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. One thing that I always struggled with in the classroom was student PowerPoint presentations. When offered the option of how students want to share their learning with others it was often a PowerPoint. Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing inherently wrong with a PowerPoint; for many students it is a comfort medium. However, there are always those students who could spend WEEKS of class time on the design of the slides and not… Read More
#TechTipTuesday – Find Time
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. Determining an appropriate meeting time across multiple stakeholder groups is always an onerous task. In my experience, you are either stuck in a long email thread while participants discuss their schedules or you are tasked with creating/completing another survey (which sometimes leads to another survey if none of the included times worked). Enter the Find Time add-in. This add-in feature in Outlook allows users (both within organization and outside) to quickly see participant availability so… Read More
#TechTipTuesday – Microsoft Tasks
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. One silver lining of the pandemic is that it has increased our technology use to allow for more detailed collaboration and flexibility when we cannot be together in person. However, for me, it has resulted in a virtual to-do list that includes: email requests Team tasks shared documents via OneDrive calendar invites for virtual meetings It can be difficult to keep all of this straight but there are programs that are working to help streamline… Read More
WOW Wednesday – DRCSS Staff
Every Wednesday 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. As we’ve adapted to the ever-changing teaching environments available to us during the Covid-19 pandemic, an emphasis on physical distance has been essential. In order to make this happen our largest high school, Dauphin Regional Comprehensive Secondary School, has operated on a blended schedule this year. This sees students attend two days a week on a Monday/Wednesday… Read More
#TechTipTuesday – Embedded Content in Hyperdocs
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. Online navigation, while ripe with possibility, does open up a unique set of challenges: incorrect links due to typos tabs opened/closed accidently uncertainty on if you opened the correct resource clicking on ads, third party links, etc within the resource Whether I am working with students or with staff as part of a PD session my goal is to make navigation as easy as possible. My personal belief is that, “the more steps you add… Read More
WOW Wednesday – O365 Bookings for Parent-Teacher Interviews
Every Wednesday 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. The use of Office 365 Bookings has streamlined our Parent-Teacher Interview Process in multiple ways: our secretarial, admin, and teaching staff are no longer required to manage incoming appointment times our teachers know automatically when their bookings are as they sync to their Outlook calendars Teams video meeting links are autogenerated for every family who requires… Read More
WOW Wednesday – GPCI O365 Training
Every Wednesday 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. This week I would like to highlight Gilbert Plains Collegiate. For the second year in a row they committed to providing formal training to all of the students in the use of Office 365. This training is specifically on how to use these tools to enhance their learning and included: platform overview and navigation of tools… 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
Assistive Learning Technologies
Yesterday I had the opportunity to share and learn with a fantastic group of clinicians to discuss assistive learning technologies. This group included speech-language pathologists, school psychologists, social workers, and physiotherapists who work to support learners and families within the Parkland-region: Mountain View School Division Frontier School Division Swan Valley School Division Turtle River School Division Parkwest School Division Prairie Mountain Health Manitoba Education As my background is as a classroom teacher, and my M.Ed focus was on educational technology, I developed a presentation based on my skill-set. Our Coordinator of Student Services, Jeane Mischuk, was then kind enough to… Read More