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Top 10 Issue #225, March 29, 2019
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Dear Thought Leader,
Welcome to
This Week in Canadian EdTech Top 10 brought to you by the MindShare Report.
Perhaps this week should have been billed, 'Startup Week' as I had the good fortunate of being immersed with youthful EdTech startups at Ryerson DMZ exploring U.S. market expansion, followed by the Mississauga Startup Challenge Grand Finale; culminating with my afternoon yesterday at iCube University of Toronto Mississauga, as a member of the advisory board observing some impressive pitches by its members.
I was fascinated to see two teams of startups made up of high school students as young as 15 years old! We are definitely living in different times, where our leaders of tomorrow want to make a difference, taking their own initiative exploring ways to make the world a better place. Creativity, I heard on a radio report this morning, is considered to be one of the key skills of the future. I would hypothesis problem solving skills would also rank extremely high on the list. Yet we struggle to help prepare our youth for the jobs of tomorrow in high school as is illuminated by a recent report shared in this issue by People for Education. In one of my sessions this week, Career Counsellors identified their need for more professional development to better understand the vital role they play and key industry trends and insights, in order to better guide and support students in their life choices.
As I reflect of the past week's events, it proved to be excellent preparation for my upcoming conference in Portland!
I'm excited to be preparing to head off very early tomorrow to the CoSN Annual Conference and the Global Symposium on Learning 2030: Preparing Students for the 4th Industrial Revolution. I'm looking forward to exploring a partnership between CoSN and C21 Canada.
As this marks the final day to enter our Classroom of the Future Challenge. It's not too later to enter as the deadline is midnight PST! Good luck to our entrants! And special thanks to our sponsors!
We hope you enjoy this week's edition of This Week in Canadian EdTech Top10! Thanks for inspiring us to raise the bar with every issue we publish! Don't forget to send us your comments, news stories and upcoming events!
Until next time, keep the digital learning curve steep!
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P.S. Be sure to checkout our Featured Podcast of the Week: Best Selling Author and Candian Educator, Armand Doucet on his soon to be released book:
Teaching Life Our Calling, Our Choice, Our Challenges
Robert Martellacci, M.A. EdTech
President, MindShare Learning Technology™
Chief Digital Publisher, The MindShare Learning Report™
Co-founder & President C21 Canada™
Follow us on Twitter @MindShareLearn
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Featured Podcast of the Week: Best Selling Author and Candian Educator, Armand Doucet on his soon to be released book:
Teaching Life Our Calling, Our Choice, Our Challenges
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Armand is A passionate, Global Teacher Prize Top 50 Nominee 2017 and award-winning Educator, Leader and Business Professional with a unique combination of entrepreneurial, teaching and motivational speaking experience. Armand has reached millions in education keynoting on 4 continents. |
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This Week in Canadian EdTech
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Robert Martellacci, Founder & Chief Digital Publisher, MindShare Report and Stephen Hurley, Founder of VoicEd Radio tackle the hot issues of the week in learning & innovation simulcast on VoicEd and twitter (Periscope)
Listen to VoicEd Radio Stream here!
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1. Discussion Boards: Valuable? Overused? Discuss.
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Insidehighered, March 27, 2019 |
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Instructors and students alike are growing tired of the discussion board formula. Innovative approaches point to the potential for more meaningful online learning experiences.
Discussion boards have been a staple of online courses for decades. But Carolyn Speer, manager of instructional design and access at Wichita State University, thinks many instructors default to using them incorrectly.
Instructors often kick off a discussion board assignment by asking each student to respond to an assigned reading. To prevent plagiarism, some learning management systems are set up, either by the platform or by policies of the institution or instructor, to only reveal the full contents of a discussion thread after a student has already posted.
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2. U of T receives $100-million gift for artificial intelligence and biomedicine complex, the school’s largest-ever donation
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The University of Toronto has received its largest-ever donation, a $100-million gift to further the school’s research on artificial intelligence, biomedicine and how new technologies can disrupt and enrich lives.
The donation from the Gerald Schwartz and Heather Reisman Foundation will in part go to a new 750,000-square-foot complex to be built at the northeast corner of College St. and Queen’s Park starting this fall, school president Meric Gertler announced at a Monday news conference.
