We're back at storage day at Amazon in Boston. I'm Dave Vellante with theCUBE. Ed Naim is here. He's the general manager of FSX. Ed, welcome to theCUBE. Good to see you. Thanks for having me, Dave. Okay, so explain to me why you guys launched FSX for Windows file server. You know, why now? Well, we did it because customers asked us to do it. What customers told us was that they were tired of all of the effort and overhead in managing Windows file systems and Windows file servers on their own. Everything from routine maintenance like patching to provisioning, they just didn't want to have to do all of that heavy lifting. So they asked us for a simple solution, fully managed solution on the cloud. There's a lot of Windows data out there, a lot of data that's accessed from Windows computers. AWS is the cloud that has the most Windows workloads running on it. So it was a very natural ask for customers to ask us as they're moving their Windows workloads onto AWS to have a file system that's fully managed for them that can be accessed by those workloads. So it was actually very natural and unexpected ask from customers. You know, a lot of people may not know that, but it does kind of make sense. There's so much Windows out there. You're the cloud leader, so peanut butter and jelly. How do you see customers using FSX for Windows? Yeah, what's really exciting is they're using it for a really broad spectrum of workloads. So everything from traditional user shares and home directories to development environments to analytics workloads to video transcoding. So it's a very wide spectrum of workloads that are on the service. And we're continuing to see new types of workloads every day, which is really exciting. So we're here at Storage Day. What exactly is new around FSX for Windows file service specifically? Yeah, well, we've launched a number of capabilities this year, throughout the year. So one of the significant ones that we launched was the ability for customers to use their self-managed active directories and join their FSX file systems to those. So we now have two options. Customers can use a fully managed AWS, fully managed Active Directory or their own with FSX. We launched a number of capabilities around access from on-premises. For example, customers can now access, or when we launched it, we announced that they can now access their file systems over direct connections, over VPN, so they can access the Windows file systems from computers and from end users that are running on-premises. So quite a few announcements this year, those are just two examples. And we're really excited about really a slew of announcements and features that we're launching now. And I can get into those if you'd like. Yeah, give me some examples if you would. So one of the most common questions we've had from customers is, can we offer a native multi-AZ capability, multi-availability zone capability? So a lot of customers are running enterprise-grade workloads on FSX and they want to move more and more of those workloads onto AWS. And they don't want to have to manage the overhead of using something like the distributed file system or DFS replication between FSX file systems and different AZs. So we're launching a fully managed, super simple multi-AZ capability and that's a deployment options that customers will have in addition to what we already had, which was the single-AZ deployment option. Let me see some recurring themes when you talk to folks at Amazon and the announced services. It's the same sort of mantra, be able to reduce that heavy lifting, shift your focus to things that will add more value to your business, take advantage of these other services through these integrations that we're doing. I mean, it kind of feels like a no-brainer, but I'll give you the last word. I mean, is it, why is it, why should customers sell me on why I should move my data into the cloud? Yeah, I mean, we like to think of it as a no-brainer because we are fully managing everything for the customer. The service is built on top of Windows Server so it provides a fully compatible Windows file system and we've managed that fully for customers so you get complete compatibility with SMB, complete compatibility with NTFS file system, semantics and features. So it's a very simple move for customers to move their existing workloads onto the service and have it be fully managed. A couple of the other features that we're launching that I do want to mention are, we're launching data deduplication.  We're extending our administrative CLI to do things like allow customers to create shares programmatically. So really a very exciting set of capabilities that we really think make this a no-brainer for customers. Well, that's another recurring theme as you guys, you drop prices and look at the Moore's Laws as prices continue to drop but the difference is Amazon, you make it transparent and if I use a service that's lower cost my bill goes down and then of course I end up using more because this is an elastic world so that's a good thing. But Ed, thanks so much for coming on theCUBE. Thank you. And the other thing is you guys are like Windows specialists, which is kind of ironic. Leader in Windows. Well, it really comes from what our customers are asking us for. So they see moving their Windows workloads as a first step to full modernization and being all in on the cloud. Great. Well, again, thanks Ed. Thank you. All right, and thank you for watching everybody. Right back, right after this short break Dave Vellante with theCUBE.


Johnny tell her Byron Kay intercoastal maritime life. Why are things in dear old Boston here in Boston fine But Cod Harbor or something else again Cod Harbor. It's a little fishing village up north of here up near Gloucester Yeah, I know I handle a case up there a couple years ago. Oh, yes, that's right It was for Meg McCarthy a big blousey brawling old gal who ran a joint she called Meg's Palace Well, it's Meg McCarthy after that didn't she die. She was running burned down She took the insurance money and moved away Johnny listen. Oh Yes Insisting that I have you go up there and see her right away Well, she's back in Cod Harbor and running another restaurant and rooming house. We wrote the insurance on it What's happened up there?  She'd cancel out on us So what do you think I'll tell you this make is used to handling things pretty much by herself I mean she wouldn't have called for help unless there's something pretty serious going on the last time You know it turned out to be a murder. I know so if you're willing to pay my expenses go to it Johnny Right CBS radio brings you Bob Bailey in the exciting adventures of the man with the action-packed expense account America's fabulous freelance insurance investigators truly Johnny dollar Expense account submitted by special investigator Johnny dollar to the intercoastal maritime and life insurance company Boston office Following is the kind of expenses incurred during my investigation of the silver Queen matter Oh Cod Harbor is on the coast up near the famous old town of Gloucester mass Transportation facilities are practically nails. So I decided to go up there in my own car Item one in the old expense account then is 495 for gas and having got an early start. I arrived there shortly afternoon It's quite a colorful spot Cod Harbor if you could somehow manage to lose your sense of smell Or maybe if you were an artist bent on painting a picturesque waterfront The residential section on a low hill a couple hundred yards back from the beach consisted of a scattering of weather beaten shacks On the long wharf at the water's edge was an ice plant a packing house and a ship's chandler At the end of the wharf the disreputable looking cafe and boarding house known as Megs Palace Alongside the piers that stuck out into the harbor with a really important part of the village the fishing boats There were schooners dating back to the last century and still carrying sail There were power boats in all shapes and sizes from 18 foot outboards to 80 foot diesel jobs All of them used for only one thing fishing the banks far out in the Atlantic with saints and trawls and trot lines. I Walked on over to Megs Palace wondering how much the old gal had changed since I saw her last You know something Meg McCarthy hadn't changed one in bed Just to look out to you and that scurvy crew swabs on that stank and tub of yours made a decent catch for once It's no good excuse for coming over here to get drunk all over a male only place Are you crazy old video you listen to me?  No, Meg. I Before I lose it's me temper and frigates. I'm a lady.  All right, Meg just knock it off knock it off is it when I'll show you sneaking in here like I love oh It's me love me darling miss wait hard for me Johnny boy. Yeah.  Well, of course I do that's why I make some toe of the mark the way I does Somebody's got to love them and mother them and keep them in line Especially captain Andy the man who just left that's the one I know oh come Come sit down and have a cup of this here delicious coffee. I just brewed up in the pot. Yeah, sure Put some hair on your chest and build up your strength and a cut you'll be needing it Oh, that is if that marty's silver finds out to your open around these parts mighty silver Sure, and he owns the silver Queen that leaky old Talbus. It's down alongside pure number seven But here now you have yourself a cup of this nice aromatic and hot strong coffee. Hmm.  Will you? Now sit out Yes Okay Johnny Johnny you remind me so of me dear dead departed over barren Husband when you talks up to me like that I'm sure and I tell you if I was a few years younger and maybe I might prettier looking in the face Oh, I tell you there wouldn't dare another girl so much a satirized on to Oh, that's true Okay, but now what about this Marty solar captain Marty said a very causing self And he sailed in here a few days ago from up to gloss or he says and that coffee caused the silver Queen Says he wants to sell the old wreck and that he will make it and who invited you in here again Captain Andy and there's already two or three suckers bitten up to buy the old wreck from him He's pushing them hard to make a sale. He is Then Andrew P. Hoggin whom you keep them from buying it until Johnny dollar here gets through his investigation Investigating well now. Where's your manners shake hands with them this here's mr.  I thought you only had eyes for me. Oh Okay, okay.   