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Afghan minister connects with education faculty 
Afghanistan's Minister of Education Mohammed Haneef Atmar visited the Faculty of Education in October to discuss possible partnerships on education development projects. Colleen Kawalilak, education’s assistant dean (International), said the faculty has been in talks with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) about responding to the education development challenges in Afghanistan, and discussions with Atmar were fruitful. “He has expressed a sincere and passionate interest in further developing this relationship with the University of Calgary and it’s certainly something we’re actively exploring.” Read more. Iron Science teachers set to battle on campus 
Science teachers from across the country will present their most entertaining and unusual science experiments at the U of C on November 22 and you can watch the action live online from 10 - 11:30 am at www.ironscience.ca. Iron Science, a Canada-wide challenge to celebrate innovative science teaching, will be hosted by Jay Ingram of the Discovery Channel. Modelled after the popular television cooking show Iron Chef, teams will cook up demonstrations of imaginative science and engineering built around a “secret ingredient” that can be modified for use in the classroom. PD OPPORTUNITIES: Leading Learning/Leading Change 
November 22: Leading Change: Innovation – dinner seminar: Winter 2008: Leading for Today’s Learners – technology workshops: Faculty launches new online EDd in workplace & adult learning The Graduate Division of Educational Research (GDER) has added a specialization in workplace and adult learning to its online Doctor of Education (EdD) program to meet the growing demand for experts who can assess, design and deliver learning opportunities for adults in a wide range of workplace, community and other settings. The specialization is designed for professionals interested in the advanced study of topics and issues related to adult learning and workplace learning including: adult learning theory, community and international development, social justice, diversity, advocacy and citizenship and immigration. Application deadline for July 2008 start is Feb. 1, 2008. Learn more about the EdD and other study options into the workplace and adult learning specialization. Learn more about three other new distance learning programs offered by the Faculty’s Division of Applied Psychology: Professional Diploma in Inclusive and Special Education; Master of School and Applied Child Psychology; and Master of Counselling. Measuring kids’ storytelling ability 
Professor Hetty Roessingh has developed an online tool to measure the English language proficiency of young (pre-literate) immigrant children. The “storytelling” tool is designed help educators evaluate vocabulary output and growth in vocabulary development over time. Educators can input samples of a child’s oral storytelling and compare these to the baseline proficiency that Roessingh has established using samples collected from children whose first language is English. She says that about 80 per cent of what young children have to say, they say using only the first 250 words. With the new storytelling measurement tool, created in partnership with Dr. Tom Cobb of the University of Quebec (Montreal), Roessingh is looking for patterns in the distribution of the rest of a child’s output. “That will tell us whether the kids are just doing a lot of chattering using very little lexical diversity, or rather, if the pattern of the vocabulary output looks like it 'stacks up' for what you would expect for a child of a certain age," she says. Use the “storytelling” tool. Global perspectives in your Inbox The Faculty of Education, in partnership with the Faculties of Linguistics and Humanities, has launched a new multilingual e-newsletter for educators and others interested in research and advances in the field of second language studies. The first issue of Languages, Culture and Global Perspectives contains articles on the use of new technologies in language learning, information on upcoming graduate-level courses and articles in English, French and Spanish. Read the first issue. Education alumni honoured for outstanding teaching Two education faculty alumni were honoured for their contributions to education with 2007 ATA Excellence in Teaching awards. Dom Chieffo, BEd ’86, of Sir Winston Churchill Senior High School and Jeff Turner, MEd ’93, of Central Memorial/Lord Shaughnessy High School were chosen from among 320 eligible teachers this year. A big thank you to all of you who responded to the 2007 Alumni Survey. We welcome your feedback and we are currently in the process of reviewing your comments and suggestions so that we can better assess how to meet your needs in the future. |
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Alumni Update Fall, 2007 In this issue... More Education News Click here for more recent news from the U of C Faculty of Education. Spread the News Do you know other Education grads who'd like to receive this update? Tell them they can subscribe by sending an e-mail to edalumni@ucalgary.ca. Stay in Touch Click here to join the U of C alumni Net Community and get more alumni news and information. Feedback Do you have any alumni news to share? Any comments or kudos about this edition of the Alumni News Update? Send your feedback to edalumni@ucalgary.ca. |
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