Keynote Panel
Jillian Kilfoil is the National Programs Coordinator at Girls Action Foundation. Jillian has studied political science, gender studies and adult education at St.FX in Nova Scotia. She previously worked with Katimavik and developed and coordinated projects throughout the Atlantic and Quebec regions. Jillian strongly believes in collaborative approaches to learning and discovery to increase critical thinking in the hopes of creating systems change in society. She is an organizer and feminist who strongly believes in the popular education and anti-oppression approaches utilized by Girls Action.
Mela Sarkar, an associate professor in the Faculty of Education, McGill University, researches majority-minority linguistic interaction and linguistically marginalized populations. She has studied the learning and use of host-society languages by recently arrived populations, and the confrontation of Indigenous-language speakers with settler languages, together with related problems of pedagogy, identity and hybridity.
Tatiana Garakani, Associate Professor at École nationale d'administration publique, has more than 22 years of experience working in 26 countries as humanitarian affairs officer, needs assessment and emergency response specialist, education program manager, training analyst, instructional designer, schoolteacher, consultant and researcher in public and private sectors, in local communities and international organizations.
Luigi Di Filippo has over 30 years of experience working with technology, across multiple industries in both the public and private sector. This, coupled with his educational background gives him a unique view of how to align seemingly contradictory operational requirements. This is no more evident than when balancing today's budgetary constraints in the public school system and the ever increasing needs for classroom technology.
Alumni / Work Panel
Dr. Tieja Thomas | Research Associate
George Smith | PhD Student
A graduate of Concordia University, Joseph Allen holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and a Master's in Educational Studies. His professional experience in the field of education is extensive and includes teaching positions in Japan and in Quebec's James Bay region. For the last 6 years he has worked in the not-for-profit sector as a youth worker and program director. He is currently employed by LOVE (Leave Out Violence) Quebec, as the Director of Programs and Community Relations.
Technology in Education Panel
Dr. Giuliana Cucinelli | Assistant Professor, Department of Education & Co-director, Communities and Differential Mobilities Reserach Cluster, Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and Technology at Concordia University
Liz Warwick | Instructional Designer
Avery Rueb | Co-Founder, FSL Teacher
Avery Rueb is a co-founder at Affordance Studio, an educational game company in Montreal. Avery's expertise lies in developing learning games for schools and for institutional clients like the Canadian government. Avery also does research examining the effects of learning games on student achievement and he presents at pedagogy conferences internationally.
Art / Social Justice Panel
Mayda Mekerian | Developement Agent and Project Coordinator
Liam Lachance | Editor, Teaching Assistant
Sebastien Fitch is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Art Education at Concordia University, Montreal. An artist and educator, he has exhibited and taught in Canada and the United Kingdom. His interests include tacit knowledge, assessment practices in post-secondary studio art education, and the role of political ideologies in art and pedagogy.
Shanna Strauss is a Tanzanian-American artist currently living in Montreal. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the California College of Arts and a Master of Social Work from McGill University. She has exhibited her work in solo and group shows in Tanzania, the United States and Canada. In conjunction with her art practice, Shanna has engaged in community work and organizing for the past 10 years, working with diverse youth groups in different countries. Integrating arts-based programs and interventions in her community work, Shanna believes passionately in the power of art to create individual, community and social change.