P.S. Watch for the launch of the Schools of the Future Challenge Coming Soon!

Robert Martellacci, M.A. EdTech
President, MindShare Learning Technology™
Chief Digital Publisher, The MindShare Learning Report™
Founder, MindShare Workspace
CEO & Co-founder, C21 Canada™

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https://mindsharelearning.ca/

 There are significant gaps on Wikipedia when it comes to information about Black history in Canada – a problem since the collaborative online encyclopedia is a familiar entry point for many Canadians doing research on a topic.

It’s an issue that a group of University of Toronto information professionals hoped to address by co-hosting the university’s first Black History Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon earlier this month.

“In my own undergraduate education background, I realized that so much of my immediate knowledge of Black history was informed by an American context,” says Alex Jung, an open technology specialist with U of T and a former Wikipedian-in-Residence at U of T Libraries.

“For somebody that’s pretty new to Canada, or more specifically Toronto, the different nuances here – the very evident Afro-Caribbean communities, the African-diaspora communities – there’s a lot to learn, and there have been so few opportunities to focus on them.”

  

 

tricitynews.com: February 10, 2020 

A small piece of the four Oscars won Sunday night by the Korean film Parasite was forged in the Tri-Cities

Choi Woo-shik, the 29-year-old actor who plays the grifting son of a struggling Korean family that uses his avocation as an English tutor to infiltrate a wealthy household with bizarrely tragic consequences, grew up in Coquitlam. His family immigrated to the Tri-Cities from Korea when he was 10 years old and he graduated from Pinetree secondary school in 2008.

 

newswire.ca: February 12, 2020 

TORONTO, Feb. 12, 2020 /CNW/ - Lingo Media Corporation (TSX-V: LM; OTCQB: LMDCF) ("Lingo Media" or the "Company"), an EdTech company that is ' Changing the way the world learns English' through innovative online and print-based technologies and solutions, is pleased to announce that its subsidiary, ELL Technologies Ltd. ("ELL Technologies") has signed an agreement to license its interactive English language learning solution entitled English for Success ("EFS") to Liberty  University.

Liberty University is one of the largest private, non-profit universities in the United States and one of the largest Christian universities in the world. Liberty attracts students from around the world and currently hosts approximately 700 international students from 70 countries at its campus in Lynchburg, VA. Including its online programs, Liberty serves more than 100,000 students. English proficiency is a challenge and a critical success factor for many Liberty students.

Universities have no choice but to reimagine and reinvent themselves, if they do not want to be overwhelmed by the winds of change, says Mr Hamoon Ekhtiari.

The founder of Toronto-based Audacious Futures, a consultancy that forecasts future trends and comes up with solutions, says universities and policymakers have to be bold and even "audacious" in how they respond to the sweeping changes in how students learn and how they will work.

He foresees a future where there will be a more varied and larger higher education ecosystem that students will learn from.

macleans.ca, February 5, 2020

The college’s Centre for Aerospace and Aviation at Downsview Park is an ambitious bet on Canada’s aerospace sector

This article appears in print in the Maclean’s 2020 Canadian Colleges Guidebook  with the headline, “Come land a job.” Subscribe to the monthly print magazine here.

A labour shortage looms over Canada’s aviation industry—by 2025, the sector is expected to see a deficit of 3,000 pilots and 55,000 aircraft workers, such as engineers and technicians. Top aviation officials said last year at a forum in Ottawa that if Canadians don’t fill the gap, jobs will move offshore. Fortunately, Centennial College has come on stream with an ambitious project.

bbc.com, February 10, 2020

 

If we can quantify the value of each educational opportunity, can that data help map a pathway for building the skills needed to succeed? One company is looking into it.

To prosper in an era of technological disruption we’re told we need to become lifelong learners, and to nurture skills like creativity, adaptability and emotional intelligence. But there’s often little guidance on how to do this; navigating the bewildering array of educational options at our fingertips can be a daunting task.

analyticsinsight.net: February 11, 2020

The accelerating advancements in facial recognition have resulted in its adoption at various touchpoints. However, each of its adoptions has faced its own course of criticism yet the technology is not backing off from its innovative forward march.

The most recent debate regarding facial recognition is over its adoption in schools.

For years, the Denver public school system worked with Video Insight, a Houston-based video management software company that centralized the storage of video footage used across its campuses. So when Panasonic acquired Video Insight, school officials simply transferred the job of updating and expanding their security system to the Japanese electronics giant. That meant new digital HD cameras and access to more powerful analytics software, including Panasonic’s facial recognition, a tool the public school system’s safety department is now exploring.

macleans.ca:  February 4, 2020

In an assignment for his electrical technology lab at Ontario’s Mohawk College, second-year diploma student Mohamed Awaiskhan Pathan made a big mistake. While working on the instrumentation and controls of a complicated water pressure system—the kind used in oil refineries and water treatment plants—he turned the wrong valve. 

Water flooded onto the floor, causing what would have been a costly mess. No clean-up was required, however, because Pathan’s experience was simulated. He was wearing an augmented reality headset that digitally conveyed the sights, sounds and dangers of a seemingly real-life situation.

9.  Minecraft video game set to become staple of Yukon classrooms

cbc.ca: February 9, 2020 

Yukon educators have been asking to use the version adapted for education purposes

The video game Minecraft is one of the tools Yukon teachers can now use in their classrooms.

Microsoft has adapted a version of the game for education purposes. Teachers received training on it last Wednesday and Thursday.

Spending on Alberta schools is rising too fast. It’s also somewhat unpredictable, a major headache for school administrators.

To fix these two problems, Alberta Education has come up with sweeping changes to the way school boards and students will be funded.

The main driver for change is the need to freeze operational spending on education, which right now is at $8.23 billion per year. In the past 15 years, there’s been an 80 per cent increase in operational spending in education, said Education Minister Adriana LaGrange. At the same time, the student population has grown just 25 per cent and inflation has risen just 33 per cent.

This kind of spending growth over inflation and student population growth isn’t sustainable, LaGrange says.

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