On Tuesdays I share a Tech Tip on our social media pages to assist our staff in their use of technology as it relates to their role. If you are a fan of Prezi, which features easily accessible “zooming” transitions for presentations, then you’ll love that this feature is now built into PowerPoint! Check out the tutorial below from Mike Tholfsen’s TikTok account: This can be a helpful tool for: those who like the options available in Prezi but don’t like having to open 3rd party software those who want transitions in their presentation but aren’t comfortable applying them to every slide… Read More
No Statistical Difference
On Mondays I share a different ed tech quote on our Thompson Classroom social media pages for our staff to consider. *This article is a repost from 2017 When it comes to educational technology (ed tech) I find that it can be one of those ed topics that can become incredibly polarizing. You either find educators who are enthusiastically supportive of the implementation of various forms of ed tech or you find educators who will use ed tech if they have to but tend to stick with other materials and strategies that they are more comfortable with. Admittedly I fall into the… Read More
Follow Friday – Eric Sheninger
On Fridays I share what I believe to be a notable person/organization/school on our social media pages to assist our staff in the development of their online Personal Learning Network. Eric is someone who has been a part of my PLN for the last decade. In fact, the first time he’s mentioned here on my blog was August of 2012 as part of Connected Educator Month. The official bio from his website summarizes, “His work focuses on leading and learning in the digital age as a model for moving schools and districts forward. This has led to the formation of the Pillars of… Read More
WOW Wednesday – IT Department
On Wednesdays I highlight some of our amazing MVSD staff on our social media pages. Everyday our staff are using tech in new and exciting ways, are learning new skills, and are sharing ways in which ed tech is assisting them in their practice. Today is a very exciting day for our department as our team is meeting face-to-face at Division Office to participate in professional development specialized to our department. While MVSD offers division-wide PD regularly, these topics are more general in the scope of our divisional goals and it has been rare that our team gets time for… Read More
#TechTipTuesday – Closed Tab
Every Tuesday I share a Tech Tip on our social media pages to assist our staff in their use of technology as it relates to their role. Nothing is more frustrating than when you are working online and the window you are working in accidentally gets closed! To quickly reopen your previously closed browser tabs you can use the shortcut: Control (Ctrl), Shift, and the letter T. This is also a good shortcut to teach students who may be in the habit of closing their friends windows as a prank (I’m looking at you middle-school students!)
Defining Technology
Every Monday I share a different ed tech quote on our Thompson Classroom social media pages for our staff to consider. This quote has stuck with me for a few years because I feel that, based on the generational gap between educators and students, that there is sometimes a disconnect between how we view technology. For many educators, it is still considered an “extra” or an “add-on”. For example: for THIS specific project we are summarizing our learning with a PowerPoint so we go to the computer lab for a SPECIAL activity we are adding a tech station as an option during… Read More
Follow Friday – Symbaloo
Every Friday I share what I believe to be a notable person/organization/school on our social media pages to assist our staff in the development of their online Personal Learning Network. Symbaloo is a curation tool that I have used in my practice for almost 10 years; both as a classroom teacher and during professional development sessions I am facilitating. (I’ve always used the FREE version) I have shared about this visual tool via the Curation page of the MVSD ICT Resources Notebook (linked in the main tabs of the blog) as well! To introduce yourself to this tool and the options it… Read More
#TechTipTuesday – PowerSchool Portal
Every Tuesday I share a Tech Tip on our social media pages to assist our staff in their use of technology as it relates to their role. Here in Manitoba we are moving towards spring assessments for our K-8 educators and learners. Component A.3 of our divisional Student Assessment Procedure indicates that: All members of the learning community, students, educators and parents must be actively engaged in assessment, in order to develop a common understanding of the classroom assessment and evaluation process. MVSD Student Assessment Procedure, Section B, Part A.3 One tool that can be used to increase assessment engagement is through… Read More
Technology Is Not Just A Tool
Every Monday I share a different ed tech quote on our Thompson Classroom social media pages for our staff to consider. George Couros is no stranger to this blog and the work that both him and his brother, Alec, do in the field of education have influenced me greatly. While this week’s quote can be interpreted multiple ways (like when discussing social media) but I feel like this 2013 TEDx video clip does a good job at providing an overview of George’s perspective: I tend to gravitate back to this quote when introducing assistive technology with staff and this week is one… Read More
Community ICT Outreach in MVSD
We are set to proceed with the third year of our community outreach program. This program kicked-off in the fall of 2019 with the inclusion of “Tech Tip” informational boards that were displayed during parent-teaching interviews (see Instagram post below): When I entered this position in September of 2019 I was pleasantly surprised to realize that although I didn’t have “my kids” (students) anymore, I now had an extended network of over 4000 new “students” to support. This group includes MVSD students, teachers, admin, support staff, and our MVSD families. Regardless of where you fit into that network, everyone has… Read More