Theme: Knowledge, Learning, and Creativity from Multiple Perspectives
We visited beautiful Vancouver Island in Nanaimo, British Columbia for our Fall 2016 iiE Gathering. Held in conjunction with Vancouver Island University, this gathering unfolded over three days, November 4th-6th and stepped up the iiE’s mission to bring together people and ideas across disciplinary, institutional, and professional boundaries. In addition, a special emphasis on design thinking for teaching and learning guided many of the activities.
Highlights
This Gathering comprised category-busting workshops, a StorySlam, unique projects, and most of all, great people. Images taken during the event can be seen on our Facebook page and on Twitter under #IIEVIU.
StorySlam
Ten marvellous storytellers told us about a time when they discovered a different world, taking us from palaces to war zones, from births to deaths and everything in between. Special thank yous to veteran MC Will Spotts, and to Arbie Fru from CHLY for recording the StorySlam for us. A full recording of the Story Slam is here; Arbie is working on an edited version as well. (We’ll update the link when it’s ready.)
Mystery Activity
The spirit creatures took the stage silently: A troll, a rabbit, a dark elf, and an oyster. Then the rabbit spoke… Alas, we cannot reveal here what the rabbit said, or say more about the magic that Gathering attendees created afterwards. Maybe, just maybe, the spirits will reappear at a future Gathering…
Design Thinking Day
The final day of the Vancouver Island Gathering was dedicated to a workshop on design thinking, including the debut of the iiE Design Mindset CARDs. Remi Kalir helped the group create team “countries” on a huge map, after which each team addressed the challenge, “What are better ways for learners to demonstrate what they have learned?” through stages of Discover, Frame, Imagine, and Create.