On Tuesdays, 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. January is recognized as Clean Up Your Computer Month and all of this month’s tips will be dedicated to this topic! Last week we started off the month with a checklist of items to get your computer clean-up started. Now that your computer files are, hopefully, updated and relevant, let’s focus on getting them organized! When I was in the classroom I worked with Grades 7-12 in the areas of social studies, science, math, and sometimes areas… Read More
MVSD Back-to-School ICT Checklist
Welcome to a new school year! At the start and end of each school year I find it helpful to share out the following checklist that was inspired by a practice from when I was a classroom teacher. This checklist is designed to ensure the effective and professional use of various ICT elements and support your growth in the 2023/2024 school year. Please note that not all checklist elements may apply to you depending on your position within the division. The checklist itself has each task hyperlinked which leads to a tutorial or video providing more information on how to complete the… Read More
Year End Tech Checklist – Part 2 – File Organization
On Tuesdays 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. Earlier this month I introduced the 22/23 Year End Tech Checklist and kicked off our implementation by looking at Learning Management Systems (LMS). As we progress through the month we are now shifting focus to digital file organization. Check out the video below for an overview of this topic: Now that you’ve watched the video you may notice some overlap between this section and the information shared out in January for Clean Up Your Computer… Read More
Year End Tech Checklist – Part 1 – LMS
On Tuesdays 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. The end of the school year means a very standard routine for educators: time to clean out your classroom! For many of us this includes removal of any unnecessary clutter that has accumulated, archiving and filing, revamping bulletin boards, and perhaps the beginning of an update to certain decor elements. Guess what? This should be happening digitally as well; especially with increased use of digital tools/files! When I taught at Ste Rose our secretary would always provide… Read More
Desktop Organization Upgrade
Around this time last year I saw a Reel on Instagram that inspired me to add some personal flair to my desktop background. I thought it would be fun to do a little “spring cleaning” and make myself a new one with a totally different style. The layout of my desktop background is tailored around the fact that my screen is regularly displayed for the purposes of tech training with staff, students, and community members. I put together a brief tutorial on how I did this last year (see embedded TikTok). Which desktop do you like better? The 2022 version… Read More
#TechTipTuesday – Naming Files
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. As January is recognized as Clean Up Your Computer Month all of this month’s tips will be dedicated to this topic! When I was in the classroom I worked with Grade 7-12 in the areas of social studies, science, math, and sometimes areas such as art, health, or resource. As you can imagine, this meant I had A LOT of digital files that spanned a wide range of topics. Finding a way to organize my files was… Read More
Follow Friday – Equity & Diversity Calendar
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. Did you know that MVSD maintains an Equity and Diversity calendar that is accessible to the public via our divisional website? This calendar is an ever-evolving project that is designed to bring awareness to a variety of different events and strengthen understanding about their significance. The calendar itself includes a series of events through the month and each included event can be selected to bring up a pop-up box with further information… Read More
#TechTipTuesday – Year End Tech Checklist
On Tuesdays 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. The end of the school year means a very standard routine for educators: time to clean out your classroom! For many of us this includes removal of any unnecessary clutter that has accumulated, archiving and filing, revamping bulletin boards, and perhaps the beginning of an update to certain decor elements. Guess what? This should be happening digitally as well; especially with increased use of digital tools/files! When I taught at Ste Rose our secretary would always provide… 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.
#TechTipTuesday – SmartArt for Charts
On Tuesdays 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. Charts are something that teachers create and use ALL the time! This can be for: their own personal organization task lists for student completion seating charts committee/group participant organization sports brackets the list goes on and on! If creating these digitally you can be tempted to spend the extra time aligning shapes to create the perfect look, or searching for that perfect template. Did you know, that SmartArt within PowerPoint can take your text data… Read More