Upcoming TIN - Nov. 17th - Making Connections

Image: 'Working Together Teamwork Puzzle Concept' - www.flickr.com/photos/22177648@N06/2137737248

The Board of ManACE is pleased to announce that we will be offering a Technology Information Night (TIN) next week, on Tuesday, November 17th.

All educators are welcome to attend this event - you do not need to be a ManACE member to register/participate. For the extremely low price of only $5, you get dinner and three short presentations related to the use of technology in education.

The TIN is scheduled to begin at 5:30 with pizza/salad being served. Presentations will begin at approximately 6:00pm, and the evening should wrap up around 7:30pm.

The focus for the evening will be all about 'making connections'. The presentations will be as follows:

Introduction to Mindstorm NXT
This presentation will highlight how teachers/students can learn about robotics through the use of LEGO Mindstorm NXT. Find out how Mindstorm NXT can enable anyone to build a basic robot. Then discover how the addition of a wide range of sensors can transform this robot into a complex character that is capable of performing a wide range of tasks.

Putting Together The Pieces
This presentation will highlight one of the ways that LEGO Mindstorm NXT has been incorporated into an enriching and motivating classroom experience for students within Manitoba. Furthermore, this presentation will highlight some of the ways that educators can infuse a wide range of technologies to connect:
- the teaching to the learning
- the content to the curriculum
- their students to each other
- their classrooms to the world

Connecting To A Professional Learning Network
This presentation will examine the role of professional learning networks and shed some light on some of the tools that can be used to enable anyone to become an active participant in the networks to which they belong. Twitter is one of the tools that will be highlighted, and participants will learn how to harness the power of Twitter through the use of hashtags, direct messaging and creating Twitter lists.

Next week's ManACE TIN will be held in M.E.C.Y.'s Professional Learning Lab - 1567 Dublin Street. Details regarding parking and entrance to the facility will be sent by e-mail to all registered participants the day before the TIN takes place.

Please register to attend our 'Making Connections' TIN by e-mailing andy@mckiel.ca

We hope to see you there :-)
Andy

Media Literacy Event Registration

With Media Literacy Week (Nov. 2nd - 6th, 2009) drawing near, we encourage you to find opportunities to get involved.

One way that you can participate is by attending M.E.C.Y. & ManACE's upcoming Media Literacy event, as described in the previous blog post. Although you can participate in this event virtually, we would encourage you to get involved by joining us in person.

If you plan to participate in this live event the evening of November 2nd, please take a moment to complete the following registration form.

We hope to see you there :-)
Andy

Media Literacy Event - November 2nd, 2009

Manitoba Education, Citizenship and Youth (MECY), along with Manitoba Association for Computing Educators (ManACE) are celebrating Media Literacy Week, a national week of focus on Media Literacy in the Digital Age. Media Literacy Week was conceived by the Media Awareness Network and the Canadian Teachers' Federation. This year, the week of November 2-6 has been declared Media Literacy Week and we are celebrating in the following ways:

Media Literacy Event

• Purpose: to highlight 'Media Literacy' in classrooms across Manitoba, Canada and around the world, connecting to the ongoing work of Manitoba educators infusing Literacy with ICT Across the Curriculum
• Co-Developed by: ManACE and Manitoba Education, Citizenship and Youth
• Date: November 2, 2009 7:00 -- 8:30 PM CST The event will be UStream'ed or you can attend in person at the St. James-Assiniboia School Division's Professional Staff Development Centre (PSDC) -- 150 Moray Street (access off of Portage Avenue)
• Presentation: Leading Question: Pan Canadian Perspective -- "What does Media Literacy mean to you?"
  • A 5 minute 'IGNITE' Presentation format: 20 slides/ 15 seconds per slide/Autoplay similar to the MB Bloggercon and Awakening Possibilities. We have a Pan Canadian panel with a EY/MY/SY, Higher Education perspective including Kathy Cassidy (Gr 1 Teacher, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan), Dr. Alec Couros (Professor, Faculty of Education, University of Regina, Saskatchewan), Ben Hazzard ( Consultant: Assessment & Evaluation K-12, Lambton Kent District School Board, Ontario) and Jacques Cool (New Brunswick Ministry of Education)
• Panel Discussion: Manitoba Teachers from across the province.
  • Leading Question: Local LwICT Perspective -- "What does media literacy look like in your classroom and how do you make it part of developing your students' Literacy with ICT Across the Curriculum?"

Digital Media Production: Students can create videos, digital stories, text, images or any digital media that showcases the different ways they are Media Literate. To get things started, we have created a video (shown below) that is hosted on our YouTube Channel also located at http://drop.io/medialiteracyvideo.

