Sessions
Saturday 28 Mar 2026
8:30 am - 9:00 am Arrival & Check-in Arrival & Check-in
Be sure to sign in at the main entrance.
9:00 am - 10:00 am Welcome & Keynote Panel Welcome & Keynote Panel
Keynote Panel
Maureen Asselin & Melanie Mulcaster, Sheena Bolton, and Keynote PanelK00
Join us in the for a welcome and orientation for the day, followed by our Keynote Panel
AI, like earlier waves of edtech, gives us a chance to rethink pedagogy and extend what great teachers already do well. Yet the last decade of digital adoption has often chased efficiency and scale instead of learning, contributing to stagnant or declining outcomes and growing distrust of classroom technology.
As AI becomes ubiquitous, Ontario educators face a critical choice: will we use it to automate teaching and deskill the profession, or to amplify human relationships, feedback, and hands-on learning—especially when resources are scarce?
10:15 am - 11:00 am Block A: Presentations Block A: Presentations
Presentations sessions are 45 minutes in length.
Reclaiming Thinking: Crafting AI-Resilient, Student-Centered Assignments
Peter Beens, DSB Niagara (Retired)P01
Generative AI has revealed a persistent issue in assessment design: many traditional assignments can be completed without sustained student thinking. Instead of attempting to make assignments “AI-proof,” this session examines how to design AI-resilient, student-centered tasks that make thinking visible, authentic, and accessible. Grounded in the PACT framework (Process, not Product; Agency and Student Voice; Context and Lived Experience; and Transparent AI Use), the session introduces the Assignment Strengthener custom GPT as a practical design aid for stress-testing and strengthening assignments. Participants will see concrete examples across subject areas and leave with clear strategies for creating assignments that function effectively in AI-rich classrooms.
Ai For Personalized Resources
Aman Sahota, Factors EducationP02
We will focus on how Ai can be used to create learner profiles to create personalized classroom materials that are curriculum aligned. Ai has the ability to create resources in students native language, at their reading level while accommodating for socioeconomic constrains. This is a recent development that has been able to take place because of Ai Agents. We will learn about about the evolution of Ai as well to see the expansion in capability. This session will also cover a free Ai program that is partnering with ICTC.
Makers and Minds: Fabrication in the Classroom
Melanie Mulcaster, Peel DSBP03
Step into the world of hands-on creativity where ideas turn into tangible designs. Participants of this session will be invited to explore design inquiry through the tools of modern fabrication. From precision cuts on the Cricut and intricate patterns etched with the laser cutter, to crafting with the sewing machine, shaping with the Chopsaw, and prototyping with the 3D printer, this workshop highlights how each tool can bring imagination to life.
Cracking the Code to Learning
Lynn Thomas, ECOOP04
Cracking the Code to Learning: Learn how to create interactive activities for your class using Canva Code! With Canva's AI Code Generator, you can build, style, and publish interactive experiences for websites, presentations, docs, and more—no coding needed. Teachers will be able to transform abstract concepts into hands-on interactive experiences that capture student attention and keep them engaged—no coding experience required. From drag-and-drop games to interactive widgets and timelines, or even classroom management tools like countdown timers or mental health checks, the classroom applications are endless and exciting!
Exploring VEXcode VR: Accessible Robotics for the Classroom
Michael Frankfort, STAO & OAMEP05
This hands-on workshop introduces educators to VEXcode VR, a free virtual platform that supports Ontario’s math and science coding expectations. Participants will master core concepts—loops, conditionals, and algorithms—through virtual challenges that mirror physical robotics, making STEM learning equitable and budget-friendly. The session culminates in an arts-based coding challenge where educators collaborate to present final simulations. All participants receive bilingual video tutorials and classroom-ready tasks developed with Skills Ontario.
