Day 1, August 25th
8:00 - 8:30
Registration and Welcome, with Refreshments (OM 2621)
8:30 – 9:30
Keynote – Quality in Distributed Learning:  How are We Doing? Randy LaBonté and Tim Winkelmans (OM 2621)
9:30 – 10:30
Session 1 OM1335	Wikis1 and Blogs2 in a VUCA3 World, Sharon Taylor
Session 2 OM2201	BC Campus Support for Online Program Development, Paul Stacey
Session 3 OM1330	Clickers – Audience Response Devises, Doug Baleshta
Session 4 OM1772	Copyright for Teachers, Desseri Clowater
10:30 – 11:00
Coffee break (OM2621)
11:00 – 12:00
Session 1 OM1772	English á la Carte, Monique Brewer
Session 2 OM2621	Effective Strategies for Facilitating Online Learning, John O’Brien (panel with additional TRU-OL tutors)
Session 3 OM1335	Increasing Student Achievement with Synchronous and Asynchronous Tools, Jaron Easterbrook
12:00 – 1:15
Lunch (Horticulture Gardens)
1:15 – 2:45
Session 1 OM1335	Content Authoring the (eXe)ptionally Easy Way, Glen Bowden
Session 2 OM1772	Quality in Distributed Learning:  An In-depth Look at BC’s K-12 Data Collection and Quality Review Process, Tim Winkelmans and Dr. Randy LaBonté
Session 3 OM1330	First Season of Dare2BDigital, Paul Stacey
Session 4 OM2201	Videoconferencing for Educational Purposes:  The Burnaby School District’s Model, Deirdre Moore
2:45 – 3:15
Coffee Break (OM2621)
3:15 – 4:00
Session 1 OM1335	Using Wikis for Collaborative Projects, Anne Loxley Baker
Session 2 OM2621	TRU Owls:  A Case Study in Streaming Video, Bob Byrne
Session 3 OM1772	Teaching Marketing with a Simulation Game:  Experiment and Experience, Makarand Gulawani
4:30 – 6:00
Mix and Mingle – Drinks at Duffy’s Pub 1797 Pacific Way  •  250-372-5453  •  reservation for “TRU”
Day 2, August 26th
8:00 – 9:00
Keynote – Learning Design, Gráinne Conole Refreshments (OM 2621)
9:00 – 10:00
Session 1 OM 1335	Moodle – What’s the Buzz?, Doug Baleshta
Session 2 OM2201	Open School BC’s Role in the Distributed Learning Community, Dal Little
Session 3 OM1330	21st Century Skills for Teachers – the Networked Teacher, Gerry Paille
10:00 – 11:00
Chasing Squirrels and Online Learning Jonathon Finklestein Presentation/Coffee break (OM 2621)
11:00 – 12:00
Session 1 OM1772	Building an Open Source Children’s Computer Kiosk, Larry Maki
Session 2 OM 1335	WebCT (Blackboard) Your Way, Dal Little
Session 3 OM 1335	So, What’s in it for Me?  How the TRU Library Can Make Your Job Easier, Brenda Smith and Kathy Gaynor
12:00 – 1:15
Lunch (Horticulture Gardens)
1:15 – 2:45
Session 1 OM 1335	Creating a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) using First Class software, Michael Maser
Session 2 OM 1330	ICT Literacies and Curricular Conundrums:  Language use, Identity Formation, Culture and Blogging, Jenny Arntzen
Session 3 OM 1772	A Teacher’s Perspective of the BC Distributed Learning K-12 Program, David Comrie
2:45 – 3:15
Coffee Break (OM2621)
3:15 – 4:00
Session 1 OM 1772	Online Communities for Learning Together, Sylvia Currie
Session 2 OM 1335	Tech Art for Young Artists and Illustrators, Kathy Weisner
Session 3 OM1330	Teaching with Digital Video:  Sources, Tools and Techniques, Dr. Norm Friesen

2008 SESSIONS INCLUDE:

Keynote: Quality in Distributed Learning: How are We Doing?