We want your students to view the video and create their own digital representation of media literacy. Students can then upload their video responses or link to their digital artifacts using our YouTube Channel.

Celebrating and Sharing: If you and your students take part in this exposition of student media literacy, we encourage you to promote your activities with local media outlets and draw attention to the critical importance of developing media literacy in the digital age.

We hope you choose to participate in this exciting event with your students and attend the Media Literacy evening either in person or via uStream where everything will be archived.

If you have any questions regarding any aspect of either event, please email john.evans@gov.mb.ca, darren.kuropatwa@gov.mb.ca or rob.fisher@gov.mb.ca.

*Cross posted from the M.E.C.Y.'s new 'Shining Eyes' blog/podcast

ManACE SAG Sessions

If you're a teacher in Manitoba and you haven't yet registered to attend one of the Special Area Group (SAG) Conferences on October 23rd, please consider registering for one of our ManACE SAG Sessions.

All of our session information is available online, and ManACE is also one of the few SAG groups that offers the convenience of online registration :-)

We're offering a wide range of sessions this year, including digital photography, the use of interactive whiteboards, and Flash action-scripting. Sessions are filling up quickly, so please register early to avoid disappointment!

ManACE SAG Sessions

Stay tuned to the ManACE Memos blog to learn more about an exciting 'postSAG' event taking place in early November - details to be released soon ;-)

Please feel free to leave us a note,
The ManACE Board

MMM Summer Sessions

If you haven't signed up yet for one of the ManACE-MindSet-Microsoft sessions, please have a look at all of the great sessions that we are offering this year for all educators in the province of Manitoba.

We have a wide variety of one and two day sessions to choose from, focussing on many different aspects of infusing technology into your classroom teaching and learning.

The MMM Summer Sessions are being held in many towns and cities across Southern Manitoba and, for only $25/session, these sessions are extremely affordable :-)

Check out the available dates and sessions...

Diggin' Deeper at the ManACE AGM

Adapted from: 'Hand' http://www.flickr.com/photos/75424716@N00/467231755

Thanks to everyone who participated in the ManACE Annual General Meeting this evening :-)

We had a fantastic AGM with good food, great presentations and some excellent conversations. The evening's presentations were broadcast live over uStream, which enabled us to archive them to share with those who weren't able to attend in person.

The first presenter of the evening was Kevin Hnatiuk from New Media Manitoba. Kevin shared tonnes of amazing resources, including:

Peacemaker - an educational game about conflict in the Middle East
Living Sasquatch - a cool Flash application to control a virtual sasquatch
DiamondTouch - a multi-touch and multi-user work surface
EyeTech - incredible eye-tracking software
EyeTronics - 3D scanning hardware

Check out Kevin's presentation to see all of these tools (and more...) in action:


You may also want to think about registering to attend 'Going From Beat to Tweet', an upcoming New Media Manitoba event being held in Winnipeg on June 25th, 2009...

The second presentation of the evening was 'Mining Our Resources', presented by John Evans and Andy McKiel, which included Skype conversations with Clarence Fisher (aka @glassbeed) and Jarrod Robinson (aka @mrrobbo):


One of the other highlights of the evening was being able to present Clarence Fisher with ManACE's Technology Educator of the Year award for his exemplary use of technology.

On behalf of the ManACE Board, I'd like to thank all of our members for your interest in participating in ongoing professional learning opportunities.

Please feel free to leave us a note,
Andy
BTW, don't forget to check out our list of Summer Sessions that will be offered in July & August - registration is now open :-)

The AGM - Please Join Us :-)

Image: 'Invitation' - http://www.flickr.com/photos/11121785@N00/140042679

The ManACE Annual General Meeting (AGM) is taking place next Thursday evening, May 21st. Everyone is welcome to attend this event, which will be held at 150 Moray Street in Winnipeg.
Please register to attend the ManACE AGM by e-mailing andy@mckiel.ca

We'd love to see many of our members there, and we've got lots of reasons why you should attend:
- free dinner and refreshments
- networking with other educators
- great professional learning opportunities
- presentation of ManACE awards
- election of officers & directors

Our AGM will follow the format of our Technology Information Nights (TIN's). We'll gather at 5:30 p.m. for dinner, then we'll have a couple of 20-30 minute presentations that highlight interesting and innovative technology use.

The first presentation will feature Kevin Hnatiuk, from New Media Manitoba, who has many exciting tools and toys to share. The second presentation will be a continuation of our recent 'Windows To The World' event, where we'll Skype in some leaders from the field, and uStream out this portion of the evening so that we can foster virtual participation from a global audience.

