Joining Lynn and Stephen are: Susan Ibach (Amazon Future Engineer, Canada), Martha Jez and Bushra Ul Hack (Fair Chance Learning), and Chris Tucker (OCTE, Curriculum Consultant YRDSB).
Ontario Educators are invited to register their classes for this unique opportunity. Participating ECOO members are eligible for special prize draws for Amazon gift cards and swag.
Si vous n’avez pas encore connu les leçons de coenseignement, nous allons partager une merveilleuse surprise avec vous et vos élèves.
L’OOCÉ entre en partenariat avec Fair Chance Learning (FCL) et avec le projet d’ingénieurs futures d’Amazon* (AFE) pour vous offrir une semaine de sorties éducatives virtuelles pour vous et vos élèves afin d’explorer la technologie des centres de distribution d’Amazon !
Nous sommes ravis de pouvoir vous offrir la chance de voir comment le codage, la pensée computationnelle, les algorithmes, l’apprentissage automatique et l’ingénierie sont appliqués dans la vie quotidienne. Vous sortirez de cette expérience en disant “Wow, je ne le savais pas !”. – plusieurs fois ! 🙂
Vous êtes invité à inscrire votre classe à l’un des cours de visite virtuelle GRATUITS qui auront lieu pendant la semaine du 17 au 21 mai 2021. Il y a huit périodes de temps disponibles et vous recevrez des liens permettant à vos élèves de participer à la visite, qu’ils soient avec vous ou non. Vous remarquerez que vous pouvez vous inscrire en dehors de la semaine du 17 au 21 mai, mais ce sont les seules dates qui ont des prix spéciaux pour les membres de l’OOCÉ. (La sortie virtuelle sur le terrain avec le projet d’ingénieurs d’Amazon pour nos salles de classe francophones se déroulera au centre de distribution en France avec des guides et des ingénieurs français. Surveillez les mises à jour plus tard ce mois-ci!)
Une trousse de l’enseignant a été créée pour vous aider à établir des liens entre la visite et le programme cadre. On encourage les élèves à poser des questions aux experts en ingénierie et à répondre aux questions posées par les guides tout au long de la visite.
Consultez la trousse de l’enseignant, qui contient des liens avec le programme cadre et des activités de suivi!
Mais ce n’est pas tout !
Rappelez-vous que nous avons mentionné les prix? Tout au long de la semaine, les membres de l’OOCÉ participeront à TROIS, comptez-les, trois prix de présence tirés au sort pour gagner des cadeaux d’Amazon et du FCL. Si vous avez besoin de motivation pour renouveler ou obtenir votre adhésion à l’OOCÉ, la voici !
Amusez-vous bien, et inscrivez-vous vite ! Conseil d’administration de l’OOCÉ
*Amazon Future Engineer est un programme qui offre un accès équitable à l’enseignement de l’informatique aux jeunes défavorisés et sous-représentés.
If you haven’t experienced co-taught lessons yet, we’re going to let you and your students in on a wonderful surprise.
ECOO is partnering with Fair Chance Learning (FCL) and Amazon Future Engineer Project* (AFE) to provide a week of Virtual Field Trips for you and your students exploring the technology of Amazon’s Fulfillment Centres!
We are thrilled to be able to offer up this opportunity to get an inside look at how coding, computational thinking, algorithms, machine learning and engineering are applied in everyday life. You will come out of this experience saying “Wow. I didn’t know that!” — a whole bunch of times! 🙂
You are invited to register your class for one of the FREE virtual tour lessons to take place during the week of May 17-21, 2021. There are 8 time slots available, and you will receive links for your students to join the tour whether they are with you or not. You’ll notice that you can register outside the week of May 17-21 but these are the only dates that have special prizes for ECOO members.
A Teacher Toolkit for the visit has been created to support you with curriculum connections. Students are encouraged to ask questions of the engineering experts and answer questions posed by the tour guides as the tour takes place.
We have not forgotten about our french educators and their classes either! The Amazon Future Engineer Virtual Field Trip for our francophone classrooms will tour a facility in France with french guides and engineers. Watch for updates later this month!