What word murder.  I'm accusing him of preparing the murder That's why me and Captain Andy has been caping the eye onto him. Well, just keep talking me down from Gloucester It's what he said he come but a telephone be old friend Captain Leverie up there and Tom Leverie said he never heard of it Oh, well now look that's calm has been living up there since every time in memoriam never heard of any Captain Marty Silver so I says to myself says I if Captain Marty ever was there He was used in another name and maybe on forged papers when I thought I had a suspicious mind Then last night I takes a really good look at his boat the way the name was painted on to it No wonder it was all fresh paint. Yeah account of the name before he painted over it was the Arctic Queen Well, so what's wrong with changing the name of his book? So I phoned up Captain Tom again, and you know what he told me what make it was the Arctic Queen was supposed to have disappeared In a storm up there not three weeks before with the loss of all hands-on bard consistent of only two come on Them too was the skipper and the deckhand by the name of Marty flag So you figured that Marty flag and Marty silver are one of the same that I do and that somehow Undercover the storm he did away with a skipper of the Arctic Queen Then he changed the name to Silver Queen and brought it down here to sell. Yeah, that's exactly what I figured And you could be right Now look if his papers are forged and that includes the registration on his boat many's the time it's been done Johnny boy You know sit that a phone booth. I saw outside the front door, but it is but what for I'm gonna check with a coast guard up in Gloucester. They'll know in a minute if they have a registration in the name of Open a way. Yes, dearie Let's assume that he did kill the skipper of the Arctic Queen Now you and this captain Andy think he's going to commit another murder here in Cod Harbor Another skipper in order to get his hands on another a better boat. Oh lover. All right, then who me You yes, but why does he knows I've been suspicious of him that I've been keeping tabs on to him And I think he's seen me when I was poking around his balls Oh, no, no, no wait make that that's not reason enough to think he might want to murder you All right, I'll keep an eye on them just to make sure just to make sure Meantime I'll check with a coast guard in Gloucester just to make sure he does want to murder me by letting him do it Is that it's now may yes well if I can prove his boat is the one supposed to have been lost at sea And if his registry and papers are forged, okay, then the coast guard can come down here and take care of me Look, I think you're getting all worked up over nothing Well, I and I thought you with me friend I've been officially in that you cared a little about what But no, you're like everything else of the male sex that wears the past Oh, no, no, no person don't have a pity leg or a pity face full of powder and rouge handle hair for the peroxide blonde That's not true.  Have you just let me finish?  Yes So why don't you go back in the kitchen and fix me something to eat or Johnny love it should be the finest over You ever put your teeth good call me after I've called the Coast Guard I'll come back here and I'll make the coffee to go with it You're trying to make some more cracks about to be coffee Johnny Put it down all right your bullguide young get out of here Good My call to the Coast Guard proved that Meg was right 100% They'd never heard of a Captain Marty Silver had no record of him whatsoever That's for the boat Well, it was pretty obvious now that he must have killed the skipper of it in order to steal it bring it down here to sell I Promise them that I do nothing to alarm Silver to scare him away But that I would keep tabs on them until they could come down here and arrest him But I had to break that promise because of what happened exactly two minutes later Yeah, right after I hung up that phone And now act three of yours truly Johnny dollar I left the outside phone booth and walked back into Meg's Palace Cafe It was still flooded with the pots and pans and crockery that she loved to throw at anyone who happened to disagree with her In this case it was Captain Andy and me her lover boys I heard a lot of activity off in the kitchen where she'd promised to cook me something to eat And I hope she'd hurry because I was hungry But then I heard a door slam somewhere in the back and footsteps on the boardwalk that I knew led down to the pier I Wondered if she changed her mind about fixing that meal for me But when I got to the kitchen Mike Meg What happened here? Thank you, and you got here and scared him away Oh, if he hadn't heard you coming in the front he would have killed me for sure Marty Silver. Oh He must have been hiding the way here in the kitchen. He must have heard everything me and you was saying about all right Let me help you up on this chair All right, darling, I think you can make it but when I get a hold of that Yeah, but I thought Captain Andy said that Silver's was down at the dock trying to sell that book Wait listen Stay right here make while I get the back of that door Oh Hey, I just seen Marty Silver coming up Hey, who done this to you? Ah, Marty Silver Captain. I'll kill him for this. Oh, make me better. You're all right Yes, I'm all right But where would you when Marty Silver come in here and attacked it me like you told me to I went back to the doctor Keep an eye on it. He was right here in the kitchen and when I went out to phone the Coast Guard Oh Maggie darling, did he hurt you? Oh, yeah, I'm all right, but if Johnny hadn't come back in here You said you saw him leaving here that I did where'd he go down to the doctor the silver queen I may have ideas for taking off getting away from here.  Look there after the winder You're right, of course. I'm right. That's the silver queen headed out to see come on captain Andy We're going after him, but he's got a start on us a head start in with the doctors and night come on I'm standing here talking about it won't get us anywhere. Come on We cast off and made for the open sea because far out ahead of us we could spot the running lights of the silver queen And he put her on full power and slowly the lights of cod harbor disappear to sternum I sit alone over the bow staring into the blackness of the night We'll keep your eye on those running lights Johnny. We lose them. We lose the silver queen. I think I think we're gaining on them All right, I'm very fast. Don't worry. Bye. That's not a car. The harbor cannot run this boat of mine Anything you can do to give us some more power. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, that's better than it is. Come on back to Johnny. Take me there. All right. You are You see him. She's nice from here. All right. Yeah, I see him. Let me take the wheel. All right. I got it What are you gonna do? Now I'll get to this carburetor to see if I can keep her wide open Johnny that she is Let's slow this down. Just keep an eye on the silver queen Good good. That's it That's the best thing to do with it I'll take the wheel now. We'll get back up forward. Aye aye sir As we slowly but surely pulled up on her I could see the big shape of Captain Marty Silver at the wheel But see him turn and look back at us now then just a few more minutes and we'd overtake the queen But if Silver had a gun I eased my 38 out of the holster made sure I had a full off just in case And then it suddenly occurred to me that if he could see us and our lights were far brighter than those in the Queen I went on back to Captain Andy the wheel Hey, where's the switch to the cabin lights if Silver is armed then when we get up close to home He'll be able to pick us up like ducks in the shooting gallery. You're right. The switch is right there in safety Look silver has turned them off turned off all these lights we do with him. We never touch him. No, what we Doesn't the spotlight work? Sorry to turn it on and I just put out the other like good It was the switch for this spotlight here running lights Now the cabin lights the switch captain. Now. We're just this black as you switch. Oh, here it is Now swing that lighter on Johnny so you come the whole horizon with a bright when you get it on him I About Gonna run us down. I see the wheel hard to port give it a gas. I am He's got us in the turn. We lose it way Time pass the cat as we get back on the straight course the searchlight on the square in his face Maybe if you find it, maybe I'm lucky with my other hand. We'll never make it boy. We'll never make it Now hold us steady, but either I'm a slightly close to all steady, but Johnny. Don't you see?   That's won't you yours truly Johnny dollar Johnny dollar starring Bob Bailey Originates in Hollywood and is written produced and directed by Jack Johnstone Heard in our cast where Virginia Greg all in Suley and Ralph Moody Be sure to join us next week same time and station for another exciting story of yours truly Johnny dollar This is John Wall speaking Johnny dollar has come to you through the worldwide facilities of the United States Armed Forces Radio and television service


The current lack of a global soil moisture observation network means that the Met Office Global Soil Moisture Analysis Scheme relies on observations of screen temperature and humidity. However, several new space-borne remote sensing systems have been developed which provide a more direct retrieval of surface soil moisture. The Advanced Scaterometer, ASCET, on board the meteorological operational satellite, METOP, provides measurements of surface soil wetness, which can be converted to volumetric surface soil moisture. This paper describes a method for converting these measurements into volumetric surface soil moisture, as well as a nudging scheme for assimilating this data into the Met Office Global Soil Moisture Analysis Scheme. Trials using the Met Office Global Unified Model showed improved forecasts of screen temperature and humidity for the tropics, North America and Australia when the ASCET nudging scheme was added. Additionally, comparisons with Institute soil moisture measurements from the United States indicated that assimilation of ASCET surface soil wetness measurements improved the soil moisture analysis. This article was authored by Darcy, K. J. Bovis, B. McPherson, and others. We are article.tv, links in the description below.


