OK, so the post from yesterday really took me down a rabbit hole – and in a good way. I was reminded of how many wonderful, inspirational Ontario Educators that I’ve had the pleasure of knowing, of working with, and of learning with.
I started by searching for “Freshly Minted Software” which took me to a conference program which had me turning pages. It was eleven years ago but it seems so much like just yesterday.
I’m going to do some shout outs here and I’m going to miss some people and that’s the joy/problem of doing something like this.
This all was inspired by looking at the ECOO 2011 Conference Booklet which remains online today. It helped with the memories of conference presentations of the past but also of some of the awesome people I’ve been so fortunate to learn alongside over the years. The author of the booklet is Cam Armstrong @sig225 which is a great place to start. If there ever was a voice of reason, it’s Cal’s. And Computer Science. And Mathematics. What’s not to like? Oh, and motorcycles.
I remember the theme of the conference – “Learn to Play, Play to Learn”.
Flipping though the program with my mouse brought up this collection of names and memories. I’m so honoured to have learned with them:
- Mark Carbone @marcwcarbone – who was one of the great visionaries in education and helped me develop these skills in myself. He introduced me to an incredible team at the Waterloo DSB
- Bill McKenzie – who led ECOO around that time and the big issue was about the use of social media and education. Bill eventually talked me into chair the conference for a couple of years
- Diana Maliszewski – @MzMollyTL – who has a passion for all that she does and taught me so much about the potential of gaming. I’m still positive it was her in costume at an OLA conference
- Aviva Dunsiger @avivaloca – who always looks like she’s having too much fun and presented numerous times at that conference to prove it
- Colin Jagoe – @colinjagoe – who was podcasting long before podcasting was cool
- Peter McAsh – @pmcash – who goes back further with me than both of us would care to admit and he was encouraging the use of a free LMS at the time
- Angie Harrison – @TechieAng – who showed that you could integrate anything given the inspiration and the technology to make it happen
- Jane Mitchinson – @jane_mitchinson – in a world dominated by elementary school integration, she embodied the same principles at the secondary school level and worked hard for perfection
- Jamie Reaburn – @msjrea – another secondary school leader of technology who brings so much enthusiasm to the use of technology in a truly meaningful way
- Tim King – @tk1ng – when I think I’ve mastered everything, I turn to see what Tim’s doing only to realize that I’m falling further behind
- Alanna King – @banana29 – who was a teacher-librarian at the time but went way beyond the stacks and had a vision for the connected library and those citizens who visit it
- Bill Schreiter – always had a book on leadership open and on the read and worth buying a beer for just to hear his current thinking
- Cathy Beach – @beachcat11 – if you’re looking for someone who is constantly researching good things for kids, turn to Cathy
- Danuta Woloszynowicz – @dwtech – who always seemed to have some sort of passion project on the go and willing to talk about it. A great person to co-present with
- Alison Baron – @AlisonWGI – had the vision for online teaching, made it happen well provincially and was an invaluable resource for our district when issues arose
- Diane Bedard – @WindsorDi – a creative always impressed me with her technology skills and with all the times I went to where she worked, I don’t think I ever saw her doing what I thought her job was
- John Taylor – he was the glue that kept OSAPAC focused and grounded – if there ever was a person who could herd a collection of wild cats, it’s him
- Doug Sadler – @sadone – who may well have been the first person that I knew personally who saw that the future could indeed be portable
- Danika Tipping – @DanikaTipping – another creative individual doing amazing things and was somehow weaving Twitter and Shakespeare together at the time
- Susan Watt – @susan_watt – at the time was integrating Google products and services into everything with remarkable success
- Zoe Branigan-Pipe – @zbpipe – has this amazing ability to push gifted kids hard in their learning lest they become too complacent and just a wonderful person to present with
- Harry Niezen – @harryniezen – who managed to put together both the value of thinking about the future and grounding it in the reality of the present and work towards it
- Carlo Fusco – @mrfusco – may well have been one of the people who saw the future and it didn’t lie in whatever software you might have installed on your computer
- Peter Beens – @pbeens – what can I say, if I need to know anything about Google and its power, Peter is my go to guy
And that was from a quick skim through the program. There was way more available to attendees and I remember leaving that conference disappointed that I couldn’t have attended more. These silly rules around scheduling sessions against each other!
As with most of the recent ECOO Conferences, there was a Minds on Media session to learn more with hands-on activities. It actually was a full day event!
Not surprisingly (at least to me), I blogged about things:
As I looked through the program, I’m just in awe of what was offered to those educators who attended.
doug -- off the record 
Please share your thoughts here. I’d enjoy reading them.