Remember we mentioned prizes? Throughout the week of May 17-21, participating ECOO members will be entered in THREE, count ‘em, 3 door prize draws for great swag from Amazon and FCL. If you ever needed an incentive to renew or get your ECOO membership, this is it!
Have fun, and register soon! ECOO Board of Directors
*Amazon Future Engineer is a program that provides equitable access to computer science education to underserved and underrepresented youth.
“When MIT researcher, poet and computer scientist Joy Buolamwini (@jovialjoy) uncovers racial and gender bias in AI systems sold by big tech companies, she embarks on a journey alongside pioneering women sounding the alarm about the dangers of unchecked artificial intelligence that impacts us all. Through Joy’s transformation from scientist to steadfast advocate and the stories of everyday people experiencing technical harms, Coded Bias sheds light on the threats A.I. poses to civil rights and democracy.”
I had the opportunity to see Shalini Kantayya‘s (@shalinikantayya) film Coded Bias last fall as part of a screening for a group of work colleagues. You may recall the film “The Social Dilemma” that was the topic of conversation last year? ECOO had hoped to arrange a showing of Coded Bias at the time to complement the discussion that was taking place, but the broader distribution/release of the film was still being finalized. Shortly thereafter, in December, there was also the story in the media regarding Timnit Gebru (@timnitGebru), formerly of Google’s Ethical Artificial Intelligence Team, and the circumstances under which she had recently left the company. Timnit was a researcher who contributed to the making of this film.
As it would turn out, the Coded Bias will be receiving wide release starting tomorrow, Monday, April 5th, via Netflix — and so we wanted to bring everyone’s attention to the fact in the hopes that ECOO members and Ontario Educators will take the opportunity to view the film and consider the implications.
With the increasing adoption of AI in so many areas from basic web search results to movie recommendations to news stories and social media views — the importance in understanding the potential for intentional or unintentional bias in AI is paramount. Coded Bias raises this issue head on, and provides an awakening experience into how we need to shape the adoption of these technologies to support everyone fairly and equitably.
Computational Thinking: What is it Really and Why Should We Care?
Panelists: Artemis Papert, Brian Silverman, Cynthia Solomon, Lynda Colgan
Moderators: Brenda Sherry, Peter Skillen
We’re hearing a lot about computational thinking. What is it exactly? Where did it come from? How might it be different from other kinds of thinking? Why should we care? Reflect on the origins of this work along with pioneers in the field: Dr. Cynthia Solomon—the co-creator of LOGO (the first programming language developed for children); Artemis Papert—artist and co-creator of Turtle Art; Brian Silverman—computer scientist and ‘coder’ of many of the world’s most famous versions of LOGO; Dr. Lynda Colgan—mathematics professor at Queen’s University and a LOGO programming trailblazer.
Speaker bios for the 4 panelists and 2 moderators are provided in the slider below:
Artemis Papert
Artemis Papert is an artist creating art in both traditional, mainly acrylic and pastel, and digital media, using code as the medium. After a first career as a research biologist she retrained in the healing art of shiatsu. With an interest in dream and fairy tale interpretation and as a lifelong learner, she is currently training to become a Jungian psychoanalyst. Artemis has led TurtleArt workshops for a wide variety of groups in many countries.
Brian Silverman
Since the late 1970s, Brian Silverman has been involved in the invention of learning environments for children. His work includes dozens of LOGO versions (including LogoWriter & MicroWorlds), Scratch, LEGO® robotics,TurtleArt, the PicoCricket, and the Phantom Fish Tank. Brian has been a Visiting Scientist at the MIT Media Lab, enjoys recreational math, and is a computer scientist and master tinkerer. He once even built a tic-tac-toe playing computer out of TinkerToys.
Lynda Colgan
Dr. Lynda Colgan has been a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) educator for almost four decades, and is in the unique position of having taught STEM subjects formally in all panels: Elementary (Kindergarten to Grade 6), Middle School (Grades 7 – 8), Secondary (Grades 9 – 12) and Post-Secondary (Undergraduate and Graduate), and informally through the worldwide web, television, children’s literature and public education events.
