Theme: Vision for the Future

Our theme of "Vision For The Future" will bring together a powerful collection of speakers and TED videos to challenge all those involved in schools to think beyond the traditional as we prepare students for the world of tomorrow. Our goal is to share stories that challenge our current mindsets, to unleash deep conversations designed to improve learning for students and empower educators to rethink their paradigms of instructional practice. In short, to create the opportunity for continued dialogue aimed at creating an innovative, inspiring, and unified learning community.

9096 Trattle Street
Langley, British Columbia, V1M 2S6
Canada

Alan Davis

Alan Davis is currently the President and Vice Chancellor of Kwantlen Polytechnic University. He is a member of the Board of the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning, and has served on various committees and commissions with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the American Council for Education. He is past President of the Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education and is on the Board of the Collaboration for Online Higher Education Research. He is also a member of the Chemical Institute of Canada and the Playwrights Guild of Canada. Dr. Davis is widely published in key areas of higher education. In September 2011, he was a keynote speaker at the 14th International Cambridge Conference on Open and Distance Education, and co-wrote a chapter in the collection Game Changers published this year by Educause.

Alec Couros

Alec is a Professor of educational technology and media at the Faculty of Education, University of Regina, Canada. He has given hundreds of workshops and presentations, nationally and internationally, on topics such as openness in education, networked learning, social media in education, digital citizenship, and critical media literacy. His graduate and undergraduate courses help current and future educators understand how to use and take advantage of the educational potential offered by the tools of connectivity.

Ashley Taylor

Ashley Taylor is a grade 12 student at Aldergrove Community Secondary School and a dancer well known throughout the Fraser Valley. Starting dance at the age of 9, she has progressed through the years and developed much versatility and success in a variety of genres including ballet, contemporary, jazz, lyrical, hip hop, and musical theatre. Ashley has achieved marks of distinction on her Royal Academy of Dance ballet exams and received numerous first place, platinum, and gold awards at various dance competitions. She is a true leader at her studio, Kick It Up A Notch Academy of Dance (Aldergrove), as she spends numerous hours a week not only dancing but also helping to teach and encourage the development of younger dancers. Ashley lives for dance; her effort, dedication and passion shine through as she lets people in and speaks to others through her movement on the stage.

Ashli Akins

Ashli Akins is a human rights advocate, artist, and social entrepreneur. She founded Mosqoy, an international charitable organization that works with highland indigenous communities of the Andean mountains in Peru, to provide economic opportunities. Ashli is pursuing her PhD at UBC's Liu Institute for Global Issues, under Dr. Wade Davis and Dr. Michelle LeBaron. In 2014, she received her master’s in International Human Rights Law from the University of Oxford; her thesis explored why the loss of culturally significant art is a human rights violation. She received a bachelor's degree at the University of Victoria where she was recently honoured as one of UVic’s 50 top alumni difference makers. Ashli uses photography and writing to educate about international human rights and environmental injustices. In 2008, she completed a photography internship with National Geographic. Ashli has been honoured with dozens of awards, and has given over 100 lectures and presentations globally.

Hannah Park

Hannah Park is an assistant professor and the head of the Graphic Design Program at Memphis College of Art, TN. Park received her BFA in Product Design at Parsons the New School for Design and her MDes at York University and has worked with various companies in New York City, Plano and Toronto. Her sustainable dinnerware design for Verterra was exhibited at the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum. She also designed educational iPad applications at Play:CES research labs at York University and worked as a committee member for Light Pollution Abatement at the City of Toronto. Hannah’s project “SkyAct: Remembering The Starry Night” explores the ways in which design can be an active mediator in the orchestration of innovative directions to support sustainable ways of living.

Heidi Hass Gable

Heidi approaches our education system from multiple perspectives. First and foremost, she is the mother of three amazing, gifted, creative and/or highly sensitive children! Heidi also spent almost six years as president of the City of Coquitlam‘s District Parent Advisory Council, attending countless advisory committees and working to build relationships between parents and teachers. And finally, she has worked with many passionate educators as an edtech consultant – participating in technology planning, facilitating dialogue and implementing technology to support student learning, communication and relationship building. She is an idealist, geek and deceptively social introvert.

