The Ken Spencer Award

From Students Developing Iphone Apps to Teachers Flipping Classrooms –
7 Projects that Turn the Notion of Teaching and Learning on its Head
Canadian educators honoured with the Ken Spencer Award for Innovation in Teaching and Learning. 

For a booklet on all 15 Ken Spencer Award finalists: 
http://cea-ace.s3.amazonaws.com/media/CEA-2012-Ken-Spencer-Award-Finalists-Booklet.pdf

2011-2012 Ken Spencer Award Winners

FIRST PLACE - $7,000

Dundas Central
Students develop a tourism app for the town of Dundas

Dundas Central Elementary

Dundas, Ont.
Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board

While designing an app under the mentorship of web programmers from Australia and Finland, and a digital media artist from New York City, students quickly realized that this was real work and that Apple was a real audience. Fueled by this intrinsic motivation, students’ honed a professional work ethic, engaged in difficult decision making, and took ownership of the project that demanded continuous problem-solving, including learning from failures.

From a teaching perspective, real-time access to online experts transcended traditional ideas of “teacher” and “learner”. With no models to follow, the teacher dealt with a mix of uncertainty and chaos, and continues to share her experiences with peers in Canada, the U.S. and Austraila – these innovators are using the ‘Dundas Central model’ to create their own apps and websites, and in the process are building a global base of culturally relevant Creative Commons licensed curriculum.

SECOND PLACE - $3,000

Oasis Skateboard Factory
The skateboard becomes the learning catalyst for hard-to-engage youth

Oasis Skateboard Factory
Toronto District School Board
Toronto, Ont.

The classroom is transformed into a skateboard design studio where students – who have not previously experienced a high level of success in school – run a skateboard-building and graphic design cooperative business. The program strives for a very high course completion rate for previously non-attending, non-achieving, disengaged youth, who earn credits by learning hands-on to build skateboards, design original custom graphics, work with local artists and community partners, and market and display their work.

The students are flourishing in a site of innovation, entrepreneurship, and social change, which reinforces the need for a high-interest re-entry point for students to re-connect to school. The OSF is an example of innovation in education dedicated to helping teens explore creative art and business opportunities, and to be re-engaged in the classroom and community.  

HONOURABLE MENTION - $1,000 Each

The iDEC Program
A whole school approach to engaging learners

Caulfeild Elementary iDEC program
West Vancouver, B.C.
West Vancouver School District

iDEC provides a digital environment that supports any technological device and platform. From Kindergarten to Grade 3, teachers are embedding student ownership into their digital learning every day with the help of Smartboards and iPads. By Grade 4, students can bring their own electronic device into the classroom, and student webpages serve as a central area for their learning and participation, where they solve problems, are creative, and participate positively in the school community.

iDEC is a school wide initiative – led by a dedicated team of teachers and administrators – that aligns and leverages three innovative themes emerging in education: digital immersion, inquiry-based learning, and soft skills (self-regulation, understanding, creative thinking and collaboration,empathy, enthusiasm and determination) where staff development and innovation is occurring at every class at every age and has shifted the teaching and learning experience dramatically. 

HONOURABLE MENTION - $1,000

Centre éducatif Saint-Aubin – Saint-Aubin Education Centre
Giving special needs students opportunities for success

Centre éducatif Saint-Aubin / Adaptation scolaire
Baie-Saint-Paul, Que.
Commission scolaire de Charlevoix

The goal of this program is to increase the motivation of high school students experiencing learning difficulties, while reducing their behavioural issues through the delivery of robotics and multimedia projects that integrate information and communication technologies (ICTs). Teachers develop innovative practice while students develop academic and social competencies that lead to increased academic achievement.

Programs include videoconference and face-to-face student exchanges with a group of Crie students to learn about their culture; an animation project that builds technological and language skills; robotics workshops that emphasize deep meaningful learning in math, science, and technology; and a night class that invites parents to refresh their math skills alongside their children, offering the opportunity for students to validate their learning and strengthen parent-teacher relationships. 