Tim Winkelmans and Randy LaBonté

Distributed learning (DL) is flourishing in BC’s K–12 system. Last year, 33,000 students chose to enrol in over 80,000 courses offered through 60 public and independent DL schools in the province. Each school operates under an agreement with the BC Ministry of Education, stipulating that the school work toward quality standards and provide student enrolment and achievement data several times per year. We provide an overview of the data collection and quality review processes, initial results, and future directions for the coming school year.

Tim Winkelmans is the Manager of the Distributed Learning Unit and has led distance learning initiatives within several ministries and the former BC Open Learning Agency. He leads distributed learning policy and quality initiatives for fifty one schools. Tim has a B.Ed in secondary mathematics and biology (University of Victoria, 1984) and an M.A. in computer applications in education (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 1989); he is completing doctoral studies at the University of Calgary.

Randy LaBonté is a distributed learning (DL) consultant working with Tim at the BC Ministry of Education on quality initiatives, DL standards, and policy implementation, which has required onsite visits to all DL schools in the province. He has worked at all levels of the K–12 system as a teacher and administrator and spent time in the not-for-profit and corporate sectors before pursuing consulting work in DL. Randy holds a B.Ed., an M.A. in educational administration, and earned his Ph.D. researching leadership and technology in K-12.  View presentation at http://www.slideshare.net/rlabonte/winkelmans-labonte-quality-keynote-tech-it-up-aug08-presentation/.

Wikis¹ and Blogs² in a VUCA³ World

Sharon Taylor, Lecturer: University Preparation, English and Modern Languages, Thompson Rivers University

Collaborative writing and collective thinking: participatory media and convergence culture. Terms fly past us as we uneasily navigate the world our students think and play in. How can we accommodate students whose learning styles have evolved in so many directions at once? How do we accommodate both students who are media-savvy and those who are media-phobic? Many students are used to re-framing information in most sectors of their lives, both academic and leisure. This can lead to some problems (plagiarism) and some opportunities. In this session, we explore ways to bring new media into the classroom and to allow students to share some of the control.

¹ Wiki: from a Hawaiian word meaning “quickly”: a website which can be edited by any number of collaborators.

² Blog: a contraction of “weblog”: a journal posted and read online.

³ VUCA: volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity

BCcampus Support for Online Program Development

Paul Stacey, Director of Development and Professional Services, BCcampus

Starting in 2003 the BCcampus Online Program Development Fund has provided annual support for development of online learning resources across BC's public post secondary system. This session will provide you with strategies for tapping in to this fund and accompanying BCcampus services aimed at expanding online learning capacity across the system.

This session will:

• highlight the over $6 million in funding invested through the Online Program Development Fund over its first five years
• outline the current $1 million 2008 Online Program Development Fund call for proposals
• suggest tactics and approaches for preparing successful proposals
• describe the evaluation process used to select proposals for funding
• explain the open licenses associated with the Online Program Development Fund that result in all developed resources being shareable and reusable
• demonstrate the Shareable Online Learning Resources (SOL*R) repository
• explore and discuss the attributes that make up high quality online learning resources

View presentation at http://www.slideshare.net/pstacey/opdftechitup-presentation.

Clickers—Audience Response Devices

Doug Baleshta, Educational Technology Coordinator: Centre for Teaching and Learning, Thompson Rivers University

Wireless “clickers” can be used in small or large classes to encourage participation, do assessments, and provide instant feedback. Try out the system and share some of the student research on these devices.

Copyright for Teachers

Desseri Clowater, Intellectual Property Officer: Thompson Rivers University, Open Learning

In this session, I cover education exceptions under the Copyright Act and include a brief overview of the Access Copyright campus licence—something that is applicable to all attendees. I use a seminar format and start with a quick synopsis of what copyright is, and then explain how older copyright provisions can be adapted to current technology. I provide practical examples of how material that might be used in the classroom can and cannot be used in online and distance education venues. View presentation. 