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3. New report reveals gaps in support for course choices, career and life planning, and guidance
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People for Education, March 26, 2019 |
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A new report from People for Education warns that Ontario may be falling behind at a time when there is growing pressure to prepare students for a rapidly changing, increasingly complex future. It says that the public and policy-makers have a tendency to focus on post-secondary education when it comes to preparing young people for adulthood and jobs, but the work must start in kindergarten
The report, based on survey results from 1254 Ontario schools, calls for improved resources to support students’ career and life planning. It also recommends the end of streaming in grade 9, and a more comprehensive and coherent strategy to ensure that students leave school with the competencies and skills they need to support their success, no matter what their destination after graduation.
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4. What Budget 2019 Got Right For Canadian TECH
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Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau tabled the 2019 Federal Budget on Tuesday, March 19. Overall, it was a positive budget for the Canadian tech industry, with a number of items that have positive short- and long-term implications for our national tech ecosystem. These include:
- Elimination of income thresholds on SR&ED premium tax credits
- $35.2 million over five years (with $7.4 million ongoing) for the Global Talent Stream, to help Canadian tech firms compete for global talent
- $38 million over the next five years to fund a new generation of tech entrepreneurs via
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5. All-female high school team headed to nationwide cyber security competition
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Guelphtoday, March 28, 2019 |
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An all-female cybersecurity team from Centre Wellington District High School is ready to compete at the CyberTitan National finals in Ottawa this spring.
The six-person team, Falcontech Terabytches, was among many teams in the school who participated in several cybersecurity competitions with over 6,300 teams around the world this past year for the CyberPatriot competition from which they emerged victorious.
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6. Mandatory online courses for high school students 'a terrible idea,' expert says
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'The purpose of public education is to promote social cohesion,' says former teacher Beyhan Farhadi
An Ontario government plan to make high school students take four courses online to graduate is a "terrible idea" because it will be very hard on students already struggling, says an e-learning expert.
Beyhan Farhadi, a University of Toronto PhD candidate whose thesis looks at e-learning at the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), said e-learning is not a substitute for classroom instruction.
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7. New online platform brings coding to Canada's Indigenous youth
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collingwoodtoday.ca, March 25, 2019 |
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A new website launched by Elephant Thoughts is contributing to the Indigenization of the digital world.
The new portal, called Coders North serves as an online space to bring together Indigenous digital producers and also as an educational platform highlighting opportunities for Indigenous youth to learn through digital technology.
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8. Government of Canada preparing young Canadians for tomorrow's jobs
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A million more young Canadians will have the opportunity to learn digital skills
MISSISSAUGA, ON, March 26, 2019 /CNW/ - Digital skills like coding and the ability to work with new technologies will be fundamental for most workers in tomorrow's job market, whether they are farmers, computer programmers or floor workers. To prepare the next generation of Canadian workers to succeed in the increasingly global and digital economy, the Government of Canada is providing support to millions of young Canadians looking to improve their digital skills.
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9. Jason Kenney's Education Plan 'Misplaced And Misguided': Alberta Teachers' Association |
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huffingtonpost.ca, March 27, 2019 |
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EDMONTON — United Conservative Leader Jason Kenney is clashing with Alberta's teachers over his party's education election promises that include a renewed emphasis on standardized testing and changes to protections for gay students.
"The priorities in this platform are misplaced and misguided," Alberta Teachers' Association president Greg Jeffery told a news conference Tuesday.
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10. Advancing academia with Wikipedia
University libraries are integrating the massive online encyclopedia into their operations to share their unique resources, improve teaching and learning, and raise their profile.
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University Affairs, March 26, 2019 |
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Wikipedia has generally been dismissed or distrusted by academia. But now in its 18th year, the non-profit, open-access online encyclopedia has grown exponentially to become one of the leading providers of online content, making it difficult for academic institutions to ignore.
One of the first Canadian universities to start engaging with Wikipedia is the University of Victoria. In 2015, it welcomed its first honorary Wikipedian, distinguished semiotics scholar Christian Vandendorpe. In 2017, UVic renewed the two-year position by bringing on board Constance Crompton, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Digital Humanities.
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