Without further ado, we are fortunate this evening to welcome Cori Ziegler, who is an implementation support facilitator with the Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium, and she will be our present presenter for the webinar this evening. Cori's been an educator for over 36 years, and prior to joining Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium as a facilitator, she's been a teacher, principal, supervisor, and a director with Edmonton Public Schools. So welcome, Cori. Thank you so much, Brenda, for that great introduction, and let's just get right into it. So the session this evening is titled Confidenties, The Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How. And this is part one of a two-part series. And this evening, we'll address all the questions that you see there on this slide. And just as a reminder, this is a joint venture between Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium and the Alberta School of Council Association. Excited to have so many of you join us in this webinar this evening, and I hope that you find it informative and engaging. So our outcomes for today's webinar. The first question we will address is, what are competencies? And I think you've probably heard a lot about them. We'll talk about that. And why is the development of competencies important for your children? Who needs to be involved in supporting students' competency development? And when should teachers? And I think we should also add, in this case, when should parents support the development of competencies? And where should competency development take place? The last question, the how, we'll address briefly today. But the second webinar will certainly go into more detail in relation to the how. I'm going to spend what will seem like a lot of time on the first question, what are competencies? And throughout that first question, we will address the next four questions or the next five questions. But at the end of the webinar, I'll walk through those questions again just to wrap up our thinking in relation to what we discussed today. I always think it's important to get to know each other before starting a webinar. I'd like to get a sense of who you are, what your learning needs are. So I've created this poll for you, and I'm hoping that you'll address these questions with us tonight. So first of all, tell me, are you a parent of elementary children, K to 6, junior high youth, or high school youth? And if you could just type in your letter, that would be wonderful. So I see we're getting arranged here. We've got some A, Bs, and Cs. That's great. Nice to know we've got the range there. Looks like we have more elementary. We've got some who have children in both elementary, junior high. It's always interesting to have that range as well. Congratulations to you. That's always an interesting family dynamic. Okay. So I see we have mostly elementary, some junior high, and we have no high school or parents of high school youth with us this evening. So welcome to all of you. Now a sense of your understanding of competencies. If you could address this question for me, please. You have limited understanding of competencies. You might have heard about them a little bit, but really you don't know the names of the competencies. You don't know how to support the development of them. Some understanding, you've heard about them, perhaps. Or you have deep understanding. So give everyone a minute to address that question as well. And I see that we've got some A's, which is limited understanding. Some B's, that's great. And nobody with a deep understanding of competencies. So I think that you'll find these this evening informative. And for those that are B's, feel free at any time to add your expertise by chatting through the chat window there and sharing your thinking as well. Really appreciate that you join in in that way. Always like to, as well, begin a webinar with some ideas in relation to working together. And the first one is to be open to new information possibilities and to diverse views. So I'm hoping you'll approach this webinar with a sense of curiosity and see this as an opportunity for learning something new. And perhaps for those that view that were the B's that with some understanding, I might change your thinking a little bit around the competencies and your existing understanding. I hope that you're open to seeing competencies not only as what they are, but also in terms of what they could be in terms of a success for your children. I encourage you to ask questions throughout this webinar. I want this to be interactive. Every question is a good question. And I know for myself, in terms of my own learning sometimes, I can't move forward in my learning unless that question is addressed. So I'm happy to answer your questions at any time throughout this webinar. I'm sure our moderators, Brenda, will help me in terms of watching that chat window as well and reminding me when a question does show up. I encourage you to use those emoticons. We talked about them before the presentation began. But using emoticons keeps you engaged, but it also keeps all of us engaged. And I would love to hear and read your feedback throughout the webinar. Let me know if I need to slow down. Let me know if it's going to slow for you. Or if you're liking what you're hearing. It's great to share that with all of us. So let's begin. We're going to deal with the first question first. And as mentioned, this will take up a good portion of the webinar. And it's to take a look at what are competencies? And you may have heard about competencies from parents in other schools or perhaps from different districts, or you may have read about competencies and how they're being supported in other countries. And what you may have heard is that competencies are important. And generally speaking, no matter which district, which parent you talk to, which country that is addressing the whole idea of a competency-focused approach to learning, what Alberta has decided in terms of competencies are very much aligned to what we see across the province, what we see across Canada, and even around the world. So with that having said that, let's talk about what they are. Competencies are combinations of attitudes, skills, and knowledge that students develop and apply for successful learning, living, and working. And that's quite a statement. And so I'd like to unpack that a little bit. When we say combinations of attitudes, skills, and knowledge, each competency has some related attitudes, some related skills, and some knowledge that your children need to know in order to develop that competency. This evening, we will look at the attitudes, skills, and knowledge related to each of the eight competencies that I will be talking about tonight. When students develop competencies, that's a key word here, develop and apply competencies. Development means over time. And it's not a one-shot deal. So it's not like a teacher will give a one-shot lesson in terms of their competency and then hope that it would be within your child's repertoire. When we talk about apply, we can apply competencies in almost any situation and anywhere. So when we talk about apply, we're thinking about it constantly. Where are we applying and using competencies? And they're necessary for successful learning, living, and working. To be confident in applying the competencies I talk about tonight is critical for success in life. So where did competencies come from? Where did this idea of competencies come from? Well, as mentioned, we're not the first country. We're not the first province to take a look at that. And so Alberta Education as part of the government of Alberta also decided that it was time in our educational, in the work of education, to take a look at what do we need to do in terms of shifting education for the future. And so the government engaged all kinds of people in an extensive consultation approach. Parents, you may be involved in that as parents, community members, employers from all fields, retired people, as well as students. And they asked them what they would like to see in education for the future. And through this consultation process, many ideas came up. And these ideas were put together in a document called the Ministerial Order on Student Learning. And this ministerial order is a legal document. And all teachers are expected to follow what's in this document. This document outlines eight competencies that our government believes are important for our students to develop over time. The competencies are based on international educational research, and as well reflect what was said in the in that consultation process, what parents said to us, what employers said to us, what community members said. And out of that came the idea of the eight competencies, as well as a continued focus on literacy and numeracy. And so in 2013, this document, this ministerial order became a legal document. And teachers are now focused on shifting to a competency focused approach, learning about competencies so that we start to see that on a more regular basis in all of our classrooms across the province. So let's take a look at the competencies. As mentioned, there are eight competencies. And I will look at each competency one at a time. We'll identify, as mentioned before, the attitudes, skills and knowledge related to the competency. We'll talk about what it looks like and sounds like in the classroom. I might give you some examples to go with it to help deepen your understanding of that competency. And as we talk about these, you'll start to see how these competencies are interrelated. And that in any situation, your child or yourself will use two or three of them almost at the same time. I will not, sorry. I