Exploring Indigenous Perspectives in the Arts
Sara Merritt, Bridget Rowe, & Aaron MacDonald (Halton CDSB)P06
In collaboration with HCDSBs Indigenous Advisor, Sherry Saevil, this session aims to provide students with opportunities to create, present, and analyze art across diverse disciplines, including integrated productions that explore and reflect First Nations, Métis, and Inuit perspectives and cultures. Disciplines include dance, drama, installation and performance art, media arts, music, storytelling, functional art, and visual arts. Aligned with the Ontario Catholic Graduate Expectations, this session provides students an opportunity to honour and respect the dignity of all people. Students will develop a deeper understanding of Indigenous cultures, enhancing their empathy and commitment to reconciliation. The session will also address Call 62 of the Truth and Reconciliation Council, which calls for the integration of age-appropriate curriculum on residential schools, Treaties, and Aboriginal peoples' historical and contemporary contributions to Canada as a mandatory education requirement.
This session is designed for educators teaching grades 9-12. The session focuses on Indigenous Education, integrating it with the arts to provide a holistic learning experience that respects and celebrates Indigenous knowledge and traditions. By the end of this session, participants will not only have enhanced their artistic skills but also have developed a profound respect for Indigenous cultures and communities.
How I Closed 30 Tabs by Building an Entire Platform
Reece Cantelon, Thames Valley DSBP07
Level Up Classroom, or: How I Closed 30 Tabs by Building an Entire Ed-Platform... with AI. You know the routine. One tab for attendance. One for the gradebook. One for parent emails. One for report card comments. One for the Google Classroom... and one you opened three days ago that you're afraid to close for some reason. Multiply that by six classes and you're not teaching anymore - you're tab-managing. I got tired of it. So I built something. Level Up Classroom is an AI-powered platform I created from inside my own classroom to solve the problems I was living every day. It combines gradebook management, attendance tracking, parent communication, and AI-assisted everything into one place - built by a teacher, for teachers. In this session, I'll walk you through the real frustrations that drove me to build it, demo the platform, and share what I learned along the way about AI as a practical classroom tool - not a buzzword. Whether you're curious about AI in education, drowning in admin work, or just want to close some tabs, this one's for you. No coding knowledge required. Just a teacher who wanted his evenings back.
AI Literacy through AI Image Generation
Jennifer Casa-Todd, Lakehead UniversityP08
AI literacy represents the technical knowledge, durable skills, and future ready attitudes required to thrive in a world influenced by AI. It enables learners to engage, create with, manage, and design AI, while critically evaluating its benefits, risks, and ethical implications (An AI Literacy Framework for Education, 2025 page 6).
This session will focus on the follow ideas:
-Prompting and AI image generation activity
-Human + AI image generation ideas for any subject
-Examining AI biased outputs through image generation
-Intersection of AI image generation and digital citizenship
You will create, critique and share.
Transforming Old Spaces into Modern Esports Arenas
Matt Kovacs, Halton CDSBP09
During the pandemic, the HCDSB identified esports as a conduit to engaging students often left behind. Over the years, the HCDSB has established a strong tradition in both regular system-wide esports competition and curriculum-connected esports experiences.
This presentation will highlight both the HCDSB's esports history and how it was able to establish and build its recently launched St. Carlo Acutis Arena - a modern learning space and reimagining of a classic high school lecture hall.
Empowering Every STEAM Learner: Personalization and AI with Wayground
Erin PicklesP10
STEAM classrooms thrive when every learner can access, explore, and demonstrate their understanding in ways that work for them. In this interactive session, educators will discover how Wayground supports creating personalized and differentiated learning experiences aligned to the Ontario curriculum. Learn how teachers can create engaging lessons, assessments, and practice activities while using built-in accommodations - such as text-to-speech, extended time, translation and dyslexia font - to support diverse learning needs. We’ll also explore how optional AI tools can help educators quickly transform documents, videos, and existing resources into interactive learning experiences. Whether you're curious about AI or prefer a more traditional workflow, Wayground offers flexible pathways to design inclusive, data-informed STEAM learning for every student.
11:15 am - 12:30 pm Block B: Workshops Block B: Workshops
Guided Workshop sessions are 75 minutes in length.
