CBE ILT

design thinking summer institute - Centennial HS

2015-04-16T14:29:00.000-06:00

Outdoor and Environmental Science - Centennial High School'
Carter Cox, Adam Sandbeck, Kenzie Rushton

Students at Centennial HS have the opportunity to combine a passion for outdoor education with their learning in Science, Phys. Ed, Career and Technology Studies and CALM.

Three teachers came together last summer to design the next phase of their OES program.

We are re-designing the way we deliver and assess the human system learning outcomes from Bio 20, Chem 20, CTS 2010 (Wilderness First Aid WFA) and CALM.

Our project was extremely successful for the students, however we were unable to implement all of our original ideas. The integration of the human systems from the Bio 20 curriculum and the CTS credits and certification in wilderness first aid worked very well. A first draft booklet was created for the students to help with the practical implementation of human systems theory to real life first aid scenarios. The students were able to demonstrate a higher level of understanding of human systems as it directly relates to wilderness first aid scenarios. The students memory recall showed improvements on tests and as a result the students were able to obtain their certification.

The grade 12 students were unable to design simulations for the grade 11’s and therefore we were unable to be able to model simulations for the gr 11’s to design. This is our ultimate goal for next year, to re-think how the gr 11’s will have enough time to design their simulations and provide the ultimate form of assessment.

design thinking summer institute - Simon Fraser

2015-04-15T14:27:00.000-06:00

Eco-Challenge Dragon’s Den
Gord Weeks, Simon Fraser

This project involved inviting all of our grade 9 students to design a product or service with an environmental theme which they were to develop with a small group of fellow students from their homeroom. The project culminated with presentations in each homeroom after about 3 weeks of school with each group presenting their idea to their classmates and homeroom teacher. The top 2 presentations in each homeroom won the chance to pitch their idea to an assembled panel of judges in an “Environmental Dragon’s Den”. Students were given 1 core period per day and 1 option period to work on this project.

Our work on this project changed my perspective on cross-disciplinary opportunities for students because I saw that students’ level of engagement was much higher than I expected. I liked the fact that, because students had more choice in what they learned, they spent more time and effort than we had expected, and they had deeper learning about their chosen topic than they would have gained from a textbook or a single lesson on that topic.

Gord shared a podcast he created to reflect on the project. You can listen here. (Make sure you are logged into your educbe Google account.)

design thinking summer institute - Langevin Science School

2015-04-14T14:26:00.004-06:00

In August 2015 a group of 40 dedicated grades 4-12 teachers came together for 3 days to answer the following design challenge:

How might we use instructional design to create effective, engaging and multi-disciplinary learning opportunities for our students?

image from: IDEO Design Thinking for Educators

These teachers designed a learning experience for their students, tried it out and reported back their results.

Over the next few weeks we will share their stories.

Minerals and Metals: Changes to the lives of early Canadian explorers and aboriginals.
Ross Howe, Langevin Science School

The project which we tried related ‘Minerals and Metals” in our Social Studies, Math, Science and Language Arts. In our Social Studies student took on roles as Archaeologists, Anthropologists, Botanists and Ecologists. Students were able to research a scenario of the discovery of a three hundred year old site of an Eastern Canadian Aboriginal group. Students gathered evidence and presented findings in a “Science Symposium”. Of particular interest was the use and application of metals and minerals in the aboriginal dig.

In Math, we explored the “Unit Cell” structure of minerals and metals by creating a crystal model and evaluating this model through basic geometry. Students did find creating a model somewhat challenging but manage in general to create the result adequately. Use of higher grade paper would have been beneficial.

In Science, students took the opportunity to explore minerals and metals of Canada and created a brochure about the mineral or metal and are geographic location. What was interesting was the learning which we did regarding the geology of Canada and where the different types of minerals and metals came from. Students learned a direct relationship between geology and geography.

Finally, in Language Arts students using the idea of “Story Telling” created a story about how European metals and minerals changed the way of life for the aboriginals. What was interesting was the manner in which students had different ideas about how changes took place with “First Contact”. Some saw it as an advantage while others saw it as a negative effect.

The whole process is very interesting and you really must trust the process in order to gain the maximum benefit of the experience. I will continue to work on this idea….Integrated Curriculum.

Creativity Tip: Represent Ideas Visually

2015-03-29T12:45:00.000-06:00

by Erin Quinn

We have a cohort of teachers who meet regularly to learn and work on enhancing student creativity through a professional learning series called Making Makers.

We met in February to work on ideating solutions for a problem of practice the teachers self-identified through the process of design thinking. First, the teachers suggested potential solutions for each others' problems of practice using post it notes.

This session, we experimented with the technique of representing ideas visually. Though we used this strategy to work through a professional problem of practice, the same technique could easily be adapted to use with students.

First, we healed wounded drawers through a quick activity from our friends at Telus Spark called "So You Think You Can't Draw." The next part also comes from an activity I participated in at Telus Spark.