will share these competencies in order, but not necessarily that the first one is the most important and so on. All of these competencies are equally important to develop well-rounded educated algorithms. So the first competency that we'll look at is critical thinking. And I'd like to read what's in that center card to you. It is the definition of what Alberti education believes are the key ideas related to critical thinking. Critical thinking involves reasoning and criteria to conceptualize, evaluate, or synthesize ideas. Students then reflect on their thinking to improve it. They challenge assumptions behind thoughts, beliefs, or actions. And students value honesty, fairness, and open-mindedness. So that's quite a complex set of sentences there. And you can see already that each of these competencies involves a lot of ideas. So let's unpack this a little bit and look at first of all the attitudes related to critical thinking. And that last sentence there on the card kind of alludes to the attitudes. Attitudes like honesty, attitudes like fair-mindedness, and open-mindedness. And to be a critical thinker, certainly you have to be open-minded. Then when we look at the scales related to critical thinking, we can talk about scales such as questioning, the ability to ask effective questions, the ability to evaluate, to think about our synthesis of ideas and evaluate what we've done there. The idea of conceptualizing all of these are scales related to the idea or the competency of critical thinking. And finally, what do students need to know? What are some of the knowledge concepts that students need to understand and know in order to be a good critical thinker? I want to share some examples with you. Of course, this is not extensive, just as the examples I gave for skills or the examples I gave for attitudes as comprehensive. In the time that we have in this webinar, it will only be a few examples, just to highlight and help you to deepen your understanding of this competency and all the seven others. So in terms of understanding, students will need to know and understand how to synthesize information. That's an understanding that they need to deepen and know before they can be good critical thinkers. Another example, students need to understand the concept of fairness. And if you think of your child living in grade one or in kindergarten, that concept of fairness is hard for them to understand. Over time, they deepen their understanding of that and their knowledge in relation to the simple idea of fairness. Actually, it's not a simple idea, it's quite complex. So a quick overview of critical thinking, but what I'd like you to do now is look at the question on the right. And I invite you to consider how are you or might you be using this competency right now as part of this webinar? And if you'd like, you can certainly put your response in the chat room or I'll give you a minute to think of your response to that and then I'll share my thinking in relation to that. So you might be thinking or evaluating what I'm saying that certainly I encourage you to be a critical thinker as you go through this webinar. Question my ideas. And I encourage you to do so. Evaluate what I'm saying, reflect on what I'm saying, challenge my assumptions and the statements that I make. Be a critical thinker throughout this webinar. I encourage you to do that and practice that. The second competency I'd like to look at is the competency of problem solving. And again, the card states problem solving involves selecting strategies and resources to move from what is known to what is sought. Students analyze situations, create plans of action and implement solutions. They evaluate alternatives and their consequences. And again, there's that word evaluate. You saw it in critical thinking. It is the skill again that comes up in problem solving. And you'll see over time how some of these concepts are repeated in different competencies. Students approach challenges with creativity, flexibility and determination. And so if we look at the attitudes related to problem solving, and you know, that whole idea of determination is a really important attitude to have in your problem solving. Because often it doesn't come, the solution doesn't come to you the first time you try something. And you need to have that determination and perseverance to solve the problem. And you need to be flexible. That attitude of flexibility is clearly important in problem solving. Resourcefulness, creativity are all important attitudes towards problem solving. And what might be some skills related to problem solving? Well, first of all, you have to be able to identify that there is a problem. What is the problem? Analyze it. And explore options related to that problem. Create a plan of action, implement it and evaluate your plan of action. Evaluate again, as I mentioned, is a skill that's repeated in this competency. So what about knowledge? What knowledge will our children need to know and understand? Well, first of all, I think that our children need to understand that problem solving involves many steps. I just outlined those steps for you. And then understand how to engage in each one of those steps. For example, identify the problem and then create a plan. They need to understand how to create an effective plan and then how to evaluate their plan, how to reflect on that. They also need to understand that problem solving can be hard work. And I just mentioned, will require persistence and determination. It also requires an understanding that problem solving means that success doesn't come at the first attempt. And that's a really hard one for not only students, but also for us as parents. Students, our children will give up quite easily. Not all students, I don't want to paint that kind of brush, but when it becomes difficult, sometimes the solution is to give up. So we really need to encourage that perseverance. But as parents, I know my natural tendency was often to jump in and not see my child struggle through the problem, want to help out as much as I can. And I needed to remind myself that it's through that struggle that our children really learn deeply. And we need to allow them the time to work through the problem on their own as much as possible. It is through that kind of experience that we have deep learning. I saw this visual here that you see on the right side of the screen on Facebook. It was posted by the Catholic High School for Boys. And I thought it was just so interesting. And it said, if you are dropping off your son's forgotten lunch, books, homework, equipment, et cetera, please turn around and exit the building. Your son will learn to problem solve in your absence. And isn't that the truth? How many of us have saved our children by bringing their lunch or bringing in their homework rather than asking them to solve their problem? And we all know that when they solve the problem themselves the next time they might remember their lunch or they might better remember their homework. For the next competency, managing information. And this time I'm going to ask you after I read the card to at least one attitude. So as you're listening to this, you may start writing in the chat box already an attitude that you believe is important to the development of this competency. So managing information involves organizing and using information for specific purposes. Students access, interpret, evaluate, there's that word again, and share information from a variety of digital and non-digital sources. They are ethical and effective in how they use and share information. Students value reliability, validity, and the integrity of the information. Again, you can see this is quite a complex competency. So organize and use information for specific purposes. And we know that we have so many different purposes for using information. Using it ethically, using it effectively, knowing your audience as you're using that information. So can you list at least one attitude? Can you put that in your chat room there that you believe is important to the development of this competency? I'll give you a minute to do so. If anybody has any ideas? Well, I can help you out there. Certainly the idea of integrity is an important attitude or value related to this competency. The idea of ethical use of information, valuing, and really exploring whether information is reliable, accurate, and valid. Those are all attitudes that we believe are important in terms of managing information. When we look at skills, certainly there are many skills related to managing information. How do you organize it? That's a skill. How do you evaluate the information that you read? And we know that in many cases what we see on the web is not accurate. How do you share information in a way that honors the audience that you're sharing it with? And how do you use information ethically? So when we talk about that whole idea of the reliability of information and the validity of it, it reminds me of this little video that, not video, it was an advertisement about the House Hipple. I don't know if any of you have seen that on TV, but it absolutely, you would believe that what is shared through that TV commercial is real and it is accurate. The way they portray the video, this little tiny House Hipple talking about what it eats, where it sleeps, it's done so professionally. The speaker sounds so confident in terms of what he's saying that you would almost believe it's true. But we all know it's not. We all know little Hipples don't leave their homes. And so managing information means we need to, we as adults and our children, we need to question and analyze information. We need to check it against other sources. Does it say anywhere else anything about hungry hippos? And