If you're not on the list yet to attend our AGM, please register as soon as possible so that we can plan the food and refreshments accordingly - just e-mail andy@mckiel.ca

We hope to see you next week at our AGM :-)
Andy

Another One For The Books... #wttw

Wow, we had a great time the other night! It was nice to have an opportunity to chat with others in the room, and it was exciting to be able to bring so many talented educators into the room virtually from around the world. some of our online participants came from as far away as the UK and Australia :-)

One of the first things that took place during this event was the creation of a wiki (thanks, @charbeck) to record the Twitter usernames of a few Manitoba educators - http://mbteacherswhotweet.wikispaces.com/ - if you're in Manitoba and on Twitter, please add yourself to the list :-)

You can catch many of the evening's festivities by watching our Windows To The World uStream recording here:

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1388826

Many thanks go out to everyone who participated in this unique event...

We'd love your feedback about this event, so that we can continue to provide quality professional learning opportunities for educators around the province, and around the world :-)

Please feel free to leave us a note,
Andy

Opening up the Windows (to the World)

ManACE's next event, Windows To The World, is just around the corner. If you're not already signed up to attend this event in person, please register soon by e-mailing me: andy@mckiel.ca

If you're planning to attend Windows To The World, you're in for a treat! You'll have an opportunity to network with the people in the room, and then we'll be inviting guests in virtually so that we can connect with a few members of our professional learning networks, including Ryan Maksymchuk, Rodd Lucier, Liz Kolb and Ben Hazzard.

While we'd like to get as many people participating face-to-face as we can, we're also encouraging the participation of our online audience at this event. The backchannel will be coming to the forefront for this unique event.

Windows To The World will be broadcast out to virtual participants through uStream at the following URL:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/windows-to-the-world

In addition, Twitter users are asked to tag their tweets with #wttw so that we can monitor backchannel conversations.

Please join ManACE for Windows To The World :-)
April 15th
7-9pm CST

Windows To The World - An open invitation...

Adapted from: 'BCE Toronto' - http://www.flickr.com/photos/7578081@N07/2409088184

Over the last couple of years, ManACE has organized a variety of forward thinking events. You may have participated in 2007's Manitoba Edubloggercon. Or you may have heard about the innovative approach that we took with presenting 2008's Awakening Possibilities. These events were all about bringing together educators from around the province of Manitoba (and around the world) to showcase some of the many talents that exist in the vast region of Canada where we are situated.

Enter 'Windows To The World'. This event aims to throw the windows open a little wider in an effort to connect with more people in even more meaningful ways. Windows To The World will provide a greater opportunity for face to face networking with educators from around the province. For participants in the room, there will be opportunities to connect and collaborate with the other like-minded educators who are in attendance.

In addition to bringing people together, we'll turn our own walls into windows by sharing what we're doing with other educators from around the world. Using a variety of video conferencing tools and techniques, many distinguished guests will join us throughout the evening. We will have an opportunity to ask questions, highlight successful collaborative projects and connect with our own circle of experts by showcasing the benefits of being a connected learner. We will also broadcast the live video feed from this event out to our global audience, to facilitate increased virtual participation.
If you plan to be in or around Manitoba the evening of April 15th, we hope that you'll consider joining us in person for 'Windows To The World'. If you'll be in another province, country or continent, we hope that you'll join us online for this event to help us demonstrate the power of networked learning.

There is no cost to participate in Windows To The World. Everyone is welcome to attend, and refreshments will be provided for participants in this event. Virtual participants --> BYOB :-)

Register to attend this event in person by emailing: andy@mckiel.ca

Please help ManACE spread the word about Windows To The World by posting, printing and sharing this open invitation:

WindowsToTheWorld.pdf

We look forward to having you join us for Windows To The World :-)

As always, please feel free to leave us a note,
Andy

Another Page in The Book

Thank you to everyone who came out last week for another very successful ManACE TIN!
And a special thanks to all of our presenters!

Phil Taylor demonstrated the many ways that he's been using Diigo to further develop his own personal learning network. Not only does he love Diigo's ability to share bookmarks with other educators, he regularly annotates websites to share information with his students and he subscribes to many different groups within Diigo to ensure that relevent web content is dropped off in his mailbox on a daily basis :-)

Shawn Kleebaum demonstrated Google Apps, and showcased how his school has been using many of the applications that Google offers free for educators. Not only did he share some great content about Google Apps, but his presentation was delivered using Prezi, a new online presentation tool that is currently accepting beta testers. If you haven't yet had the opportunity to experience Prezi, you should check out their site and consider subscribing for your own account.

