Blurred Identity Lines

*My principle, Stephen Whiffin, often refers to the “Blurring of lines between living and learning,” and it is from this quote that the title of this post comes from. If I were to sum this post up on Twitter I’d say, (in 140 characters), “Although we share different things in different places, we are who […]

Inquiry Resources from CSS and the ConnectedEd Canada Conference

The ConnectEd Canada Conference was an overwhelming success! Here is the recipe for those who want to plan a conference: 1. Run the first day in a great school, with classes in session and with student tour guides. 2. Invite presenters who want to have a conversation rather than do a presentation. 3. Provide ample […]

Connect Ed Canada

The first day of the Connect Ed Canada conference was spent at the Calgary Science School, (check out their blog). The highlight of the day was a full morning tour of the building with Grade 7 students Kristen and Julie, which I shared with Shelley Wright. I wish that I was recording Kristen when she […]

BYOL vs BYOD

I’m a big fan of BYOL – Bring Your Own Laptop to school. The laptop is the new pencil… a tool necessary for an effective education today.  I also think that a district-provided laptop, in public education, is not financially feasible. However, supporting families that can not afford to send their child to school with […]

5 under-watched TEDxEDU videos

There are a lot of great educational videos out there. One of the best lists, that I go back to time and again, was built by Alec Couros and it evolved from a blog post to a wiki page: 90+ Videos for Tech. & Media Literacy. There… is… a… lot… out… there! As a result, […]

Truly Questioning Everything

Yesterday I read a great post by Ira Socol: Question Everything. I love the Boeing 787 story, and the Guardian newspaper video commercial is one of those self-explanatory examples that I just know I’ll use in the future. Ira reminded me of my post: Question Everything that I wrote, while still in China, to start […]

Introducing the Inquiry Hub

Last night Stephen Whiffin, Sarah Husband and I formally presented the ‘Inquiry Hub‘ to Superintendent Tom Grant, the District Leadership Team, and our School Board Trustees. It is hard for me to contain my excitement at being able to share this project ‘out loud’! What was wonderful was how well received this was by our […]

The 5 Year Technology Plan

The 5 year technology plan: Focus on your INFRASTRUCTURE! If you think you know what tools you will need in 5 years, you are probably wrong. If you are budgeting so that you buy sets of an item over several years, you’ll have a dichotomous challenge: the item will become both cheaper AND less desirable. […]

A Conversation Starter

My goal: Create a three minute video that tells it’s own story, using other videos. My hope is that this will invite further exploration, conversation and learning. Here is what I came up with: (Watch on YouTube) For ease of use here are the links. I hope that some rich conversations will emerge from watching […]

The COW is dead… Long live the POW?

This year has been quite transformational for me. I started the year Questioning Everything… especially the idea that we need to teach less and learn more. I’ve challenged late penalties, homework, and even AUP’s. I’ve talked about things becoming more open and distributed and I’ve even written an Open Manifesto. I’ve cautioned about flipping classes, […]