not just believe that just because of the professional way they've communicated that that information and that advertisement is true. And we all know how advertisement can be misleading. And if there's one thing we can do with our children, it's to encourage them to question, to validate that information with another source somewhere off, to check out who is the source and why are they communicating in that way? Important competency, which is only one aspect of course, the managing information, but one I'd like to highlight this evening. Another aspect of managing information is that whole idea of organizing all the information that comes at us, organizing our appointments, organizing content that comes out of the meetings that we attend, organizing our children, getting them to all the events that they have. We as adults need to know how to stay ahead of that information overload and manage all that comes to us at the speed of light. The ability to effectively organize and make sense of so much information is a skill that not only us as adults needs to continue to refine and perfect, but also our children. And we need to start that with them at a very early age, all the way up to adulthood. And we know there are many apps out there and technology can certainly help in terms of managing information, but with technology also comes the idea of the delivery of so much information. And some of it's accurate and some of it's not. And so it can be a bit of a double-edged kind of support for us. It can be good, but it can also create more challenges for us. So the next confidence is creativity and innovation. And if we read that card, it says creativity and innovation involves generating and applying ideas to create something of value. So first of all, it's generating ideas and then applying them in some way. Children, students recognize opportunities to apply ideas in new ways. They are open to and playing with ideas. They take risks and they adapt to changing conditions. Students demonstrate optimism and initiative and ingenuity. So this is a really unnecessary skill for our children today, especially when we look at when they graduate from school, they enter the world of university or the world of work. And we think of the challenges in our economy. We think of the challenges in our political system, in our environment. We need creative and innovative ways of dealing with these challenges. And so when we look at attitudes related to that, certainly ideas related to the attitudes are risk-taking. Take the risk. Let's try this out. Let's see where it goes. Optimism, believing that the ideas that you have will work in some way. Taking that initiative and being creative in relation to that skills. I'm going to turn it back over to you and see if you can identify at least one skill that is important to the development of this competency. And I invite you again, if you'd like, to put your ideas in the chat room. Can you see based on the card there are any skills that you think are important to the development of this competency? Original thinking. Thank you, Interjeet. Absolutely. It's a skill that we need, the original thinking outside the box. Anyone else? Ask questions. Absolutely. Thank you. Certainly asking questions leads to creativity. Why are we doing this this way? What other ways could we try this? Thank you. Others might be the skills and terms that will use your imagination. Perseverance. Yes, thank you, Dragana, for sharing that. Manipulate ideas. Play with it. Adox and explore. One of my questions is for you, but my name is just Dragana. Okay, thank you. Sorry. Apasana, thank you for your introducing real-world problems, problem scenarios to students. Absolutely. That real-world connection is so important to all of this. Challenging them to answer those problems, you are banging on with that. Okay. So thank you for sharing your skills related to creativity and innovation. And I'd like to just hone in on one area of knowledge in relation to this competency, and it's really discussed in the next slide here. Our children need to understand the difference between creativity and innovation. And creativity is really the thinking process. It's about idea generation and being creative is being able to generate or come up with ideas. So it's like that brainstorming where every idea is a good idea. Let's keep generating ideas and see what comes out of that. The innovation piece is the productive process, and that adds value to the idea, which otherwise would just remain a mere idea. So innovation can be described as creativity implemented. It's putting the idea into practice. And so creativity is wonderful, but without moving into the innovation, it stays where it is. The next competency is the competency of communications. And let me read the card first. Communication involves sharing ideas through oral, written, or nonverbal media. Students engage in formal and informal exchanges with others. They consider how culture, context, and experience impact messaging. Students demonstrate respect, empathy, and responsibility when communicating with others. And when we think of communication, we often connect it to the traditional way of teaching, where we look at reading and writing as forms of communication and speaking and listening as forms of communication. That's very much a part of the language arts curriculum in our schools, and it's addressed every day. But we're taking this a little bit further in terms of looking at some of these other ideas in terms of culture, context, experience, and how that impacts our messaging. And the whole idea of culture is a big one, especially as our world becomes smaller and our classes become multicultural. Understanding other cultures certainly helps in terms of effective communication, for example. So, attitudes related to effective communication, certainly we see the idea of demonstrating respect, appreciating that respect in return, the idea of empathy, and responsibility when communicating with others, and certainly being open to other ideas, as I talked about right at the beginning of this webinar, being open to the possibilities and keeping that open mind as you listen to others. Skills in relation to the or the competency of communication, listening is a big one. And listening certainly can be in two parts. Listening to understand and really to be present and just listen, or listening to respond, which is a different skill, because then you're listening to provide some kind of response back. In some cases, there is no need for a response. You just need to be present and allow the other person to communicate. In other cases, there is a need and they've requested that response from you. So, in terms of turning it over to you, and I'm so appreciative of the fact that you're engaging in this with me together, do you think you could share with me one concept or one understanding, one bit of knowledge that your child will need to know in order to develop the competency of communication? And then I'll just give you a minute to think about that one and add to response. They need to understand the values, feelings, and opinions of others, and are they valid? Absolutely. Thank you for that, Julia. Great response. Heather, so I'll just give you a minute. I know some of you might be curiously typing, but it's not showing up yet. Yes, Lorraine, thank you. There's a form and structure to effective communication. Absolutely. When you think of the different modes of communication, even if it's on hard copy, a letter versus an essay versus a report. So, yes, they need to understand those different forms and structures. Developing, listening skills, and students as much as they're speaking skills, very important. I agree with you 100 percent. Nonverbal communication and body language, you are bang on there. So important to be watching for that as well. And I'll talk a little bit further about that on the next slide. So, the question on the right side of this slide asks you to think about a recent experience that demonstrated the value of good communication skills. And you might think of one in terms of communicating with your husband perhaps, communicating with your children. The one that I'd like to share with you is the use of email. And I find that sometimes what I put in my email is so misinterpreted because there's no body language, there's no emotion, there's no tone of voice that goes with it. And so I'm so careful when I communicate on email because I know how quickly it can be misinterpreted. So just building on that, communication certainly does include spoken words, nonverbal gestures, signs, and symbols. And when you look at this, if we start on the looking at the flowers, giving flowers to somebody is certainly a form of communication. It does send a message. And then if you add to that a verbal comment saying, oh, you're pretty, it sends another message. And so the receiver of that, which will be that lady in the middle, you can see that she's watching and she's sending a form of communication as well. So in those three visuals there you can see the spoken words and nonverbal gesture, the signs and the symbols, and how they all connect to communication. The use of media is also a channel for communication. And we see social media is just exploding. And it amplifies our communication or not again. And so when we look at that kind of communication, culture, context, experience, our background knowledge impacts our message, how it sends and how it's received. Younger children understand messaging differently from an adult. And our experiences as adults shape how we interpret the message. And so even a single word, I think, for all of us that are in this webinar this evening, could interpret it differently. And I'll use the example of the word celebration. For some of you, that word may mean a ceremony or a nizant, such as upcoming Christmas or Hanukkah. And it's a celebration.  