Her research over the last 22 years has been in STEM knowledge mobilization: supporting pre-service, in-service teachers and administrators in their efforts to implement mathematics curriculum through front-line mentoring, the development of shared on-line repositories, and extensive resource development. Her most recent project is called The Roots of Coding—a collection of sensorimotor tasks to promote computational thinking in K-Gr 1 children. The activities are designed to nurture children’s learning through their senses (e.g., touching the faces of a rectangular prism) and actions (e.g., filling in shape outlines with pattern blocks). The activities encourage children to reflect on and talk about what they are doing and why. Children are asked to produce drawings and diagrams as they work to record these tasks, and teachers are urged to use the children’s artifacts to engage them in discussions about their thinking processes and procedural strategies.
Cynthia Solomon
Cynthia Solomon is an American computer scientist known for her work in artificial intelligence and popularizing computer science for students. She is a pioneer in the fields of artificial intelligence, computer science, and educational computing.
While working as a researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cynthia took it upon herself to understand and program in the programming language Lisp. As she began learning this language she realized the need for a programming language that was more accessible and understandable for children. Throughout her research studies in education, Dr. Solomon worked full-time as a computer teacher in elementary and secondary schools. Her work has mainly focused on research on human-computer interaction and children as designers. She created the first programming language for children, Logo, along with Wally Feurzeig and Seymour Papert. Logo was created to teach concepts of programming related to Lisp.
Cynthia worked on the program committee of Constructing Modern Knowledge and the Marvin Minsky Institute on Artificial Intelligence in 2016. She has published many writings based on research in the field of child education and technology in the classroom, and has conducted workshops on Academic research and writing at all levels of education. She continues to contribute to the field by speaking at conferences and working with the One Laptop Per Child Foundation.
Brenda Sherry
Brenda is an Ontario educator interested in engaging and empowering students using constructivist learning environments that bring learning and technology together in powerful ways. She has 32 years experience in public education as a teacher, instructional coach, vice-principal and Education Officer with the Ontario Ministry of Education’s 21st Century Learning Unit.
Brenda serves a global community through educational consulting with organizations in need of coaching, facilitated professional learning, learner-focused curricular programming, instructional design, and strategic planning. Her most recent projects include working with Taking IT Global in the federally funded CanCodeCode To Learn Project, as well as Connected North and Girls Who Game, a Minecraft partnership between Microsoft, Dell and Advanced Learning Partnership that empowers girls to explore STEM activities and the possibilities of careers in STEM.
Peter Skillen is currently Curriculum & Project Leader for CanCodeToLearn—a federally funded Taking IT Global project that introduces computational thinking and coding to educators and students Canada-wide. His particular passion is to ‘draw’ students into ‘being mathematicians’ through the use of turtle graphics—an artistic aspect of the coding platform he has helped develop. He is a member of the Lynx Coding design team. He has been coding with kids and teachers since 1977.
Peter, an Ontario educator, has been involved in technology supported, project-based learning since the late 1970s, has traveled and spoken extensively in many countries and continues to explore and support knowledge-building environments for students and teachers.
A longtime member of theEducational Computing Organization of Ontario (ECOO), Peter has served in many leadership roles since 1980. He has received two awards fromISTE (International Society for Technology in Education)—the more recent being the Making IT Happen award.
As we look towards the 2020-2021 school year, the only guarantee that we have is that it will look different. We have an opportunity to think about ways in which we can harness the power of educational technology to nurture change in our own learning and well-being, and that of our students.
This year’s province-wide ECOOcamp Ontario in August offers virtual professional learning designed and delivered for educators by educators, and provides a wonderful opportunity to expand your professional learning network. Our role as educators in our schools and communities charges us with a critical responsibility to help support today’s children as they learn in this challenging time of change and growth.
There is a lot happening this week — full details and links for this week’s online learning opportunities are available in the Upcoming Events section of the website.
We’ve started a new collection here on the ECOO.org site for not-for-profits that support Ontario educators. We’re looking to develop our collection, so please let us know what we can add to the initial list.
A good number of the NFPs that we’ve added here** initially are recipients of the Federal <can code> funding, and as such, they have programming available to support Canadian kids in developing skills in computational thinking, algorithmic literacy, coding, and other ICT endeavours. We’re listing the recipients that operate here in Ontario, but you can check out the full list on the <can code> site as those in other provinces also have resources that might be of interest.
