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