Inspiration and Innovation in Teaching and Teacher Education
Edge Conference 2009: October 14-16, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada

Invited speakers

Dr. Chris Dede

Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University

Seminar - Emerging Interactive Media: What to Use, When, and How?

Over the past few years, the array of free interactive media for communities to create and share knowledge has greatly expanded. The menu for classroom use now includes writers’ workshops and fanfiction, online discussion forums, wikis, mashups, photo/video sharing, social networking sites, blogs, podcasts, social bookmarking, and collaborative social change sites. This session will present education-related examples of each and interactively discuss how we can use these media for teaching/learning.

Chris Dede is the Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. His fields of scholarship include emerging technologies, policy, and leadership. His funded research includes four grants from NSF and the US Department of Education to explore immersive and semi-immersive simulations as a means of student engagement, learning, and assessment. In 2007, he was honored by Harvard University as an outstanding teacher.

Chris has served as a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Foundations of Educational and Psychological Assessment, a member of the U.S. Department of Education’s Expert Panel on Technology, and International Steering Committee member for the Second International Technology in Education Study. He serves on Advisory Boards and Commissions for PBS TeacherLine, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center, and several federal research grants. His co-edited book, Scaling Up Success: Lessons Learned from Technology-based Educational Improvement, was published by Jossey-Bass in 2005. A second volume he edited, Online Professional Development for Teachers: Emerging Models and Methods, was published by the Harvard Education Press in 2006.

Dr. Vicki Gibson

Chairman and President, Gibson Hasbrouck & Associates, Wellesley, Massachusetts

Special Workshop Session - Differentiating Instruction Means Teaching Differently

Rapid changes are occurring outside of classrooms, yet teaching, as a practice and set of behaviors, has been highly resistant to change from whole class lecture format. Increasing diversity demands we teach differently, or differentiate instruction, to address student variance. Educators report they have not received training that helps them know how to teach differently and ensure instruction is purposeful, meaningful, and specific to student needs. This interactive session provides research-proven effective ways for educators to increase student engagement, include vocabulary and language development, manage grouping for instruction at any level, and provide high quality skills-focused instruction.

Content is based on research and methods summarized in these books:

  • Gibson, V. and Hasbrouck, J. (2008). Differentiated Instruction: Grouping for Success, Vicki Gibson, Ph.D. and Jan Hasbrouck, Ph.D., (2008), ISBN#978-0-07-337849-7, published by McGraw Hill Higher Education, available at www.gha-pd.com.
  • Gibson, V. and Hasbrouck, J. (2009). Differentiating Instruction: Guidelines for Implementation, Modules for professional development and preservice teacher training, Gibson Hasbrouck & Associates, available at www.gha-pd.com.

Experienced at the primary level in public and private education, as well as in higher education, Vicki Gibson has a solid understanding of theoretical models and current research. Vicki is the author of Differentiated Instruction: Grouping for Success, written from the vantage point of more than 30 years of firsthand experience in a variety of classrooms. She developed the suggestions presented in the book while teaching for 10 years in public schools, then implemented them in her own primary schools and also while teaching at Texas A&M University.

The basic framework has been successfully replicated in numerous classrooms providing skills-focused, differentiated instruction for early childhood, elementary and secondary students. The author’s own curriculum, developed for her schools and published as the We Can! Early Childhood Curriculum, embraces the tenets and techniques presented in Differentiated Instruction. Vicki works as a national consultant, teacher trainer and author. She is the president of Longmire Learning Centre, Inc., in College Station, Texas.

Dr. Tim Goddard

Dean of Education, UPEI

The purposive internationalization of teacher education: Engaging educators as active participants within the global community

Teachers span the boundaries of knowledge, influencing the students with whom they work and being influenced by the world from which those students emerge. As we attempt to confront and channel the societal change processes – structural, demographic, socio-cultural and philosophical – which are taking place in 21st century Canada, it is imperative that we do so in a purposive and deliberate manner which engages pre-service teachers as critical citizens within the global community.

Professor Goddard is Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Prince Edward Island. He took up this role in July 2008.

Originally from England, Dr. Goddard has worked as a teacher, principal, superintendent of schools, university professor and consultant in a number of countries and in different places across Canada. Internationally, he has extensive experience in England, Kosovo, Lebanon, Papua New Guinea, Slovenia and Sweden. Within the Canadian context he has lived and worked in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nunavut, Nova Scotia and, now, PEI.

