Session 7, 3:30: The Essence of Deep Learning
Alison Kinahan; introduction by Tom D’Amico
Tom D’Amico
Tom is the Director of Education with the Ottawa Catholic School Board. He has over 30 years of experience in education.
An award-winning educator he has been recognized with the Prime Minister’s Award for teaching excellence and with Canada’s Outstanding Principal award. Tom is the Canadian co-lead for New Pedagogies for Deep Learning , a partnership of 1500 schools across 10 countries focused on practices to develop deep learning and the development of global competencies.
“I believe in the empowerment of youth and their ability to make our world a better place, especially through the use of social learning and technology in a connected global society”.
Alison Kinahan
Alison is an educator for the Ottawa Catholic School Board (OCSB). After graduating from the University of Saskatchewan in 1998, she has taught many different subjects from grades 1-12, with a concentration in intermediate and secondary education. Alison has worked as an educator in many settings, including a K-8 private school in Connecticut, as well as different schools in the OCSB. In the school setting, Alison has been a classroom teacher, resource teacher, curriculum leader, student success teacher, and literacy learning partner.
At the school board level, she has worked as a Consultant of Literacy and Language Arts and is now the Coordinator of the Leading and Learning Department. In this role, she facilitates the New Teacher Induction Program and professional learning for many employee groups. She sits on the Teacher Education Advisory Committee in the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa and is the Co-Chair of the OCSB Equity and Diversity Committee.
In the last seven years, Alison has been involved in supporting the implementation of Deep Learning Framework and the Global Competencies for students as established in the global network of New Pedagogies for Deep Learning (NPDL). Alison has co-lead the OCSB’s internal Deep Learning Certification program and has presented at Global Labs for NPDL in Toronto and New Zealand.