Rick’s Café Canadien

The first CIDER session of 2009 will take place this Wednesday, January 7th, at 11:00am MST (Edmonton time). This session features a presentation and discussion with Dr. Michael Barbour and Robin Stewart from Wayne State University.

Title: A Snapshot State of the Nation: K-12 Online Learning in Canada
When: Wednesday, January 7, 2009, 11am-12pm MDT (Edmonton)
Where: Online via Elluminate at:
https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?password=M.8B71B60F2931D029AC3837DC06B70D

Further details on the session and how to join can be found at the CIDER Session website:
http://cider.athabascau.ca/CIDERSessions/

Invitation to Present

The Spring 2009 schedule of CIDER Sessions is now in the planning phase, and we are looking for distance educators interested in sharing their research-related work with our online community.

CIDER sessions are targeted at distance education researchers, graduate students, and practitioners. Each session features an active researcher talking about their project, methodologies used, and their results. The sessions are presented free of charge and recorded for playback from the CIDER site.

If you are interested in presenting your research in a future CIDER session, please contact Lynn Anderson:
lynnlo@cogeco.ca

I’ve decided to join in on the 365/2009 fun. Last year, I watched from the sidelines as many good friends and colleagues took up D’Arcy Norman’s challenge to take a photo every day for a year and post it to a Flickr Group - 2008/366. I learned a lot by watching them experiment through the year, and just flat out enjoyed seeing what they came up with.

So this year I thought I would join in on the fun. I’m not making any promises about how religious I’ll be about posting, but I’ve promised myself to upload at least 100 photos to this year’s group. I’m going to enjoy the process, I know, but I’m also realistic about the fact that my enthusiasm sometimes exceeds my reach. So, no promises, but here’s a start.

Thanks, Alec, for the invitation to reveal “7 things that you probably don’t know about me.” Since you asked, I don’t have to feel self-conscious or self-indulgent! Here goes, in no particular order:

1. I was born two months prematurely at a whopping 4 lbs and a few ounces—and my parents were told I probably wouldn’t make it. I was sent home on Christmas Eve to die at home, but these folks hadn’t met my mother—easily the most determined person I ever knew. Since I’m writing this, you know the rest of the story.

2. When I was 18, I discovered social activism and civil rights. Bobby Kennedy was a hero of mine, and I joined his campaign. I was at a rally for him in downtown Indianapolis (it was drizzling rain and we were one of “those parts of town”, and I was determined to let my freak flag fly). When Kennedy took the microphone, he announced to the assembled crowd – heavily African-American–that Martin Luther King had been murdered in Memphis. I took off immediately, fearing for my own safety and thinking that the city might be burned to the ground. As a result, I missed the rest of what was one of Bobby’s most important speeches. He called for unity, peace and understanding, and not only calmed the crowd, but advanced the cause of civil rights. What courage he had – and I missed almost all of it because I was a frightened 18 year old. How I wish I could go back and stand my ground.

3. In every presidential election from 1968 until 1992, I filed a write-in vote for Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy. Clinton & Gore broke my tradition, but I used it again in 2004. Things came full circle in 2008.

4. My former mother-in-law wrote “I Love Lucy” and all of the sequels to the series—a fabulous person, and I still miss our long mornings over bagels and coffee.

5. My wife, kids and I wrote a book about farts that never got published. It was easily my best work ever.

6. My sister’s first husband tried to kill her, and years later took his own life. For me, violence against women isn’t just a social problem; it’s personal.

7. Leslie Stockton was the first girl I ever kissed, when we were14 at the Arlington Theater in Indianapolis, while watching “Beach Party Bingo” starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello.

Tag:

Donna DesRoches
Rob Wall
Heather Ross
Terry Anderson

University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
8-11 July 2009
http://www.Museum-Conference.com

At this time of fundamental social change, what is the role of the museum, both as a creature of that change, and perhaps also as an agent of change? The International Conference on the Inclusive Museum is a place where museum practioners, researchers, thinkers and teachers can engage in discussion on the historic character and future shape of the museum. The key question of the Conference is ‘How can the institution of the museum become more inclusive?’

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Wishing a warm, happy, safe, peaceful and refreshing holiday to all of you from the gang here at the café. I celebrate Christmas, but whatever your disposition, I hope you’ll find time to be with people you care about and enjoy the season in your own way. Rick’s Café will be on holiday hours until sometime in early January, which means that I might update it if I run across something compelling, but otherwise you can look for us to return to a more regular posting schedule in the new year.

In the meantime, remember to follow Santa’s movements around the globe tonight from the NORAD tracking station.