The final presenter of the evening was Steve Dudar, who shared MARVIN. Steve demonstrated some of the many ways that MARVIN avatars can be programmed to add a variety of media to any desktop application. MARVIN utilizes a simple scripting language, so that users of all ages can easily adapt their avatars' voices and languages. If you're interested in finding out more about getting started with MARVIN, stay tuned to this blog to find out more upcoming training events...

To cap off the evening, Andy McKiel offered a quick demonstration of GE's Smart Grid. If you haven't yet seen the Smart Grid in action, you should check it out :-)

We're almost ready to release the details of our next event, 'Windows To The World'. This event will be a follow-up to the 2007 Manitoba Edubloggercon and 2008's Awakening Possibilities. Mark your calendar for the evening of April 15th, as this is one event you won't want to miss. Also, if you're not already subscribed to the ManACE blog, simply click the link below the ClustrMap on the right to make sure that you get updates about future ManACE events :-)

Please feel free to leave us a note,
Andy

ManACE March TIN: The Next Steps...

Please join us on March 11th, 2009:
3 sessions + dinner = $5
Why not?

Diigo - Develop / Expand your PLN
Presented by: Phil Taylor
Did you miss 'Getting Connected' at the end of January? John Evans & Andy McKiel, hosted a wonderful hands-on session on two social networking tools, Twitter & Diigo. This TIN session will explore some of the powerful features of Diigo from a new user perspective. Diigo is an exciting social bookmarking tool to develop/expand your presonal learning network. Diigo offers two services in one: a research and collaborative research, and a knowledge tool with a focus on sharing community and social content.

Google Apps Education Edition
Presented by: Shawn Kleebaum
Ask not what you can do for Google but what Google Apps can do for you! Google Apps Education Edition offers free communication, collaboration and publishing tools, including email accounts on your school's domain. Google Apps Education Edition includes Start Page, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Sites, and Google Docs. You can select any combination of the available tools and services and customise them with your school's logo, colour scheme and content. Manage your users through a web-based control panel. Best of all, it's all hosted by Google, so there's no hardware or software to download, install or maintain. This session will demonstrate the benefits of getting started with Google Apps Education Edition.

MARVIN - Bringing Your Stories To Life
Presented by: Steve Dudar
Marvin is an award winning training, education and presentation authoring application using 3D Avatars to communicate important information and stories to audiences. Marvin uses a multi-sensory approach, integrating real voice, computer generated voice, written text, images, video and PowerPoint presentations to quickly create presentations that reflect cultural, lingual and social attributes of the audience. This demonstration will show how easy it is to create basic Marvin scripts, change the language and the character in order to customize the message for the audience.

When?
Wednesday, March 11th @ 5:30 p.m.

Where?
Ecole Robert H. Smith
315 Oak Street, Winnipeg
*click here for the location and directions*

Cost?
$5.00, to cover the cost of dinner (pizza and salad)

How do I register?
E-mail: andy@mckiel.ca
*please register ASAP so that we can plan accordingly*

We hope to see you at our upcoming TIN :-)

Upcoming Events...

It's a busy time of the year, with many technology workshops and conferences taking place across the province. We're just a week away from Minnedosa's annual BYTE Conference, and there are several other major conferences on the horizon, including Riding The Wave (in Gimli) and the MaDLAT Conference (in Winnipeg).

ManACE is pleased to offer a host of workshops and sessions throughout the next few months. Mark your calendars for our next Winnipeg TIN, taking place the evening of March 11th. Details about the presentations will follow before the end of February. ManACE is also planning to host a second March TIN in Brandon. Details will be posted here to the blog and distributed through the ManACE mailing list when available. If you're not currently subscribed to our mailing list, you can sign up for our mailing list now :-)

Thanks to the positive response to our 'Getting Connected' event held at the end of January, ManACE is planning a series of follow-up events to assist Manitoba educators with continuing the journey of getting connected with their own professional learning networks. Participants in our January 29th event found the focused play time with Twitter and Diigo to be very useful in beginning the journey to get connected to like-minded educators. Visit the wiki that was used for our session to access some of the resources that were shared.

Another opportunity worth noting is the upcoming 'Game On Manitoba' conference. Click on the following link to view and share a .pdf with details of this event:

Game%3Dbased%20Learning%20and%20Simulations.pdf

Lastly, the Board of ManACE is working toward offering several 'Winter Workshops' (...or Spring Workshops) this year. If you have any suggestions for topics that you'd like to see included, please feel free to share them through comments to this blog post :-)

Feel free to leave us a note,
Andy

'Getting Connected'

Photo credit - Get Connected - http://franksblog.edublogs.org/2009/01/16/get-connected/

Getting Connected

What does it mean to have your own professional learning network?
How can you start building your own circle of experts?
Find out what it takes by 'Getting Connected'...