English à la Carte

Monique Brewer, Instructional Development Coordinator: Open School BC

Designing instructional programs for distributed learning contexts can be challenging. How do we meet individual student, school, and district needs, given the amount of time it takes to develop a single, effective online course? Over the last year, Open School BC has developed numerous high quality, supplementary resources for English courses to help meet instructional design challenges that teachers face. Learn how our newly developed, stand-alone, online and paper-based resources can supplement existing courses to help you design programs to meet individual student needs. This session features the following resources:

• Creating a Visual Design
• Aboriginal Fiction
• Grammar on the Go and Writing on the Run
• William’s™ World: The Life and Times of William Shakespeare
• Literature Essentials
• Graphic Text
• Exam Preparation Packages

Learn how to access Open School’s  Educators’ Resource Centre to locate and use free, high-quality resources for K–12.   View presentation.  

Effective Strategies for Facilitating Online Learning

John O’Brien, Tutor, Thompson Rivers University, Open Learning

John O’ Brien will facilitate a panel discussion amongst TRU-OL tutors on the topic of effective strategies for facilitating online learning.

Increasing Student Achievement with Synchronous and Asynchronous Tools

Jaron Easterbrook, Regional Manager: Wimba

In order to increase achievement, we need to increase retention. To increase retention, we need to increase engagement. To increase engagement, we need to increase relevancy. How do we do all of this when students may be located in multiple cities or have different learning styles and needs?

Wimba is a leading provider of collaborative learning software for online and blended education. Our solutions enable institutions to bridge technology and pedagogy by supplementing course management systems with many of the proven disciplines of in-person learning environments. Wimba’s intuitive solutions enable educators and students to quickly and easily teach and learn live online, engage in live chat and instant message exchanges, benefit from oral content being added to text-based course content, and more. Instructors can also use Wimba solutions to convert Microsoft Word documents into accessible web pages and to create and administer tests, quizzes, and exams. Our focus on education and collaboration with educators fuels our product development.

What you’ll learn: In this hands-on workshop, we will build a course from within Blackboard, WebCT, Angel, or Moodle (you choose)! Along the way, you will use each of Wimba’s applications:

•    Wimba Classroom: the virtual classroom environment
•    Wimba Voice: the asynchronous set of tools for audio authoring and podcast creation right from within your CMS
•    Wimba Pronto: the Instant Messaging application that ties into your CMS
•    Wimba Create: the course page/quiz creation tool that plugs into Microsoft Word, bridging the cap to your CMS

Content Authoring the (eXe)ptionally easy way

Glen Bowden, Vice Principal of Special Programs, Coast Mountain School District

Using Open Source eXe to create course content that can be delivered in a web site , a LMS, moodle or even an ipod.

Quality in Distributed Learning: An In-depth Look at BC’s K–12 Data Collection and Quality Review Process

Tim Winkelmans and Dr. Randy LaBonté

Achievement data has been the BC Ministry of Education’s principle measure for learning, but the ministry only looks at results. A fundamental question in the drive for student choice through distributed learning is: how do we know if quality learning is taking place? Understanding quality in the messiness of learning is problematic at best—particularly, if we are to shift the focus of quality from accountability to improvement. Join us for an interactive follow-up session to our keynote as we provide details about the Ministry’s data collection process and initial results for distributed learning schools. We will also explain the process by which the Ministry is fostering the improvement of quality in K–12 DL practice.

First Season of Dare2BDigital

Paul Stacey, Director of Development and Professional Services, BC Campus

This session will demo the challenges, student teams and online work s produced in the first season of Dare2BDigital which took place in the spring of 2008.

Videoconferencing for Educational Purposes:  The Burnaby School District's Model

Dierdre Moore, Technology Supported Learning Liaison, Global Learning Initiative, Burnaby School District

Everyone knows that to inspire students nowadays an exciting repertoire of strategies is always helpful. Let's face it - teachers have to practically wield magic to get everybody engaged.   This workshop is to assist you in introducing a little magic into your classroom or school setting.  That magic is in the form of the video-conference.

Deirdre Moore is a teacher and district support person introducing video-conferencing to teachers and students for several years in Burnaby. Albert Lee is the expert who makes the videoconference technology run as smoothly as magic.  The presentation will describe various approaches and practical ideas for incorporating videoconferencing into the school setting, keeping the curriculum and community in mind.  They will also offer helpful tips, describe challenges they have faced, and answer technological and other questions the audience may have.

