Dear MindShare Learning Community Member,among students.

Good morning from Portugal! I hope this message finds you well and thriving as we kick off the new school year! As we look forward to the months ahead, I'm to taking a moment to reflect, recharge, and celebrate an important personal milestone — my 30th wedding anniversary. Diana and I are enjoying Portugal, inspired by the people, beauty, and, of course, the famous port wine of this wonderful country.

The MindShare team has curated an exciting edition of the Top 10 for you, filled with inspiring highlights and innovative insights. Some of the key features in this issue include:

• A special preview from Dr. Chris Kennedy, Superintendent & CEO, West Vancouver Schools, highlighting his District's AI journey at the his upcoming keynote at the 15th Canadian EdTech Leadership Summit. His focus on AI in education will set the stage for some transformative discussions.
• An exciting collaboration between Logics Academy and Let’s Talk Science, which promises to make this year’s Summit our most impactful yet. Don’t miss out on the special Saturday STEM Teacher & Student Showcase!
• A featured GenAI tool of the week: Magic School, empowering educators to leverage AI for personalized learning experiences in the classroom.

Key Highlights:

• SETDA Newly released 2024 State EdTech Trends survey and report 
• 4th Annual Fall EdTech Industry Charity Golf Tournament – Last chance to register!
• Canada's 9th Annual EdTech Awards – Nominate your favorites by October 11, 2024!
• Featured Book of the Week: Teachers vs Tech? – A thought-provoking read on the impact of EdTech on education.

With only 41 days left until the Canadian EdTech Summit, this marks the most pivotal time in modern Canadian education, given the promises and challenges of GenAI. Now is the time to secure your spot! As a valued member of our community, you can receive a special 10% discount on registration.

Let's make this year one of growth, innovation, and inspiration! I look forward to reconnecting with renewed energy and fresh perspectives when I return. In the meantime, enjoy this issue and stay inspired by the stories of educational innovation happening across Canada and beyond.

Until next time, stay healthy, stay safe, and keep the digital learning curve steep!

A former car dealership in west Edmonton is now Western Canada’s first specialized school for kids on the autism spectrum.

“It’s been a long time coming, it was a lot of work, but it’s so exciting to see the kids and the families in the space,” Terri Duncan, the executive director of Children’s Autism Services of Edmonton, said at Thursday’s grand opening.

Going back to school might not be all fun and games, but there is plenty of both on offer at Stanley Knowles School in northwest Winnipeg.

With a cellphone ban now in place in Manitoba classrooms, staff at Stanley Knowles have been busy stocking up on old-school alternatives to entertain students.

A special committee tasked with studying the impact of screens and social media on Quebec's youth says it intends to consult with young people directly to gain a clearer understanding of how technology affects their lives and well-being.

Apprenticeships can be a dream scenario. You can earn while you learn, jobs are in demand, incomes are often high.

Employers and governments are eager to help students through the process with a variety of grants, resources and learning supports.

EllisChart.ca shows how 320 trades are handled across the country – whether certification is available and compulsory, if apprenticeship programs exist, how many training hours are required, and so on.

A select group of high school students will get their first taste of a university experience early, thanks to a new summer program at the University of Guelph.  

U of G is partnering with Shad Canada, a non-profit focused on youth education, to organize an annual STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) summer program, which also covers business and entrepreneurship topics, that begins next summer. 

A Western study could help farmers get out of a potential jam by using artificial intelligence (AI) and passive camera monitoring to enhance strawberry cultivation.

In a paper published in the international journal Foods, Western engineers describe a new machine-learning approach that yields the highest-ever precision and accuracy rates for ripeness and disease detection in strawberries of any previous attempts.

The new school year is typically associated with lectures, textbooks and study groups – but at the University of Toronto, students are also encouraged to think about how all that knowledge can be wielded to start game-changing companies that address important challenges, create jobs and foster innovation.

That’s one of the goals behind the inaugural AcceleratorFest, which takes place Sept. 18 at the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus.

University of New Brunswick isn't just calling its mini-satellite anymore. The team located in Fredericton has taken to yelling at Violet as the window to reach it closes.

Violet is the first satellite built and designed in New Brunswick to enter the Earth's orbit. More than 300 people from the province worked on it over five years under the Canadian Space Agency's CubeSat program.

Canadian society is progressing deeper into the digital age. Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies — like the generative AI ChatGPT and the legal platform Harvey — are increasingly shaping judicial processes and legal systems, including in the adjudication of intricate cases.