And for some of you, celebration might just be that Friday afternoon get together at the end of a work week and join each other's company that way. So communication is complex. And voice tones, I see that comment there absolutely are so important. The tone I use in the webinar here really enhances the messaging or can detract from it, depending on the tones that I'm using. So looking at the next competency, collaboration. And if we read that card, it says involving working with others to achieve a common goal. And if you think of your children, especially when they're younger and working together to achieve a common goal, this already is complex, isn't it? Not always, but it can be. Students participate with each other, exchange ideas, and share responsibilities. They respect competing views and nurture positive relationships. Students are adaptable, willing to compromise, and value the contributions of others. So again, the attitudes related to that one, there's quite a few there, a sensitivity to others that you're collaborating with. You need to build a sense of trust in order to collaborate effectively. And you need to approach collaboration with a positive attitude. Otherwise, the collaboration certainly will break down in terms of skills. Knowing how to participate effectively. Knowing how to share responsibilities and not take over all the responsibilities or not under failure responsibilities. So doing your part is an important piece. Compromising and supporting each other, all skills related to collaboration. And knowledge. I think that knowledge in terms of understanding different cultures will help to enhance the collaborative effort. Understanding, for example, what compromise means, how do you compromise is an important skill and understanding, understanding how to share responsibilities, and how to set meaningful goals helping your child to collaborate is something you are most likely, as mentioned, very familiar with. Your child, when they were younger, interacted with family members, perhaps with cousins or with in community events. And then they moved into classrooms and you can see how the collaboration now becomes more complex. Different players at the table, different students, different cultures, different experiences. And then as they move into the world of work, that idea of collaboration takes on a whole new meaning. But it certainly is a skill that our employers of the future will see as critically important. This document here comes from the conference board of Canada. And if you look at the third column, you will see that idea of work with others as a critically important concept. And when our children are hired in the future, it is a competency that will be looked for in terms of hiring people into their business or into their company. And you can see there's one, two, three, seven bullets there related to working with others. If you look at the middle column, you'll see the idea of responsibility and adaptability. And we talked about how those are part of collaboration, positive attitudes and behaviors. We talked about that as part of the collaboration competency. And if you look in the first column, the ability to communicate. Well, communicate is a competency in itself, but effective communication certainly does help with collaboration as well. The ability to think critically of competency in itself, but if you can bring your critical thinking to the collaborative effort, you enhance that as well. And you see how that becomes interrelated. That thirst for lifelong learning and managing the information that comes at you is important as well. So this one addresses so many, this whole document here addresses so many of the competency that just wanted to highlight that for you in terms of what our children need to be successful in the future. So cultural and global citizenship. If we read the card again, it says involves actively engaging with cultural, environmental, political or economic systems. Students acknowledge First Nations, Métis, Inuit, Francophone or other perspectives when taking action on local or global issues. They advocate for the dignity and well-being of individuals and communities. Students value equity and diversity and believe in their capacity to make a difference. Already you see the attitudes there, equity, diversity, that belief in themselves is a critically important piece to this as well, that they make a difference, that they can contribute, that they can be citizens that enhance the community they live in, the society they live in. The skills related to citizenship, cultural and global citizenship, acknowledge different perspectives, be open to that, advocate for each other, take action, take that initiative and evaluate impact in terms of the actions that you take. So examples of knowledge, well certainly much knowledge is needed in relation to that. Learn and understand the many different systems within our world. You can see they're listed there. There's the global, the cultural, the environmental, political or economic systems. We need to understand them and how they interact and influence each other. They also need to understand complex ideas such as reconciliation and I know we opened up this webinar addressing that are acknowledging that we're on Treaty 6 territory and that reconciliation is certainly something that's moving forward within the province of Alberta. They also needed to understand what does it mean to be a content-reading citizen. So again a very complex competency and when we look at global citizenship, let's just unpack that a little bit more. It's about the awareness of others outside, well first of all outside of our classroom, outside of our school, outside of our province and then outside of our national borders. That awareness is important. The practice of cultural empathy is different from sympathy and that practice of cultural empathy, understanding their place and then understanding where we come from. The cultivation of principled decision-making to solve those global problems that no single nation can solve alone and as we become smaller and smaller that becomes much more critical. And the acknowledgement that the peoples of the world are one people. We're enriched by individual differences but united by a common bond of humanity. And you can see that Brenda is adding the links to some of the sites where you will find more information in relation to the concepts that I've talked about and I encourage you after the webinar when you have a little bit of time to explore those a little bit more deeply. So looking at the final competency then, personal growth and well-being involves managing emotional, intellectual, physical, social and spiritual aspects of living. And often when we think of well-being we just look at our physical or emotional part of that but it is all of those pieces put together. It's the idea of students setting learning, career or wellness goals and working towards them. They draw upon their strengths to develop interests, skills and talents and again students are reflective that's again that evaluative piece. Resourceful, optimistic, you've heard that word before and strive for personal excellence. So again if you want to identify at least one response for all three of the questions below I'd be happy to take a look at your comments. Can you identify an attitude? Can you identify a skill or a knowledge related to this competency? Give you a minute to do that. And as we're waiting I can just talk a little further that well-being is more than just a healthy body, its body and mind and well-being is impacted by many, many different factors on this next slide here. There are health related factors such as hunger, physical and emotional abuse, chronic illness and all these factors can lead to poor performance. Lorraine has said consider other perspectives absolutely and I see the emotional intelligence and the social quotient all of those are so important to becoming a healthy student and the well-being of not only ourselves but of others. Thank you for sharing those. Health risk behaviors such as early sexual initiation, violence and physical inactivity are consistently linked to poor grades and test scores. And so you can see how growth and well-being is an important competency. Apasana said the attitude of lifelong learner and focused on long-term goals in the bigger picture. Yes and goal setting certainly is a critical piece to this competency. Positive mental attitude thank you Rajeev for that. Again that whole idea of a positive approach to life leads to success absolutely. Thank you for sharing your thinking. So that is a quick overview of all eight of the competencies. Again in the very short hour that we have together I can only give you a bit of a quick overview but I encourage you again to go back and review the webinar, review the links and of course join us for part two of this to continue to deepen your understanding. So we have several other questions that I want to address very quickly now to wrap up the webinar. I know I talked about many of these ideas throughout the first part of the webinar but I want to be specific and intentional around addressing the questions. So why is the development of competency important? And it's about success for our children and of course it's parents that's what we want. We want them to be successful and lifelong learners and active citizens. And I think that was just said in terms of the chat room that lifelong learners and I see another comment here about being reflective, identify personal values and knowing yourself. If we know ourselves, if we know what's