Using Wikis for Collaborative Projects

Anne Loxley Baker, Lecturer: English and Modern Languages, Thompson Rivers University

We've had sessions on what blogs and wikis are, but little on application in the classroom. Wikis are useful tools for collaborative assignments, as they show the work in progress, and students can meet in cyberspace rather than physically. In the past, students have sent files back and forth through email, but, when using email, students may get confused about which file is the most current. Using a wiki, the most recent changes are always posted, so students can see what will be the final version of the project. In this session, I discuss how this has worked in my classes for writing projects and I note glitches to watch for. View presentation.  View presentation. 

The Premier, the Owl, and the Graduate: Lessons Learned in Live Video

Bob Byrne, Jon Fulton and Rob Swanson, The Media Team at Thompson Rivers University, Open Learning

The Media Team at TRU has been involved in video streaming of live events for just over a year, and while we have had great success, it hasn’t always gone smoothly. This session will discuss three large streaming events and will highlight the challenges and lessons learned from all three:

1.    The BC Centre for Open Learning – Official Opening
As our very first live-streaming event, the Official Opening of the BC Centre for Open Learning was an ambitious project, combining video streams from four locations around the province, and requiring the coordination of a number of on-campus and off-campus groups, including the British Columbia Premier’s office, TRU Information Technology Services, the IDRG, Open Learning Marketing and Communications, TRU Media Services, and the TRU President’s Office.

2.    Great-Horned Owls
TRU campus is home to a fairly large population of wildlife. When a family of great-horned owls was seen nesting just outside of the Sciences Building, it became an interesting local event and a live camera was set up to show the raising of the owls from chicks to fledglings.  Through the power of Internet communications, what started as a local event quickly became international news, bringing thousands of online viewers and creating a challenge for us to keep up with the bandwidth requirements and viewer expectations.

3.    Convocation 2008
In June 2008, TRU held four convocation ceremonies for approximately 1600 graduates, but for many of these students’ families and friends, coming to the TRU campus was not possible. TRU Media Services and the IDRG Media Team worked together to create a high-quality presentation, and through live-streaming made the convocation ceremonies accessible worldwide.

Teaching Marketing with Simulation Games: Experiment and Experience

Makarand Gulawani, School of Business, MacEwan College

This presentation is based on our participation at the Manitoba International Competition. The competition was based on a simulation game. It was an extraordinary experience for undergraduate students to participate in the competition and compete with teams from all around the world with the help of internet technology. This presentation highlights teaching and learning international marketing with a simulation game. The objective of this simulation is to generate discussion among participants to develop broader understanding of using simulation games for teaching and learning. View presentation. 

Keynote: Learning Design

Gráinne Conole, Professor of e-Learning, The Open University

Why do some social networking services work and others fail? Can we apply the best of web 2.0 principles to an educational context? More specifically can we use this as a means of shifting teaching practice to a culture of sharing learning ideas and designs? Can we harness the potential of technologies to create more engaging learning experiences for students? These are the key questions this presentation addresses.

Moodle—What's the Buzz?

Doug Baleshta, Educational Technology Coordinator: Centre for Teaching and Learning, Thompson Rivers University

Find out why folks are using and preferring Moodle over other Learning Management Systems. Share some of the student research comparing various systems and get a hands-on tour.

Open School BC’s Role in the Distributed Learning Community

Dal Little, Teacher Support Manager, Open School BC

Open School BC is an education resource developer, service provider, website author, and online library. Open School’s role in education has evolved over the last five years, becoming much more than a hub for online educators.

In this session, I introduce some of Open School’s newest resources and services and talk about some of the changes we’re making for the upcoming school year. As well as the K–12 education system, we are branching out into public sector education. I will be showing how our position in the Ministry of Management Services has lead to new opportunities. View presentation. 

21st Century Skills for Teachers—the Networked Teacher

Gerry Paille, Teacher, School District 60

The International Society for Technology Education has re-released its Educational Technology Standards for Teachers. These standards include 21st Century skills such as finding and managing resources, publishing on the web, and connecting with colleagues, students, parents, and local and global communities. Teachers must be proficient in these skills in order to model good practices for their students and to help students include these skills for learning. This session will give you a chance to actively participate in using some of the web-based tools that are commonly used in classrooms and to discuss authentic ideas for using these tools.

