The newly formed APOP Anglophone Steering Committee, and its new project manager Marielle Beauchemin, have been busy discussing and scheduling events for Winter 2010. Although many topics have been proposed and a lot of interest has been generated, we are still at the very beginning and intensely interested in receiving your comments and suggestions.
On the Local Scene
Meanwhile, we have been contacting people and hope to unveil new talents from the community. The line-up is starting to take shape! Already a few teachers have volunteered to share their ICT experience in the classroom and in the field:Sharon Coyle, Coroline Chwojka, and Sophie Jacmin will be presenting their Team Teaching experiences. Other topics will include: Combined courses (part online, part in class) by Philippe Gagné, Web 2.0 with Raymond Cantin, Concept Mapping with Ryan W. Moon, and PLE (personal learning environments) with Rafael Scapin. Other people have also been contacting us with interesting topics to present to the community which, in short, means that we are still working on a definitive schedule but are racing to get it out to you and get a great winter schedule up and running.
On the International Scene
In order to expand our scope and reach out to other communities, we have sent invitations and received positive answers from key people involved in the ICT environment at the international level. They will be presenting their research and sharing their expertise in the field. So far we have the following people in our plans:
Dr. Enrique Ruiz Velasco from UNAM in Mexico City. His involvement with the integration of IT is a commitment, and he trains teachers in the use and appropriation of IT tools for teaching. He will relate many cases of successful IT integration. Enrique has presented in the past, at the URL APOP conference. Some of you might remember his presentation which was called Success factors for the pedagogical integration of ICT in Education.
Dr. Alberto J. Cañas
Another speaker is a key figure in the field of Concept Mind Mapping Dr. Alberto J. Cañas from the Florida Institute for Human & Machine Cognition. His software is currently being used at Université de Montréal and also at the Cirque du Soleil.
Professor Teemu Leinonen
In the field of collaborative learning environments, we will be hearing about the research and extensive experience of Professor Teemu Leinonen from Helsinki University, Finland who does design and research related to applications for collaborative learning, collaborative group work and creative work. He is the team leader of LeMill http://lemill.net/ a web community and engine for finding, authoring and sharing learning Resources.
Other Workshops
We also have resource people who are available on request to give workshops in the use of software for academic purposes. This means not only Flash, Google Tools, etc., but any software used in the classroom. Tell us what you need and we will do our best to provide you with a resource person. The workshops can be offered on-line or at your location.
Some of our services are free. To find out more and how to register click here: APOP’s English Service Continues Online and On Course.
Ongoing
Training on how to use the online VIA Platform prior to participating in an event is also available at no charge. To receive regular updates on APOP’s schedule of online activities (Lunch & Learn events and formal Workshops), contact direction@apop.qc.ca.
Remember all English APOP online events will be available to you this year free of charge as well as the Lunch and Learn sessions that take place in French.
APOP’s online community is pleased to welcome you on board. You will meet new colleagues in your field online from other colleges and from other departments. You will gain access to expertise and experience from your peers, have access to the development of ICT internationally, and learn about new tools for teaching.
We would be thrilled to receive your suggestions or questions at itactivites@apop.qc.ca or simply use the Comments feature below.