First, teachers selected one post it from the suggestions for solutions to their own problem of practice. Then, they used the drawing techniques from "So You Think You Can't Draw" to represent the solution visually.

Here is my own drawing for an interactive exhibit to teach how balls of different sizes can transport objects.

Next, a piece of velum paper was taped on top, and the whole drawing was passed to another participant. They were then instructed to add details through visuals and labelling.

This person added complexity to the design through different sized objects.

Another piece of velum was taped on top, and a third participant added one more layer of detail.

This person added an element of competition through a race.

This process is designed to engage in plussing another person's design to offer possibilities for refinement and improvement. Randy Nelson, former Dean of Pixar University explains the concept of plussing in the linked video. Here is a transcript of the first section of the video:

Randy Nelson: One of the things that we do at Pixar and I know some things about Pixar ... is we use improv as a mechanism of helping with collaboration. And in that, two core principles of improv have always guided us. The first is, accept every offer. So if an improv, improviser says to you, "Gee it's funny. It's raining a lot in here today." You don't go "Raining in here?" You say, "Well that's why they gave us umbrellas." It's an offer. You don't know where it's gonna go. But the guarantee you have, is that if you don't accept that offer, it goes nowhere. So you've got a sure thing on one hand, dead end, or you've got a possibility on the other. And the other principle is make your partner look good. What a great thing. So you know on a team, that anything anybody says to you, you're gonna get a chance to plus that. You're gonna get a chance to have that beyond the table. And they're gonna try and make you look good, not make you look bad. At Pixar, what we mean by plussing is this. You take a piece of work. You take something that you're working on collaboratively. And when it's given to you, you don't judge it. You don't go, "Ooh this is pretty good. Here's what I'm going to do to make it better." Or, "This isn’t so good, here is how I'm gonna fix it." You say, "Here's where I'm starting. What can I do with this? How do I plus this? How do I accept the offer and make my partner look good?"

Expressing ideas visually also helps a person refine and simplify their ideas.

collaborate | Learning Commons Furniture Suppliers

2015-03-18T13:37:00.001-06:00

One question I often get from schools who have a bit of money put aside to transition their Library to a Learning Commons is where to buy furniture that encourages student collaboration and creativity.

Several Learning Commons staff have contributed to a collaborative Google Sheet to share recommendations of suppliers and manufacturers. Please find the sheet here. Since this is a collaborative effort, we welcome and encourage you to add your suggestions or comments there!

As a caveat, we know that a Learning Commons is absolutely much more than a change of furniture. To find out more about the shift from a Library to a Learning Commons, please have a look at the Library to Learning Commons Implementation Guide.

workshop | MakeFashion Intro to Wearable Technology

2015-03-03T15:34:00.000-07:00

MakeFashion Introduction to Wearable Technology Workshop

when | Thurs. March 12, 2015, 4:30pm – 7:00pm

register | to attend

location | Education Centre Learning Commons

presented by | Learning Innovation, MakeFashion, and the Canadian Maker Foundation

what | “Imagine a world where your clothes regulate your body temperature, monitor your vital signs, and your necklace begins to glow when the sun goes down.” - MakeFashion

Wearable technologies are a cutting edge trend that’s on the verge of exploding. Come learn alongside the founders of the Calgary MakeFashion show, a fashion runway show highlighting the world’s best of wearable technology fashions.

This workshop is for fashion teachers, technology teachers, CTF teachers, fine arts teachers, core subject teachers, and all other curious and creative teachers in between.

You will hear about the possibilities of wearable technologies, MakeFashion, and how it may align with your task design. Then, you will have hands-on experimentation time to try it out for yourself.

questions | contact Erin Quinn or Tracy Dalton

Updated Library to Learning Commons Implementation Guide

2014-12-09T15:06:00.002-07:00

Is your school thinking about shifting your library to a learning commons?

A learning commons gives students access to the learning resources they need, when they need them. It provides a space for innovative teaching and learning and transforms teaching and learning by allowing staff and students to co-create knowledge. A learning commons is a place where the buzz of learning can be seen and heard.

The CBE has updated its Learning Commons Implementation Guide. This guide provides information about the learning commons movement, asks guiding questions, and looks at the holistic picture of a learning commons in a school.

This guide is accessible through staff insite here.

Web 2.0 Guidelines

2014-11-05T09:54:00.001-07:00

As teachers, we all recognize the immense potential that Web 2.0 tools provide in the classroom. Students are able to demonstrate their learning in powerful ways, whether it be through a post on KidBlog, a multimedia poster using Glogster or create an animation using Pow Toon. Web 2.0 also offer opportunities for students to collaborate and share with their classmates, from any place and any device. It was in response to the power of the these tools that the Web 2.0 Guidelines were developed. The Web 2.0 Guidelines were designed to ensure that student information and data was protected and that a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) be completed prior to using a tool with students.