Dr. Goddard’s primary area of research and teaching is educational leadership and administration, broadly defined, with a focus on the role and impact of cultural and demographic change on structural systems within schools, particularly those serving minority and marginalized populations.

Tim is married to Sally, a teacher and curriculum developer.

Dr. Peter Grimmett

Professor and Director, Institute for Studies in Teacher Education, Simon Fraser University

Changing a Profession back to an Occupation: Implications of the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) Policy Framework on Teaching and Teacher Education

This talk explores the impact of the recently negotiated Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) on the professional status of teaching. It begins with a characterization of three periods of teacher education research and policy in North America over the last sixty years to demonstrate how teacher education has moved from an initial emphasis on training and direct instruction through a focus on “learning to teach” to today’s emphasis on policy and outcomes. It also documents how the governance of teacher education has changed through these periods from benign government control in the 1960s through institutional governance in the 1980s and early 1990s to the current state of professional self-regulation in a policy context of de-regulation. It will show how professional self-regulation—whether through accreditation agencies like NCATE or TEAC in the States, or the BC or Ontario Colleges of Teachers in Canada—is a product of the current neo-liberalist policy emphasis on accountability.

In addition, the talk will characterize how the current policy context has fundamentally altered the role of universities in society. Neo-liberalist forces undermine the development of the nation state for which universities previously under liberalism played a central role. The nation state has been supplanted by supranational entities fostering cross-border standardization. The university’s role in society has been transformed into one supporting economic development and global competitiveness, a role that is at odds with the four-century-old relationship between the nation state and the university that supported professional responsibility and self-governance as a form of delegated authority to bodies possessing expertise.

This, then, is the policy context in which the work of teacher education is now situated and to which it must respond. In Canada, the policy context affecting the governance of teacher education has just undergone a further neo-liberalist-influenced change. On December 5, 2008, the Canadian trade ministers approved the AIT. The effect of AIT is to eliminate measures that restrict labour mobility so that anyone holding a valid teaching certificate in one province or territory will be granted a certificate in another province of territory without having to complete any additional examinations, preparation or assessments as part of the certification process. The binding conditions of AIT, under negotiation since July 1995, come into force on April 1, 2009. This has serious implications for teacher education across Canada because AIT requires that inter-provincial recognition be based on occupational standards rather than professional certification. Consequently, it will lead to a diminution of professional standards, if the lowest requirements for professional certification (Ontario has about 40% of the teachers in Canada and the lowest initial certification requirements) become the de facto standard for Canada. Since AIT requires that all provinces accept graduates from other provinces, the result could mean a serious reduction in teacher qualifications across Canada. Such an eventuality holds enormous implications both for the operation and governance of teacher education, and for the teaching profession in and of itself.

Peter P. Grimmett is Professor of Education in the Faculty of Education. A former Associate Dean, he also serves as Director of the Institute for Studies in Teacher Education at Simon Fraser University, and was recently appointed by the BC Cabinet as the BC Deans of Education appointment to the Council of the BC College of Teachers (the professional body that governs teaching and teacher education in the province). He has recently been involved in a five-year Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) -funded $2.5 million Canada-wide study of the impact of public policy decisions on conditions of teaching and learning, completed a review of teacher education program accreditation for the province of Ontario, and given keynote addresses at conferences in Oslo (Norway), Stockholm (Sweden), Lahti, Tampere, and Helsinki (Finland), Tel Aviv (Israel), Llubjana (Slovenia) and Queensland, Australia.

In total, he has published 40 refereed journal articles, written eight books and 38 chapters in books, and in May 2000, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Tampere, Finland, in recognition of his outstanding merits as a researcher and educator in the areas of professional development and teacher education.

Dr. Clare Kosnik

Associate Professor and Head of the Centre for Teacher Education and Development, OISE, University of Toronto

What can student teachers learn? What do they truly need to know as beginning teachers? What can we accomplish in teacher education programs? Establishing priorities for teacher education

Much research on teacher education ends when the students complete the program. In this session, I will report on our longitudinal research on 22 beginning teachers who are now in their 5th year of teaching. Through analysis of the data, we determined 7 priorities for teacher education and induction. Our findings have implications for how to approach teacher education.

Clare Kosnik is Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto and Head of the Centre for Teacher Education and Development. She was recently the Executive Director of the Teachers for a New Era project at Stanford University. She has co-authored the texts, Priorities in teacher education: The 7 key elements of preservice preparation for Routledge and Innovations in preservice teacher education: A social constructivist approach for SUNY Press. She co-edited the Springer texts, Making a difference in teacher education through self-study: Studies of personal, professional, and program renewal and Learning communities in practice. The text, Self-study research methodologies for teacher educators that she co-edited is forthcoming from Sense Publishers. Professor Kosnik recently completed a term as Chair of the Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices Special Interest Group of the American Education Research Association. She continues to use her research to inform her practice as a teacher educator.

