brianwalmark's blog

(08 08 06) NISCN Research Consortium Update

(08 08 05) KiHS SSHRC Aboriginal Research Grant Update

Lakehead University's Seth Agbo and KORI's Brian Walmark met with Knet's Brian Beaton and Penny Carpenter and KiHS principal Darrin Potter to discuss the KiHS research project.  KO and members of the Lakehead University Faculty of Education won a research grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council earlier this year to document the important work taking place at the community level on digital education.  KiHS is one of the first First Nations controlled and operated digital high schools in Canada and the first digital school of any kind in Ontario.  To see photos, click here.

(08 07 29) Back in the Office and Back on the Road

Dr. Seth Agbo and I are traveling to Sioux Lookout tomorrow to meet with Brian Beaton and Darrin Potter as part of the KiHS Research Project.  The project is a major project to research best practices and lessons learned at KiHS.  It will focus on documenting the voice of community members who provided the original vision for KiHS in the early days of SMART.  To see a photo, click here.

(08 07 02) Time Flies

Summer has finally arrived and many of us are turning our attention
to vacations. Its an important time to reflect and consider what
we do well and where we need to improve. About six months ago, I
asked the KORI team to spend a couple of minutes each day doing on-line
journals. It seemed like a good idea at the time and it is a
critical tool to become more transparent and accountable to the
communities which we work for... After a short time, my entries become
shorter and shorter and suddlenly non-existent. Its critical that
I lead by example. Its equally important that the leaders and the
communities as well as the other managers know about the work that is
taking place at KORI.

As I complete this week and get ready
for vacation, I am pledging to document my work every day. I am
pledging 4 sentences each day. If I fail to fulfill this pledge,
I expect you to remind me!

(08 03 11) KO presents at Digital Ontario gathering at University of Guelph

KO was well represented at the Digital Ontario conference hosted by the Snowden Programme at the University of Guelph… K-Net’s business manager Penny Carpenter, KO Tele-Medicine’s Gibbet Stevens and KORI’s Brian Walmark joined academics, funders and community practitioners to share best practices with officials with the Ontario Government who have been mandated to draft an e-strategy for the province… All three KO staffers made presentations throughout the gathering which were well received…