You can browse the growing collection in the Resources section of the site.
Blackboys Code**
Canada Learning Code**
Code to Learn**
Coders North**
Digital Human Library
Elephant Thoughts**
Exploring by the Seat of your Pants
FIRST Robotics Canada**
Hackergal**
Information andCommunications Technology Council**
Kids Code Jeunesse**
Let’s Talk Science**
Media Smarts**
Pinnguac**
Taking IT Global**
The Learning Partnership**
Youth Fusion**
If you are aware of a favourite education not-for-profit that you think should be in our list, please submit it via our suggest a resource form.
Ontario educators have access to a wide range of resources, conference events, and networking opportunities through the many subject, division, and special interest associations. Each organization serves to bring together Ontario educators who share a common education background or teaching focus, spanning all of the various subjects (Languages, Math, Science and Technology, Health and Physical Education, History, Geography, The Arts, Business, Guidance, Computer Science, and more) or divisions (Primary, Junior) or special interests. ECOO is a member of the Curriculum Forum.
Under the coordination of the Ontario Teachers’ Federation, the these organizations come together as the Curriculum Forum, which provides a unique avenue for professional learning and networking opportunities collaboration. The Forum also provides an active and important liaison between the SDAs and the Ministry of Education. The Curriculum Forum is comprised of representatives from the OTF, the four Affiliates (AEFO, ETFO, OECTA, OSSTF) and the over 50 SDAs.
If you’ve not had an opportunity to take a close look at all of the various organizations, check out the new Subject Association section recently added to our new Resources compilation. You can easily navigate to each organizations website for further information. (NOTE: If you click on the ECOO link, you will wind up back here!)
There is so much to learn from engaging with the various associations. Are you working with some newer-to-teaching colleagues who would value the opportunity to connect with some of these groups? Do you know of folks who would benefit from the opportunity to become a member of ECOO? (Membership is free!)
New, practical and fun! The Ontario Teachers’ Federation has just announced the latest series of their OTF Connects webinars, bringing together a selection of Ontario educators to share hands-on distance teaching strategies and approaches to wellbeing.
“Come join us in a relaxed atmosphere as we jump into stories of what has been working for us – or maybe not so much – and what you might want to try out as we navigate these unprecedented times together.”
The organizers of MADPD invite you to join in all weekend long — from the comfort of your home — to learn from and share with educators around the globe.
Every half hour, starting at 8am on Saturday morning, a presenter will populate their MAD (Make A Difference) Video to the “Viewer’s Guide”. They will also share their video using the #MADPD Hashtag on Twitter. View the video, engage in a Twitter chat with the presenter, ask questions, share your own ideas and learn.
Continue learning and sharing all weekend long, referring to the “MADPD Viewer’s Guide”while following along and engaging in conversation on Twitter using #MADPD.
Sessions run every half hour each day starting at 8 am through to 9 pm — that makes for 25 x 2 –> 50 different learning opportunities over one weekend! Check out the Viewer’s Guide and get ready to engage this weekend.
Although we may be under a shelter-at-home at the moment and unable to get together face-to-face, there are still a lot of wonderful opportunities for good learning online. Today we invite you to check out the growing collection of Upcoming Events.
Just this past weekend the #DigCitTO event moved from in-person to virtual, and welcomed a huge gathering of educators online in both YouTube live and Zoom. Look for the recordings for the various sessions to appear in a new resource section later this week.
Bonnie Stewart, Dave Cormier, and Nick Baker from UWindsor recently hosted 3 sessions to assist K12 educators in moving online. As follow-up, they are hosting weekly drop-in sessions on Tuesday afternoons at 3:15 pm ET for the next 5 weeks. Check out the links in the upcoming events to the #OTT20 Online Teaching Tuesday sessions.
Also featured are coding series from CanCodeToLearn and Hackergal, as well as other exciting opportunities, including the recently announced OAME 2020 Virtual Conference, taking place from May 6-9. Links to register and/to join are included for all events.
