2016 Innovator Award for Administrator – Mark Selinger

Mark loves to learn and is always eager to share his passion for learning with others. He has earned a BA, BSc – Computer Science, and a BEd, all from the University of Regina. He has also received a MEd – Educational Technology and Instructional Design from the University of Saskatchewan.

As a high school Computer Science teacher, Mark was able to help his students develop a strong foundation for problem solving and critical thinking skills, and taught them to apply those skills to tackle real world problems.  Mark developed  a Communication Media program at his school, which had not been previously taught there,  allowing students to express their creativity using technology.

Mark moved on to work at the Holy Trinity Catholic School Division office in Moose Jaw, SK as a Curriculum and Assessment Technology Consultant. There he supported his fellow teachers in the use of technology as a tool for learning. As a SMART Technology Certified Trainer, he also helped support the teachers as they began to use interactive white board technology.

Mark currently works as a Data and Information Systems Coordinator for the school division. In his current role, he has had the opportunity to be a part of several educational technology initiatives that are positively impacting student learning. These include one-to-one Chromebook deployments at the high school level, interactive white board deployments to more than 90% of classrooms in the division, two-to-one laptop deployments in elementary schools, and the formation of the first FIRST Lego Leaguerobotics teams in the city.

Mark is proud to be a part of a wonderful team of educators and other professionals that value the use of technology as a learning tool. He is excited to do his part as they work together to ensure these tools are used to create as much of a positive impact on student learning as possible.

2016 Innovator Award for Classroom Educator – Sylvia Kwan

Sylvia Constancio Kwan, OCT is an elementary school teacher whose experience includes S.T.E.A.M. and French Immersion. She is often seen with an entourage of students coaching robotics teams, going on Math walks, and running or attending various hackathons in wearable tech, robotics, and edtech.

Sylvia’s classroom is an environment of students prototyping and experimenting their ideas. Sylvia works with student-generated ideas, doing real prototypes, experiments and creating and testing real products and services. Her broad-based natural curiosity combined with skills and technical knowledge in a multiplicity of categories is the essence of innovation.

Sylvia turns learning into a joint collaborative exploration and learning experience, discovering new truths and embarking on initiatives that neither know the answer to.  Her student work can be found displayed at TIFF, Maker Festival, and at conferences.

2016 Innovator Award for Technician – David Kozera

David Kozera is a husband to a wonderful wife, father of two amazing little girls, nerd at heart, and geek by trade. He started with the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario in 2009 as a Computer Technician. Through the demonstration of his knowledge, skills, and leadership in 2011 he became a Computer Systems Analysts for the Board, and in 2013 he was promoted to Supervisor of ICT Systems. More recently in 2014, he completed his Certificate in Information and Communication Technology Management at the University of Guelph, and later that year he was seconded by the Educational Computing Network of Ontario as a Shared Technical Services Analyst.

This secondment is still ongoing, and his current team’s project is to help design, implement, and operate new collaborative cloud and virtualization technologies based on the ideas and proof of concepts David was the catalyst behind. Today these technologies and service are available to 20-member school boards through a new Shared Technical Services Consortium and the project has already helped streamline the delivery of IT services and educational software to hundreds of thousands of students and teachers across Ontario. In 2015, David’s School Board was also recognized by The Microsoft Cloud Society and given the Canadian Cloud Leader Award because of their rapid adoption and innovative use of cloud technologies.