Rick’s Café Canadien

The IADIS CELDA 2009 conference aims to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There have been advances in both cognitive psychology and computing that have affected the educational arena. The convergence of these two disciplines is increasing at a fast pace and affecting academia and professional practice in many ways. Paradigms such as just-in-time learning, constructivism, student-centered learning and collaborative approaches have emerged and are being supported by technological advancements such as simulations, virtual reality and multi-agents systems. These developments have created both opportunities and areas of serious concerns. This conference aims to cover both technological as well as pedagogical issues related to these developments. Main tracks have been identified (see below). However innovative contributions that do not easily fit into these areas will also be considered as long as they are directly related to the overall theme of the conference – cognition and exploratory learning in the digital age.
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In Education, a refereed journal published out of the University of Regina, has moved to an open access, online format, and it’s first guest editor will be Alec Couros. It promises to ba a great inaugural issue, given Alec’s worldwide stature and reputation in open, connected and social learning.

Alec is calling for submissions for review. The deadlines are tight, but if you have something you’ve been working on, this would be a wonderful opportunity to publish with a highly respected scholar as your editor.

Dr. Couros will be launching this latest iteration of the journal as we continue and grow the conversation in education. Watch for the journal’s digital space to be launched in November of 2009.

Special Issue: Technology & Social Media – in education
To mark this important transition of the journal, a special issue will focus on technology & social media in education. Submitted articles should focus upon current theories, practice, or emerging trends and understandings within the context of teaching & learning, learning environments, or informal learning.

Some suggested topics are listed below:
- Social and participatory media (e.g., blogs, wikis, microblogging, video sharing) in teaching & learning.
- Mobile technologies, txting, or microblogging in learning, or implications for social justice & politics.
- Practical or philosophical discussions on open content or open educational resources.
- Implications & trends regarding open publishing & academia.
- Online communities as formal and/or informal learning environments.

- Openness and/or networks in teaching & learning.

- Case studies of successful technology integration into learning environments.
- Discussions of distance, online, distributed, or flexible learning models in practice.
- Changing views & frameworks of knowledge and implications for education.

- Social networks, participatory media, and the implications for information & media literacy.
- Personal learning networks (PLNs), personal learning environments (PLEs) or related frameworks.

- Other topics related to social media, technology, and education.

You can find the rest of the call for papers here.

What a treat! The EdTech Posse had the pleasure of doing an episode with Howard Rheingold. Yes, the same Howard Rheingold who teaches courses in digital journalism at Stanford and social media at UC Berkeley, who is credited with coining the term “virtual community“, who was a founding member of The Well, who wrote Smart Mobs and gave fascinating Ted Talk on collaboration.

Rob, Alec, Dean and Rick thought they were going to interview Howard, but it was clear from almost the beginning that we were in for a conversation with someone who is an insatiable learner.

EdTech Posse Podcast 5.6 - In conversation with Howard Rheingold.

Rob Wall had a great conversation/brainstorming session with Dean Shareski and Alec Couros about designing a 3 week intensive summer version of an online course he will be offering this summer at the University of Saskatchewan. Alec and Dean share some of their impressive experience and wisdom from their courses at the University of Regina. If you take Rob’s course this summer, you can keep count of the things he borrowed from our mates on the Posse.

Episode 5.5: http://is.gd/OJst

The Department of Computer Science is hosting a talk by Robert J. Sawyer at the University of Saskatchewan. Here are the particulars:

Department of Computer Science Talk
Speaker: Robert J. Sawyer, Writer in Residence
Canadian Light Source, Saskatoon

Title: Webmind: When the World Wide Web Gains Consciousness

Abstract:
Can the Web wake up once its complexity has equaled or exceeded that of a human brain? What sort of consciousness might emerge under those circumstances? And what will be the impact on humanity when we are no longer the smartest things on the planet? Robert J. Sawyer is one of only seven writers in history — and the only Canadian — to win all three of the world’s top awards for best science-fiction novel of the year: the Hugo (which he won for Hominids), the Nebula (which he won for The Terminal Experiment), and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award (which he won for Mindscan). His just released 18th novel, Wake, details the dawning of consciousness by the World Wide Web. His physical home is in Mississauga, Ontario; online, it’s at: http://sfwriter.com

Date: Thursday, June 11, 2009
Time: 3:30 p.m.,
Place: Thorvaldson 271

This is a regular and welcome update to the list that has been maintained by Dr. Clayton R. Wright, crwr77@gmail.com for a number of years.

This list of selected events focuses primarily on the use of technology in educational settings and on teaching and learning. Only listings from July to December 2009 are complete as dates, locations, or URLs are not available for a number of events after December 2009.