Questioning AI: Building Media Literacy and Critical Thinking Skills
Diana Maliszewski,Toronto DSB & AMLW01
How does Gen AI work? It’s important to teach through and about media texts we use in school, including Large Language Models (LLMs) such as Gemini and Chat GPT and other AI tools. However, many AI tools are proprietary secrets. So, what’s an educator to do? This hands-on workshop will provide participants with media literacy and gender equity perspectives. You’ll explore how algorithms are trained, why AI personifications can be problematic, and ways to infuse critical thinking for all media texts, not just those labelled as “AI”.
Currents of Change - Exploring Climate Justice and Water Through Story, Movement and STEAM
Heather Newman & Matthew Sheahan (CODE)W02
Utilizing the story, We Are Water Protectors, attendees will engage in a cross-curricular examination of water, the importance of water, sustainability, resource extraction, digital advocacy and strategies for civic engagement in climate justice work. Delegates will participate in techniques led by members of the Council of Ontario Drama and Dance Educators (CODE) to embody story, bring issues to life and brainstorm possibilities for the world we want to create (e.g., responsible resource extraction, technological advancements and ethical use of AI, etc.). The workshop will focus on utilizing drama, movement and language to explore and unpack climate issues while simultaneously touching on connections to the science and geography curriculum, and relevant world issues through the lens of eco-justice and Indigenous ways of knowing. Using these strategies, delegates will engage in hands-on problem solving and brainstorming pathways to a hopeful and sustainable future.
What will attendees leave with?
-Practical lessons and strategies to utilize drama and language in the exploration of climate justice
-The ability to utilize Indigenous content free from appropriation of voice and culture
- Understanding of the ethical implications and applications of AI
- Practical steps for activism through social media and technology
Cutting Edge Learning: Laser Engraving and Cricuting in the Classroom
Melanie Mulcaster, Peel DSBW03
Discover how laser engraving and Cricut tools can bring hands-on, curriculum-connected learning to life. In this interactive session, educators will explore practical classroom projects that build creativity, design thinking, and problem-solving across subject areas. Learn the basics of workflow, materials, safety, and classroom management while seeing ready-to-use examples you can implement immediately. Whether you’re new to digital fabrication or expanding your makerspace, you’ll leave with concrete ideas to make student learning more engaging, purposeful, and innovative.
From Code to Creativity: Teaching AI and Coding with Codingville
Amy Matta, Logics AcademyW04
Experience how Codingville’s new AI-powered features are transforming coding education for Grades 4–12. In this hands-on session, educators will explore how AI can personalize learning, provide instant feedback, and guide students through creative problem-solving challenges through journeys, missions and adventures. Discover classroom-ready strategies that integrate coding, science, and math—while inspiring students to think critically and design their own intelligent solutions.
Mathematics Through a Social Justice Lens
Michael Frankfort, STAO & OAMEW05
This interactive, inquiry-based workshop invites educators to explore how mathematics can be a vehicle for social connection, empathy, and action. Drawing on the short film The Bully Dance (NFB) and the Six Elements of Social Justice Curriculum Design (Picower, 2012), participants will experience classroom-ready activities that position mathematics as a tool for understanding and addressing real-world issues such as bullying and inclusion. Educators will engage in rich learning tasks data analysis, spatial reasoning, and design challenges while developing inquiry questions that connect math concepts to curriculum expectations and social-justice themes. The session emphasizes inquiry, reflection, and collaboration, empowering teachers to integrate authentic problem solving and student voice into their math programs immediately.
Level Up with Custom AI: No Coding, All Impact
Ryan Collings, Peel DSBW06
Get ready for a creative, classroom‑powered dive into the world of custom AI tools—designed specifically for supporting diverse learners. In this hands‑on session, teachers will learn how to build their own AI-powered tutors, study bots, ELL/MLL text levellers, and IEP accommodation helpers—no coding required. We’ll explore how tools like NotebookLM, Custom Gems, and Microsoft Copilot agents can transform prep time, personalize learning, and help every student access the curriculum more confidently. Whether you want an AI that explains vocabulary at different language levels, creates adapted materials on the fly, or works as a patient tutor for tricky content, you’ll build it here—and walk away with a fully functional agent ready to use in your classroom the very next day.
Come experiment, create, and discover how AI can make teaching lighter, learning more accessible, and your classroom a more inclusive place for all.
