Today I had the opportunity to meet many new people from across Canada (and someone from the United States) that are innovators. Meeting new people is my favorite take away from conferences. This conference is good at empowering networking, which is a key ingredient for innovation. In the welcoming address, they emphasized the importance of sharing and learning from each other. Throughout the day they designed activities to further promote making connections.

Non-Linear Learning

I was able to take in a presentation about non-linear learning. This idea has been intriguing me for some time now. The idea is simple – allow students the power of choice in the order in which they complete course activities. This speaker takes it a step further by allowing the choice of when to submit assignments and begin/end the course. It was a thought-provoking session and something I plan on trying when I have a course that the approach will pedagogically fit that approach. It is helpful to hear about the experiences of others when considering adopting a new approach to teaching. The speaker won an award for their innovation.

PS. That afternoon Steve and I presented about leveraging human capacities in digital learning environments. I will blog separately about that.

 

Reception.

The reception was thoughtfully designed to promote networking. Each table had different candy on it, which promoted moving between tables and meeting new people. Just like the networking presentation yesterday suggested, it is amazing what common connections you can find in a room of people. The discussions and connections made here will hopefully last long past the conference dates!

 

Tomorrow should be even better as there are more presentations, new attendees, and some exciting events. Come check it out – it is not too late to register!


NurseKillam

Laura Killam is an experienced nursing educator from Northern Ontario with a keen interest in improving student learning through innovation. For more information please visit http://nursekillam.com/.

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