(l-r) Cindy, Arcadio, Shaun, Xing, Jeff, Jay - not pictured: Linda, Ellen, Peggy and Constance

What a great day! I love convocation, especially because it gives us a chance to formally celebrate the accomplishments of our great folks in the Educational Communications and Technology Graduate Program at the University of Saskatchewan. We all dressed up in our academic gear and had a great time. It was also Dr. Jay Wilson’s very first convocation as a faculty member, so it was a terrific day for a lot of reasons.

Here is a set of photos from the event:

Congratulations to all of our fine students, and today, especially these scholars who received their M.Ed. degrees.

Jeff Kardynal: The potential of serious games for teaching high school construction technologies: A case study. Department of Curriculum Studies, March, 2009.

Linda Dunkley: Teaching environmental education in Saskatoon.


Shaun Loeppky: Web 2.0 tools in a blended learning environment.


Cindy Seibel: K – 12 parent portal: An implementation guide.

Xing Xu: Adapting to university studies in Canada: Self-directed learning modules for students at the University of Saskatchewan Language Centre.

Hong (Ellen) Du: English reading on the Web, collaborative interaction in Second Life: A multimedia supplementary with knowledge of early childhood education for traditional second language instruction.


Constance MacKenzie: An Interactive Computer Simulation Emulating Participation in Provincial Government

Peggy Jubien: Mobile technology in post-secondary education: A proposal for an online resource.


Arcadio Viveros Guzman: Online communication tool for sustainable forest management networking.


Jay Salikin: Portfolio in Educational Communications and Technology

Two exciting events. I asked if our grad students could also attend, and got an enthusiastic “yes.” So a special note to my graduate students: don’t miss this; it promises to be terrific. If you’re from not affiliated with the U of S and you’re interested, I suggest you phone Stephanie at the number below.

2009 Dean’s Research Lecture

“The Disaggregated Future of Higher Education or:
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Internet”

Presented by
Dr. David Wiley, Brigham Young University
Thursday June11, 2009
10:30 am. - 12:00 Noon

Room18, Edwards School of Business
23 Campus Drive
University of Saskatchewan

Please RSVP (acceptances only) to Stephanie Griffin at (306)966-5927 or Stephanie.Griffin@usask.ca by Monday June 8

About the Speaker:
Dr. David Wiley is Associate Professor of Instructional Psychology and Technology at Brigham Young University, Chief Openness Officer of Flat World Knowledge, and Founder of the Open High School of Utah. He was formerly Associate Professor of Instructional Technology and Director of the Center for Open and Sustainable Learning at Utah State University. David has also been a Nonresident Fellow at the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School, a Visiting Scholar at the Open University of the Netherlands, and a recipient of the US National Science Foundation’s CAREER grant. David is also the Founder of OpenContent.org. His career is dedicated to increasing access to educational opportunity for everyone around the world. David lives in Utah with his incredible wife and five awesome children.

Dr. Richard Baraniuk of Rice University is speaking at the Canadian Learning Commons Conference, Friday June 12 from 9:00 to 10:30 in the Neatby Timlin Theatre (Arts 241).

His presentationtation on “Open Access Learning” is open to conference attendees as well as anyone from the University community. Richard is the founder of Connexions, a free, open-source, global clearinghouse of course materials. His vision is to create a fee global online education system that puts the power of creation and collaboration in the hands of teachers worldwide.

Everyone is welcome for the keynote lecture - but please note that conference attendees will have an extended program and will need to register in advance. More details about the Canadian Learning Commons Conferece are available at http://CLCC2009.usask.ca

The Fall 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

Our next CIDER session:

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. Jamie Rossiter, Department of Education, University of Oxford (currently at Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa).

Title: Adaptation of Online Courses for New Educational Contexts

One of the challenges in online learning is adaptation of material developed for one educational setting to be appropriate in another. Qualitative case-study research explored adaptation of online continuing education modules, developed by the Public Health Agency of Canada for public health practitioners. Two adaptations were studied: into the College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, and for practitioners in the English-speaking Caribbean. The first case involved adaptation for different learners, but in a similar culture. The second case involved similar learners, but in a different culture.

Results show that adaptation of existing online courses can be practicable, and may take less time and fewer resources to implement than creation of a new course. Benefits extended beyond immediate educational objectives to address strategic goals of both originating and recipient organizations.

When: Wednesday, June 3, 2009, 11am-12pm MDT (Edmonton)

Where: Online via Elluminate at:

https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?password=M.8B71B60F2931D029AC3837DC06B70D