adult education

Law School: Business Law 101

01/14/2013 8:00 pm

Laws impact every aspect of our existence but legal education is rarely accessible (or interesting!). Law School is about bringing legal concepts and principles into functional use: about making legal education interesting and applicable to real life situations. The course will cover practical topics like starting a business or non-profit organization, charter rights like freedom of expression & freedom of the person, provide a practical guide for dealing with common legal issues and teach you to negotiate like a pro in any situation.

Business Law 101: Starting a Business or Non-Profit

Learn the basics of starting your own business or non-profit. This session will focus on choosing the appropriate corporate structure,the pros and cons of corporate personhood, how to obtain funding, prevent liability and where to go for information that will help you start and grow your business.

Minecraft: Multi-School Mayhem & Learning

08/23/2012 7:00 pm

Minecraft Wolf OutpostWhat do you get when 30 students from three different schools share a single Minecraft world?

Lots of explosions, plenty of failing, some pvping and a whole bunch of authentic learning.

Join three TDSB teachers, as they talk about the successes and challenges behind their Multi-School Minecraft Server Project, a single virtual world open to selected low-performing students from three schools across the Toronto District School Board.

Learn why Minecraft (and other video games) are ideal at teaching when schools seem to fail at it, get the basics on running your own Minecraft server and see how educators, parents or kids themselves can use Minecraft in student-led, inquiry-based projects that foster authentic learning and critical thinking skills.

Liam O'Donnell (@liamodonnell) , Diana Maliszewski (@MzMollyTL) and Denise Colby (@Niecsa) are three gamers who happen to be teachers. Together, they are the GamingEdus and can be found at: http://gamingeducators.pbworks.com. For the past five years, they each have used video games to support student success in literacy, numeracy, social skills development and where ever else the students take the learning.

In 2012, they teamed up with the EDGE Lab at Ryerson University, (http://edgelab.ryerson.ca/) to create North America's first Multi-School Minecraft server, where 30 students from 3 schools play Minecraft, then write and create media around their experiences. You can see their work at: http://minecraftclubhub.pbworks.com.

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Professional Development and Adult Education

Submitted by sherida on Fri, 02/17/2012 - 10:31

My work at the University of Toronto includes being a lecturer in the Adult Education and Community Development program and a researcher with the Social Economy Centre. The courses that I teach are influenced by my research interest in technology, particularly online environments. This makes me something of a queer duck in my program...welcome, appreciated, but not fully understood.

Along comes The Academy of the Impossible as well as Metaviews, where I do some consultation. In less than a couple of months I have been exposed and have participated in events that not only address my interest in technology, but also stimulate my thinking in adult education and community development. I have used videos and discussions in YouTube School to inform my teaching about media and nonprofits. The Campaign School has been an opportunity to reflect on policy development for the social economy as well as grass roots community development. The interview with Rick Salutin in the Hacking Reality series was an opportunity to remember the importance of social movement learning in adult education. Testing the Impossible gives me a peek at what may be in store for the tech society.

Along with the Metaviews teleseminars, these experiences give me the opportunity to learn and deconstruct the socio-technological moment that we are now experiencing. My professional and personal lens is expanding. The Academy of the Impossible is a living example of adult education and community development.

"Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
—Red Queen, Alice in Wonderland

“Be Realistic:
Demand the Impossible"
—political slogan used by
the Situationists in 1968

“Let's set our sights beyond the abominations of today to divine another possible world.”
—Eduardo Galeano

"Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing."
- Muhammad Ali