Across the Curriculum with Coding, Music and Indigenous Perspectives
Bill Corcoran, Logics AcademyW07
This workshop is a hands-on exploration of the Your Voice is Power program which blends music, coding and Indigenous perspectives and aligns directly to Grades 6-12 Alberta Curriculum from Humanities, the Arts, STEM and more.Your Voice is Power, available in English and French (Ta Voix est Puissante), is an eight-module journey where students blend STEM with meaningful Indigenous perspectives. Participants navigate Indigenous history and the TRC’s Calls to Action while analyzing music tracks by Indigenous artists like Samian and Jayli Wolf. This cultural exploration is paired with a coding curriculum using EarSketch, a free, web-based Python-powered music editor to remix culturally responsive music tracks. By layering music and code, students move from understanding systemic injustice to activism, coding an original song that serves as a tool for advocacy and social change.
This workshop will provide a broad overview of the Your Voice is Power program and show teachers how they can seamlessly integrate it into Alberta curricular themes found in Grades 6-12 Social Studies, CTF/CST, Music, Language Arts and more.
When the physical & digital worlds collide with Mixed Media Animation
Tina Zita, Peel DSBW08
Scroll through Instagram, Tik Tok or Pinterest and you are bound to bump into Mixed Media texts. In the age of AI images and video, there seems to be a resurgence of very physical mediums of creation. Mediums that carry authenticity, personality, identity. Mixed Media Animations require just a few simple digital tools (probably ones already in your pocket), a treasure chest of materials and a lot creativity. We hope our story with animation will spark new ideas before we work through the design process together, play and create our own mini mixed media animation.
The Town That Needs Us: A Process Drama
Michelle Giesen, Toronto DSBW09
In this interactive Process Drama workshop, participants become citizens of a fictional town facing urgent sustainability challenges. Guided by Allan Drummond’s picture books on energy conservation and renewable innovation, educators will explore ways to integrate environmental education with the arts. Through movement, role play, and collaborative problem-solving, participants experience how Process Drama can bring climate issues to life in meaningful, age-appropriate ways. Attendees will leave with practical lesson materials, adaptable classroom strategies, and renewed inspiration to empower students as imaginative, responsible stewards of their communities and the planet.
Digital Storytelling with Keynote
Stephanie Stagg, Peel DSBW10
In this hands-on session, we will explore how to transform Keynote from a simple presentation tool into a dynamic canvas for student expression. We’ll dive into the technical "how-tos" of Magic Move and Line Draw animations, specifically focusing on how these features can empower students to create narratives about home, heritage, and identity. Learn how to guide learners in layering shapes, audio, and motion to bring their narratives to life, moving beyond static slides to create animated stories that resonate and implement meaningful, identity-focused digital projects in your classroom.
12:30 pm - 1:15 pm Lunch & Networking Lunch & Networking
Lunch! YUM! Conversation! Hooray!
1:15 pm - 2:30 pm Block C: Workshops Block C: Workshops
Guided Workshop sessions are 75 minutes in length.
Cardboard as a Conduit for STEM
Diana Maliszewski, Toronto DSBW11
Cardboard is an incredibly versatile tool. In this hands-on workshop, educators will use a ChompSaw to help build various structures to hit many different cross-curricular expectations.
Running the Numbers: Using Wearable Tech Data to Bring MTH1W
Denise Grightmire, Halton CDSBW12
Participants will explore how data from a Garmin or similar smartwatch can be used to deepen student understanding of mathematical modelling, data literacy, and linear relations in MTH1W. Educators will analyze real running data to create graphs, identify trends, and design tasks that support inclusive STEAM learning. The session will highlight connections to emerging technologies, health sciences, and engineering pathways, offering ready‑to‑use classroom activities and equity‑focused strategies.
Thin Sliced Thinking and Coding Tasks to drive a Rover
Paul Alves (Peel DSB) & Anthony Meli (Toronto DSB)W13
Participants will work through a series of thin-sliced coding tasks at their own pace. Participants will use menu-driven Python on TI-Graphing Calculators to complete coding tasks and drive a rover, working through a series of tasks.
