learning Practice.
“This event will provide an opportunity for leaders to gain an appreciation for the effective use of technology for teaching and learning,” says ABEL project manager Janet Murphy. “Attendees will also learn how ABEL and its sister project Learning Connections effectively support teams of teachers and leaders as they collaborate to build instructional capacity.”
Delegates will be invited to attend sessions throughout the day where teachers, faculty and students demonstrate the efficacy of new models of teaching and learning that allow for the effective use of technology. These active learning sessions will also include a question-and-answer period. In the afternoon, there will be a facilitated discussion on the goal of defining strategies for teaching and learning in today’s classrooms, lecture halls and 
workplaces. The event will conclude with a late afternoon wine and cheese reception.
The symposium kicks off a series of leadership and learning opportunities highlighted by the ABEL and Learning Connections programs. Following the symposium are the York Region District School Board’s (YRDSB) Blueprints for Change, the 2010 ABEL Summer Institute and the YRDSB Quest for Engaging Learning in the 21st Century. Each event explores the various ways in which information communications technologies are impacting society and changing the way we work and learn, access and share information, interact and collaborate, and communicate.
For more information on this series of leadership and learning opportunities, visit the ABEL Web site. For information on the ABEL Leadership Symposium, including a preliminary agenda and online registration, click here.