The PIA process is completely focused on assessing the impact on student privacy, the pedagogical benefits of the selected tool is left to the teacher. It is also important to remember that with thousands of Web 2.0 tools out there, it is impossible to provide professional development and support for all these tools. We work to connect teachers with other teachers who may be using a similar tool, but it is important that you discuss the tool you hope to use with your Principal and School Tech to ensure you don’t have a frustrating experience. Wrapped in all of this is the importance of Digital Citizenship, all schools have a digital citizenship plan and it is always a good idea to consider how the use of this tool will fit into this larger plan.

So how do you know when a PIA is needed or not? Quite simply, whenever student data is going to be collected. If you are having students sign up for an account with their name or email address, a PIA is required. However, if you are looking to set up a class blog under your name and email address a PIA is likely not needed as no student data is being collected. The question in the second instance is usually surrounding student work and/or photos. If student work and/or photos are going to be shared, it is important that consent is received from the student’s parent or guardian before publishing.

Ultimately the PIA process is designed to allow teachers the ability to use Web 2.0 tools to design meaningful instructional tasks while also protecting student data and privacy. If you have any questions about the process or would like to discuss a specific tool, we encourage you to contact us or join our growing network at:

Twitter

Google Plus

Are you thinking about Maker Education or Robotics?

2014-10-30T13:50:00.000-06:00

Professional Learning | Innovative & Learning Technology

Making Makers | Information Webinar and Professional Learning Series

Who | Teachers who want to learn more about maker education and design thinking

When |

Webinar: Thursday, November 13, 4:30 - 5:30pm

Face to Face (1st meeting): Thursday, November 20th, 4:30 - 6:30pm

Where |

Webinar: online

Face to Face: Future of Learning Lab, Education Centre, 1221-8 Street SW

What |

Maker Education is an approach to learning where kids use their hands to activate their brains to solve problems and design solutions. This webinar will:

· Give some background and information about maker education and design thinking

· Provide an overview on the series of professional learning events where you will experience design thinking to create a learning task for your students around the ideas of maker education and/or design thinking.

· Details of future face to face meetings will be discussed.

RSVP | Please register for these events.

Webinar: Register

Face to Face: Register

Details for Face to Face |

Eat | Light refreshments will be served.

Parking | There is some free and paid 2 hour parking on the streets around the Education Centre. There is also a paid parkade under the Education Centre, accessible from 12th Avenue SW. (see map below)

Robotics Roundup

Who | Teachers who are using robotics in their work - core, options, or extracurricular. Teachers of all grades are welcome.

When |Wednesday, November 12, 4:30 - 6:00

Where | Future of Learning Lab, Education Centre

1221 - 8 Street, SW

What |

Are you teaching with robotics? Do you want to connect with others who do too? The Robotics Roundup will bring together robotics teachers to share ideas and ponder questions together. This professional learning event will be structured much like an EdCamp: We will ask questions, and you can identify areas you feel comfortable speaking to, and we will work through these problems of practice together.

When you leave, you will have:

· Some questions answered

· Some ideas for teaching with robotics

· A network of colleagues to move forward with

Bring |

· Anything you want to share - task design, assessment tools, project ideas, your robots (if you want), resources you have found valuable.

· Your questions

Eat | Light refreshments will be served

RSVP | Register

Even if you can’t make it to this event, we would love for you to e-mail elquinn@cbe.ab.ca or tadalton@cbe.ab.ca so we can connect you to the network.

Parking | There is some free and paid 2 hour parking on the streets around the Education Centre. There is also a paid parkade under the Education Centre, accessible from 12th Avenue SW.

Doors Open YYC

2014-09-25T16:30:00.000-06:00

“Over the last weekend in September, many of Calgary’s most intriguing and beloved sites get naked for Doors Open YYC. For this one weekend, buildings in all quadrants of the city open their doors – free of charge – to the public and providing special revealing tours and behind-the-scenes experiences.”

Innovation and Learning Technology will be at the Career and Technology Centre (2336 53 Avenue SW), along with some of our colleagues from the CBE. Our doors will be wide open on Saturday, September 27 from 10 - 3.

The CTC will also be offering open tours and demonstrations. If you haven't been to the CT Centre yet, it really is a remarkable learning space. You will see student demonstrations, interact with automated engineering equipment, try your hands at welding and vehicle painting, attend live culinary demonstrations, provide the talent in the broadcast studio, and check out client services in esthetics or hair design.

ILT will be set up in the Learning Commons, with Junior Achievement, Beakerhead, and CBe-Learn, CBE Homeschooling, Campus Calgary Open Minds, and FIRST Robotics. ILT is bringing lots of maker education tools and resources, and would love to play with them with you!

Please visit this link for more information about Doors Open YYC.

We are Makers

2014-07-12T20:24:00.002-06:00

We Are Makers from Learning Studio on Vimeo.