important to ourselves it contributes to our success and contributes to our ability to be active citizens. So thank you for sharing your ideas there. It's also about our future and our children are going to be the future artists, the future scientists, thinkers, innovators and leaders of the future. And they will be tasked with solving the problems of today while imagining and creating the new tomorrow. So as mentioned already several times throughout the webinar, competencies are critical for equipping our children with the knowledge, skills and attitudes that they will need to navigate their personal journeys and learning, living and working. So competencies are not just for school and it kind of addresses another question that we'll be looking at. Confidenties are for life and they're for everyone. So when we look at our changing social context, when we look at population growth and mobility, the ever invention of new technology, the globalization, all those issues confronting our society and those are listed there. And if we look at just the example in the news today around the approval of the pipeline to the diversity in terms of opinion that that approval has caused, that's just one example of the issues confronting our society. And that idea of that increasingly interdependence and competitive world, Alberta needs to stay on the leading edge of that competition. And through competencies, I believe we will and our children will help to solve all of these challenges that we see listed here. I'm pretty passionate about the idea of competencies and supporting the development of competencies. And when I think about any child starting in kindergarten, learning about competencies, this is reinforced at home. It's reinforced every grade all the way up to grade 12. Just think how strong these children will be when they graduate from grade 12. They will take on the world and they will be successful. I firmly believe that. So next question, who needs to be involved in supporting students' competency development? And in this case, I have a poll for you. So I'm going to ask that you participate in this poll. And if you could select the groups that you believe should be involved in supporting students' competency development. Should these students helping each other? Should it be school councils, parents, principals, and teachers? What about elders and cultural leaders? Or should it be the job of trustees and school districts leaders? Or do you believe it should be all of the above? And if you could just type your letter in beside your name, that would be great. I see a lot of E's coming up. You're just such smart people. Yes, I see lots of E's coming up. And so if we look at the poll results, I think we'll just give you another minute there. Absolutely. So yes, we've got most of you saying E. And some of you, if we flip back to the screen before, some of you believe school councils, parents, principals, teachers. But most of you would say E. And I would have to agree with you that, yes, it will take all of us. I think that it is very much focused in school, but supported through everyone, your children will become very strong in terms of their competency development. Of course, principals and trustees have an important role to play. But competencies are best developed within the context of authentic and realized situations. And even though educators are continually striving to create those authentic, realized conditions for learning and move away from a worksheet approach, it is the realized situations that create meaning and result in deep learning and deep understanding and deep confidence in using the competencies. And that's for you as parents and the surrounding community have such a strong role to play. Your support of competency development at home, that's sports events, on trips, wherever you and your family go in whatever you and your family are doing. So find those meaningful opportunities to connect with others, especially elders and cultural leaders, which is also very critical. Attend cultural events within your community. And get to know people whose language isn't the same as your own and understand their culture. So experiencing life beyond your family unit and learning from everyone who crosses your path will help you to learn different points of you, will broaden your perspective, and that's you to think differently. And of course, we'll build development of that competency to the communication piece, the collaboration piece, critical thinking, problem solving, citizenship, all of them are developed by engaging with everyone and everywhere. So when should teachers support the development of competencies? And I want to say not only teachers, but all of us. When should we do that? And of course, you already know the answer now or all the time. Absolutely. Teachers support from kindergarten to grade 12, which is outlined in the ministerial order on student learning. All teachers are expected to support competency development and design learning activities for students to apply and develop competencies in relevant situations in relation to the learner all kinds that need to be addressed. And students and children use and develop competencies when they encounter unfamiliar or challenging situations. Confidence is how for children to draw upon what they know, how they think, and what they can do. So where should competency development take place? I think you probably know the answer to that one already, everywhere. Any place you go across a variety of learning context, both within and outside of the school. So through competencies, students develop and connect key aspects of knowing, thinking, and doing everywhere. And how can I help support my child's competency development? Well, here's some things for you to try over the next month or so. I would suggest that you engage in ongoing reflection to deepen your own understanding and application of competencies. If you want to support your child's development of competencies, I think it's important that you know them well yourself.  So thinking of this webinar, which competencies did you apply? Well, you applied effective communication, critical thinking, you can probably list many others as well. But reflect on that and think about how that competency is deep in learning or understanding for you. Other ideas. I would encourage you to talk to your child's teacher on how they teach competencies and what you can do at home. I would talk to your child about the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that are related to the competencies. And I would encourage you to use the words, use the word problem solving, use the word citizenship, so that those words become second nature to them. And do things together that use one or more of the competencies. Plant a meal together, learn new gains together, encourage them to be part of a team or to discuss local or local issues as they come up in the news, as you're watching the news report or reading it in the newspaper. So that ends the webinar today. And I encourage you to attend part two, which is supporting your child's development and use of competencies. That webinar is on January 18th and there will be two of them repeated. The first one at 9.30 and the second at 8.30 and the easy again. And I would just like to close by thanking you for participating in the webinar today and for the opportunity for me to share information about competencies with you. As mentioned, it is something I'm absolutely passionate about and I truly believe it is what our children need to be successful in learning, living, and life. I hope that you found the webinar informative. And over the next few months, I challenge you to begin reflecting on your application of competencies and begin using that language with your children. And you have those links, as mentioned before. I encourage you to explore those ideas further. And I hope to see you on January 18th. Thank you so much again and have a good evening. Thank you so much, Cori. That was a wonderful presentation. I actually had a question a little bit earlier in the presentation. The competencies overview at VQ, I've just got it right here. The link is broken on this one. Do you have a recommendation as to how we can get a hold of this information? Competencies over at Frequently Asked Questions. If you go to the, if you Google Alberta Education and then Google Competencies Overview Frequently Asked Questions, you'll get to that site. Okay. It's from Alberta Education. Yeah. Terrific. Does anybody have any questions for Cori before we wrap things up? Excellent. We've got some wonderful comments coming through. We do have a question here. So these competencies have been already incorporated in the Alberta Education System. And a great presentation she says as well. Thank you for your comment. And absolutely, teachers are already looking at infusing integrating competencies into the current programs of study and becoming more intentional on shining a light on the competencies versus just that content that has been addressed in the past. They're using the content actually from the curriculum to support the development of those competencies. Hope that answers your question. Terrific. It looks like it does. Do we have any more questions? We have time for a couple more before we hang up here. All right. Well, it doesn't look like we've got anybody else typing. So I want to say thank you again, Cori. That was a wonderful presentation. And I thank everyone for joining us this evening. And we look forward to part two of this presentation. Have a great night, everyone. Thanks very much. And as you're exiting the presentation, all you need to do is click the X up at the top right hand corner. Thank you all again for joining us.


