ACIFA Conference 2008
Overview/Programme
ACIFA 2008 Conference Schedule Overview (Excel doc.)
(please click Monday and Tuesday tabs along bottom of Excel sheet to access session details)
ACIFA 2008 Conference detailed PROGRAMME with session descriptions (Word doc.)
Sunday May 25
NOON 4:30 pm Presidents’ Council Meeting
Skyline room, Lobstick Lodge
5:00 pm Registration Desk opens
Amethyst Lodge Lobby
7:30 10:30 pm Welcome Reception
Amethyst Lodge
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Pre-conference Session
Digital Photography Workshop: Ray Rasmussen and Chris Olsen
High quality digital photos are powerful teaching tools and can be used to create visual and experiential links in any classroom. If you are a digital camera enthusiast that would like to improve your technique in the beautiful mountain environment surrounding Jasper, join Ray Rasmussen and Chris Olsen for a combined classroom and field techniques session during the Sunday pre-conference period. Our session will begin right after lunch with a one-hour review of digital photography basics, and then we'll take to the field for a photographic hike of the world-famous Maligne Canyon and surrounds. We'll travel slowly from the Fifth Bridge to the Teahouse, and in the rich light of the late afternoon, conduct a digital exploration of the flowers, water, rock and light of the canyon. After the hike, we'll download our photos and participants can select the two best shots of the day for digital enhancement. While participants relax in the Teahouse or repair to the conference Registration and Welcoming Activities, the Instructors will do the enhancements. We'll finish the evening with a before-and-after enhancement image show, and a constructive review of our digital results. Limited to a maximum of 20 participants. (register by contacting Lynn at devlinl@acifa.ca)
Sunday Times:
1300-1400: Digital Photography Basics (classroom session)
1400-1900: Maligne Canyon photography hike (field session)
2200-2300: Image review and discussion (hospitalit session)
Equipment:
Participants will need transport (car pooling for about 10 km), sturdy hiking boots, mountain clothing, a daypack, water bottle, digital camera (SLR or Point-and-Shoot), and a tripod (up to 10 tripods will be available for loan - make sure that your camera accepts a standard mount or that you have an adapter). Participants should be familiar with their own cameras.

photo by Ray Rasmussen
Background:
Ray Rasmussen is an award-winning photographer, teacher and environmental advocate. He is a prolific web publisher, and collections of his superb images can be seen at http://raysweb.net/photography/ . Chris Olsen instructs Environmental Sciences at Lakeland College. Contact Chris Olsen (chris.olsen@lakelandcollege.ca) for more information.
Photography Field Trips:
Join Ray Rasmussen and Chris Olsen for short hikes and field trips to explore Jasper's natural beauty and share the digital photography experience. Subject to weather these will be afternoon and early evening sessions to take adantage of optimal light conditions. Departure times and itineraries posted daily for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday sessions. Open to digital camera enthusiasts or nature-lovers of moderate fitness levels. No special skills or equipment required. Hiking boots and a day pack recommended.
Monday May 26
7:30 -8:45 am Breakfast
Jasper Activity Centre
9:00 10:00 am keynote speaker
Jasper Activity Centre
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Keynote Speaker: Brian Thwaits |
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Brainspeaker Inc.
He's knowledgeable, engaging, provocative. And he's very funny.
Brian Thwaits is a dynamic and immensely entertaining "brain trainer", a learning and communication whiz with a wealth of experience in both the public and private sectors. He first demonstrated his flair for performance as an award-winning educator and is now an acclaimed professional speaker who engages both the hearts and minds of his audiences -- so they leave his presentations with sides splitting from laughter and heads bursting with ideas.
Thwaits has been featured in various media including radio, television, newspaper and magazines and is the author of The Big Learn: Smart Ways to Use Your Brain. Thousands of people from all walks of life have experienced his unique and thought-provoking take on learning, thinking, memory, creativity and communication skills.
Thwaits's sessions cleverly combine the latest information from the disciplines of brain research, learning theory and the communication field to suggest innovative and practical approaches to issues we face in the workplace, in the classroom, and in our personal lives.
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Monday evening
7:30 pm 10:00 pm dinner banquet
Jasper Activity Centre
Activities include:
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Banquet Entertainment: TBA |
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Tuesday morning May 27
7:30 -8:45 am Breakfast
Jasper Activity Centre
9:00 10:00 am keynote speaker
Jasper Activity Centre
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Keynote Speaker: Andrew Nikiforuk |
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For the last two decades Andrew Nikiforuk has written about energy, economics and the west for a variety of Canadian publications including Walrus, Maclean's, Canadian Business, Report on Business, Chatelaine, Georgia Straight, Equinox and Harrowsmith.
Last year he completed a major series on peak oil for CBC Radio as well as a lengthy investigation on coal bed methane for Report on Business magazine. He currently does an investigative biweekly environmental column for the CBC, and writes a monthly column for Canadian Business on energy issues (Full Disclosure). In his spare time he edits a newsletter for landowners on oil and gas issues in the Canadian West: The Land Advocate.
Nikiforuk's journalism has won seven National Magazine Awards since 1989 and top honors for investigative writing from the Association of Canadian Journalists. His dramatic Alberta-based book, Saboteurs: Wiebo Ludwig's War Against Big Oil, won the Governor General's Award for Non-Fiction in 2002. His latest book, Pandemonium, examines the impact of global trade on disease exchanges and has received widespread national acclaim. He is currently writing a book about the tar sands.
Nikiforuk and his wife and three sons live in Calgary, Alberta. Whether speaking or writing about melting glaciers, educational shams, peak oil, or the destruction of the boreal forest, Nikiforuk has earned a reputation as an honest and provocative voice in Canadian journalism.
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Tuesday afternoon May 27
2:45 4:45 pm ACIFA Annual General Meeting
Skyline room, Lobstick Lodge
Tuesday evening
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7:00 pm Barbeque at Jasper Activity Centre |
On both Monday and Tuesday night there will be an opportunity to visit with your colleagues during the hospitality suites, starting at 10:00 p.m. and located in the Skyline Room at the Lobstick Lodge.
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reminder!
... about items for the Silent Auction @ the ACIFA 2008 Conference in Jasper, AB, May 25-28.
Since 2000, silent auctions have been held at the ACIFA Annual Spring Conference to raise funds for the Alberta Public Post-Secondary Education Trust Fund. In operation since 1995, the Trust Fund provides funding to provincial award programs and a range of PD activities.
Each year faculty associations, the ACIFA Professional Affairs Committee, and ACIFA members collect and generously donate items to support the silent auction.
The silent auction takes place at the conference hospitality suites on Monday and Tuesday evening. Thank you for your continuing support of the Alberta Public Post-secondary Education Trust Fund.
Programme sessions
· All concurrent sessions will take place at the Amethyst Lodge, and are scheduled for Monday morning and afternoon, and Tuesday morning.
· There are 15-minute transition breaks between each session.






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