October 27-28, 2021 Online

CANADIAN INTERNATIONAL EDTECH SUMMIT 2021

‘LEADING FROM A CRISIS TO

FUTURE-PROOFING LEARNING’

4 REASONS TO JOIN OUR SUMMIT Why and Who should Join

Insights

Gain valuable insights & Best practices to future-proofing learning

EdTech Trends

Gain valuable insight on the latest trends in EdTech

Networking

Network with Canada's education thought leaders through our state-of-the-art virtual Summit platform

Who Should Attend?

Educators, EdTech Executives, Superintendents, CEOs, CIOs, Principals, Teachers, Policymakers, Students, Parents & EdTech startups

Robert Martellacci (MA EdTech) is president of MindShare Learning Technology, Canada’s leading EdTech strategy, news & events company he founded in 2001. Mr. Martellacci is also president & co-founder of C21 Canada—Canadians for 21st Century Learning & Innovation.

Mr. Martellacci is a lifelong learner who is committed to connecting business and education to transform learning in the 21st century to support student success. He completed a transformational learning journey as a mature student earning a master’s in educational technology from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California which inspired the creation of the MindShare Learning Report—Canada’s Learning & Technology eMagazine.

Mr. Martellacci has over 25 years of expertise and thought leadership in education as a former university administrator at York University; he also launched The Learning Company School Division for Kevin O’Leary which was the catalyst to forming his start-up MindShare Learning following the Mattel acquisition.

One of Martellacci’s signature slogans, “until next time, keep the learning curve steep.”

DEAR THOUGHT LEADER,

I’m honoured to invite you to participate in our 12th Canadian EdTech Leadership Summit —“Future-Proofing Learning”, October 27-28 (Online).

It’s never been a more critical period in our history to gather with national, international and local thought leaders, and key community stakeholders to reflect, explore, and envision solving some of the most complex challenges in educating our future leaders amidst COVID-19.

The notion of ‘Future-Proofing’ is a forward thinking school of thought aimed at sparking innovative conversations on mitigating future risks, building resilient and agile school systems in the event of another crisis. While the pandemic caused mass disruption to our lives, it inspired new and innovative ways to deliver teaching & learning to ultimately help students thrive.

As a result, we have sought global and national education thought leaders to share their success stories to inspire you as a leader. Our lineup includes remarkable presenters:

Dr. Tracey Burns, Senior Analyst, OECD Education
Christopher Usih, Chief Superintendent, Calgary Board of Education
Melissa Burns, Award-winning STEM educator
Richard Culatta, chief executive officer, ISTE

New this year are the 20 Minute Power Presentations covering key topics from cybersecurity to emerging models of online learning.

Back by popular demand is Remo, our networking community platform that was loved by our delegates last year.

Please don’t hesitate to drop me an email at robert@mindsharelearning.com,
or call me at 416-569-2106 to discuss how we can partner with you to maximize your participation in our national summit.

I hope you will join us for what promises to be a highly engaging and insightful event.

Limited sponsor and presenter opportunities are still available!

Until next time, keep the digital learning curve steep!

Best,

Robert Martellacci – M.A. EdTech
Conference Chair
Founder and President, MindShare Learning Technology™

LISTEN TO THE WORLD-CLASS FEATURED SPEAKERS

Dr. Tracey Burns

Chief Research Officer, Senior Analyst, OECD (Seconded) , National Center on Education and the Economy

Christopher Usih

Chief Superintendent of Schools, Calgary Board of Education

Richard Culatta

CEO, ISTE Author, Speaker & Innovator

Richard Culatta

CEO, ISTE Author, Speaker & Innovator

Richard Culatta, chief executive officer, brings vast experience in education policy, teacher preparation, educational technology and innovation to his role with ISTE.

Culatta is a longtime ISTE member and a past recipient of the ISTE Making IT Happen Award.

Prior to joining ISTE, Culatta served as the chief innovation officer for the state of Rhode Island. In this role, he focused on developing partnerships to improve opportunities for students, including launching a program to make Rhode Island the first state to offer computer science in every K-12 school and creating a state vision for personalized learning.

As the director of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology, Culatta was at the helm of numerous efforts to expand connectivity to schools across the country, promote personalized learning and develop the National Education Technology Plan. He also pioneered new ways for the department to engage with educators and tech developers.