Professional Learning at Your Fingertips

2014-07-03T15:20:00.000-06:00

Wow! What a fantastic year of learning, connecting and sharing! It has been inspiring to be a part of the ever-growing networks of educators who so graciously share, so openly welcome, and so actively learn together.

If you are interested in professional learning over the summer, CORE is a hub for a wide range of resources and can be accessed anywhere, anytime including on your deck and at your cabin! Below are some areas to get you started.

From all of us on the CBE ILT team we wish you a relaxing and rejuvenating summer vacation. We look forward to the 2014-2015 school year and continuing our learning journey together!

Google Apps for Ed (GAFE)

Google Apps for Ed: Getting Started (educator created resource)
Google Apps Workflow Resources: Support in using Google Apps for Education on mobile devices
Import Google Groups Users: Step by step instructions on how to retrieve student gmail addresses by group from SIRS and import into Google Groups for easy set up
For more Google Apps for Education resources, including webinar recordings, search “GAFE” in CORE

D2L

Using D2L Competencies and Grade Schemes for Outcomes Based Assessment: A collection of resources supporting K-9 Assessments Framework indicators
Video tutorials on D2L With Paper Guides (educator created resource)
Setting Notification for News Feeds from D2L: D2L will send a notice to email or smart phone each time a news item is added
For more, search "D2L" in CORE

Learning Commons

Area III Learning Commons Blog: Area III schools share their learning commons journey (educator created resource)
Learning Commons Journey at Cranston School (educator created resource)
Transforming Your Library: Building Community Through Making with Sue Considine (webinar)
For more, search "Learning Commons" in CORE

CORE

Learn all about CORE including how to use CORE, how to contribute resources, and more:

Access the [Guide to CORE] from the left navigation bar in CORE and select the [Getting Started] section for a wide range of resources (print and video)

Other Professional Learning Resources

Search “Professional Learning” in CORE for a wide range of PL resources
Narrow your CORE Power Search by selecting [Professional Learning] when searching a specific topic
Search “PLN” in CORE for professional learning network resources

Stay Connected, The Choice is Yours

Tannis Emann

on behalf of the ILT team

Calling All Teachers and Students: Google Show & Share Webinar

2014-05-28T16:28:00.000-06:00

Through the ongoing feedback and ideas from our networks we are evolving the concept of the Google Show and Share and taking it to a new level by including student voice in our May 29th webinar (10:30-11:30 am). We are so excited! Tomorrow three CBE educators and their students will be sharing how they are using Google Apps for Education in their classrooms and schools.

Here is a sneak-a-peak of just some of the "GAFE in action" ideas being shared by students and teachers tomorrow:

learning through juicy questions
sharing learning
formative assessment through Google Forms
collaboration on group projects
how Google Drive has impacted the use of iPads
increasing awareness of learning
maximizing productivity

We are hosting this webinar during school hours in order to create an opportunity for teachers and students across the CBE to come together to learn and share online. We encourage you to join the webinar with: your students, your colleagues, other classrooms in your school, students in your learning commons. It can be projected on a SmartBoard for a large group to gather round and take part in the learning. There will be opportunities to ask questions throughout the session using the chat feature or your mic.

Access the webinar room: http://eduadvisory.adobeconnect.com/iltpl/

Support

The session will be hosted using the web conferencing interface, Adobe Connect. If you have never attended an Adobe Connect webinar before, the following resources may be helpful:

Test your connection beforehand (allows you to test your connection but does not give access to the webinar room)
Attending an Adobe Connect Meeting (2 minute video tutorial on joining a room and the communication tools)
Audio Setup in Adobe Connect (2 minute video on setting up audio)

Important Notes

If possible, please access the webinar room at least 15 minutes before the start of the session to provide time to go through the audio set-up wizard (located under the "meeting" menu when you are in the webinar room)
For best performance it is recommended you use a hard-wired connection (blue cord) if possible and turn off your wifi connection
If you think you will ask questions using audio during the session, an external microphone is recommended (questions can also be submitted through the chat interface)
Please make sure you connect your headset/microphone to your computer prior to entering the webinar room.

Can't Attend? No Problem!

If you are unable to attend this session the recording will be available later in CORE. We have a variety of ways to stay connected and to find out when resources are available. Choose the one(s) that work for you!

Follow us on Twitter
Join the ILT Google+ Community
Follow this blog
Like us on Facebook

Looking forward to seeing you online tomorrow morning!

Tannis Emann

on behalf of the ILT team

Mobile Learning Show and Share (May 22) - Rescheduled

2014-05-21T11:45:00.002-06:00

With the school year winding down and transitions being planned, Spring time can be a busy time for many people. As a result, we have had to reschedule the Mobile Learning Show and Share originally planned for Thursday May 22 at 4:30 pm at the CTC. We are hoping to offer this opportunity again in the Fall and will let you know when we've got a date.

