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. Next week is the annual Computer Science Education Week (CSEd Week(, which is one of my favourite times of the year. If this event is new to you, it is described as, “an annual call to action to inspire K-12 students to learn computer science, advocate for equity in computer science education, and celebrate the contributions of students, teachers, and partners to the field.” Here in MVSD, our department has used this… Read More
Follow Friday – Common Sense Media
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. Common Sense Media has been a resource that I’ve used for well over a decade and I was shocked when I did a recent search and saw that I’ve never included them as a dedicated Follow Friday post! When working with staff and community members, I often describe Common Sense Media as “the American version of Media Smarts”. They have multiple branches but their general “about” section introduces themselves in the following… Read More
Goodbye Twitter – Welcome to BlueSky!
Twelve and a half years ago….. that’s when I first joined the Twitter community. The platform, at the time, was exactly that: a community. For me, this social media platform was my connection to other educators and ed tech organizations. As a new teacher, and one in a rural area, my PLC was almost entirely online, and the information that was available on this platform was invaluable to me. As I sit and reflect back on my early-days of Twitter I am overwhelmed, which seems silly to type out. However, over a decade a later, I can honestly say that… Read More
Follow Friday – #MTSPDDay
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. This week, as I do every year at this time, I’d like to bring recognition to the #MTSPDDay hashtag! As educators take part in various professional development sessions across the province, many of them are choosing to share their learning via social media and tagging their posts using the hashtag #MTSPDDay. By following along with this hashtag on your platform of choice you are able to document your own learning, grow your PLN, and take in… Read More
Follow Friday – Media Smarts
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. Next week will play host to Media Literacy Week! To prep for this event, I recommend a visit to Media Smarts, which is a fantastic resource to help address these skills (as required by Manitoba educators in the Literacy with ICT Continuum). In fact, one of the newer Media Smarts updates in the summer of 2023 was a direct connection to the Manitoba curriculum! Follow Media Smarts
Follow Friday – Canadian Centre for Cyber Security
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. With the month of October playing host to Cyber Security Awareness Month it seemed fitting to showcase the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS) for Follow Friday! You can follow along with them on Twitter/X or through their website which includes: You can review all of the blog posts on cyber security by clicking HERE.
Follow Friday – ManACE
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. ManACE is a provincial organization that I have been involved with since 2013 when I was invited to join as a board member. Since that time, I have been involved with a variety of ManACE initiatives, including multiple terms as president. In the 2024/25 school year I am honoured to be advising in the role of past-president and am very excited to see what fun things the group takes on this year! To learn… Read More
Follow Friday – MAETL
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. MAETL is a provincial organization that I have been involved with since I started my role as Coordinator of ICT in 2019. Since that time, I participated in their monthly professional development and business meetings, served as vice-president, president for two terms, and am now advising in the role of past-president. Their website describes MAETL as: “MAETL (Manitoba Association of Educational Technology Leaders) (formerly CECM – Computer Education Coordinators of Manitoba) was created in… Read More
Follow Friday – Manitoba Scholastic ESports Association (MSEA)
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. With this month playing host to National Video Games Day I thought it was only fitting to showcase the Manitoba School eSports Association (MSEA) for this week’s Follow Friday. ” Manitoba School Esports Association is a not-for-profit organization committed to connecting, informing, and supporting competitive gaming in schools across Manitoba. MSEA is an amalgamation of the former MYEMB (Middle Years Esport Manitoba) and MHSeA (Manitoba High School eSports Association). With the expansion of esports in Manitoba, MSEA was developed to… Read More
Follow Friday – MVSD Accounts
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. One of the projects I was excited to undertake when I took on this role was curating our divisional social media pages. The purpose of this project was: – to help build community– to assist with effective and appropriate use of these platforms– to establish some level of consistency in regard to messaging While our official numbers fluctuate every year due to staffing changes, we are currently over 60 accounts across various social media… Read More