Dr. Elizabeth Murphy

Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, Memorial University

Sage without a stage: Learner-centered e-teaching

This session will feature the video-taped perspectives of high-school teachers on learner-centered teaching with web-based tools. Their perspectives are grouped in relation to a set of research-validated, learner-centered principles focused on the context of learning, motivation and developmental and individual differences. The session will provide a brief overview of the principles and contextualize them in relation to curricula in Newfoundland and Labrador and in Canada.

Elizabeth Murphy holds a Ph.D. in Educational Technology and is currently Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education, Memorial University, where she was the recipient of the 2007- 2008 President’s Award for Outstanding Research. She is a co-investigator on a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Community University Research Alliance (CURA) on e-learning in which she is exploring learner-centered e-teaching. She is a former high-school teacher and school administrator.

Janet Murphy

Manager of Innovative Learning Solutions, York Region District School Board

Connections that Inspire and Transform Practice

Developing a culture where every day is a learning day, where everyone is a learner and where learning is not confined to time, place or institution requires new teaching and learning models and experiences. Learn about York University’s innovative program that expands the reach of the university beyond its walls to impact teachers, classrooms and school districts. Leveraging broadband networks together with interactive technologies, steaming video, blended learning instructional design and a collaborative approach, the University employs an innovative strategy to support teaching and learning. The results are increased learning opportunities, an expanded community presence and impact, and classroom innovation.

Janet Murphy has over 30 years of experience in education. She leads and manages the Advanced Broadband Enabled Learning program for York University’s Research and Innovation office, and she is the Manager of Innovative Learning Solutions for the York Region District School Board (YRDSB). Janet provides leadership in the implementation of broadband resources including: developing e-learning programs that support Virtual Schooling; online professional and leadership development; and, e-learning programs for the community. She also coordinates collaboration in e-projects with other school districts, colleges and universities across Canada and internationally. Janet has been recognized for her leadership in education and the innovative use of technology by receiving the ORION Award for Learning and Leadership 2006, Learning Partnership Technology Innovation Award in 2005 and 2003, the Information Highways e-Content Award for Education 2002, the Prime Minister’s Award of Excellence, 2001. Janet has represented Canada at international technology and e-Learning conferences including BETT in London England, 2005, and OnlineEduca in Berlin Germany, 2005. She has presented papers and been a speaker at the American Education Research Association, 2008, the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education Conference 2004, 2007, and 2009, E-Learn, 2007, NECC, 2007, and Educause 2004.

Dr. Debra Eckerman Pitton

Professor of Education, Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minnesota

Mentoring Skills to Support New Teachers

Emphasis on teacher quality requires that educational leaders must be able to facilitate continual growth and development in new faculty. With the time pressures often felt in schools, it is easy to neglect those practices that enable novice educators to hear and respond to suggestions.

Quality teachers are shaped by the conversations and support provided by mentors and colleagues during the first years of teaching. A good mentor-leader must work to facilitate self-reflection and critical thinking in their mentee, so that the novice educator will be able to self-monitor their own learning as well as that of their students.

This session will provide participants an opportunity to discuss the role of mentor in relation to new teacher needs and to practice using the communication skills and questioning strategies that facilitate effective learning conversations with novice middle level teachers.

Participants will:

  • Review the components of the mentorship role and new teacher needs
  • Respond to scenarios from a 'mentor' perspective and share perspectives with other participants
  • Observe a video of a conference session and identify effective and non-effective mentor behaviors
  • Use guiding questions to formulate responses to new teacher situations/questions/issues posed in scenarios

Supporting the Middle Level Learner: Keeping them Interested and Engaged

The middle level learner is in a state of transistion from child to adult, and this brings a myriad of changes for the young person. Our schools have traditionally moved these students from a more cohesive primary grade setting to a large, impersonal secondary school. At the vary time when students may be deeply involved in determinting ‘who they will be’, we fail to offer a learning environment that enhaces this personal development in addition to academic gains.

This session will look at specific social supports strategies, suggested by the American National Middle School Association, which can provide an environment that enhances learning for students who are between the ages of 11 and 15.