HONOURABLE MENTION - $1,000

MTHS Apps
Grade 3s and Grade 10s pair up to develop educational Iphone games

Mother Teresa Catholic High School
Ottawa, Ont.
Ottawa Catholic School Board

High school students partner with Grade 3 students and in the process, create learning that is collaborative, project-based, and focused on real-world outcomes. The Grade 3 students become a vital part of the team for the development of Iphone games because they are the ‘clients’, and therefore the subject matter experts.  The Grade 10 students do all the programming. Although technology was used at every step of the process, it didn’t become the focus and was leveraged as a tool to enhance learning.

With real customers, real due dates, and an independent third party looking at the results, both classes are motivated by regularly scheduled face-to-face meetings to present deliverables. The pressure for both age groups is intense, yet positive and constructive. Both groups of students learn the merits of hard work, teamwork, and sheer determination, which combines for success. 

HONOURABLE MENTION - $1,000

OKM Flipped Classroom
Where the lesson becomes the homework, and the homework becomes the classroom learning

OKM (Okanagan Mission Secondary School)
Kelowna, B.C.
Central Okanagan School District 23

Senior Math and Biology teachers ‘flip’ classes by videotaping their course lectures on to YouTube. Students’ homework is to watch these videos, which allows them to control the pace of the lesson and avoid the frustration of completing homework they don’t understand. What was traditionally considered homework is now done in class, and the teacher is readily available to revisit challenging concepts one-on-one. Students who do understand are free to move on and are not bored by revisiting a topic they have already mastered.

The flipped class provides new learning opportunities where deep meaningful conversations occur with each learner in every class. This accelerates how quickly teachers can respond to the individual needs of each learner. A learning community is created that can continue to thrive and grow outside of class time, which has transformed how students are learning in the classroom. 

HONOURABLE MENTION - $1,000

Community Studies Program
Reconnecting students to their aboriginal history, traditions, and community

Omiishosh Memorial School
Pauingassi, Man.
The Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre (MFNERC)

This program was designed, developed, and implemented to meet the needs of aboriginal learners using mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual components from the Medicine Wheel philosophy.  Students develop their self-concept, self-esteem, self-awareness, and self-determination by learning about the historical aspects of First Nations culture, including treaties, the residential school experience, and local issues such as lack of clean water, in the context of the aboriginal world view and value system. 

The community component of this program includes a variety of activities: high school graduates mentor all students at Omiishosh Memorial School in upgrading their skills. Under the tutelage of the Student Mentor Project, the Grade 9 students read and discuss stories with primary students in both English and Ojibway, and gain workplace skills with local businesses. They interview the Elders to collect stories for a book used by younger students to help them understand their history. Students receive a credit at the end of the academic year for this Community Studies (21G) School Initiated Course. This inquiry-based program has re-engaged students and could serve as a relevant blueprint for other First Nations communities across Canada.

For a booklet on all 15 Ken Spencer Award finalists:
http://cea-ace.s3.amazonaws.com/media/CEA-2012-Ken-Spencer-Award-Finalists-Booklet.pdf

The recognition

The Ken Spencer Award for Innovation in Teaching and Learning was established with the generous contribution of Dr. Ken Spencer to:

• recognize and publicize innovative work taking place in schools and classrooms that is sustainable, has the potential of being taken up by others, and encourages transformative change in teaching and learning;
• encourage a focus on transformative change in schools; and
• provide profile for classroom innovation within school districts, schools, and the media.

Application information

FURTHER INFORMATION

Requests for further information should be sent by e-mail to Cynthia Liberbaum at: cliberbaum@cea-ace.ca

ABOUT KEN SPENCER

Ken Spencer is a Director and the Treasurer of CEA. He is the retired CEO and co-founder of Creo Products. Founded in 1983 with two people, Creo grew from a startup to over 4,000 employees in British Columbia, United States, Europe and Israel. It was B.C'.s largest high technology company with sales of almost $1 Billion. In 2005 it was sold to Kodak.

Ken retired in 1995 but stayed on the board of Creo. He now spends some of his time mentoring other CEO's and serving on boards. He is Chair of the board of Bycast, is Past Chair of Science World. Previously he has been Chair of the Board of Spectrum Signal Processing Twinstrand Therapeutics and CityXpress and a member of the Board of BCIT and AceTech. He is also chair of UBC's Electrical and Computer Engineering Advisory Committee, on the Council for UBC's University Liaison Office and on the Dean's Advisory Committee for the Business Faculty at Simon Fraser University.

Ken has generously donated the financial awards for this new program.

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