Keynote Speakers

Dr. Jason Ohler

Dr. Jason Ohler is a speaker, writer, teacher, researcher, and lifelong digital humanist who is well known for the passion, insight, and humor he brings to his presentations, projects and writings. He has worked both online and in classrooms at home and internationally for over a quarter century helping students develop the new literacies they need to be successful in the digital age. He is a passionate promoter of “Art the Fourth R” and of combining innovation, creativity and digital know-how to help reinvent teaching and learning. He has won numerous awards for his work and is author of many books, articles, and online resources. His next book, due out in the Summer 2009, is titled Digital Citizenship and the ReImagination of Education. His current book, Digital Storytelling in the Classroom, reminds us that he is first and foremost a storyteller, telling tales of the future that are grounded in the past.

“The goal is the effective, creative, and wise use of technology . . . to bring together technology, community, and learning in ways that work. And while we are at it, to have fun.” Dr. Jason Ohler

Curtis Johnson

 He is the co-author of Disrupting Class, written with Clayton M. Christensen of Harvard Business School, published in the spring of 2008, explaining why even the best managed schools will be disrupted by changing learning models and how both school districts and the chartered sector can respond.  He works with a national network known as Education | Evolving to assist policymakers, as well as educators, in rethinking strategies for schooling the next generation of youth.

Michael B. Horn and Curtis W. Johnson discuss ‘Disrupting Class’, and the application of Disruptive Innovation to Higher Education:

Dr. Norm Vaughan

Norm is an educator and researcher with interests in blended learning, faculty development and K to 12 schooling, Dr. Norm Vaughan is an instructor in the Department of Education, Faculty of Teaching and Learning at Mount Royal College in Calgary, Alberta.

Norm's teaching background includes graduate and undergraduate courses in educational technology, K-12 education in northern Canada, technical training in the petroleum industry, and English as a Second Language in Japan. In addition, he has been involved in several consulting projects with book publishers and higher education institutions to develop online courses and resources. He recently co-authored the book Blended Learning in Higher Education (Jossey-Bass, 2008) and has published a series of articles on blended learning and faculty development.  Norm is currently the Research Director for the Canadian Network for Innovation in Education, the Associate Editor of the International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning and he is on the Editorial Boards of the Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology and the Journal on Centres for Teaching & Learning.

 Dr. Alec Couros

Dr. Alec Couros is a professor of educational technology and media and the Coordinator of Information and Communications Technology at the Faculty of Education, University of Regina. Alec also serves as the Assistant Director of the Saskatchewan Instructional Development and Research Unit. Alec is scholar and advocate of openness in distributed learning environments. He has given hundreds of workshops and presentations, nationally and internationally, on topics such as openness in education, social learning, instructional design, digital citizenship and critical media literacy. Alec blogs at http://couros.ca

George Siemens
 

George Siemens, is an Associate Director with the Learning Technologies Centre at University of Manitoba and author of Knowing Knowledge, an exploration of how the context and characteristics of knowledge have changed, and what it means to organizations today. George is also Founder and President of Complexive Systems Inc., a learning lab focused on assisting organizations develop integrated learning structures to meet the needs of global strategy execution.

 

 Guy Kawasaki

Guy Kawasaki is a managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm and a columnist for Entrepreneur Magazine. Previously, he was an Apple Fellow at Apple Computer, Inc. Guy is the author of eight books including The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream, and The Macintosh Way. He has a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College.

Watch Guy Kawasaki discuss the technology he uses in his daily life- how much cool gear can one person have? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfGw8VQxy1o