There are still a few more Professional Learning opportunities available before school's out. We'd love to see you there.

PLN Networking:
PLN in 3D - May 27 - 4:30 pm - Tom Baines School

Show and Shares:
Google Webinar - May 29 - 10:30 am - online (with students)

Learning Commons:
3D Printing - May 28 - 4:30 pm - CTC
Library to Learning Commons - June 2 - 4:30 pm - CTC

To register for any of these sessions, please look at the calendar widget on the right and view the description details.

Design Thinking | Fibre Tech and Wearables

2014-05-14T13:30:00.000-06:00

What a pleasure to work with such an engaged group - and so willing to all pitch in and support each other. I'm so honoured to have been part of this event and look forward to what comes next!! (Kathleen Long, birchblanket@shaw.ca)

The second session in our Design Series was a huge hit! Participants had the opportunity to learn how to make a Rainbow Loom bracelet, how to create using felt and how to make a light-up badge!

We opened the session talking about Design Thinking, and some resources that have inspired the design thinking series. Most notable is the book, Invent to Learn by Sylvia Libow Martinez & Gary Stager. We told the story of Caine's Arcade, about a young man who invented an arcade out of cardboard boxes and inspired a documentary.

Shannon Hoover inspired us to get involved in the wearable technology revolution with a presentation on the future of wearable technology. He shared some of the creations presented at the recent Make Fashion Gala.

We have created a list of resources to share, and we'd love to add more!

Please join the conversation on twitter @CBEILT, #yycbe, #cbectf, #designthinking, and at our Google Plus Community. Let us know how you are "designing for learning" in your classroom!

What does flying a drone have to do with school tech planning?

2014-05-09T15:02:00.001-06:00

I had the opportunity to work with the Principal and staff of King George School around school technology planning (STT). It just so happened that one of the parents at the school shared this awesome video with us prior to our engagement and we used it as a provocation to talk about how expressive activities lead to expressive outcomes (Eisner, 1979). Expressive activities precede outcomes and don't necessarily have any precise objectives. The video below is an example of an expressive activity. The parent decided to take his children outside to build and fly a consumer available drone. The drone came with a high-definition camera built in and they captured spectacular footage of the school yard. He didn't plan the activity with objectives in mind. He simply wanted to have his children play.

Drone Kids at King George

So what's the connection between the STT and the conversation around expressive activities and outcomes? How do the two fit together?

What came out of this was a rich conversation around all the possible outcomes these "Drone Kids at King George" might have experienced during and after this activity. Teachers talked about possible scientific investigations they could engage in and the exciting narratives that could be written. They shared examples of expressive activities they experienced with students in the past and the learning that came out of it. They spoke about the need to offer opportunities for students to play and explore while designing appropriate learning tasks.

Teachers also talked about the need to examine their digital learning environment. How can the infrastructure support this type of learning? What network capacity do they have? What ed tech do they currently have in their school that can be used in different ways? Do they need additional ed tech to support their school development goals, and what would that look like?

After the conversation, teachers had an opportunity to play in the teacher studio at the Career and Technology Center at Lord Shaughnessy High School. They explored Arduino's and Makey Makeys, built with lego and circuit boards, and dived into the world of mobile apps.

There are so many possibilities for learning. As we are all architects in this landscape, what are your possibilities?

Thanks to the students at King George School, Forrest and Meadow (future student) and their dad, Trevor Shaw.

Eisner, Elliot W. The Educational Imagination: On the Design and Evaluation of School Programs. New York: Macmillan, 1979. Print.

Shafina Dharamsi
Learning Specialist, Learning Innovation
@shafinad

Keep on Moving!

2014-05-08T11:32:00.003-06:00

PLN's are growing! The networks are sharing and we are very excited about all the opportunities that lie ahead. Just to give you some perspective, in two months we have had over:

4000 views on this blog
160 educators join the Google+ community
270 followers on the @cbeilt Twitter community

We've been following, responding, and listening attentively to what CBE educators have to say. Here are just a few ed tech transactions that have taken place in the G+ community:

All things Maker

Maker Kits are being piloted in some CBE schools in the hopes of being offered to all schools in the near future. Brian Simmon's at Twelve Mile Coulee has shared some of his experiences with Maker Kits in the Classroom.
Maker Stations are popping up everywhere and Mike MacKenzie at Keeler School is on it. He shares his school's Learning Commons story and explains how students come to build when the tools are offered.

Google Apps

Lots of hype around Google Classroom
Learning Google Basics

64 Days of Learning

CBE 182

Using social media to connect with the world

Skype Opens the Classroom to the World

There is so much more learning ahead and that's why ILT will be offering more PLN sessions in May and June.

