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. As we head into Spring Break I want to make sure that Riding the Wave is on your radar because it is a FANTASTIC learning and networking event and a great way to build your ed tech goals in alignment with your plans for the upcoming year. Situated in beautiful Gimli, Manitoba the 2023 theme is focused on, “unleashing your creative potential”, and will feature keynote David Usher who will be… Read More
Follow Friday – EverFi
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. EverFi has been a FREE digital resource that I have utilized throughout my education career after hearing about them at a ManACE event in 2014. If you are new to their programming I suggest starting at their K-12 introductory webpage. A “How It Works” video is also embedded below from their YouTube page: EverFi offers multiple digital courses across a variety of subjects but my go-to courses for the area of… Read More
Follow Friday – Rick Wormeli
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. On Monday, February 27th, MVSD staff met divisionally with a majority grouping working with Rick Wormeli on the topic of outcome-based assessment. While I didn’t have an opportunity to personally work with Rick as I was hosting my own sessions with our EA staff, I’ve heard a lot of positive feedback from our staff. Our PD Team has been working to develop a long-term plan with Rick to continue our learning… Read More
Follow Friday – ICTC
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. I was first introduced to the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) in 2020 through our digital equity work with Tech Manitoba. At the time, our project was in response to the digital inequity concerns exasperated by the Covid-19 emergency response programming: Manitoba and a Digital-First Future: The Implications of Connectivity for Equity and Education. Since that time, I’ve had an opportunity to connect with ICTC on further projects including: Digital… Read More
Follow Friday – Dorothy Goddard
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. I was first introduced to Dorothy when I started attending MAETL meetings in the fall of 2019. Since 2020, Dorothy and I have had the opportunity to work together through various positions on the MAETL executive board with our most recent roles as president and lead of the educational technologies committee. Dorothy, who is based out of Winnipeg School Division, is currently serving in the role of lead for Professional Support… Read More
Follow Friday – BYTE Conference
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. February is almost upon us and that can only mean one thing…. it is time for the BYTE Conference! This conference holds a special place in my heart as it was not only the first large ed conference that I attended as a B.Ed student but it was also the start of my presentation experience. Since that time I have been able to attend 8 of the conferences (7 years as a presenter). You can… 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 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 (Massive Open Online Course). While Manitoba has not experienced a mandated period of remote learning since January of 2022, elements of remote programming that were adopted during those period are here to stay! In the summer of 2020 one of colleagues from Manitoba Ed recommended I participate… Read More
Follow Friday – Seven Oaks Tech Hub
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. This week I want to introduce you to the Tech Hub program from Seven Oaks School Division in Winnipeg. Their program, which operates at two different sites, connects students with industry experts from New Media Manitoba and the University of Winnipeg. Designed for creatives, designers, coders, innovators, and builders, students from Gr 7-12 can explore and stregthen their skills in daily or after-school programs. Their social media pages offer insight into… Read More
Follow Friday – Minecraft Student Ambassadors
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. I am thrilled to share that our division now has their very own Minecraft Student Ambassdor organization through Ecole Macneill. This group is comprised of students at the elementary level who are interested in the Minecraft program and work under the supervision of a staff member who has completed the Minecraft Student Ambassador sponsor program through Microsoft. Our students, through this program, have: investigated climate change through the Frozen Planet 2… Read More
Follow Friday – Code.org
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. Monday kicks off Computer Science Education Week which runs from December 5-9th, 2022. This event is an international movement designed to introduce students to the field of computer science, strengthen computational thinking and encourage creativity in the digital space. One way to introduce Computer Science Education Week is through an Hour of Code event! “The Hour of Code is a global movement reaching tens of millions of students in 180+ countries. Anyone,… Read More