A whirlwind of activities, learning and conversations happened throughout the conference on October 23rd at Byrne Creek (Burnaby). From the participants flying past me in hallways, stairways and rooms, comments were tossed in the air about how timely this was, how much they were making connections to what they were doing or not doing, and getting answers to questions they had never even thought to ask…. After all, isn’t this what a conference was meant to be? — an exchange of ideas, a push to get better, a challenge to refine thinking with colleagues and own their own learning and most important – a personal commitment to take the next steps. Some of our participants travelled quite a distance (Sunshine coast, Vanc Island, the interior, and Alberta….). Some were just starting out in their implementation process, some seasoned veterans, and some came just to ask the questions.
Both of our keynote addresses [Sherrelle Walker (Seattle), Tony Herdman (SFU)] provided insights into brain 
neuroscience (its relevance in literacy and continuing questions in brain imaging research). This framed the hands-on sessions throughout the rest of the day. As well, a panel of implementation coaches from Victoria, New Westminster and Burnaby shared different ways of implementation and answered questions (everything from how to get started, what the school environment looks like, scheduling, funding, who are or should be the champions…).
We would like to thank our partners from Scientific Learning who arrived from all parts of the US (California, Arizona, Illinois) to share the day with us as well as members of Burnaby’s Advisory Committee and ITS staff who worked behind the scenes to make this a fabulous day.
Please stay tuned for conference powerpoints and notes to be posted here (under CATEGORY – COL CONFERENCE) as soon as they are received. Feel free to post any comments here.