PLN Networking:
May 8 and 27 at 4:30

Show and Shares:
Mobile Learning on May 22
Google on May 29 (with students)

CORE:
Student Moderation on May 13
CIA Networking on May 14

Learning Commons:
3D Printing on May 28
Library to Learning Commons on June 2

To register for any of these sessions, please look at the calendar widget on the right and view the description details.

Shafina Dharamsi
on behalf of the ILT team

Cancelled: April 30 Face-to-Face Networking Session

2014-04-29T12:25:00.002-06:00

Due to low enrollment we are canceling the April 30th ILT face-to-face networking session at Lester B. Pearson. As the session was centered around connecting with colleagues and learning with and from others, we want to ensure there are enough participants to make the time valuable and the experience rich.

We still have 3 other networking sessions planned and there is still time to register:

May 8: Harold Panabaker School (4:30-6:00)

May 27: Tom Baines School (4:30-6:00)

During these sessions you will have time to:

connect with your colleagues and grow your existing network
explore your questions, wonderings, challenges, experiments and ideas around leveraging educational technology for learning
share resources, ideas, strategies, tips and sources of inspiration
learn with and from each other
explore your next steps: How can ILT support your work? What questions do you have for the networks? How can you stay connected to your network?

To register for one or more networking sessions, please click here.

We look forward to connecting and learning with you!

Tannis
on behalf of the ILT team

Keep the Conversation & Learning Going

2014-04-24T09:41:00.002-06:00

Monday, April 22 was a system-wide non-instructional day at the Calgary Board of Education. Whether you were at the EdcampYYC un-conference or part of the multitude of professional development experiences taking place at schools all across the district, the questions often asked afterwards are:

How do I find time to connect, learn, and share outside of these days?
How do I find others who are passionate about the same topics as I am?
How can I maintain and grow the connections I made?
How can I build on the momentum from today and extend it for my ongoing professional learning?

We believe that networks are a crucial part of the answer to these common questions. Through a networked professional learning approach, educators can take charge of their own learning by accessing it on an ongoing basis whenever and wherever it is convenient for them while focussing on topics of interest, relevance, and importance to them. Networked learning also supports a culture of openness and sharing. In networks people are generous with their support, ideas, resources, and solutions. We are free to ask questions, wonder about, and wrestle with the challenges we face, and through the process of opening this up to others in a network we benefit from the rich lived experiences and collective knowledge of others.

To support networked learning and the fostering of connections, Innovation and Learning Technology is hosting 4 face-to-face professional learning sessions in April and May:

Cancelled ~~April 30: Lester B. Pearson School (4:30-6:00)~~
May 8: Harold Panabaker School (4:30-6:00)
Cancelled ~~May 12: Nose Creek School (4:30-6:00)~~
May 27: Tom Baines School (4:30-6:00)

At these sessions you will have time to:

connect with your colleagues and grow your existing network
explore your questions, wonderings, challenges, experiments and ideas around leveraging educational technology for learning
share resources, ideas, strategies, tips and sources of inspiration
learn with and from each other
explore your next steps: How can ILT support your work? What questions do you have for the networks? How can you stay connected to your network?

Register here for one or more of these sessions. We look forward to connecting with you!

In addition to networking face-to-face, there are a variety of ways to connect and learn with other educators any time and any place. Choose the one that works for you!

Follow ILT on Twitter @cbeilt where we share resources, ideas and professional learning opportunities and where countless other educators are sharing, learning and exploring together.

Join the ILT Google+ Community www.bit.ly/googleilt where over 150 educators (and growing!) come together in an online space to ask questions, explore options, discuss ed tech topics from mobile learning to GAFE to design thinking and beyond, share examples of ed tech in action in their schools and classrooms, and much more.

Follow this ILT blog cbeilt.blogspot.ca. We'd love to have you share your ed tech in action stories on the ILT blog. Please fill out the quick form on the right hand widget in this blog and blog with us!

Like us on Facebook www.bit.ly/iltfbook where you will receive all our tweets, blog posts, and more on your Facebook wall.

Follow CORE on Twitter @core4learning and the CORE blog for CORE updates, professional learning opportunities, resource highlights, and more.

Tannis Emann, Specialist
on behalf of the Innovation and Learning Technology team

Today's Webinar: Getting Started with Google Apps for Education (GAFE)

2014-04-15T15:12:00.000-06:00

Join us today at 4:30-5:30 for a webinar in which we will share tips for getting started with Google Apps for Education (GAFE) for you and your students, and explore the collaborative elements of Google Drive.

The session will be hosted using the web conferencing interface, Adobe Connect. To access the webinar room, click on the following link: http://eduadvisory.adobeconnect.com/iltpl/

If you have never attended an Adobe Connect webinar before, the following resources may be helpful:

Test your connection beforehand (allows you to test your connection but does not give you access to the webinar room): http://eduadvisory.adobeconnect.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm
Attending an Adobe Connect Meeting (2 minute video tutorial on joining a room and the communication tools) http://www.connectusers.com/tutorials/2010/11/c8_attending_a_meeting/index.php
Audio Setup in Adobe Connect 9 (2 minute video on setting up audio) http://youtu.be/EAJ88K9xWIM

If possible, please access the webinar room at least 15 minutes before the start of the session to provide time to go through the audio set-up before the session begins.

