Happy New Year! For those involved in education, fall time is our new year and we are ramping up for the whirlwind that is September. When it comes to the ICT Department, my technicians have been hard at work ALL summer: preforming maintenance on all infrastructure and hardware inventorying and setting up new equipment setting up classrooms As we approach the end of August, we are also preparing for our summer PD series which will include: August 29th – Secretarial PD all building secretaries from across the division Updates to PowerSchool, Office 365, shared calendars, and more August 30th-31st –… Read More
ICT Team Overview 21/22
When I first started my position in the fall of 2019 I joked with my team that they should give me three years to adjust. With so many aspects of education being seasonal I was fairly confident that by the end of the third year I would have everything figured out. Six months into my first year we closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and all “normal” systems for our team were shut down until the fall of 2020. My second year saw an additional closure transition in May due to rising numbers in our region. So now here, at… Read More
June ICT Newsletter
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. June 2022 ICT Newsletter by Kirsten Cali
WOW Wednesday – MMS eSports Team
On Wednesdays 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. Did you know?? Manitoba serves as a national leader in the area of esport (online gaming) with competitive leagues starting for learners in Grade 6-12. Esports not only provide additional extracurricular options to learners but they assist in the development of skills in the areas of: – global competencies in the “5Cs” – cross-curricular STEM content… Read More
MVSD People of Dance
On Thursdays I usually use our social media platforms to share using the #ThrowbackThursday trend where users participate by sharing a memory (recent or distant). These posts don’t usually make it to the blog but when a memory popped up today I was surprised to see I hadn’t placed it as a feature on the blog in the past. Given the Covid-19 pandemic, we wanted to find a way to offer technology-related professional development to staff while having fun and staying safe during the 2020/2021 year. This project saw staff practice their understanding of collaborative documents and cloud-based storage systems… Read More
WOW Wednesday – Megan Porter
On Wednesdays 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. Megan Porter, who teaches Gr 3/4 at Gilbert Plains Elementary (GPES), reached out this week to share her classes’ recent adventure: QR codes! QR codes are an accessible way for students to document their learning experiences and then share them with their families and friends outside of the classroom as the end-user does not need a… Read More
WOW Wednesday – Kelsey Foote
On Wednesdays 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 Kelsey Foote out of Gilbert Plains Collegiate Institute (GCPI) who has implemented augmented reality (AR) into his physical education programming. For various reasons, I don’t see as much tech integration into these classes so these opportunities are always very exciting for me! If you are unfamiliar with the community… Read More
April ICT Newsletter
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. April 2022 ICT Newsletter by Kirsten Cali
WOW Wednesday – IT Department
On Wednesdays 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. Today is a very exciting day for our department as our team is meeting face-to-face at Division Office to participate in professional development specialized to our department. While MVSD offers division-wide PD regularly, these topics are more general in the scope of our divisional goals and it has been rare that our team gets time for… Read More
#TechTipTuesday – PowerSchool Portal
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. Here in Manitoba we are moving towards spring assessments for our K-8 educators and learners. Component A.3 of our divisional Student Assessment Procedure indicates that: All members of the learning community, students, educators and parents must be actively engaged in assessment, in order to develop a common understanding of the classroom assessment and evaluation process. MVSD Student Assessment Procedure, Section B, Part A.3 One tool that can be used to increase assessment engagement is through… Read More