Session participants who do not have a Google Account should create one (http://tinyurl.com/6s6vya) beforehand if possible.

Chasing Squirrels and Online Learning

Jonathan Finkelstein, Executive Producer and President, Learning times

Jonathan Finkelstein is Executive Producer of LearningTimes and President of the LearningTimes Network. He is the author of Learning in Real Time (Jossey-Bass) and can also be seen and heard hosting the Real Time Minute, an online program about synchronous collaboration and learning.  As the founder of the first online certification program on real-time online instruction, Jonathan shares his expertise leading effective events and building community with education professionals around the globe.

In this session, ‘Chasing Squirrels and Online Learning’, Learning in Real Time author and LearningTimes Executive Producer Jonathan Finkelstein will join us remotely to explore unique, real-time online group and social networking activities that take learner engagement to the next level. Experience innovative learning techniques and facilitation strategies that will open your eyes to what is possible while teaching and learning online

Building an Open Source Children’s Computer Kiosk

Larry Maki, Computer Trainer, TNRD Library System

I would like to discuss the creation of an open source based computer kiosk for use in the children’s area of our library.  The rationale in creating this kiosk was that we had been providing a terminal with some educational software, but the hardware and software were very old and difficult to manage.  We wanted a more robust and usable system, featuring non-commercial software and limited access to some online resources.  After researching the numerous software options available, we set to building and testing a box.  Working closely with our IT department, we created a very secure Red Hat Linux based kiosk featuring the Childsplay and GCompris educational suites as well as IP locked access to the Encyclopedia of British Columbia, the World Book Encyclopedia and the Ebscohost based Kids Search and Searchasaurus.  There were a few problems in getting the system running, including finding open source players for some of the online media content, but we were able to find and implement solutions.  Additionally, the computer resources we used were not state of the art, but older components that could be reused.  The result has been a popular children’s resource requiring very little staff maintenance.

WebCT (Blackboard) Your Way

Dal Little, Teacher Support and Pro-D Manager: Open School BC

Is your course in WebCT (Blackboard) working exactly the way you want it to work? If not, then this workshop is for you! This session will show how to configure and take advantage of several WebCT tools so you can work smarter, not harder.

Saving time is key to teaching online. Understanding how to use tools in WebCT is key to saving time. Managing the Grade Book and using the Assignment Tools are critical for efficient online teaching. Check out Open School BC’s new enabled course structure, including Table of Contents, Assignments, Assessments and Grade Book.

While teaching online, Dal Little’s goal has been to have all documents, assessments, interactions and records online, contained within his course shell in WebCT. He has no need for a three-ring binder to record marks or a special application on his laptop to manage his class. By having all the documents and information in his course in WebCT, he can teach the course from anywhere at anytime. If this is appealing to you, then consider learning how to configure your course in WebCT by starting with the Grade Book and Assignment Tool. Learn how to optimize these tools to increase your ability to manage student assignments, assessments, record keeping and sharing. In fact, Dal encourages you to bring your WebCT course questions, frustrations and concerns to this session. He will endeavour to troubleshoot them on the spot.

So, What’s in it for Me?  How the TRU Library Can Make Your Job Easier

Brenda Smith and Kathy Gaynor, Librarians, Thompson Rivers University

So, what’s in it for me?  That’s the question that we all keep in our heads, but rarely ask out loud because our mothers told us that was rude.  This session dares to demonstrate the services and resources that the TRU library offers to help you in your research and teaching, specifically those that can be accessed from the comfort of your own office or home 7 days a week, 24 hours a day --- making your life easier.  Doing your research.  Prepping for your classes.  Finding and organizing your library materials easily.  At a time and place that is convenient for you.  It is all about how we can make your life easier. View presentation. 

Creating a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) Using First Class Software

Michael Maser, Learning Consultant, SelfDesign Learning Community

First Class(FC) is a common software platform in use throughout schools in BC. Recently, FC has added a Workspace feature to its conferencing environment and this Workspace environment can be adopted as a very functional Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). This past September through April, I piloted “Learning Your Way,” a distributed learning course for approximately 20 teens through a FC Workspace platform. Features of the Workspace I used and found very helpful in support of various, significant educational goals include a Rich Text editing field, user-friendly conferencing (posting-responding), uploading video and audio clips, user-friendly student folder use, and others. Feedback from students confirmed that they found this to be a very helpful and user-friendly VLE, and they recommend it over other VLE platforms they have experienced (stand-alone and Web 2.0 platforms). In this presentation, I will profile my use of the FC Workspace as an effective VLE and overview the pertinent steps for an educator interested in creating their own VLE using FC. View presentation.  