For best performance it is recommended that you use a hard-wired connection (blue cord) if possible and turn off your wifi connection. It is also recommended to have a headset with microphone if you think you may ask questions using audio during the session. Questions and comments can also be contributed by typing into the chat interface. Also please make sure to connect your headset to your computer prior to entering the webinar room.

If you are unable to attend this session the recording will be available later in CORE. We have a variety of ways for you to stay connected and to find out when resources are available. Choose the one(s) that work for you!

Follow us on Twitter @cbeilt
Join the ILT Google+ Community www.bit.ly/googleilt
Follow the ILT blog http://cbeilt.blogspot.ca/
Like us on Facebook www.bit.ly/iltfbook

Tell a friend – we still have space left for the webinar so please spread the word and pass this blog post along to others.

We look forward to you joining us today at 4:30pm!

The Networks Have Spoken

2014-04-08T15:52:00.002-06:00

On February 20th we officially launched our networked approach for professional learning in Innovation and Learning Technology (ILT). Since then we have been excited to be a part of the sharing, discussions, and connections that are taking place between educators online and face-to-face from all across the CBE.

The ILT Google+ community (bit.ly/googleilt) has become an ever-growing hub for questioning, sharing, and conversing around many ed tech related ideas and concepts. Just some of the engaging topics currently being discussed in this community include: iPads in the classroom, growing your professional learning network (PLN), design thinking, Google Apps for Education (GAFE) in action in the classroom, and the flipped classroom model.

During our first face-to-face networking session educators from across the system came together to share ideas and artifacts, meet others with similar interests, wonders and passions, and be inspired by the work of their colleagues. Conversations during this face-to-face session ranged from building a learning commons to GAFE for collaboration to ed tech in the K-3 classroom and beyond.

In response to all the richness that is occurring in the networks, we have created additional professional learning sessions to both meet the requests for additional face to face networking sessions as well as topic specific sessions. Please see below for a listing of our upcoming offerings.

Connect in 3D with You Ed Tech PLN: Face-to-Face Networking Sessions

Are you looking for:

face to face time with educators
a chance to share and connect around topics of interest to you
a session close to where you teach and/or live

Then the face-to-face networking sessions are for you!

Professional Learning Networking Sessions:

Thursday May 8 4:30 - 6:00
Harold Panabaker School

Tuesday May 27 4:30-6:00
Tom Baines School

Register here for the above sessions

The Google Series

Are you looking for:

tips for getting started with Google Apps for Education (GAFE) for you and your students

opportunities to build understanding around the collaborative elements of Google Drive

ways to connect with others in an online environment

examples of GAFE in action in schools and classrooms shared by fellow colleagues

Then the two upcoming GAFE webinars are for you!

Tuesday April 15 4:30 - 5:30

Webinar: Getting Started with Google

Tuesday April 29 4:30 - 5:30

Webinar: Google Show and Share

Register here for the above sessions

Living the Learning Commons

Are you looking for:

ways to develop your learning commons

ideas for how to introduce makerspaces into a learning commons

time to explore using task design to help students learn to be innovative

hands-on discovery of 3D printing and rapid prototyping

Then the following sessions are for you!

Tuesday, April 22 4:30-5:30

Transforming Your Library: Building Community Through Making with Sue Considine

Webinar

Wednesday May 14 4:30 - 7:30

Designing for Learning: 4 Rapid Prototyping and 3D Printing

Career and Technology Center

Stay connected with Innovation and Learning Technology:

Google+ Community

Twitter @cbeilt

iltatthecbe@gmail.com

Skype Opens the Classroom to the World

2014-04-03T08:52:00.000-06:00

Grade 2 Bilingual Classes from Canyon Meadows and Dalhousie Collaborate with a School from Colombia

I started using Skype around 2 and half years ago. Since it was sometimes challenging to find a Skype buddy, I opened the Skype opportunities to other colleagues from a different school within the CBE, and from the same school. Although being in the same place, school or city, for students, Skyping has always been very engaging and exciting. It has provided them with the opportunity to meaningfully communicate in a second language. Students have shared classroom projects, celebrated special days and used Skype to get to know one another. Engaging in conversations in Spanish and sharing with students who are going through the same process of learning a second language has been powerful in learning (and teaching!). Students have a sense of achievement; it brings up their self-esteem and consequently their interest in learning Spanish

We have hosted guest speakers from Colombia via Skype and I recently started using Skype with parent volunteers for Reading Time in both English and Spanish. It has been another option for parents to contribute and participate in their child’s learning.

