Monthly Archives: September 2012

FreshGrade

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Steve Wandler steve.wandler@freshgrade.com

Karine Veldhoen karine.veldhoen@gmail.com

http://allthingsd.com/20121017/club-penguin-co-founder-lane-merrifield-signs-off-after-five-years-at-disney/

“Lane Merrifield, the co-founder of Club Penguin, the very successful virtual world for kids, has decided to step down five years after the company was acquired by Disney.

In a note sent to employees earlier this morning, Merrifield wrote: “Our team has grown Club Penguin from a simple idea to being the largest global virtual world for kids for seven straight years while maintaining a significant profit margin. I am incredibly proud to have been a part of Club Penguin, and I know that it will continue to grow and thrive.”

A spokesperson confirmed the departure of Merrifield, who has been filling the role of EVP of Disney Online Studios more recently. His departure is effective immediately, but he expects to help out until the transition is complete on Feb. 1.

Merrifield will be joining FreshGrade, a start-up he founded over the past year. FreshGrade is a cloud-based educational assessment tool teachers can use to figure out how a student learns.”

Suggested Governance Structure

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The director of the ILC chairs an advisory board.  Recommendations from the advisory board are just that, recommendations; therefore, there is no need for majority votes or consensus.  Because the dean is a member of the advisory committee, she will know how things are going and whether or not the advisory board has concerns.

Membership of the advisory committee would include the following:

  1. Faculty member from Computer Science
  2. Faculty member from Engineering
  3. Faculty member from Management
  4. Faculty member elected or appointed from Faculty Creative and Critical Studies
  5. Representative from Accelerate Okanagan or local industry
  6. Representative from UBC O Centre for Teaching and Learning
  7. Derek Gratz – Associate Director, University Industry Liaison Office (UILO)
  8. Dean – Faculty of Education or delegate
  9. Graduate student – elected or appointed from IGS PhD program
  10. Graduate student – elected or appointed from Faculty of Education masters program
  11. Representative from regional school district

The director of the ILC reports directly to the Dean of the Faculty of Education, and prepares a regular report for all Faculty of Education Council meetings. Annually, the Director will  prepare a report  which will be tabled first to the ILC Advisory Committee who will approve, ask for revision, accept, or reject.  Director will address the concerns from the advisory committee and submit a revised copy, if required, to the Dean which will be shared with the Faculty of Education before being sent to the Provost of UBC Okanagan.

Phased Development Plan for the IL

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VISION

To create a classroom space where one can explore, create and experience innovations in pedagogical excellence.  Image that space as signaling possibilities by simply observing and participating in the actions / interactions of those teaching and learning within the environment – both physical and virtual.

PURPOSE

To answer the following questions, in a time of substantial change, globalization, and ubiquitous access to information

  • What does it mean to teach well?
  • What might teaching and learning look like?
  • What environments support / foster changes in teaching & learning?

GOAL

  • To work with faculty, staff, students, and affiliates to provide appropriate tools and spaces to imagine and explore meaningful innovations and pedagogical practices
  • To work with developers and innovators to incubate significant educational tools and learning environments

Objectives

  • To support faculty and students to obtain grants and other funding options to support and sustain their innovations
  • To provide consultation and leadership in the Okanagan Valley and beyond to pedagogical excellence in a time of change and possibility (e.g. school districts, ministries, NGOs, etc.)

OUR ADVANTAGE

  • Driven and nimble
  • Supported by academics with a proven record of innovation and pedagogical excellence
  • Networked to existing partnerships with ICT innovators / developers in the Okanagan Valley
  • Networked with existing academic partnerships / affiliations with national and international universities

COMPONENTS

The ILC is made up of three distinct components (classroom, pedagogical incubator, and design lab) that will be developed gradually and modified regularly as budget and space allocations allow.  We recognize the word innovative is problematic, as what is state of the art, edgy and exciting can quickly become traditional and ordinary.  We also recognize that without innovations in pedagogical practices, exciting technologies can be used for mundane purposes.  Therefore, we are thoughtfully creating an iterative model of development that stages investments of hardware and software in a phased way in order to leverage budget and donations in a thoughtful and creative manner and match and enhance pedagogical endeavors.

