In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the need for at-home learning, MVSD piloted a laptop loan program in the spring of 2020. Given that MVSD is not a 1:to:1 school division, and we have not explored device loaning before, this was a big undertaking for us. Luckily, there are many great examples across the province from other school divisions who have offered programs like this for many years. Through my contacts at MAETL and ManACE I was able to work with our ICT and Programs & Planning teams to help craft a program that worked for our division. Since… Read More
Making Waves – MVSD Programming During Covid-19
This information is presented from the divisional perspective. The realities of teaching day-to-day during the Covid-19 pandemic can only effectively be shared from a teacher voice. MVSD has just under 90 accounts, across various social media platforms that share on behalf of their school/classroom/professional position. I invite you to visit these accounts to see a glimpse of what teaching and learning looks like within MVSD and connect with our network. (You can also check out the #mvsd_mb on the platform of your choice) “Ground Up – Not Top Down” Our Programs & Planning team consists of our Assistant Superintendent and… Read More
The Complete EdTech Coach – Part 1: Philosophy
*Part 1 of a 4-part series Presenting at teaching conferences and hosting PD sessions has always been a passion of mine. To me, teaching is teaching, whether my learners are school-age or adults. While this fills my cup, it often means that I am involved as a presenter and not a participant during school PD opportunities. As such, my personal PD comes in on my own time. My most recent PD endeavour is, The Complete Ed Tech Coach: An Organic Approach to Supporting Digital Learning, by Adam Juarez & Katherine Goyette. As always, I will be using the blog to… Read More
Tips for Successful Online Lessons
The Covid-19 pandemic has changed A LOT of things for everyone; coordinators included. To say the adjustment has been easy would be a lie… I’m shared between all 16 of our school buildings and last year I strived to visit every building at least once a month to support teachers, staff, and students with all things ed tech. Sometimes these visits were scheduled appointments but often they consisted of me stationing myself in the libary, common-area, or staff room and developing organic conversations as people saw me. We all know teachers are busy and this method was fantastic because, while… Read More
Mantra Monday
Every Monday I share a different ed tech quote on our Thompson Classroom social media pages for our staff to consider. This week’s Mantra is: Monday is not only the start of a new month but also the start of a new set of Covid-19 restrictions across the province. Educators are currently working to accomplish their regular curricular goals ontop of: addressing the complex mental health needs resulting from the pandemic adjusting to new health guidelines designing and participating in blended learning completing assessments and writing report cards planning virtual Remembrance Services planning virtual Parent-teacher conferences and much, much more! While this… Read More
IT Professionals Day
Today is IT Professionals Day. Personally, if there was ever a year to thank your IT team I think it would be 2020. I am incredibly thankful that MVSD has such a strong, dedicated team that make up our ICT Department. Our group of seven: provides support for ~4000 users boasts 80+ combined years experience within MVSD completed 2000+ personalized IT requests in 2019/2020 this is on top of infrastructure maintenance, installations, and larger inter-departmental projects
Clever Badges
Clever Badges have been implemented as of September 2020 for all MVSD students K-3. These paper badges feature a QR code with the student’s name and, when displayed in front of the webcam of a divisional computer, initiate an automatic login into the device for that student! Check out this video from our IGTV below for more details and a demo of these badges in action! View this post on Instagram In an effort to increase accessibility for our youngest students we’ve implemented Clever Badges for our K-3 students across MVSD! #mvsd_mb #edtech #mbedchat A post shared by Kirsten Thompson – ICT… Read More
Digital Devices – Disinfection & Appropriate Use During a Pandemic
As we prepare to welcome staff and students back into our buildings in the coming weeks our ICT Department has been working to help ensure that the use of shared digital devices is as safe as possible. From our perspective we want to help make sure that anyone who uses one of our shared devices can do so as safe as possible while ensuring appropriate disinfection practices are occuring that won’t damage our devices. What is a shared device? In MVSD, we consider any digital device that is used by multiple-users to be a shared device. Whenever possible we are… Read More
Summer PD at MVSD
I personally love this time of year. I don’t care what anyone says, New Years’ Eve for teachers is the end of August! Summer PD is so enjoyable for me (both as a participant as well as a facilitator): everyone is refreshed following the summer break there is a feeling of excitement and new opportunity there is an increased ability to focus and implement new information as classes haven’t started yet those who are there are participating voluntarily and geniunely WANT to be there Like many school divisions, MVSD offers professional development for their teaching staff near the end of… Read More
ICT Team Overview
Today marks the formal completion of my first year as Coordinator of ICT in Mountain View School Division. What year to make this shift! I had A LOT of hesitancy about leaving the classroom environment as I loved my Ste Rose family and was already missing “my kids” (Grs 7-12) while on maternity leave. With that being said, this is easily my dream position and couldn’t be happier with this stage in my career. Much of this positivity has stemmed from the fact that my ICT Team is amazing, like utterly fantastic. Any question I had… Read More