Aesthetically pleasing, a lovely profile, and a real head turner with styling that dates back to the 90s. Say hello to Mini Driver. Well maybe not that Mini Driver. But I am sure we can all agree that the latest release from TaylorMade is a thing of beauty. And it all starts with this head cover. And that's where the first question lies in why TaylorMade can we not have this type of head cover on every driver that you produce. The quality is superb, they look superb and I can get them on and off my driver head without causing me a severe wrist injury. That driver head cover is in fact reversible, but in my opinion the least said about that the better. Then there is of course their head size 306cc, getting ball. Oh my word, which is a beautiful profile of ample size to give me the confidence that I need when I'm quivering on that first tee shot of the day. And that brings me to my second question of the day and that is do I really need a 460cc driver head on what effectively is the longest shaft that is in my golf bag. And talking of driver shafts, this is from UST, it is in fact a Pro Force which I'm a huge fan of. It's what comes as standard in these models. I'm using the 65 stiff and this length of shaft in the Mini Driver is 43.75 inches. Which basically means I can control it rather than what normally happens and that is the shaft very much controlling me. Now one word that I would never use in any other driver review is versatility because let's be honest drivers are very much a one trick pony. We play them from the tee and very few of us would attempt to play from a fairway. But with this amount of loft on the Mini Driver is there a possibility that this offers up a little bit of versatility and an option on a long par 5. And based on that strike the answer is absolutely. Now I would never attempt that with any other driver apart from this thing but with 13.5 degrees of loft it's almost like a strong three wood and that thing has gone off like a rocket. But it isn't just the loft of the club that make the fairway shot a possible option. It is this newly designed sole unit that they've put on the bottom of this club which they are naming the case sole. Which is interesting in a way helps you slide that club head across the turf. I'm just really pleased that the team at TaylorMade didn't go with the R sole which didn't quite have the same turf interaction. My wedge game is on fire right now. I've got the camera pointing the wrong way. So we've got to stick around to see if we can make birdie on what was Mini Driver, Mini Driver. Wedge, can we roll in the birdie? Turn, turn. Always got it. I forgot my lines. Too excited about making birdie the question I was going to ask which was another one about the shaft this time which was do I really need a near 46 inch shaft in my driver head? You tell me. And I will of course attempt to give you a more scientific answer to that question in the weeks ahead when I tried the Mini Driver with a full length Pro Four's equivalent shaft and just see how much difference it makes in terms of control and in terms of distance. That one should be interesting. Now there are of course legitimate answers to all the questions raised so far. It could be argued that that 460cc driver head offers a lot more in terms of weight manoeuvrability to make that club head a little bit more forgiving. It could also be argued that larger face on that 460cc head offers a larger sweet spot and in terms of length of shaft, well obviously there's that capability to generate more club head speed and ultimately hit the ball further. But I would argue that the one about the club head cover design is a legitimate one unless any of you can tell me difference and disagree that that isn't the best looking head cover on the market right now and for some time. There's also that ability to just move this little ball a little in terms of control from that shorter shaft. Most of the shots you've seen me hit so far this morning have been pretty much straight, very much a good old swing and hoof on these things and I'm pleased to say I found every single fairway so far. We are only on the fifth hole and one of them is a par three but that shot there was a little bit of left to right, that little cutty one that I like to hit and again shorter shaft, smaller head profile. Again just always gives me that element of confidence that I've got greater control in it and that's got to be a huge positive for the mini driver. Today's video is brought to you in partnership with HotGolf, the online golf mega store bringing you the hottest deals in golf and of course the clubs featured in today's video. Find the link to the HotGolf website in the description below and check out some incredible giveaways and offers. Now despite me making a video just last week about the tailor-made Stealth 2 HD driver making its way into my bag, since then this thing arrived and I must admit it has thrown a huge spanner in the works. In fact it hasn't left my bag since. I always say I put a club through its paces in terms of testing and I went out to do this on Friday and on Bank Holiday Monday. Friday here you'll see some shots where again they just hit the ball right from the get-go found fairway straight away. It's the confidence that this thing gives and I've asked a lot of questions whether they're positives or negatives well you answer them for your own personal reasoning but for me I've got control. The shorter shaft is helping me find fairways. I am still managing to get good distance out of this thing and it feels and sounds superb. And there's one other thing. That's another bullet straight golf shot but I also did mention that was another really interesting feature to be found within this mini-driver and the fact that it is adjustable in many ways and not just in the natural sense that we'd associate in the loft sleeve but also in the two weights that you see at the bottom of this clubface in that case hole. The front one being 1.5g, the back one being 13g at least in the way that I have it set up this morning and in theory that would be the higher launching, more forgiving model but if you wanted to change those two weights around you put the heavier weight at the front meaning you potentially got a low spinning driver which also is great to have that kind of adjustability in this clubhead. Now as golfers you'll have no doubt heard the analogy that loft is your friend and well to take that example to the extremes what would you rather have in your hand a three iron or your pitching wedge? Now there's two things that make the pitching wedge a lot easier to play than the three iron and that's a loft difference between the two and also the length of the shaft. You'll probably see where I'm going with this but then change that same analogy into your driver. I'm telling you my wedge game was on fire, get right on it. Oh just not quite enough. So use that same analogy, switch it into the driver head, switch it into the mini driver head because what they do is offer two lofts in terms of their standard head profiles and they are 11.5 degrees, 13.5 degrees coupled with that shorter shaft and what happens, will you get that greater control and loft is your friend, don't forget it helps you get that ball open out there in terms of using your driver. That's important. Now so far in terms of the way this driver looks we have only talking about the driver head cover which I think is awesome but what about the driver head itself because we can't ignore it. All this driver in terms of visuals and the aesthetics pay homage back to the sort of original burner driver that bubble shafted driver. We've also got those sort of same color tones and we've got the retro tailor-made text and logo that you see in the club face as well. You then go into the shaft and again that pro-force shaft has got the same sort of colorings as does the grip so aesthetically it looks superb but then what about that head add-address which is the all-important bit. It's got the gloss back side to it it's very much a shrunken down version of stealth if you like in many ways but without that carbon-wood face and that retro tailor-made logo in the center of the crown just to focus on where that ball needs to be at address. But it's the profile that's a real interesting bit for me. I've often asked why do we need such a huge lump in terms of that 460cc head add-address on our driver when you think where these have come from and where we are right now there's a huge difference but that 306cc just seems absolutely perfect on my add-address and I absolutely love this thing from a looks perspective but that's my opinion and as ever I prefer to hear yours. So in today's video we have asked a number of questions that hopefully are the kind that you want the answers to if you were considering buying a tailor-made mini-driver and I know for me it throws up some interesting well debates I suppose in many ways in our golfers heads like I said do you need that head size do you need that loft do you need that length of shaft all those things that you've got to question and then there is a price tag which is far more attractive than that of the top end drivers as well so for me this is a real driver that is worth considering for many drivers for average golfers in particular who are considering all those things as being possible positives to help their game and I do believe that they've packaged this up into something that is really quite special and aesthetically the best mini-driver that they've produced so far and arguably one of the best looking drivers in my eyes it's on the bar on the market right now it really is superb in terms of its styling anyway style doesn't find fair ways but maybe shorter shaft and a bit more loft does and it's important that you go out and try these things yourself obviously for my findings at least a real super addition to the tailor-made lineup for 2023 as if you haven't got enough to choose from already and possible another spanner in the works of my own personal bag anyway let me know your thoughts on this if you've tried it then I'd love to know your feedback and help your golfers point them in the right direction by giving some guidance in that comment section down below I'm all done for another night and well chances are I'll see you tomorrow at some stage