Sharon is co-founder and president of the Galileo Educational Network and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Calgary. Sharon's experience as a teacher includes kindergarten, elementary, junior high and high school. She consults on a wide range of teaching and learning topics related to curriculum reform and school improvement. Her research interests include curriculum theory, curriculum inquiry, professional development, mathematics education, instructional leadership, technology integration and school reform. She has co-authored two books: Back to the Basics of Teaching and Learning: Thinking the World Together, winner of the 2004 AERA Division B Book Award and Curriculum in Abundance. She has also assisted schools to assess their technology requirements to enhance teaching and learning environments. Sharon is a recipient of numerous awards for both research and teaching practice:

• 2007 Pacific Institute of Mathematical Sciences Math Educator of the Year;
• 2005 AERA Book Award for Curriculum Studies;
• 1999 The Alberta Teachers' Association, Educational Research Award;
• 1999 Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence;
• 1997 Aoki Award for educational research;
• 1996 ASCD Celebrating Educational Successes in Alberta award;
• 1994 National Institute Award for Technology Integration;
• 1991 Alberta Excellence in Teaching finalist.

Brenda is co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of The Galileo Network. Brenda's passion for supporting innovation in education is so that children have opportunities to show what they really know by being engaged in personally relevant, challenging work that has meaning beyond the school. Brenda has a proven track record of initiating, implementing and managing a variety of educational initiatives in collaboration with the business community. Brenda holds an Advanced Graduate Diploma in Project Management and a Masters in Business Administration from Athabasca University.

Brenda is married to Doug and they have three adult children. Jeff is an actor, musician, writer and producer out of Vancouver, Ryan is an actor, writer and director often travelling between Toronto and Vancouver, Michael is an associate with a global executive search firm in Calgary.

Candace graduated from the University of Alberta in 1982 when she accepted a position with the Calgary Board of Education as a high school humanities teacher. During her tenure with the CBE, Candace was interested in and remained focused on classroom practices that improved student learning. When she became a Teaching and Learning curriculum leader, Candace spearheaded a school program designed to cultivate the leadership potential of high school students. Her work in designing and administering this high school program set a new direction for conceptualizing the role of students within public education. Candace continued to develop and coordinate this high school initiative until she was seconded to the Galileo Centre in Bragg Creek in 1998. While at the Galileo Centre Candace was able to extend her understanding of student learning through her work with elementary and middle school children. Since that time Candace has demonstrated that students from grades one through twelve become confident, self-directed learners when they are invited to do authentic intellectual work. Candace has presented these findings as well as those emerging from the ongoing work of Galileo to educators throughout Canada and the United States.

Candace holds an M.A. from the Graduate Division of Educational Research at the University of Calgary. Her research in the area of secondary schools adds a valuable dimension to the Galileo network.

Barbara has been involved with the Galileo Network Team since the summer of 1997 when she attended a summer institute led by Pat Clifford and Sharon Friesen. She then worked for a year as a teacher/researcher in the Galileo Centre in Rocky View School Division. On return to her home division of Foothills, she took a lead role as Learning Support Teacher in Dr. Morris Gibson School focused on the infusion of technology into core curriculum. She is currently working with The Galileo Educational Network in the role of coach and mentor as a member of the Foothills Learning Support Team.

Pat is co-founder of The Galileo Network and has an extensive teaching background that includes Grades 1 to 12, university undergraduate and graduate classes, and a wide range of teacher in-service topics related to curriculum, school improvement and leadership. For the past thirteen years she has worked in teaching and research partnership with Sharon Friesen. She is a recipient of numerous awards for both research and teaching practice:

• 2005 AERA Book Award for Curriculum Studies
• 1999 The Alberta Teachers' Association, Educational Research Award;
• 1999 Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence;
• 1997 Aoki Award for educational research;
• 1996 ASCD Celebrating Educational Successes in Alberta award;
• 1994 National Institute Award for Technology Integration;
• 1991 Alberta Excellence in Teaching finalist.

She has collaborated on three research projects funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. As a teacher-researcher, she has published in scholarly journals such as Harvard Educational Review and The Journal of Curriculum Theory and in books on issues in educational reform. She has co-authored with Dr. Sharon Friesen and Dr. David Jardine: "Back to the Basics of Teaching and Learning: Thinking the World Together". The book re-examines the traditional 'basics' of teaching in the light of interpretive inquiry. Most recently, her work has centreed on the role of inquiry and technology in teaching and learning. She has a Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Administrative Studies from the University of Calgary.

Galllagher-Galileo Fellows

After graduating from St. Francis Xavier University in 1988, Tim began his career in education. His teaching experiences include elementary, junior and senior high schools and university. In addition to his teaching assignments, Tim has been a curriculum leader for Teaching and Learning and a coordinator for a Mentorship Program implemented at a high school in Calgary.

Tim completed his Masters in Political Science in 2000 and is currently working on his doctorate in Education. Specific interests of his doctoral work include curriculum theory, interpretive inquiry and philosophy.

Tim’s Galileo Fellowship research will focus on how teachers embrace new pedagogical practices.   

Michelle completed her Master of Arts at the University of Calgary in 1999. She is currently completing a Ph.D. in Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at the University of Calgary. Her research centers around the breakdown of the word and the image in a historical, theological and philosophical study. This graduate work has given Michelle the opportunity to explore curriculum research, interpretive inquiry and philosophy related to literacy issues for young learners.

Michelle took her teacher education at the University of Regina and graduated in 1983 where she was awarded the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation Prize in Education. She has also been awarded a local Excellence in Teaching award.

