Morning Keynote - Josie Giovenco - Bridging the ePublishing Gap: Canada's Past, Present & Future

Knowledge users today are accustomed to text and graphics as a base format to convey information. With the evolution of the Internet and high-speed connectivity, video and animation are becoming more prevalent. Technology advancement has given consumers the opportunity to request a variety of delivery options: print/Print on Demand (POD), web, CD books, eBooks, PDA, multimedia…and the list continues to grow. Understanding this emerging epublishing industry, suppliers must make the mind shift away from selling what they produce, to producing what will sell, and the customer, not the vendor, will determine what will sell. Join us for a Canadian perspective on this emerging epublishing industry, one that analysts predict will be the next billion dollar industry.

Many people cringe at the words new technology and change. As President of her own business, Josie Giovenco thrives on this shift and focuses her energy on the ICIS ™ mandate: to initiate, coordinate, implement and support the use of technology for every learner. As a teen, Josie used the Commodore 64 as the catalyst to launch her career. There she discovered the power of technology and how it's use can change our world for the better. In 1990, she opened her own consulting company assisting post secondary students to understand computers and what they could do for them. In the nine years that followed, her business flourished and opportunities presented themselves for her to work with organizations such as The Oshawa Food Group, Ministry of Finance, Computer Technology Institute, and Sheridan College, helping them integrate information and technology for greater efficiencies and profits.

Josie offers outstanding entrepreneurial experience from running her own proprietor business for nine years, which later converged into the corporation of Instantaneous Links Inc., an eBook solutions firm. Josie has worked within the private, public and non-profit sectors in areas of technology training, eBook & digital paper research and analysis, IT implementation, project management, and change-management, including strategic planning, forecasting & business development initiatives. With her passion for lifelong learning and the emergence of efficient technologies, such as cross media technologies, Josie continues to work towards promoting Canada as a viable contributor for epublishing initiatives. Josie has been fortunate to acquire several mentors along her journey and has learned that as individuals, it is our purpose to give back to others and our community. Josie is involved with the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation, the United Way, and the ATHENA Foundation as well as provides mentoring to young women looking at entering the technology sector.

Panel Discussion - E-Publishing and You

• Suzanne Alexander - Goose Lane Editions
• Josie Giovenco - Instantaneous Links
• Tim McCleary - Peason Education Canada

Session One - J. Miller and L. Wallace - Student use of optional online components in distance education courses: A two year study

Afternoon Keynote - Chuck Hamilton - Manager, Learning Technology and NewMIC Research Leader, IBM Canada Innovation Centers - Vancouver

Chuck will speak on Technology Trends We Can’t Avoid In The Evolution of Learning

Charles (Chuck) Hamilton is the Manager Learning Technology and Strategy at IBM Canada’s Innovation Center ::Vancouver and also supports the IBM world wide eLearning Strategy Team. The Centre’s Education Solutions Team was established in 1998, with one mission, - to create a world-class education technology competency Centre to serve IBM clients around the world. Today, this Centre is home for a 30-person team focused on the design, analysis, planning, and implementation of industry solutions for e-business, e-learning, classrooms management, public access, digital media and e-communities.
Chuck serves on and supports a number of e-learning organizations outside of IBM and is well known across the emerging eLearning industry. Chuck speaks at approximately ten conferences a year promoting the role of technology in education and has published several papers on elearning trends and direction. When he is not traveling around the world he spends his time at Vancouver beach volleyball nets and playing traditional Irish music in a Celtic band.

Technology Trends We Can’t Avoid In The Evolution of Learning
The urgency to create an effective e-Learning strategy is compounded by the decreasing life spans of skills as the changes in technology accelerate. IBM has learned that requests from worldwide education customers often echo the lifelong learning goals of IBM employees. The resulting solution strategy is that IBM ‘eats much of its own cooking’ while continuing it’s world-class contribution to the educational technology industry.
Still there exists no single solution, nor is there ever likely to be a single comprehensive solution meeting all educational needs, all of the time. For today’s eLearner, the slow trickle of rich media and collaboration tools merely wets the appetite for even richer content. As standards emerge to help manage rich content, education solutions become increasingly more complex, further fueling the educational technology revolution.
Chuck Hamilton, will describe IBM’s education Solution request funnel and the ‘next fourteen’ eLearning trends and technologies we need to consider for the next wave of learning delivery.

Session Five - M. Kruit - Online progress measurement: a framework to design online course work to track students’ progress

Speaker Forum Session One - Phil O'Hara - From One Bleeding Edge Technology to the Next Synchronous and Asynchronous ˆ Online Learning Space Companions

In this session Phil will expose people to the potential of complementing how I am using WebCT in COMM1501 at Dalhousie with HorizonLive. The focus is on HorizonLive which is a tool that allows real-time content delivery and the ability to archive a session quickly and effectively. (This is not a commercial!)