In this session, particpatns will review and discuss the following social supports and how they can be integrated into middle school curriculum:

  • Service Learning
  • Character education
  • Student choice
  • Anti-bullying and safety issues
  • Emotional intelligence
  • Social Skills
  • Advisory

Debra Eckerman Pitton is a Professor of Education at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, where she teaches middle level philosophy and secondary methods. Educated at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, she taught English, speech and drama for several years in Iowa and Illinois before receiving her M.Ed. from Northeastern Illinois Univ. A move to Texas introduced her to middle schools, where she taught for many years. During this time, she completed a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of North Texas in Denton. Debra has taught at several higher education institutions and served as an Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction in the Minneapolis area. She is the author of two books: Stories of Student Teaching: A Case Approach to the Student Teaching Experience and Mentoring Novice Teachers: Fostering a Dialogue Process. She maintains a strong interest in middle level education and the professional development of middle school teachers. She lives in Burnsville, MN with her husband and three children.

Dr. Tom Russell

Professor, Faculty of Education, Queen's University

Is Innovation in Teacher Education Possible, and Can Self-Study Help?

Self-study of teacher education practices has the potential to improve teacher education dramatically, but much of its potential remains unrealized. This presentation will provide background and context for the emergence of self-study, examples of the potential of self-study, and an account of factors that continue to impede the development of self-study and its potential contributions to greater understanding of what teacher education could and should become.

Tom Russell is a Professor in the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University. His research focuses on how we learn to teach, with special attention to developing skills of reflective practice and learning from experience. He teaches preservice physics methods, supervises the preservice practicum, and teaches action research in the graduate program. Tom is a co-editor of the International Handbook on Self-Study of Teaching and Teacher Education Practices (Kluwer, 2004) and a co-editor of the journal Studying Teacher Education: A journal of self-study of teacher education practices. In 2007 he was appointed for 3 years to a Queen’s University Chair in Teaching and Learning.

Prof. Robert (Rob) Shea

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, Memorial University

Engaging Post Secondary Students...Students Engaging Post Secondary Learning

If we truly engage students, then students will engage with the learning we are trying to impart. This session will explore the elusive concept of student engagement and what it truly represents for post secondary instructors. Whether it is engaging a student in the field of automotive mechanics or a doctoral student in place-based education...we need to remain engaged.

Robert (Rob) Shea is an Assistant Professor (post secondary and adult education) at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Rob is the founding editor of the Canadian Journal of Career Development (2,200 individual subscribers); the founding president of the Canadian Education and Research Institute for Counselling; past president of the Canadian Association of College and University Student Services; and a founding director of Canada’s first university department of Career Development and Experiential Learning.

Rob has received numerous education-based accolades for his role in post secondary education, among them the Governor General of Canada’s Caring Canadian Award, Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal, St. John’s Citizen of the Year Award, and the Ontario College Counsellor’s Award.

Dr. John R. Wiens

Dean of Education, University of Manitoba

Teacher Education – Schools and Teachers: Bridging the Grand Chasm

Not only teacher education and school teachers suffer the consequences of the institutional and predispositional barriers which keep them apart, but also so do our concepts of teaching and education to the detriment of our children and communities. This session will examine the perceived origins of, reasons for and consequences of this divide and disconnect, with a view to developing a conceptual framework upon which bridge(s) between university faculties and school systems might be founded.

John R. Wiens is currently Dean of Education at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Past President of the Association of Canadian Deans of Education. An educational administrator for the past thirty-seven years, he has previous experience as a teacher, counsellor, consultant, principal, superintendent and university lecturer.

John is an active educational leader and has served as president of the Manitoba Teacher's Society, the Canadian Education Association, the Manitoba Research Council, and the Manitoba Educators for Social Responsibility. As well, John spent numerous years as the chair of the Universities’ Grants Commission and director of: the Canadian Teachers’ Federation, the Board of Teacher Education and Certification, the Manitoba Association of School Superintendents and the National Society for the Study of Education. He is currently on the board of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection and a member of Campaign 2000 Steering Committee for the Reduction of Child Poverty.

John earned his Ph.D. in Education from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver in 2000, the same year as he received an honourary doctorate from Brandon University for contributions to teacher professional development. He has also received numerous awards for service to education and teacher education.

John’s academic interests, which centre on the study of democracy and education, have recently resulted in a co-edited book, Why Do We Educate? Renewing the Conversation, with a longtime friend and colleague from the University of British Columbia, David Coulter.

When all is said and done, John prefers to be called a teacher, a thinker and a grandfather – and husband and father – all of which he is endeavouring to become better at.