OHASSTA, York U, and Lakehead embark on a Professional Development
eLearning Experiment.
Critical Thinking Summer Institute to be conducted with the
cutting edge of digital technology
From the bulk of things OHASSTA has done you
would think that everything evolves around Toronto. The annual
conference
seems to be rooted in Toronto. The professional development
provided by OHASSTA forces travel to Toronto. It seems the
universe revolves around Toronto.
OHASSTA’s
executive would like to change that perception and is actively
seeking
ways to reach out of the rest of the province. The website
(www.ohassta.org) was created in order to share resources
and insights from the annual conference. Within the website
are materials prepared by teachers from around Ontario
with links
to provincial, national and global resources. But this
is just the beginning. In terms of outreach OHASSTA is
now embarking
on an experiment that is at the cutting edge of technology
and professional development. In an attempt to reach
out to areas that OHASSTA has not fully served in the past,
OHASSTA’s
Critical Thinking Summer Institute (Aug 18/19) will be
happening in two locations at once.
Using
the “big pipe” offered by broadband technology
and The Advanced Broadband Enabled Learning Project (ABEL)
at York University and comparable facilities at Lakehead University,
OHASSTA wants to help teachers incorporate Critical Thinking
in their course of studies; to tweak the existing courses with
critical challenges. How do we bring critical literacy to our
subject areas?
This is the major focus of the Critical Thinking Summer Institute.
As the plenary speakers are presenting at York, they will also
be video conferencing with Thunder Bay. Garfield and Laura
Gini-Newman will be conducting the general session at York
while Prof Don Kerr at Lakehead will facilitate in Thunder
Bay. From the general forum each site will go to break out
sessions at their specific location. In the break out sessions
both locations will work on problems specific to their program
needs and then will come back together as a whole via video
conference.
Broadband Technology will allow the two sites to connect at
once without major travel expense. Some teachers in some of
the more remote northern locations on Orion could even stay
at their school and dial into the summer institute. This approach
to professional development has not been attempted before in
Canada. What the goal is to provide PD for teachers in North
West and Central Ontario at the same time. To share in the
same group of expertise and experience and only have to travel
a limited distance. This is a unique opportunity for teachers
in Northwestern Ontario and Central Ontario to share in PD
together using the latest in digital equipment; a unique professional
development experience for everyone. We have the potential
to connect all of Ontario.
For
more information contact critical.thinking@ohassta.org
Click here to return to the Critical Thinking
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