Prior to his role with the Department of Education, Culatta served as an education policy adviser to U.S. Sen. Patty Murray. He was also the learning technologies adviser for the David O. McKay School of Education at Brigham Young University where he redesigned the technology component of the teacher prep program. He also served as the director of operations for the Rose Education Foundation, which brought the first internet connections to schools in rural Guatemala.

Culatta began his career in the classroom as a high school teacher and, across his career, has coached educators and national leaders around the world on using technology as a tool to reimagine learning.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in Spanish teaching and a master's in educational psychology and technology, both from Brigham Young University.

Melissa Burns

Award-winning educator

Dr. Sugata Mitra

Computer Scientist, Educational Theorist

Dr. Sugata Mitra

Computer Scientist, Educational Theorist

In 1999, Sugata Mitra and his colleagues dug a hole in a wall bordering an urban slum in New Delhi, installed an Internet-connected PC and left it there, with a hidden camera filming the area. What they saw: kids from the slum playing with the computer and, in the process, learning how to use it -- then teaching each other. These famed “Hole in the Wall” experiments demonstrated that, in the absence of supervision and formal teaching, children can teach themselves and each other -- if they’re motivated by curiosity. Mitra, now a professor of educational technology at Newcastle University, called it "minimally invasive education."

Mitra thinks self-organized learning will shape the future of education. At TED2013, he made a bold TED Prize wish: Help me build a School in the Cloud where children can explore and learn on their own -- and teach one another -- using resources from the worldwide cloud.

The School in the Cloud now includes seven physical locations -- five in India and two in the UK. At the same time, the School in the Cloud online platform lets students participate anywhere, with partner learning labs and programs in countries like Colombia. Pakistan and Greece. In 2016, Mitra held the first School in the Cloud conference in India. He shared that more than 16,000 SOLE sessions had taken place so far, with kids all around the world dipping their toes in this new education model.

Stephen Cox

CEO, Osiris Educational

Dave Bolton

Director of Sales – Canada for Wacom

Sam Kary

Founder, New EdTech Classroom

JOIN US FOR THE FIRESIDE CHAT

Dr. Chris Kim

Digital Media Instructor, Web Developer, and Research Engineer

Dr. Ron Owston

Professor Emeritus, York University

Dr. Ron Owston

Professor Emeritus, York University

Dr. Ron Owston is University Professor Emeritus and Senior Scholar at York University, as well as former Dean of the Faculty of Education, and founding Director of the Institute for Research in Learning Technologies.

A pioneer in teaching and learning with the web since its early days, Dr. Owston specializes in the evaluation of technology-based educational programs in K12, government, higher education, and continuing professional education. He has spoken at numerous national and international conferences about blended and online learning, authored/co-authored some 50 commissioned studies, and published over 60 articles in top-tier journals, including Educational Researcher, Teachers College Record, Research in the Teaching of English, Journal of Computer-Based Instruction, Journal of Information Technology in Teacher Education, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, Internet & Higher Education, and Journal of Research on Computing in Education.

Dr. Owston published one of the first academic examinations of the role of the Web for teaching and learning in Educational Researcher in 1997. His work has been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Health Canada, the Government of Ontario, the Andrew Mellon Foundation, the Canadian Fund for Innovation, and a variety of school districts and industry partners. Over the last several years his publications have addressed blended learning in higher education courses.

Currently, Dr. Owston ranks among the most cited blended learning researchers in the world in Google Scholar. Having retired from York in 2018, he is now actively engaged in research, consulting, and public speaking, and is a research associate at Contact North|Contact Nord, where he leads a successful series of webinars on the use of Zoom for teaching which over 10,000 educators around the world have registered for or downloaded.

Katina Papulkas

Senior Education Strategist, Dell Technologies

Dr. Mario Chiasson

Director of Research, Innovations and Change Management at District scolaire francophone Sud

Dr. Mario Chiasson

Director of Research, Innovations and Change Management at District scolaire francophone Sud

Dr. Mario Chiasson is known for his practical insights on learning innovation. He is experienced and equipped to make big things happen. As the founder of My Learning My Space, Mario has helped countless organizations and institutions (schools, districts, ministries, colleges, universities, business and communities) to navigate through disruptive change, develop innovation capabilities and drive continuous improvement. From startups and small projects to educational and community reform.
Mario is a researcher that focuses on the design of spaces that influence the learning and the teaching process of new skills aligned with the innovative society. He holds a Bachelors degree in Physical Education with two concentration (Math and Science), a Masters in school administration with a focus on ICT and a Ph.D in Education at Université de Moncton, New-Brunswick, Canada. He is a Microsoft Innovative Teacher, a Cisco IT Essential Teacher, an Apple Distinguished Educator, an Apple Certified Trainer.

