The iiE team is thrilled to be visiting Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, British Columbia for the November 2016 iiE Gathering. Below you will find information about some of the folks who will be joining us to present their stories, workshops, and projects during the Gathering.
Workshop Presenters
Will Spotts
Will Spotts is a Nationally Board Certified Science Teacher. He has eight years of classroom experience teaching high school in Greenville, Mississippi and middle school in Chicago, Illinois. Prior to teaching, Will worked as an aquatic biologist for the Kansas Biological Survey. Will moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan with his wife, Sara, in 2012 and began working as a Bright Futures Site Coordinator at Washtenaw Intermediate Middle Academy. He has two sons, Samuel who is five and Lucas who was born last year. In his spare time, he likes to play the harmonica and make big messes in the kitchen.
Amanda Brooke Dawes
Amanda Brooke, has over a dozen years of professional teaching experience in the Social Sciences. In 2010, she received her Masters Degree in Educational Technology from the University of Michigan. She also has degrees in Psychology and Religious Studies from the University of Miami. In addition to teaching with infused technology, she also specializes in establishing IT strategies and implementing education centric solutions. She enjoys learning with teachers and students about best blended learning practices with Google Apps for Education. In addition to her professional teaching work, Amanda is the Chief Social Media Officer for the Institute for Innovation in Education.
Lisa Lewis
Lisa Lewis is an instructor in the Faculty of Academic and Career Prep (focus Math and Sciences) at Vancouver Island University. She is interested in how story-telling can be used to enhance teaching and learning in the sciences and helping students to strengthen their learning skills. She recently earned her Masters of Education with a concentration on digital technologies designed to support adult learners in a blended delivery model.
Avi Luxenburg
In more than a quarter of a century as an educator, Avi Luxenburg has worked with students from Grades Two through 12 in subject areas as diverse as Film Production, Humanities, Media Studies, Mathematics, Information Technology, Psychology, Photography, and much more. Avi is an instructor in the Vancouver Island University Education Program (Graduate and Undergraduate). He received the 2009 Premier’s Excellence award for School Leadership… which is old news, but he keeps bringing it up in conversation.
Dr. Katherine Goodman
Katherine Goodman is an assistant professor at University of Colorado Denver for Inworks, a prototyping and teaching space focused on human-centered design and innovation. Her research in higher education examines how we learn differently when we engage in explicitly creative processes with aesthetic goals. Her PhD is from the ATLAS Institute in the College of Engineering at University of Colorado Boulder in Technology, Media, and Society. Before her PhD, she worked in software development as a technical writer and trainer and as consultant with groups ranging from American Honda to the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She also holds a BS in Mathematics and a Master of Professional Writing.
Caitlin Johnston
Caitlin Johnston is certified teacher and a Senior Community Researcher for Aboriginal Early Childhood Development at Vancouver Island University. Her Master’s degree focused on Indigenous issues in Canada which colors her work as a community educator and researcher focusing on Aboriginal education development.
Jonathan Cassie
Jonathan Cassie is Director of Curriculum and Innovation at TVT Community Day School in Orange County, California. He has taught history, English, Latin, Game Design and Entrepreneurship at schools in Dallas, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh and now in Orange County. Throughout his twenty year career in independent schools, he has been a student and practitioner of innovation and change in education. He earned an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from UCLA, has five level 100 toons in World of Warcraft (of this writing), contributed to the first Game of Thrones roleplaying game and has written two books on topics related to building meaningful roleplaying cultures and experiences for players. He is the author of Level Up Your Classroom, published in June by ASCD. He is available by email at joncassie@gmail.com, on Facebook (jonathan.cassie) or Twitter @joncassie or join the conversation at www.joncassie.com or www.gamelevellearn.com.
Charlene Stewart
Charlene is an instructor with the Faculty of Academic and Career Preparation at the Nanaimo campus of Vancouver Island University, with a teaching focus of math, biology and chemistry. Most recently she has turned her attention to helping students ‘learn how to learn’. Her university level course “Learning Strategies for Success in Health Sciences” introduces students to techniques for learning beyond rote memorization and surface learning. At the same time, students reflect on their own way of learning and work towards becoming self-regulated learners. Her workshop will ask participants to consider the ‘how’ of learning in their classrooms, rather than the more traditional ‘what’ they need to learn. Participants will be introduced to several strategies, and asked to interact with each other as they test the strategies for their own use in the classroom.
Other Workshop Presenters Joining Us
Dr. Bernie Krynowsky
Vancouver Island University
Dave Sands
Principal of Technology Implementation, School District 43
Dave Truss
Vice Principal, School District 43