We would like to invite you to the next presentation in our series of free CIDER sessions. Our next session features a presentation and discussion with Dr. Michael Barbour and Robin Stewart from Wayne State University.

Title: A Snapshot State of the Nation: K-12 Online Learning in Canada

In this session, Dr. Michael Barbour and Robin Stewart will discuss the state of K-12 online learning in Canada based upon an abbreviated study. The presenter will provide a province by province, territory by territory discussion of K-12 distance education and online learning policies and activity. A complete version of the abbreviated study can be viewed at:
http://www.inacol.org/resources/docs/NACOL_CanadaStudy-lr.pdf

When: Wednesday, January 7, 2009, 11am-12pm MDT (Edmonton)

Where: Online via Elluminate at:
http://tinyurl.com/3p4ksk

CSEDU-2009 (the International Conference on Computer Supported Education - http://www.csedu.org) welcomes the submission of position papers and also doctoral consortium reports. Please submit your paper by January 15, 2009.

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The Canadian Journal for Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education
Special Issue on:
Environmental Education in Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education
Call for Manuscripts

Deadline for Statements of Interest: January 15, 2009
Deadline for Submission of Full Manuscripts: August 8, 2009

This special issue of the Canadian Journal for Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education will focus on environmental education. While the environment has received some attention in science education, including in the STSE movement, far fewer connections have been made between environmental education and mathematics and technology education. We are particularly interested in the relationships between environmental education and science, mathematics, or technology education in terms of ontology, epistemology, pedagogy, and policy. We are open to receiving manuscripts on a wide array of topics, representing a variety of research and theoretical traditions, so long as the connections between environmental education and at least one of the curricular areas of science, mathematics, and technology are clear.

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The following is a call for submissions for a special issue of The Numerator on Teaching and Learning Mathematics in Saskatchewan: Converging with Communication.

Deadline for submissions is January 9, 2009:

The Numerator
Saskatchewan Mathematics Teachers’ Society

VOLUME 7, NUMBER 1 (FEBRUARY 2009)

Teaching and Learning Mathematics in Saskatchewan:
Converging with Communication

The teaching and learning of mathematics is of interest to a wide variety of individuals and groups. Students, Teachers, Parents, and School Administrators (from both public and private schools) are examples of interested parties. However, other groups, such as the Saskatchewan School Boards Association (SSBA), the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF), and the Saskatchewan Mathematics Teachers’ Society (SMTS) are also interested parties, representing a diversity of individuals. At the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology (SIAST), the University of Saskatchewan, and the University of Regina, preservice (and inservice) teachers, Faculty and Administration (from a wide range of Colleges and Departments), working groups, and committees are also interested in the teaching and learning of mathematics.

Given the wide range of parties interested in the teaching and learning of mathematics, the SMTS and its Executive is interested in publishing a special issue of The Numerator focusing on the teaching and learning of mathematics in Saskatchewan from the diverse perspectives of theinterested parties. In order to achieve this goal we invite submissions for consideration from any persons interested in the teaching and learning of mathematics. While, as always, we encourage Saskatchewan’s teachers of mathematics as our main contributors, we extend a special invitation to the following: Parents, School Administration, Coordinators, Consultants, Sciematics 2008 Presenters and Attendees, Retired Mathematics Teachers, Home School Mathematics Teachers, Private School Mathematics Teachers, First Nations and Métis Mathematics Teachers, Preschool Mathematics Teachers, Mathematics Tutors, SSBA Members, STF Members, University Faculty, University Administration, Adult Mathematics Educators, SIAST Faculty (and their educational partners), Teacher Candidates, Graduate Students, Mathematicians, and SMTS Executive to submit items for review.

We accept full-length articles and shorter communications. We welcome a wide range of shorter communications: historical communications, challenge problems, calendar events, resources, mathematical games, book reviews, conference activity, tech talk, my teachable moment, inter-provincial news, mathematics in the media, closing the gap (theory v. practice), and lessons learned. The editors will also consider novel contributions on the teaching and learning of mathematics in Saskatchewan and welcome inquiries about possible atypical submissions.

Contributions must be submitted to egan.chernoff@usask.ca by January 9, 2009 to be considered for inclusion in the February issue.

Funding Opportunity for Faculty and Students: Canada-China Scholars’ Exchange Program

Awards available to Canadians for Graduate Study or Research in China
Under the auspices of China-Canada Scholars’ Exchange Program with China Scholarship Council acting as the executive agency, and in partnership with Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT), a number of awards are offered to Canadian scholars and students who wish to study and/or do research in subject areas related to China in the Chinese universities that are open to Chinese Government Scholarship recipients for the academic year 2009/2010.

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