Ida Yang

Ida Yang is a ten year old grade five student who attends Richard Bulpitt Elementary school in Langley B.C. When Ida was five, she was diagnosed with a degenerative bone disappearing disease. At the age of 7 she began to play the harp because she liked its sound. She has subsequently won the Kiwanis Music Festival for the past three consecutive years. She loves playing the harp though finds it difficult at times, due to her illness, to play the pedals. Ida shows us that with perseverance and practice you can succeed.

Jan Unwin

Jan Unwin is currently seconded by both the British Columbia Ministry of Education and the BC Ministry of Advanced Education as the Superintendent of Graduation and Student Transitions. Prior to this appointment, Jan had been the Superintendent of Schools for School District No. 42, Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows. Her 18-year career with that district also included elementary and secondary principalships, as well as Assistant Superintendent and Deputy Superintendent positions. Prior to taking on an administrative role, Jan was a teacher, a counsellor, a helping teacher and a curriculum coordinator. Jan has a passion for student learning and has been part of several innovations to assist in providing students their best chance for success. She believes that our education system should be designed around offering students opportunities so they can find purpose and passion in their learning.

Jessica Lizotte

Jessica Lizotte is currently a grade 12 Langley School District student. As a member of her school’s leadership class, Jessica has become an outspoken advocate for social and cultural change within our public education system.

Karl Lindgren-Streicher

Karl learns and teaches with 9th and 10th graders, mostly about world history. He believes that school should focus on critical thinking and literacy, and his classroom reflects that. Karl is interested in effective technology integration in the classroom. He wants his classroom to be as student-centered as possible. He strongly believes that students should be excited about being at school. He is committed to creating an educational system today designed for the future success of all students.

Kim Schonert-Reichl

Kimberly Schonert-Reichl is a world-renown expert in the area of social and emotional learning research with children and adolescent, particularly in relation to the identification o the processes and mechanisms that foster positive human qualities such as empathy, compassion, altruism, and resiliency. Her current projects include studies examining the effectiveness of classroom-based universal social and emotional learning (SEL) programs including the MindUp program, the Taxi Dog Educational Curriculum, and the Random Acts of Kindness program. Dr. Schonert-Reichl is also conducting interdisciplinary research in collaboration with neuroscientists and psychobiologists examining the relation of executive functions and biological processes to children’s social and emotional development in school settings.

Martin Pusic

Martin Pusic, MD, PhD is a Director at the Institute for Innovations in Medical Education. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the NYU School of Medicine. A practicing Pediatric Emergency physician, Dr. Pusic also has expertise in human cognition as it pertains to education metrics, health informatics and the longitudinal assessment of clinical skills. Dr. Pusic's core areas of expertise include educational informatics, student and resident assessment, meta-cognition, and statistical modeling of learning curves. His most recent research focuses on statistical modeling and prediction of student learning trajectories. The research has as its foundation the predictive analytics approaches that recent advances in educational data systems are just beginning to make possible. Dr. Pusic is a co-investigator on NYU’s “Accelerating Change in Medical Education” grant, funded by the American Medical Association.

Monique Gray Smith

Monique Gray Smith is a mixed heritage woman of Cree, Lakota, and Scottish descent and is the proud Mom of 11 year old twins. She is an award winning author, international speaker and consultant. Her career has focused on fostering paradigm shifts that emphasize the strength and resiliency of the First Peoples in Canada. Her leadership in the field of Aboriginal Education led her to create a resource called The Ripple Effect of Resiliency: Strategies for Fostering Resiliency with Indigenous Children. Monique’s first published novel, Tilly: A Story of Hope and Resilience won the 2014 Burt Award for First Nation, Métis and Inuit Literature. Monique is being touted as one of the up and coming Canadian authors to read. She is well known for her storytelling, spirit of generosity and focus on resilience. Monique has been sober and involved in her healing journey for over 23 years.