ICT Literacies and Curricular Conundrums: Language Use, Identity Formation, Culture and Blogging

Jenny Arntzen, Curriculum and Pedagogy, University of British Columbia

As educators in Canada, we face a curricular conundrum with regards to the use of the information and communication technologies (ICT) or technological tools within educational contexts. Does calling ICT a tool enable educators to infuse ICT in their curriculum? Or does it create unrealistic expectations of manageability, simplicity and efficiency? How does the language we use to talk about digital technologies in teaching practice affect our relationship to complex digital devices, and, in turn, our formation of identity in relation to both teaching and digital technologies? Can language used to represent digital technologies support educators' professional ability to inquire into the social and cultural contexts within education and societies? In this session we will use blogging to inquire into language use, identity formation, and culture through the use of keywords, categories and tagging.

A Teacher’s Perspective of the BC Distributed Learning K–12 Program

David Comrie, Distributed Learning Teacher: SD 73; President of the BC Educators for Distributed Learning PSA

The BC Ministry of Education projects that 40,000 or more distributed learning courses will be taken by BC students next year. In this session, we look at the province’s DL program for K–12 students and at the challenges, issues, and working and learning conditions for DL teachers.

Online Communities for Learning Together

Sylvia Currie, Manager, Online Community Services, BC Campus

As education professionals it can be difficult to keep up with the latest trends and technologies. During this session we will explore the many existing and upcoming opportunities to learn from your peers around the province and beyond. This 45-minute session is meant to give you a sampling of ideas for connecting with others to take away for a lifetime of community and networked learning opportunities.

Tech Art for Young Artists and Illustrators

Kathleen Weisner, School District 64

Discover a new software program that will inspire you to incorporate computer graphics into your classwork. Grade K to 5 teachers can expand the concepts of lessons as students create computer graphics (or Tech Art) and develop computer skills. Using DoodlePaint, teachers and students can create computer art and design or visual representations such as diagrams, graphs, arrays and maps to support learning. DoodlePaint encourages creative expression because the tools are easy to use, yet powerful. The format supports the development of technical skills and it's very teachable . In addition, there is a detailed and comprehensive Instructional Manual with a technical skills scope and sequence grid for grades K to 5, over 150 detailed lesson plans and much more. Each ready-to-go lesson includes a topic-related traditional art activity and a detailed Tech Art lesson. Teachers appreciate the integration of curriculum, art and computers. Students enjoy the success of creative expression. Parents love seeing the displays. DoodlePaint is designed to encourage and inspire teachers and students. Explore the possibilities of adding Tech Art to your program. Come see what you can do with DoodlePaint.  www.doodlepaint.com. This presentation is suitable for primary and intermediate teachers and is especially recommended for new teachers and prep teachers.

DoodlePaint can run on Windows 98, 2000, NT, XP, Vista; MacOSX 10.4 Intel chip; Linux Ubuntu 7.10, Fedora 6, SuSE 10.3, Mandriva, Debian.

Teaching with Digital Video: Sources, Tools, and Techniques

Norm Friesen, Canada Research Chair: eLearning, Thompson Rivers University

Sites like YouTube and Google Video host much more than clips of skateboarding dogs or celebrity bloopers. They have become repositories for a wide range of video resources—amateur, professional, and archival—that can be used in teaching and research. Such resources include discussions with famous researchers (a 1971 debate between Foucault and Chomsky); historical footage (M. L. King’s speeches); records of physical and natural events (eclipses, storms); and explicitly educational presentations on nearly any subject you can imagine. These videos and video clips can represent valuable resources for both research and teaching, providing different perspectives or voices on issues and controversial topics and providing concrete demonstrations. In this session, I introduce you to some of the most useful collections of online video clips and provide an overview of some tools and techniques to use with online video in your classroom. View presentation.