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. As January is recognized as Clean Up Your Computer Month and, with so much more of our practice being digital during remote learning, all of this month’s tips will be dedicated to this topic! Last year I filmed a series of videos via TikTok that elaborated on each of these 7 tips (see videos embedded below): Which tip will you be starting with this month?
Intentional Planning During Remote Learning
Every Monday I share a different ed tech quote on our Thompson Classroom social media pages for our staff to consider. Today kicks off yet another round of remote learning here in Manitoba. As we near the end of year 2 of the Covid-19 pandemic it is a safe assumption that a majority of our staff and students have experienced some form of remote learning, but not all. For new staff and students this could represent a new experience for them and it is also important to remember that every class is different. In the same way that you never teach a… Read More
Follow Friday – Blended Learning Practice MOOC
Every Friday I share what I believe to be a notable person/organization/school on our social media pages (linked at the top of the blog) to assist our staff in the development of their online Personal Learning Network. This week I want to highlight the collaboration between Athabasca University and the Commonwealth of Learning as they relaunch one of their popular MOOCs. As Manitoba transitions into ANOTHER round of remote learning, it couldn’t be more timely. In the summer of 2020 one of colleagues from Manitoba Ed recommended I participate in the Blended Learning Practice MOOC. This massive open online course is, “an… Read More
January ICT Newsletter
Our staff and students are back and we are ready for a new year! With the start of a new month comes a new monthly ICT newsletter. These newsletters are designed to serve as an outreach to all MVSD staff and provide: general ICT updates (software changes, divisional ICT timelines, tech-themed holidays) upcoming PD for the month tech tips divisional highlights These newsletters are sent out to staff via our divisional email but are also shared out through our social media pages and divisional website. January 2022 ICT Newsletter by Kirsten Cali
Remote & Blended Learning Resources for Educators
As our local Covid-19 situation changes we are seeing further restrictions put in place that impact education and our ability to have our students with us face-to-face. As such, we are seeing an increased need for information on Remote & Blended Learning Resources. While the majority of my blog posts focus on ed and ed tech resources I do a lot of curation that doesn’t necessarily get onto the blog; which is why I also provide a direct link to my curation platform of choice – OneNote. Please see a short video below showcasing how to find this resource in… Read More
10 Year Blogiversary!
In 2012, on the recommendation from a university professor, I started a blog to document my learning journey and connect with other educators. That initial blog post started with, “I will admit that I am not the most tech-savvy person, but it’s a start!”. If there was ever an example of foreshadowing, this introductory sentence would be it. Little did I know that that start would swell to a 900+ post documentation of my journey from, “… not the most tech-savvy person” to the Coordinator of ICT; responsible for the technology programming and purchasing for over 3,000 stakeholders. This journey has been, and continues to be, guided by both an internal motivation to seek out new information as well as… Read More
#TechTipTuesday – Out of Office
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. We are only a few days away from the end of 2021 and a well-deserved winter break for those involved in education. Teacher’s tend to have their, “teacher-brain”, on all the time and sometimes have challenges stepping back and finding time for themselves. Given our current pandemic-environment which sees our teaching scenario changing fairly consistently (especially with rising case numbers during the 4th wave) it can be tempting to feel like you need to take… Read More
#TweetTheHalls 2021 Winners
Today starts off the LAST week of school in 2021 (a short week as students’ last day is the 22nd), which also means that our #MBEdChat #TweetTheHalls event has come to a close. Over the course of 17 days we had over 200 participating Tweets with a total reach of over 100,000! While the majority of participants were local Manitoba educators we also had our network extend to include schools and student groups. This morning we used a random number generator to randomly select three winners from all eligible participants. I want to extend a HUGE thank you to: all of the #MBEdChat… Read More
Relax & Recharge
Every Monday I share a different ed tech quote on our Thompson Classroom social media pages for our staff to consider. December is always a whirlwind month for educators as they push through fatigue (for both themselves and students), climatize to colder weather and less sunlight, and coordinate a variety of holiday activities, all while maintaining the plethora of regular classroom duties. As we near the 2-year mark of the Covid-19 pandemic, and work to once-again navigate rising case numbers, the risk of feeling overwhelmed is further increased. This quote is one that I shared last year as well simply because I… Read More
Follow Friday – Alan Levine
Every Friday I share what I believe to be a notable person/organization/school on our social media pages (linked at the top of the blog) to assist our staff in the development of their online Personal Learning Network. Alan is new to my PLN as I was only recently introduced to his work after being announced as the Keynote Speaker for the upcoming May 2022 Riding the Wave Conference. His website bio includes: “Alan Levine is an independent educational technologist, sometimes calling myself an “itinerant web geek”, providing anything from development of custom web sites, most often but not limited to WordPress,… Read More