Future Skills Institute

NOTE: CIS Ontario and Future Design School decided to postpone the August 2021 Future Skills Institute until later in the fall to allow schools time to adjust and implement their school reopening plans. Look for a communication later in the fall with revised dates and details.

Building on the success of the Future Skills Institute over the last number of years, and leveraging the learning over the past 12 months, CIS Ontario and Future Design School (FDS) are excited to launch an all new Future Skills Institute for 2021. 

Teachers will walk away with:

• A unit plan that incorporates elements of Personalized Learning infused with dynamic experiences for students
• Ideas for creating inclusive learning spaces
• Strategies for meaningfully integrating technology into their unit plan

The Future Skills Institute is a 6 hour, personalized, professional development program that takes educators through a scaffolded human centered design process to create a learning experience for students. 

All educators in CIS Ontario schools have exponentially increased their capacity to deliver education in multiple modes, made huge leaps in their use of technology in the classroom, and have creatively redesigned approaches to teaching within the constraints of the pandemic. Now is the opportunity to keep that trajectory moving forward, and slow the pace to incorporate best practices, meaningfully integrate technology and intentionally design exceptional learning experiences for students. 

Participants are encouraged to come with a team of colleagues, or come individually and collaborate with teachers across schools, to plan a lesson or unit together. 

✅ SESSION DETAILS

ELEMENTARY (K-5) SCHOOL COHORT

• Session 1: Date & Time TBA
• Session 2: Date & Time TBA

MIDDLE/SENIOR (6-12) SCHOOL COHORT

• Session 1: Date & Time TBA
• Session 2: Date & Time TBA

✅ LOCATION

Fully online. All programming takes place remotely via Zoom.
Login details will be shared with registered participants one week prior to the event.

✅ FEES

$495.00 per participant
Group Rate: 3+ teachers $485.00 per participant

✅ REGISTRATION

Registration coming soon.
Please register early as space is limited.
 

CIS Ontario and Future Design School (FDS) collaborated to redefine our annual Future Skills Institute to respond to the needs of CIS Ontario educators. The Future Skills Institute 2020 was a fully online two-part professional learning series that helped educators reflect on their online teaching and learning, celebrate success and to push thinking on where teaching and learning should go in the 2020/21 school year, whether fully online, in-person or a blend of both.

As experience designers, educators deepen and amplify learning by taking a human centred approach to designing units and lessons that build future ready skills and competencies in a blended setting through an inquiry-based approach. Leveraging a backwards design process, educators learned a repeatable process to drive innovative practice in unit and lesson design that take advantage of the best use of the different learning modalities. 

Attendees spent 3 hours of synchronous and 3 hours of asynchronous actionable professional development. They worked in teams from their own school, or collaborated with teachers across schools, to plan a lesson or unit together leveraging inquiry based learning and connecting learning to real-world challenges. Context specific inquiry-based unit plans that build future ready skills and competencies in a blended environment were designed & implemented. 

Part 1 focused on 'Reimagining Remote Inquiry in the Elementary Years' and Part 2 focused on a 'Deep Dive into Remote Inquiry', with sessions for Elementary, Middle and Senior teachers.