Interactive Applications with the micro:bit - Grades 4-8
Lucia Valdez, Samantha Nelson, Petra Plat-Dekoter (Laurier STEM Outreach)W14
In this hands-on workshop, Wilfrid Laurier University STEM Outreach Facilitators will share classroom-ready micro:bit activities that can be incorporated into grades 4-8 classrooms. Applications will include an insulator-conductor tester, light and sound meters, as well as an environmental data collector. The outreach facilitators will be available to visit classrooms at some schools in April and May.
Learning in Three Dimensions
Jim Pedrech, London District CSBW15
3D technologies are used in everything from game design to civil engineering to medicine to represent the physical world. Have you ever thought about what these technologies might look like in education? By using technologies that allow us to capture, render, and perhaps even redesign our world, students are not only better prepared for a host of careers but also active curators and makers of the world around them. In this session, you will learn how we can create 3d renderings of objects in the real world and author immersive experiences featuring those objects.
Besides examining some exciting collaborations between students from the LDCSB and local museums, you will also go through an expedited process of creating a 3D model using the phone in your pocket and specialized software. Finally, you will have an opportunity to explore an interactive World War I experience featuring 3D objects scanned by LDCSB students.
Coding & Robotics in K-5
Justine Tomines, Peel DSBW16
Are you looking for ways to bring coding to life in your math classroom? Join us for a hands-on workshop where we unpack the curriculum, explore how coding expectations build across the grades, and work through code together to build our own understanding. We’ll dive into block coding using Scratch and experiment with micro:bits to see how these tools can support meaningful learning for all students.
Discover Indigenous Role Models and Teach AI Ethics Through Music
Bill Corcoran, Logics AcademyW17
Are you looking for a meaningful way to explore AI concepts such as ethics, bias, and responsible use with your students? This workshop shows you how by using something students instantly connect with: music.
We begin by diving into AI Ethics, examining the capabilities and limitations of generative AI using a student-friendly Songwriting chatbot. Once the groundwork is laid, you will explore the inspiring stories of Indigenous role models, using their journeys as a foundation to write original song lyrics. This "human-first" creative process is then paired with an AI Songwriter to see how technology can support, but not replace, human storytelling.
Wearable Designs: Our Journey with Screen Printing
Tina Zita, Peel DSBW18
In this interactive session we will begin by sharing a bit of our journey with screen printing at Aylesbury from our very first, very basic school T-Shirt to the collection we have now and creating for staff, the community and with learners themselves. We will walk through the process together from digital design - to screen - to print sharing tips, tricks and alternatives along the way. Before we leave, everyone will have a chance to screen print their own small item to take with you.
Forging your own AI Integrated Workflow
Matt Kovacs, Halton CDSBW19
The presenter of this workshop has been in the AI rabbit hole for over a decade.
No single AI solution can meet the full breadth of what is required modern educators in the modern day. The workshop will focus on integrating multiple AI-enabled solutions to help contextualize and empower a workflow to solve a problem of your choice.
The workshop will delicately balance the power of AI to amplify a person's skills and abilities while moving forward in a self-reflective responsible way.
Building Curiosity, One Brick at a Time! A LEGO Science Workshop
Simone Stiasny, Spectrum Educational SuppliesW20
In this hands-on professional learning session, you'll experience LEGO Education Science the way your students will — from the inside out. Try it, play with it, break it down, and build it back up. You'll leave with real strategies, fresh ideas, and the confidence to bring something genuinely exciting into your classroom.
2:45 pm - 3:00 pm Door Prizes and Wrap-Up Door Prizes and Wrap-Up
Thank you for joining us! Maybe you will win a prize before you leave?
Schedule
• 8:30 AM • Arrival & Check-in
• 9:00 AM • Welcome & Keynote Panel
• 10:15 AM • Presentations • Block A
• 11:15 AM • Workshops • Block B
• 12:30 PM • Lunch & Networking
1:15 AM • Workshops • Block C
• 2:45 PM • Door Prizes and Wrap-Up
Dream Forward, STEAM Ahead! 2026 conference is a collaborative effort of ECOO, ICTC and HCDSB.