Michelle has experienced many changes during the course of her career, and for this reason, her practice over the last twenty years has been an endeavor of inquiry. Michelle's work as a graduate student and a teacher has helped her to understand and practice the importance of inquiry as a way to guide students and student teachers.

Michelle's work as the Galileo fellow explored the relationship of the image, technology and the imagination on literacy learning with children.

Brad's doctoral research is tightly focused on asynchronous text-based discussions as they are used in post-secondary distance-delivered courses. The model being used to help frame the research questions is based on the Community of Inquiry model first developed by Garrison, Anderson and Archer (2000). The primary questions being probed: (1) are the learning goals described by the Community of Inquiry model being met?, (2) what are the of patterns of interaction over a semester?, and (3) how do the elements of the dialog impact each other over time?

A second but related line of research is based on the idea of situated technology. Is there a way to select and deploy technology for educational purposes that better addresses the situated-ness of the educational experience? This approach suggests that elements of a rapid-prototyping paradigm provide a more responsive process for educational software implementation and deployment compared to the enterprise approach currently being used. Ultimately the goal is to be able to quickly 'cobble together' technology solutions that are reflective of the needs of any given step or stage of an educational inquiry.

For more information on Brad's research, see Brad's Academic Site.

Shelley Kinash, M.Sc. is the Gallagher Galileo doctoral fellowship recipient for 2003. Shelley began studies as a Doctoral Student through the Graduate Division of Educational Research, Educational Technology in September 2000 exploring the area of 'blind online learners'. Shelley's dissertation will address: 1) The experience of being a blind online student; 2) Design characteristics and assistive technologies that best facilitates online learning for blind students and; 3) The impact of blind students engaging in online learning. This research is supported through the Louisiana centre for the Blind and the Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness out of Louisiana Tech University. As a faculty member of the University of Calgary, Faculty of Education, Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies, Shelley's most recent work has been the coordination and instruction of online learning.

Shelley's work as the Galileo fellow will involve the Intelligence Online professional learning processes and networks as well as inquiry-based teaching and learning. Shelley plans to apply her research to accessible online information and communication, universal design, assistive technologies, and non-visual interfaces to actively work with teachers and children (including those with disabilities) to enhance the education experience. As the Galileo fellow her focus of research will include blind online learners and the extensive use of text and visual cues in digital technologies.

In addition to her professional interests, Shelley has a husband and two children who inspire and support all of her passions. She has a daughter Kirsten, who will be entering the official world of school, starting Kindergarten this August, and a son Josh, who will be attending three year-old Pre-school in the Fall. All in all, Shelley's life is very full and she looks forward to reaping the benefits of another year of hard work and dedicated research.

Jennifer Lock is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Calgary. Her research interests are in online learning communities, e-learning, building capacity of online educators, and technology integration in education. She has been the instructional developer and research assistant involved in the development and pilot testing of inquiry-based online case studies for technology integration in the Faculty of Education. Further, she has worked as a coordinator of distance education and technology in a Canadian community college and has been involved on both personal and professional levels with distance learning for a number of years. She has extensive experience as an educator and administrator in school and post-secondary environments.

Jennifer's dissertation research, entitled Building and Sustaining Virtual Communities (2003) was designed to examine how the concept of community is developed, realized and sustained within online in-service teacher professional development environments. The study was designed to address two major research questions: How are virtual communities created and sustained to facilitate teacher professional development? What factors influence the phases of virtual community development in online in-service teacher professional development?

Jennifer completed the following two studies as part of her Gallagher/Galileo Doctoral Fellowship. Both are available from the Galileo reading page.

A Report to Galileo Educational Network Association, Developing and Realizing Community within Intelligence Online (io)

A Professional Development Initiative Designed to Facilitate the Creation of an Inquiry-based Humanities Project that Integrates Technology .

Trevor Owen is founder and current Program Director of the Writers In Electronic Residence (WIER) program, a national online writing initiative, linking professional authors with students and teachers in school-based programs. WIER will celebrate its 20th. anniversary in 2007-8.

Trevor co-authored, with Ron Owston, The Learning Highway: Smart Students and the Internet (Key Porter Books), which was named to the New York Public Library "Books for the Teen Age." Other honours and awards include Maclean's magazine's "Honor Roll", the "Marshall McLuhan Distinguished Teacher Award"; a "Teacher Research on Literacy" Award (Canadian Teachers' Federation/Hilroy Foundation); and, more recently, a "Canada Post Literacy Award" (finalist.) He is currently listed in Canadian Who's Who.

He has served in the development of other online learning initiatives, including extending the pedagogy of WIER's "electronic residency" to other areas, such as music and mathematics. He developed several initiatives during his Galileo Fellowship, including the renewal of the International Education and Research Network (I*EARN) in Canada as a Galileo program.

Trevor retired from full-time teaching in 2005 in part to focus on his work with WIER. He continues to serve in part-time teaching and research roles in faculties of education, most recently with Queen's University and OISE/UT.

More information on WIER is available at: http://www.wier.ca/

Michele is the former chair of the Imperial Oil Project Committee, and the former coordinator of the Educational Technology Specialization in the Graduate Division of Educational Research. In the past 12 years, Michele has taught undergraduate and graduate students in educational technology, classroom measurement and teacher preparation seminars, as well as offering web design and HTML courses in the Faculty of Continuing Education. She recently had the privilege of working with gifted children on digital filmmaking in the Summer SUCCESS 2004 program.

Current research projects include investigating inquiry-based learning and technology integration in conjunction with the Galileo Educational Network, a case study of the MT3 Grant initiative as part of the Imperial Oil project, integrating technology into the Master of Teaching Program, the adoption of information technology by post-secondary teaching faculty, and a variety of web-based educational and psychological experiments.