Karen Yamada

Chief Learning Office & CFO, C21 Canada

Tom D’Amico

Director of Education, Ottawa Catholic School Board

Tom D’Amico

Director of Education, Ottawa Catholic School Board

Thomas D’Amico was appointed Director of Education and Secretary-Treasurer of the Ottawa Catholic School Board in August 2020. Previous to that, he served as the Associate Director of Education from 2015 to 2020. Mr. D’Amico has over 30 years of experience in education, including as a teacher, school administrator, and Superintendent of Human Resources and Superintendent of Learning Technologies. He is an award-winning educator recognized with the Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence and Canada’s Outstanding Principal award. As a Superintendent, he received the EXL award to recognize excellence among members of the superintendency.

Mr. D’Amico holds a Bachelor of Education and a Masters in Physical Education from the University of Ottawa. He obtained his Honours in Physical Education from McMaster University. Tom also holds an Executive Certificate in Conflict Management from the University of Windsor Law Department. On a personal level, Tom is involved with his local parish, St. John the Evangelist. He is also an off-ice official with the NHL. Tom and his wife Michelle have two daughters, Laura and Christina, both graduates of the Ottawa Catholic School Board.

Dr. Adam Dubé

Associate Professor and Director of the Technology Learning and Cognition Lab, McGill University

JOIN US FOR THE CROSS CANADA CHECK UP PANEL

John Myers

Cofounder & CEO, Edsby

John Myers

Cofounder & CEO, Edsby

John obtained an Honours B.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Toronto and began his career in 1980 at Nortel Networks. After a few short years of programming activity John moved into management and by 1994 was the Vice-president and General Manager of Nortel’s global messaging business unit. Under John’s leadership over the next six years this business unit grew each year to exceed US$300M in revenue in 2000 and was one of Nortel’s most profitable and high-growth business units. John left Nortel in early 2001 to join his former colleagues at Centrinity (TSX:CTI) and was the CEO and a member of the Board of Directors when the company was acquired by Open Text in 2002. After the acquisition John continued to lead the team as General Manager until his departure in early 2010, delivering consistent growth and strong operating margins. As co-founder and president, John continues to do what he has done for the last 20 or so years – which is to manage a growing and profitable environment in which a team of enthusiastic and very talented people can build innovative products that both delight and bring true value to a wide range of customers.

Lisa Schmucki

Founder & CEO, edWeb.net

Peter Singh

Executive Officer – IT Services, TDSB

Patricia Gartland

Member Board Of Directors at BC Council for International Education, CEO/Superintendent of Schools BC

Patricia Gartland

Member Board Of Directors at BC Council for International Education, CEO/Superintendent of Schools BC

Ms. Patricia Gartland has been Superintendent of Schools for School District No. 43 (Coquitlam) since 2015 and is responsible for overseeing B.C.'s third largest school district with 32,000 students and 4,000 employees in over 70 schools and facilities.
Ms. Gartland attended school in Coquitlam and graduated from Centennial Secondary School. During her career Patricia has filled a variety of roles as French Immersion teacher, Teacher-Librarian, Program Coordinator, K-12 School Administrator, District Principal, and Director of Instruction, among several other senior leadership positions leading to her present role as Superintendent.

Ms. Gartland has also served a leadership role in School District 43 as the Assistant Superintendent – International and Continuing Education. Over a decade ago, she instituted what has become one of the most successful revenue generating International Education Programs in B.C. through the implementation of her vision for the internationalization of the school district and its communities – "guiding global citizens, becoming tomorrow's leaders."
Ms. Gartland holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts in French Language and Literature from UBC, a Master of Arts in Educational Administration from SFU, and is proficient in several languages. She has earned the accolades of her many colleagues and peers including being presented with the BCCIE Distinguished Leadership Award in 2012.
Ms. Gartland is committed to team work and collaboration with district staff and community partners to ensure personal, social and career success for all students within the school district.