Getting Connected takes place 6:30pm - 7:30pm on January 29th in M.E.C.Y.'s Professional Learning Lab (1567 Dublin, Winnipeg).

Your hosts, John Evans & Andy McKiel, will show you how easy it is to get connected with other like-minded educators. Participants will be introduced to two social networking tools (Twitter & Diigo) that will help you get connected. There is no cost to attend this event, but registration is limited to 30 participants. Everyone who participates is guaranteed to get connected.

Please register early to avoid disappointment.

E-mail andy@mckiel.ca to register...

Fun & Games @ our January TIN

Created with the Big Huge Labs' Motivational Poster Flickr Toy...

Image: 'Alan and Susanna' - www.flickr.com/photos/71401076@N00/3101300945

On behalf of the ManACE Board, I'd like to thank all those educators who participated in our recent Technology Information Night (TIN) held in M.E.C.Y.'s Professional Learning Lab. We appreciate your willingness to brave such extreme elements for the opportunity to share ideas and resources with like-minded educators from around the province.

And the pizza was good, too :-)

Over the last couple of years, ManACE has been looking at ways that we can find a larger audience for professional learning opportunities we provide. One result of this is that we've begun to archive content from our TIN presentations so that those who aren't able to attend in person can still review some of the relevent information. Please visit the 'Technology Nights' page on the ManACE website to find out what you've missed from previous TIN events...

In addition to sharing these resources, we'd like to make some content available through the ManACE Memos blog as well. So, feel free to click on the link below to view a click-able slide show from my 'Into The Atmosphir' presentation about the role of video games in the classroom:

Into The Atmosphir
(BTW, you can right click this link to download and share the slideshow)

For more information about the 'Girls in Gaming' program that was shared by Reyn Redekopp, check out the Girls in Gaming blog.

And if you're looking for a variety of tools that your students can use to manipulate digital images to create content, check out the Flickr Toys & More page of John Evans' wiki for examples and links to all of the resources that he shared during his hands-on presentation.

If you missed this Winnipeg TIN, mark your calendars for the next Winnipeg TIN event, taking place the evening of Wednesday, March 13th, 2009. More details will follow in the coming weeks.

Lastly, mark your calendars for January 29th. Within the next couple of days, you can check back here to find details of our next ManACE sponsored event - Getting Connected...

Please feel free to leave us a note :-)
Andy

January 13th TIN: Fun & Games

ManACE TIN Night: Fun & Games
Please join us on January 13th, 2009:
3 sessions + dinner = $5
Why not?

Girls In Gaming
Presented by: Reyn Redekopp
Girls in Gaming is currently a Technical-Vocational Demonstration Project designed to inform girls about the gaming and new media careers in Manitoba (and beyond). It grew out of a MindSet project and now incorporates both a rural and Winnipeg component. Schools are invited to send teams of up to five girls to the sessions which include art, story, game design and programming. Currently we have twelve schools and approximately 40 girls involved and have received great support from the new media community in Manitoba.

Into The Atmosphir
Presented by: Andy McKiel
There is a growing body of research that merits the use of video games in the classroom. This session will highlight some of the ways that educators are using video games to engage their students. Playing video games nurtures critical thinking and problem-solving skills in your students. However, designing video and sharing games is an excellent way to encourage collaboration and communication among students. Find out how you can take advantage of Atmosphir in your classroom. This free and easy video game design platform will have your students instantly hooked on designing their own unique video games.

Flickr Toys & More
Presented by: John Evans
This hands-on session will walk participants through a number of engaging activities that can be used to create original content with digital photographs. Many teachers are beginning to embrace different forms of digital storytelling, and this session will introduce many creative and simple ways that you and your students can share your stories through photo activities. If you're looking for original ways to publish some of the photos captured in your classroom, you won't want to miss this session!

When?
Tuesday, January 13th @ 5:30 p.m.

Where?
Manitoba Education Citizenship & Youth
1567 Dublin Avenue, Winnipeg
Professional Learning Lab
*information about parking will be e-mailed to registered participants on Monday, January 12th*

Cost?
$5.00, to cover the cost of dinner (pizza and salad)

How do I register?
E-mail: andy@mckiel.ca
*please register ASAP so that we can plan accordingly*

We hope to see you at our upcoming TIN :-)