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 through our social media pages and divisional website. April 2024 ICT Newsletter by Kirsten Cali
Follow Friday – Riding The Wave
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. 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. To check out my summary from the 2023 conference click HERE. Situated in beautiful Gimli, Manitoba this conference is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and, while… Read More
Follow Friday – Blended Learning Practice MOOC
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 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 that period are here to stay! Most recently, we have experienced almost TEN snow days this winter where busses are not… Read More
March 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 through our social media pages and divisional website. March 2024 ICT Newsletter by Kirsten Cali
Introduction to Power BI
I am spending this week in Winnipeg taking part in software training via MERLIN on Power BI. This is part of the back-end of our divisional strategic plan in which we will utilize the Power BI software to connect to our divisional data, create visualizations, and publish reports. An overview of the course is included below as an image: Microsoft Learn (Educator Center) There are numerous training modules, both one-off courses and extensive learning paths, on the Microsoft Learn webpage that anyone can access. Microsoft Learn offers FREE, asynchronous, micro-credentials for all of the Microsoft programs (you can learn more… Read More
BYTE 2024
On Friday I spent the day in Portage la Prairie for the 20th annual BYTE conference. This was my 8th year joining their team as a presenter and I am thrilled to still be a part of this fantastic event! If you weren’t able to join the event in person, and even if you did, I recommend scrolling back on Instagram and X/Twitter as many participants and presenters shared their learning throughout the day. You can find applicable posts by following the #BYTEMB hashtag or you can follow the BYTE Conference directly on X/Twitter and Instagram. The learning will also continue TOMORROW, February 21st with… Read More
Follow Friday – BYTE Conference
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. February is here 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 9 of the conferences (8 years as a presenter). You can read about some… Read More
February 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 through our social media pages and divisional website. February 2024 ICT Newsletter by Kirsten Cali
The Cell Phone Debate
Apple released its first iPhone in June of 2007, a tech milestone that was overshadowed for me by my graduation from high school. I had no K-12 classroom experience with a smartphone, although my trusty Samsung SCH-A670 was always close at hand. In fact, I was seven months shy of completing my SECOND university degree before I was able to afford my first smartphone (this moment was actually documented on this blog). And while I do not have experience as a youth-learner with a smartphone, I do have experience teaching in the K-12 system with students who have smartphones, experience… Read More
Cyber Summit 2023
New month – new PD adventure, this time in beautiful Banff, Alberta for the 2023 Cyber Summit! I was first introduced to this conference in the spring through our MAETL work with Brian Aspinall. Given our shared work in the AI space he suggested I explore the idea of attending Cyber Summit and I was thrilled when my proposal was accepted to be part of the 2023 event schedule. The following post is a summary of my experiences: Wednesday Keynote: Brian Aspinall “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious” – Albert Einstein How do we create the… Read More