Paul’s career in education has included roles as a teacher, vice-principal and principal, elementary panel project leader for Trillium implementation, and System-wide Program Coordinator for Academic Information Technology.

In his position as Program Coordinator, Paul supervised and supported the Toronto Catholic District School Board’s eLearning initiatives; including the implementation of the Board’s first on-line credit courses, and an extensive number of projects highlighting the use of Information Technology in the classroom, school and Board.

Following his work with TCDSB, Paul joined The Learning Partnership as their first Director of Technology Strategy. Here his responsibilities included the management and direction of the Teacher eLearning Research/Demonstration Project that focused on enhancing professional development for teachers in Mathematics and Science/Technology using a blended eLearning model.

Recently Paul has been involved in a variety of consulting projects in education. He has supported the implementation of collaboration and communication technologies for educational professionals, and provided guidance and research on the efficacy of portal technologies for educational institutions. Ongoing work with teachers has included training and support in the use of interactive whiteboard technology in the classroom. He continues to work with the Catholic Principals’ Council of Ontario providing application support and training.

As members of The Learning Partnership’s (TLP) Round Table on Technology team Paul, and his colleague Mary Anne O’Leary, have worked with Ontario school boards in the development of their ICT Strategic Plans. They have also organized several mini-summits for TLP focusing on exemplary practices in educational technology.

Paul is currently teaching two courses for the Faculty of Education at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Learning with ICT Primary/Junior and Intermediate/Senior. He has also taught Technology for Teachers, Information Design and the Analysis and Management of Classroom Behaviour.

Mark Melnyk is the dynamic Head of History and Contemporary Studies at Markville Secondary School in Markham. Ontario. For more information about Mark's work visit his professional page: http://www.markville.ss.yrdsb.edu.on.ca

Paul McGuire describes exchange mentoring and how expert students fit in to our collaborative work with new technologies in the classroom. Finding a purpose for technology tools will help educators to facilitate collaboration to engage students of all ages. If you're new at this, Paul will inspire you to take the next step.

Paul's career in education has included roles as a teacher, vice-principal and principal, elementary panel project leader for Trillium implementation, and System-wide Program Coordinator for Academic Information Technology.

In his position as Program Coordinator, Paul supervised and supported the Toronto Catholic District School Board's eLearning initiatives; including the implementation of the Board's first on-line credit courses, and an extensive number of projects highlighting the use of Information Technology in the classroom, school and Board.

Following his work with TCDSB, Paul joined The Learning Partnership as their first Director of Technology Strategy. Here his responsibilities included the management and direction of the Teacher eLearning Research-Demonstration Project that focused on enhancing professional development for teachers in Mathematics and Science-Technology using a blended eLearning model.

Recently Paul has been involved in a variety of consulting projects in education. He has supported the implementation of collaboration and communication technologies for educational professionals, and provided guidance and research on the efficacy of portal technologies for educational institutions. Ongoing work with teachers has included training and support in the use of interactive whiteboard technology in the classroom. He continues to work with the Catholic Principals' Council of Ontario providing application support and training.

As members of The Learning Partnership's (TLP) Round Table on Technology team Paul, and his colleague Mary Anne O'Leary, have worked with Ontario school boards in the development of their ICT Strategic Plans. They have also organized several mini-summits for TLP focusing on exemplary practices in educational technology.

Paul is currently teaching two courses for the Faculty of Education at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Learning with ICT Primary-Junior and Intermediate-Senior. He has also taught Technology for Teachers, Information Design and the Analysis and Management of Classroom Behaviour.

We Inspire Futures is very pleased to bring you a conversation with visionary educators Mali Bickley and Jim Carleton. Listen as Mali and Jim explain the concept of balanced digital literacy in teacher and administrator professional development. Jim discusses the Lord of the Eflies and Mali explains how important it is to add a shared component to our practice. Setting a purpose for technology use is the key to success with projects that inspire students to collaborate with students around the world.

http://www.weinspirefutures.com

Mali Bickley has 31 years experience as a classroom teacher and literacy coach. Over the past 8 years, she has used ICT and successfully integrated literacy and content area curriculum to have her students connect, communicate and collaborate with several classes from around the world... She is the assistant country coordinator of iEARN Canada and designs and facilitates many international projects. Along with Jim Carleton, Mali was the Opening Keynote speaker at the National Education Computing Conference in 2008, speaking to 5000 educators, in San Antonio Texas and was interviewed by Lestor Holt of NBC News.

Jim Carleton been a classroom teacher for 28 years. Presently Jim is the Informations Communications and Technology consultant at the Simcoe County District School Board in Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Jim is passionate about using technology to connect students together globally to make a difference in the world. He has won numerous local and national awards for his work in using ICT to connect students from around the world in meaningful projects. Jim is the county coordinator for the Canadian division of the International Educational and Resource Network (iEARN) and also a member of several organizations that focus on global collaboration and responsible use of ICT.

Both Jim Carlton and Mali Bickley have given workshops on collaborative Global Education projects and integrating ICT into classroom practice to many schools, districts, universities and organizations, including Taking it Global, World Vision, ECOO and

NECC both nationally and internationally. They have helped students become highly engaged in global collaborative projects that use ICT. Jim and Mali facilitate several online courses, supporting teachers and students as they explore project based learning initiatives as they work collaboratively with others globally.

Welcome to the http://weinspirefutures.com podcasting project.

This is JL coming to you with enthusiasm. This week I had the opportunity to Skype with husband and wife duo Julie and Patrick Johnson from Barrie, Ontario. Patrick teaches grade 1 full time and Julie teaches a 7-8 split at the same school. Listen as we discuss how technology-- mainly blogging, twitter, and gaming matter differently for both teachers.

Classroom Blogs:

Julie Johnson's: http://mrsj.goodfellowps.com

Patrick Johnson's: http://gradeone.mynetclass.com

Julie Johnson is a mom of 2 boys, elementary teacher who loves using gaming & pop culture to support literacy, writer of a 'comedic Regency mystery' (WIP) and 'Busy Writing' comics, blogger, loves nature, river kayaking, my cats, and reading lots & lots of books.

Welcome to the www.weinspirefutures.com podcasting project.

Today I had an interesting conversation with friend and colleague Christine Jenkins. Listen as Chris Jay and I chat about a controversial issue involving a nine year old and her blog about cafeteria food in the UK. Can social responsibility matter at such a young age? How can one Twitter message translate in to support from a celebrity?