The Advanced Broadband Enabled Learning (ABEL) program will host its ninth annual Summer Institute, Creating the Future Now, from Aug. 23 to 25 with a host of speakers looking at education and technology.
This two-and-a-half-day professional learning event will feature keynote speaker Alec Couros, professor of educational technology & media and coordinator of information & communications technologies at the University of Regina, as well as spotlight speakers Garfield Gini-Newman, a lecturer at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto, and Bill Muirhead, associate provost, academic, at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT). The ABEL Summer Institute (ASI) will take place at York’s Keele campus.
Right: Alec Couros
Couros has given many workshops and presentations, nationally and internationally, on topics such as openness in education, social/networked learning, instructional design, digital citizenship and critical media literacy.
Gini-Newman is working with schools and school districts across Canada, and in the United States and Caribbean, to embed critical thinking in teaching from Kindergarten to graduation. He was a finalist for the Governor General's Award for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History and has been nominated for his work in the pre-service program at OISE.
Left: Garfield Gini-Newman
Muirhead is responsible for the design of UOIT's technology-enhanced learning and mobile learning programs, which provide laptop computers and academic software to all students and faculty at UOIT. With extensive experience in international research into online learning, as well as the application of information and communication technology in higher education, he has received many awards.
The Internet and interactive technologies have revolutionized how people communicate, collaborate and generate new ideas and knowledge. At this year’s ASI, delegates will investigate the role of the Internet and other interactive technologies for teaching and learning and for building and sustaining professional learning communities. In addition, the ASI will heighten awareness of how technological tools and resources enrich learning and increase overall engagement in both teaching and learning. One of the goals of the ASI is to expand opportunities for delegates to reflect as individuals, share as teams, shape new learning experiences and to benefit from ongoing professional learning.
Right: Bill Muirhead
ASI 2010 is intended as both a guided and self-directed exploration of 21st-century educational tools and knowledge-building approaches that will create the future for teaching and learning now, and prepare all learners for success. It provides an opportunity to meet face-to-face, exchange ideas and become inspired about experiences with, and the possibilities of, learning with technology. The annual event also features presentations, group discussions and hands-on workshops to develop knowledge and ideas for the effective use of technology for teaching and learning.
Founded in 2002, ABEL is a unique research and innovation program led and funded by York University's Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation. ABEL strives to improve results through knowledge sharing and collaboration and its professional learning networks. This is achieved through a research-based approach to building collaborative learning communities, implementing blended learning environments for classrooms, schools and districts, using interactive Web-based learning resources, developing sustainable inter-jurisdictional and inter-institutional collaboration and understanding institutional change.
For registration information and to view the event agenda, visit the ABEL Summer Institute Web site.
For more information, visit the ABEL Web site.