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MAKING IT WORK FOR VOLUNTEERS - 2004 SHOWCASE ONTARIO VOLUNTARY SECTOR IT AWARDS
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* Deadline is May 14, 2004 at 5:00 P.M. *

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS!

Does your organization:

• recruit and support volunteers?
• build networks and lines of communication with other voluntary organizations?
• create partnerships with the public or private sector?
• use information technology (IT) to improve the delivery of your services to Ontarians?

Apply for the 2004 SHOWCASE ONTARIO VOLUNTARY SECTOR IT AWARDS!  Be recognized for your organization's innovative use of the Internet and information technology.

Go to http://www.volunteersonline.ca/apply to download an Entry Form and Release.
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THE SHOWCASE ONTARIO AWARDS will be given out in September 2004 at SHOWCASE ONTARIO, a forum where information technology expertise from the public, private and voluntary sector is shared with the goal of improving the delivery of services.

THE VOLUNTARY SECTOR IT AWARD recognizes and acknowledges the excellent work many community-based organizations are doing with information technology. This award is part of Making IT Work For Volunteers, a partnership between Information Technology Association of Canada for Ontario (ITAC Ontario) and the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration of the Government of Ontario.

The top winner will receive the Diamond Award of Excellence. Three Merit Award winners will receive a medal.

Last year's winners were:

* CanadaHelps - Diamond Award of Excellence
* CanadaInfoNet (JVS Toronto)  - Award of Merit
* ACTEW - Award of Merit
* Digital Eve Toronto  - Award of Merit

Winning projects will be featured as a case study in the Lac Carling Governments' Review Magazine in addition to being highlighted on the Showcase Ontario website, the IT World Canada website and the
Ministry of Citizenship and ITAC Ontario websites.

Go to http://www.volunteersonline.ca/apply to download an Entry Form and Release.  Organizations that applied in 2003 are encouraged to resubmit.

Please contact info@volunteersonline.ca with any questions.

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VolunteersOnline.ca - Information Technology For Canadian Communities http://www.volunteersonline.ca

An article in IT Business features Lakehead University's new Advanced Technology and Academic Centre and its "smart classrooms". It also provides a good example of the capability of broadband (in this case using the ORION network) to change the way education is conducted in Ontario.

"A distance educator learns its lesson"

4/28/2004 5:00:00 PM - Lakehead University's first attempts to connect with remote students had some glitches, but a $44 million project has turned it into one of Canada's first truly multimedia schools. Find out how they moved to the head of the class.

Lakehead University has overcome its physical distance from the rest of Ontario with "smart classrooms" and an Advanced Technology and Academic Centre.

The Thunder Bay, Ont. university has eight undergrad and graduate programs available through distance learning, and runs a private IP network between it and a number of regional school boards whose classes are used in distance education.

ATAC director Bob Angell said the project started three years ago when the university was looking for ways to make better use of learning technologies ...

Click here to read the entire article.

The new KO Telehealth web site is rich in news updates, pictures and reference material. The document "Building Bridges" provides a list of the steps over the past seven years that KO has taken to develop this service. The contact information for the new Community Telehealth Coordinators and the new sites being added to the network are also available.

Click here to visit the new KO Telehealth web site.

Dan Pellerin, K-Net's Network Manager is in San Diego, California meeting with other VSAT users at VISTA 2004, the 11th consecutive conference of the VSAT International Satellite Telecommunications Association. The theme of this year's gathering is “Winning through Innovation”. K-Net staff were invited to this gathering by ViaSat, our partners in the supply and support of the satellite modems used in the satellite served First Nations.

From the president's invitation letter ....

"This meeting facilitates the ViaSat user community’s continued desire to interact with one another and the Company to broaden the use of VSATs in the market and expand the range of benefits offered.

Our previous conference anticipated the broadband wave. Now we are in a position to look at innovative ways of using this technology, together with new developments in the traditional products, for new applications and winning business ideas.

The conference provides many opportunities to learn from and interact with a wide range of professionals in the industry:

• Real-life case studies presented by satellite network operators and technology users.
• Presentations by and discussions with industry experts on industry trends, new technologies and their uses in local and global networks.
• Team building activities that encourage interaction with other network operators, service providers and maintenance organizations.
• Exchanging ideas with the engineers that are intimately involved in developing new networks and products.
• Briefing sessions by ViaSat executives, including chairman and CEO Mark Dankberg, recently named “Satellite Executive of the Year” for 2003, on the future of ViaSat products and services.
• Providing feedback and suggestions that will shape future ViaSat products.

Click here for the conference agenda.

K-Net staff showcased a number of applications to the  Institute for Connectivity of the Americas' Hemispheric Advisory Board. Representatives from South and North America learned about Cal Kenny's wilderness trip with the elders and their families up the Severn River and Jesse Fiddler's work with the Native Language and legends web sites. The value and investment from Industry Canada's programs including tthe First Nations Schoolnet program, FedNor, Smart, CAP,  BRAND and NSI were highlighted by the different applications that were showcased. KO Telehealth, the Keewaytinook Internet High School, the Grade 8 Supplementary program, the portals and other on-line services were presented to the   board members.

The group were meeting in Ottawa at the Smart Central video conferencing facility. The entire session was webcast live and is now archived at http://webcast.knet.ca/schoolnet. This archive includes a presentation by Gerald Chouinard from the Communications Research Centre (just skip the first 24
minutes of waiting for everyone).

The full version of the K-Net presentation is also available as a Windows Media version that is 47MB and is available by clicking here.

Keewaytinook Internet High School (KiHS) invites applicants for the 2004-2005 school year. We will be looking for 4 teacher to fill positions in English, Science, Careers & Guidance & Social Studies. If you are looking for an innovative, cutting edge approach to educations, KiHS may be the place for you. Check out our website at www.kihs.knet.ca.

These positions are available in 4 First Nations communities in Northwestern Ontario; Poplar Hill, North Spirit Lake, Cat Lake & Keewaywin. The teacher will live in one community, and tutor/mentor students while delivering one online course to the remaining students in the other 12 communities, using our Internet platform. We are looking for certified teachers who have basic word processing and internet navigation skills.

If you are interested please send your resume to darrinpotter@knet.ca or you can fax it to (807)735-1383.

Sioux Lookout Principals learned how to create and maintain web pages for their schools using Post Nuke on the evening of April 22. Once again, SLAAMB kindly provided access to their board room for this training session. The six principals who attended this special evening session were part of a larger group attending the Principal training session being coordinated by the Kwayaciiwin Educational Resource Centre.

Click here to views some pictures from the session.

The Northern Ontario Medical School's web site provides regular updates about its developments. Check the links to:

• Northern Passages: the Spring 2004 Newsletter
• the Dean's Column

Past and future webcasts of video conferenced sessions are also available. Be sure to sign up for the upcoming April 29 symposium ...

A Progress Report on the Northern Ontario Medical School

Since the last update the Northern Ontario Medical School has seen significant advancement. Dr. Roger Strasser and the Medical School team will review developments to date and introduce plans for the future:

• progressing towards achieving accreditation
• developing partnerships with NOMP and NOMEC
• piloting the undergraduate medical curriculum appointment of faculty
• delivery of faculty development programs
• identification of distributed clinical learning sites
• preparation to recruit students