Tina Zita is a Teacher Librarian with the Peel District School Board as well as a Sessional Facilitator for OISE's Additional Qualification courses. Whether working with children or adult learners, she is passionate about engaging learners with current digital tools and seeing that spark from a meaningful learning moment. She believes that “the transformative power in technology lies in students creating and producing, and in finding their own voice and being able to share that”.

Lorne Berger, a former Queen's Graduate, has been teaching with the York Region District School Board for 14 years and has received the YRDSB Excellence Award in Teaching. In his time as a teacher he has taught both Junior and Intermediate Grades. Currently, he acts the Literacy and Transition Lead as well as a Grade 8 Teacher. Lorne involves himself in school-wide equity activities and continues to strive to make every learning experience the most engaging it can be.

​Hannah is the Curriculum Development Lead at Cyber Legends, an Ontario-based Ed Tech company focused on creating a safer digital environment for kids through cyber safety education. She started her career teaching high school biology and chemistry after graduating from the Queen’s Consecutive Education Program. The pandemic led her to the virtual realm, teaching at her school board’s online high school and sparking a keen interest in Ed Tech. Hannah's mission is to empower educators with the confidence to teach cyber safety by exploring the integration of game-based learning within and beyond the classroom. Additionally, she seeks to offer insights into career opportunities for educators outside of the traditional classroom, providing a comprehensive perspective on the diverse paths within the field.

Darcey has been an educator with the ALCDSB for 28 years. Over the course of his career, he has enjoyed shaping the system he worked in as a teacher, administrator, special assignment teacher and now a Superintendent. His passion for learning led to the completion of his thesis on “The Social Cognition of Adolescent Males with Behaviour Exceptionalities” at Queen’s. This learning greatly affected the deep work Darcey would do around Trauma Informed Classrooms and currently Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. As a leader in the Quinte region Darcey has supported many longstanding charity events but is proudest of his time as Chair of Festival of the Trees, President of the Board of Director’s for the Highland Shores CAS, and recently President of the Board of Directors of Hospice Quinte, with the approval of building a new palliative care residence as his last act with them. A highlight of Darcey’s career was being asked by the Gates Foundation and Sutton Trust to be part of an international think tank on revolutionizing teacher education globally.

Concetta Buragina has been an educator with the Algonquin Lakeshore Catholic District School Board in Kingston since 2008. She has qualifications in multiple divisions, taken Religious Education and Mathematics courses, has her Specialist in Special Education along with Special education for Administrators. Ms. Buragina is currently a Vice Principal at two of Kingston’s Catholic elementary schools. She participates in multiples board and school committees, supporting her staff and students with diverse needs and complex learner profiles. She strongly believes in the collaborative teaching practice which builds student-centered tasks that engages students and promote student voice and choice. She world closely with Early Childhood educator teams, certification in trauma-informed practice and equity focused teaching and leads her schools through this lens. Social-emotional learning, self-regulation strategies, and developing her staff and students are passions of Ms. Buragina as building relationships and trust is a vital component of volunteer with Special Olympics Ontario, holding a position of the local executive as well as Head Coach positions in Kingston for basketball and soccer.

Dr. Alana Butler has been an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University since 2017. She currently teaches in the Bachelor of Education and Graduate Studies program. Her research interests include the academic achievement of low-socio economic students, race and schooling, and equity and inclusion. Her current research projects include a study of post-secondary access for low-income youth, anti-oppressive/anti-racist pedagogy in secondary classrooms, Black school leaders, and the experiences of youth in foster care.  Her scholarly work has been published in British Journal of Sociology of Education, Canadian Journal of Education, Gender and Education, and Canadian Ethnic Studies.

Kyle (he/they) is a student in the Queen’s Professional Master’s Education program and a (somewhat) recent graduate from the Queen’s Concurrent Education program.  While at Queen’s, he completed a medial in English and French, and received certification in Intermediate/Senior divisions with a focus on At-Risk Youth. Currently, he is working in an Intensive Support Classroom for students with developmental disabilities and holds qualifications in primary through to senior, JI Math and a specialist in Special Education. He is a queer educator, film enthusiast, and avid knitter.

Patty Douglas is the inaugural Chair in Student Success and Wellness and Associate Professor of Disability Studies in the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University. Her research focuses on neurodiversity affirming knowledge and practice in education using critical and creative approaches including arts-based and creative approaches (e.g., digital storytelling), as well as disability studies, critical autism studies, mad (m)othering, and decolonial studies. Douglas founded and currently leads the Re•Storying Autism in Education project (www.restoryingautism.com), a multimedia storytelling project in Canada, the UK and Aotearoa (New Zealand) that collaboratively reimagines autism and practice in education and health in ways that centre historically excluded perspectives and affirm and desire disability. Douglas is a former special education teacher in Ontario and British Columbia. She identifies as neurodivergent and invisibly disabled, and is the mother of two neurodivergent sons, one of whom is autistic. As a white settler academic, Douglas is deeply committed to decolonizing research. Her book, Unmothering Autism: Ethical Disruptions and Affirming Care is in press with UBC Press.

​Rebecca Seiling is a Queen’s B.Ed graduate who has channelled her love for nature into outdoor education across Ontario over the past 10 years. After serving as a Kindergarten teacher and Principal at a Waldorf-inspired primary school, Rebecca founded Nature Connect in 2014 (natureconnect.ca). Her programs partner with the City of Kitchener, 6 different school boards, local Kindergarten classes, Family and Children’s Services and Indigenous Knowledge Keepers to promote inquiry-based outdoor learning that centres Indigenous knowledge. Rebecca has taught children from Kindergarten through Grade 11 throughout her career. She continues to further outdoor education in Canada by developing curriculum for a variety of outdoor education programs and camps and as a Lead Facilitator for the Child & Nature Alliance of Canada, where she trains other leaders in the philosophy and practice of Outdoor Play and Forest School.