Dr. Rumeet Billan

Award-winning, internationally recognized entrepreneur, learning architect, speaker, author, humanitarian, and Canada’s top 10 power women 2020.

Steve Brown

President & Chief Executive Officer, NELSON

Steve Brown

President & Chief Executive Officer, NELSON

Steve Brown has made his mark in Canada and Internationally by leading organizations through digital transformation. His career spans a diverse mix of industry and technology experience from multi-media entertainment, logistics services, automotive, and now to learning solutions.
Since joining NELSON in September 2016, Steve has transformed the vision for this 104-year-old company by reimagining the role and purpose of a publisher in 2017 and beyond. Introducing a matrix driven view to the management culture, and unifying a K20 student-centric business division is at the core of this shift to a cohesive customer focused structure. He has reframed the organization’s digital competency by instituting a technology department comprised of some the world’s best and brightest talent based in Silicon Beach California. Additionally, over the past 12 months the company has engaged in various M&A activities, including the acquisition of one of its largest competitors, as well as signing numerous agency and partnership deals to ensure NELSON offers a world class portfolio of learning solution and for all its markets.
Steve’s passion and commitment to transforming education, and the student learning experience, continues to fuel the innovation pipeline at NELSON.

Maxim Jean-Louis

Chief Executive Officer of Contact North | Contact Nord

Maxim Jean-Louis

Chief Executive Officer of Contact North | Contact Nord

Maxim Jean-Louis is President – Chief Executive Officer of Contact North | Contact Nord, Ontario’s Distance Education and Training Network, headquartered in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Maxim worked in senior management roles for over 15 years at Athabasca University in Alberta, Canada’s open university.
He is also a member of the Comité consultatif en matière d’éducation postsecondaire en langue française dans les régions du Centre et du Sud-ouest.
Maxim is a former Chair of the Board of Directors of the World University Service of Canada and of the Optical Regional Advanced Network of Ontario, as well as a past member of Ontario’s Postsecondary Education Quality Assessment Board, and he served as a member of the Canadian Advisory Mission to support the implementation of the South African National Qualifications Framework (NQF) by the South African Qualifications Authority. He also served as President of Collège des Grands Lacs, one of Ontario’s three French-language community colleges.
In 2011, Maxim was appointed Special Advisor to Ontario’s Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities for an Ontario Online Institute, producing a 125-page report and recommendations to the Minister on opportunities for online learning in the province.

Eric Walters

Award-winning Canadian Author

Eric Walters

Award-winning Canadian Author

It all began in 1993 when Eric was teaching a Grade 5 class. His students were reluctant readers and writers, and Eric began to write to encourage them to become more involved in literature. His first novel, Stand Your Ground, was created for this class. It is set in the school where Eric was teaching, Vista Heights Public School, and some of the features of the community of Streetsville and many of the names of his students were incorporated into the story.

Since his first novel Eric has exploded on the children’s and young adult scene. Over the past two decades he has published 104 more novels and picture books with eight more scheduled in the coming years.

These novels have been enthusiastically received by children and young adults and critically acclaimed by teachers, reviewers and parents. Eric’s novels have won more than 100 awards including eleven separate children’s choice awards. He is the only three-time winner of both the Ontario Library Association Silver Birch and four-time winner of the Red Maple Award – in which over 250,000 students participate and vote the winner. In November 2013 he received the prestigious Children’s Africana Book Award – Best Book for young children – for his book The Matatu. This American award was presented to Eric in a ceremony at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. In 2017 he won the prestigious Sakura Medal give to the favorite book of International students in Japan.

Eric’s novels are now available in places as far award as New Zealand, Australia, India and Nepal and have been translated into more than a dozen languages including French, German, Japanese, Italian, Mandarin, Spanish and Portuguese.

Eric has presented to more than 1,500,000 students across North America and internationally in Japan, Kenya and Germany. His presentations blend drama, storytelling, audience participation and interaction. He presents to students from K – Grade 12 as well as adult groups and has been a keynote speaker at a variety of conferences.

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We are thrilled to share that this year we are giving back and will be directing all registration proceeds from our Summit to the ConnectedNorth program in support of bridging this digital gap for Indigenous Students.

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