If you are hosting an event for Ontario Educators or learners that we can help you promote, please be sure to let us know. We’ve placed a convenient link to submit items at the bottom of the Upcoming Events page. Just this afternoon we had two entries come in via the form, and they’ll be posted shortly!
Three online learning specialists (Bonnie Stewart, Nick Baker, Dave Cormier) from the University of Windsor are offering a series of free webinars to help Ontario elementary and high school teachers lead lessons from home. Recordings from the completed webinars are now provided below.
The series of three open webinars starts this Thursday. The second and third webinars will feature panelists from across the province, including members of the local teaching community.
Session #1: Simple, Equitable, Engaging – Thursday, April 16, 2pm EDT
With: Bonnie Stewart, Nick Baker, Dave Cormier
Session #2: Elementary Educators – Monday, April 20, 2pm EDT
With: panelists Fouada Hamzeh, Zoe Branigan-Pipe, Peter Cameron, Bonnie Stewart, Nick Baker, Dave Cormier
Session #3: High School Educators – Wednesday, April 22, 2pm EDT With: panelists Beyhan Farhadi, Bonnie Stewart, Nick Baker, Dave Cormier
Teachers who tune in live to the Zoom webinars will be able use the platform’s chat function to ask questions. The sessions will also be recorded and shared openly across Ontario.
Each session is limited to 500 teachers.
The webinars are the latest UWindsor resource for teaching children learning from home. Through the Faculty of Education’s Open Page, Bonnie Stewart has also developed the #UWinToolParade, a series of videos and podcasts reviewing a variety of platforms for online learning. Originally intended for educators, the videos appeal to parents, too, as families are staying home to combat the spread of COVID-19.
ECOO is pleased to announce the formation of a new special interest group (SIG) for Coding for Girls (SIG-C4G). The group is open to ECOO members who are interested in meeting to support and promote opportunities for girls coding within, and beyond, Ontario’s education system.
This ECOO initiative will be supported by Tim King, coach of Ontario’s Terabytches girls cybersecurity national top female team, 3 time national CyberTitan finalist coach and 2 times Skills Ontario IT & Networking champion coach. Tim was the recipient of the 2019 ECOO/ISTE Making IT Happen award for his efforts and accomplishments in education technology advocacy, coding, cybersecurity, and his leadership as an ICTC ICT Champion teacher.
In its initial implementation, SIG-C4G will be supported by a Google Group/Mailing List. ECOO members interested in joining should indicate their interest. Not an ECOO member? ECOO membership for 2019-20 is free. Join Today!
Technology and social media are a part of the fabric of our daily lives. And now, with so many teachers moving to virtual learning, digital citizenship is even more important!
We know you are overwhelmed.
We know you have questions. Many questions.
We want to have a conversation about digital citizenship with you. Our goal is to intentionally and explicitly bringing conversations about how we can engage with each other meaningfully and positively in online spaces.
Join us on a April 18 for a virtual digcit meet up! Visit digcit.ca or @digcitTO on twitter for more details.
#PiCademy is coming to Toronto, Canada this August!
PiCademy is the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s free face-to-face professional development programme that supports educators throughout their digital making and computing journey. This two-day training event is held at venues around the UK and North America.
Educators are invited to apply to attend one of two sessions to be held during the week of August 12th-16th in Toronto, Ontario. One cohort will attend Monday/Tuesday, and a second will attend Thursday/Friday. After graduating from Picademy, attendees become Raspberry Pi Certified Educators and join an active network of educators around the world.
Hello, world! Brian Aspinall here with some exciting news!
I am really honoured to be instructing the IICT online AQ courses with York University again this Spring! For those of you not familiar with the acronym – Integration of Information and Computer Technology. That’s right! Technology in the classroom! And these courses begin April 2 and end before summer break!
It doesn’t matter what subjects you teach or even grade level. It doesn’t matter your level of expertise or even your comfort zone! Level up your learning with us this Spring and join our cohort of individuals with different skills, experiences and expertise! Maybe you wish to learn about green screens, makerspace, coding and other STEAM tools? Maybe you wish to try digitizing a markbook or exploring Google Classroom? Whatever the case, we offer flexibility to suit your needs with this self-paced experience!