Media Release

The Banff Community High School is going mobile with a new project that will bring handheld wireless technology into the classroom. A partnership between the high school, the Banff New Media Institute, Learning Through the Arts, and the Evaluation-Mobility-Usability Group, the project just received funding from the Inukshuk Fund, a community outreach initiative from Inukshuk Wireless.

Grade Seven Social Studies students will learn how to incorporate wireless technology and content into their lesson plans. One example lesson would engage students in the creation of a GPS walking tour of the Banff town site that explores topics in local history linked to the real physical locations where key events happened. Students will conduct archival research, visit locations to collect media  documentation (photos, audio, interviews), then create multimedia content to be uploaded and accessed by pedestrians using GPS-enabled mobile devices, and archive their student-made content online to allow further learning interaction, visualization, peer-to-peer sharing, community dissemination, and yearly updates.

“This has been and will be an excellent opportunity for the Grade Seven class of Banff Community High School,” says Irv Semenok, social studies teacher at Banff Community High School. “They not only learn about the history of where they live, but they’ll experience it in years to come through wireless technology.”

“This project recognizes that students are already active producers of knowledge and information outside the classroom via PCs, cell phones and web,” says Susan Kennard, director of the Banff New Media Institute. “ The project strives to connect these creative opportunities with formal education.”

Designed for the 2007 / 2008 school year, the project recently got underway and will wrap up with a public presentation of students’ work in June 2008 as part of The Banff Centre's 75th Anniversary.

The Banff New Media Institute has been at the centre of new media convergence and content development for more than 15 years. The Institute provides research opportunities, summits, resulting research prototype labs, professional development workshops, co-productions, partnerships, project commissions, academic exchanges, publishing, and business incubation.

The Inukshuk Learning Plan was created by Inukshuk Wireless, an equally owned partnership between Bell Canada and Rogers Communications to build and manage a Canada-wide wireless broadband network. The Learning Plan funds projects across Canada that enhance content or connectivity related to learning and the internet., and to help develop online learning opportunities. The Plan encourages the development of multimedia-rich learning content that allow learners across the country to embrace on-line learning.

For more information on the Banff New Media Institute:
http://www.banffcentre.ca/bnmi/

For more information on Learning Through the Arts
http://ltta.ca