PHASE #1

  • Acquire furnishings (tables, chairs, etc.)
  • Install writeable walls
  • Install wireless, short throw projectors x 2
  • Acquire Apple TV units to manage projector outputs
  • Install adequate power outlets

PHASE #2

  • Acquire iPads and Bretford charging cart (display adapters, apps)
  • Acquire MAC mini and large LCD screen to use as a maker station and display unit on south wall and to serve as iTunes hub for iPads

PHASE #3

  • Acquire remote viewing software and install cameras
  • Acquire 2 more MAC minis and large LCD screens to add to existing maker station on south wall

PHASE #4

  • Begin to purchase peripheral items based on need / interest as budget allows
The first floor plan


LOI for Western Economic Diversification

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Expression of Interest – Industry Collaborative Projects and Programs

The Innovative Learning Centre (ILC)

Educators, K – 20, are challenged to find ways to enhance student engagement and meaningfully integrate appropriate technologies into their teaching and learning and to personalize learning.  Technology companies grapple with ways to design technologies that are competitive and relevant to the education sector while being both economically sustainable and pedagogically viable.  While both recognize the importance of 21st century skills and their importance in a knowledge economy, neither group has adequate examples of innovative teaching practice or access to creative learning environments where they can design, incubate and research technology enhanced teaching and learning.

The Innovative Learning Centre (ILC) will fill that gap by collaborating with industry partners such as those associated with Accelerate Okanagan, providing pedagogical expertise, research and design support, and access to educational partners and networks.  For the past 10 months, researchers within the proposed ILC have met with local software developers, exploring potential partnerships in response to the significant changes required in classrooms locally, provincially and nationally to maintain and elevate Canada’s position in the knowledge economy. Schools are seeking ways to meaningfully engage learners, and rural and remote schools with declining populations are seeking innovative ways to retain students and provide relevant learning opportunities through the use of appropriate technologies to personalize learning.  Postsecondary intuitions are not immune from these challenges either as they grapple with changes prompted by the “Flipped Classroom” and MOOCs, to name only the most recent and high profile.  They Educators, such as our regional school districts (e.g. Kelowna, Vernon, Penticton, etc.); campus colleagues (e.g. Drs. Lasserre, Desjardins, Bottorff); international partners (e.g. Aga Kahn University – Institute of Education Development, Da es Salaam campus) seek partnerships with ILC to incubate the use of innovative technology and design learning environments for challenging contexts, and to engage practicing teachers in the adoption of innovative pedagogy to meet the needs of learners in traditional and non-traditional settings.

The ILC will build an interactive, engaging space that reflects the energy and opportunity of the Okanagan Valley.  It will be a place that fosters explorations, research, and innovations in pedagogical excellence. The ILC will be a developmental space at the intersection of research and practice, providing participatory and observatory experiences in both real and virtual environments.  The ILC will empower industry, academics, teachers and students to participate fully in the process of imagining learning spaces to foster creativity, deep learning through play and tinkering, and mindful learning which will allow participants to think differently about how learning takes place.

The ILC will provide a locus from which BC and Canadian companies working in educational technology, academics, and educators can explore and address research questions emerging in education at this time of socio-cultural change, globalization and ubiquitous access to information.  Emergent questions include:

  • How is pedagogical excellence re/defined in technology enhanced, inclusive multicultural settings?
  • In what ways can innovative technology better address the needs of diverse learners?
  • In what ways will new media and participatory literacies shape educational practice?
  • What types of learning environments are supported and fostered with ubiquitous media?
  • In what ways will technology innovation shape educational practice?
  • What are the effective pedagogical approaches that support specific software development and design?
  • What types of software / “app” design fosters sustained student engagement and deep learning?
  • What types of technology (devices, software, apps) helps to engage unmotivated students?
  • To what degree does the choice of choice support / limit student engagement, understanding, personalization?
  • How will teaching and learning be manifest in this type of innovative instructional space?
  • What types of furnishings enable engaged, participatory learning in new learning environments?

The inclusive design of the ILC will encourage groups of companies in the technology sector to work more effectively with academic partners and imagine and create software, tools, and resources to keep British Columbia on the cutting edge of educational innovation. The ILC will adopt an iterative development model, staging investments of hardware and software in a phased way in order to leverage resources in a thoughtful and creative manner to match, foster, and enhance pedagogical endeavours.  The ILC recognizes its development will require constant collaboration with emerging industry partners, critical friends, dreamers and idealists in order to foster research, engage in deep play, and incubate innovations that can be commercialized and add benefit to the education sector both locally and globally.

References

Isaacson, W. (2011).  Steve Jobs.  New York: Simon & Schuster.

Lehrer, J. (2012).  Imagine: How creativity works.  Toronto: Allen Lane.

Monaghan, C. (2012).  Creativity and the adjacent possible.  Retrieved from http://chrismonaghan.org/2012/01/creativity-and-the-adjacent-possibl/

MIT, (2012).  Seeding Innovation: The MIT Media Lab at Aspen Ideas Festival. Retrieved from

http://www.media.mit.edu/video/index.php/videos/view/ml-aspen-2012-06-25

Expression of Interest WD ILC