News and Events
LLP Baddeck Symposium
July 2001
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
The LLP Baddeck Symposium, held Wednesday, June 20 to Friday, June 22, on Nova Scotia's scenic Cape Breton Island was a great success. LLP team members from around the globe travelled to Nova Scotia to attend this significant event.
The Symposium was held at the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site Museum. As Baddeck's most famous resident, Alexander Graham Bell loved the region and built an estate on the shores of the Bras d'Or Lake, where he lived and worked for the remainder of his life. The Museum features an extensive collection from his work, and his life, and highlights his contributions as a teacher, scientist and inventor. It is appropriate that our LLP Symposium was held at the Alexander Graham Bell Museum, as over a century ago, Alexander Graham Bell experimented with voice recognition to help the Deaf.
Many visitors arrived in Halifax prior to the Symposium, including members from University of the Sunshine Coast, Di Paez, Sue Douglas, and Phil Gorbett, who spent time at Saint Mary's meeting with project management.
Team members arrived in Baddeck early evening on Wednesday, June 20. A wine and cheese reception was hosted that evening by Mr. Ron MacNeil from the Alexander Graham Bell Institute, UCCB, at the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site. Ainsley MacFarland, from the AGB National Historic Site gave remarks at the reception, as did Joan Penney, Vice President of Sales from MTT, Dr. Sara Basson from IBM Research, and Dr. David Leitch, Director of the LLP. Mr. Hugh Muller and Mr. Grosvenor Blair, descendants of Alexander Graham Bell, also made special appearances at the reception and extended an invitation to visit Alexander Graham Bell's summer home, Beinn Bhreagh, to those attending the Symposium.
Reception at the Alexander Graham Bell Museum
Wednesday, June 20, 2001
Thursday was the first day of presentations and workgroups at the Symposium. The day began with a welcoming presentation from Project Director, Dr. David Leitch. Trish MacMillan followed with a presentation about the research results from the past year of the project. Dr. Mike Wald from University of Southampton discussed research and development investigations, while Di Paez from USC, Terry Sulymko from Ryerson University, Willona Blanche from Durham College, and Joan Bisagno from Stanford University gave presentations updating team members about the progress and happenings at their sites. Dr. Sara Basson and Dimitri Kanevsky from IBM Research demonstrated a remote model of speech recognition technology.
Group work, Thursday, June 20, 2001
Thursday afternoon consisted of group work, which allowed all team members to identify issues, make recommendations and present their feedback to the larger group. That afternoon LLP members were also given a tour of the Alexander Graham Bell Museum, viewing a large collection of artifacts from his research.
Working and enjoying the beautiful weather
Thursday evening, some LLP team members visited and toured the property of Beinn Bhreagh and later that evening, the group took a boat cruise of the Bras d'Or Lakes.
Some LLP team members at Beinn Bhreagh with Mr. Grosvenor Blair and Mr. Hugh Muller
The Symposium continued Friday morning. Groups discussed recommendations and implementation plans for activities during year three of the project. David Leitch gave the Plenary and the Symposium was adjourned early afternoon.
At this time, the Liberated Learning Project welcomes Ontario's Durham College and California's Stanford University to the project. Durham College and Saint Mary's University signed a Memorandum of Collaboration in May 2001, and Durham team members, Willona Blanche from the Centre for Students with Disabilities, along with Denis Shelston, Director of CIS, and Kevin Campbell from the Department of CIS attended our Symposium in Baddeck. Dr. Joan Bisagno, Assistant Dean of Students and Director of the Disability Resource Center at Stanford University also attended the Symposium. The Liberated Learning Project team was pleased to have these new team members in attendance at the Symposium and we look forward to our work together.
The LLP Baddeck Symposium was a great opportunity for team members to collaborate and share ideas. The Liberated Learning Project thanks all of our team members who attended the event and those at the Alexander Graham Bell Museum for their hospitality and for hosting the Symposium at the beautiful historic location in Baddeck. Many recommendations were made and we look forward to continuing our work with our team members and partners throughout the third year of the project.
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