Sandra Alonso – Canyon Meadows School

Google Apps and Digital Citizenship

2014-03-18T11:54:00.000-06:00

Today’s post is the second installment in the series of posts sharing examples and strategies from teachers with regard to Digital Citizenship in their classrooms.

Using Google Apps for Education (GAFE) to teach about netiquette and positive digital footprint with engaging in peer feedback

Keeler School’s Learning Commons Learning Leader and Teacher, Mike McKenzie, shared many ways in which they are teaching DC principles in context. They are using Google Apps for Education (GAFE) in many of their core classes as a means to engage in regular formative assessment practices. Though there is some “front loading” of DC information and skills, more often they tend to use “just in time” learning or “teachable moments” as they present themselves in order to teach students about topics like netiquette and positive digital footprint.

In one example, Mike spoke about a grade 4 class comprised of diverse learners using Google Docs to provide formative feedback to their peers during project work as part of the polishing process. This allowed for a variety of student voice as well as self-reflection.

In another example, students used Google Forms to solicit peer feedback on dress rehearsal performances in order to polish their final presentations.

After each performance, the class spent a few minutes talking about how the group performed based on the criteria set out in the rubric. Then one scribe for the group used the Google form to enter the feedback. Results of the form were instantly visible and students began dissecting this new information.

The way the feedback was gathered is particularly important in this instance because of the mixed abilities of the students in this class. The conversation among the groups’ participants as they decide what feedback to give enables all voices to be heard and ensures that the task is accessible to all.

Each performing group then received 6 sets of written feedback about how to improve their work. Then they were given time to go over the feedback and made modifications based on feedback.

“One DC challenge we encountered in doing this was one of access. Students from PLP and L&L had difficulty logging in to first the laptop and then again into google apps. It made it too complicated and frustrating. The process could be made much less complicated by just having a link to the document for students to contribute their comments. However, there was concern that if we provided just the link then student comments would be added anonymously and that could be problematic, particularly if the comment ended up being inappropriate or problematic in some way.

In the end we decided that it was more important to provide students with the link to make commenting easier than to ensure we had names attached. In fact, the anonymity provided for better learning opportunities as the comment was not directly connectable to individual students, so we could use individual comments as learning opportunities without singling out an individual by name and embarrassing them, but we could still get the point across as we talk about what is appropriate and valuable in giving feedback.” Mike Mackenzie

Mike works with teachers and students across the school as the Technology and Learning Commons Learning Leader. This provides him with opportunities to support teachers across the grades in learning to use digital resources and tools to support teaching and learning in ways that are meaningful and effective. He has dozens of examples on Keeler School’s Learning Commons pageand will be contributing many of them to COREin the coming weeks.

For more information about Digital Citizenship visit https://albertacore.ca and search for DC Plan. You will find the DC Planning Template, the extensive collection of supporting resources for DC education and the Ed Talks for DC, Web 2.0 and Copyright.

Also launching today is the third video in the DC Ed Talks mini-series, Digital Citizenship and Professional Responsibilities.

Stay tuned for more posts where we share what teachers are doing with regard to DC.

Sue Bell

Education Specialist

Innovation & Learning Technology

Making Learning Go Viral!

2014-03-14T11:39:00.003-06:00

By Steve Clark @stevewclark

This week I attended a workshop (Create, Innovate, Voice) run by the one and only George Couros this week. While what we learned, wasn't really all that new to me, I took away a tonne. It also got me thinking a lot about how we can, as a school district, celebrate the amazing things that happen in our classrooms.

Our school board, the Calgary Board of Education (hashtag #yycbe on Twitter) is the second biggest school district in Canada. It turns out we have one of the smallest presence on social media platforms out of many school boards in Alberta, let alone across Canada.

Our organization/school district hashtag is overrun and dominated by the media and the general public. It is predominantly associated with negative comments and news articles about things that are happening in our district. We, as a large group of passionate and caring educators, can change this negative view of #yycbe. We have amazing things happening in the CBE and we also have a 10 000 strong staff that can help with spreading the word!

What I think we need to do is take away some of the fear away from sharing outside the walls of our own school, maybe even outside the four walls of our classrooms. If we embrace that change that is happening, instead of hiding from it, we can make a difference.

It is so easy to, and feels so much safer to isolate ourselves within our own context. If we really want to grow as educators, I believe we need to be reaching out and connecting with others more often. This reaching out helps us think outside the box. It gives us different views and other ways of doing things. It also can confirm the great things that we do in our own practices. We also need to remember that every one of us has something different to offer and can offer something to each other too.

In our workshop, it was awesome to see other people get excited about Twitter as a networking tool. There were not many people that had previously joined twitter but after the session, we had a whole lot more people willing to experiment and learn more about this amazing networking and PD tool.

It's exciting to thinking about the challenge of increasing our Social Media presence. We have a big job ahead of us but because our sheer size, we also have the possibility of going big, very fast. All we need to to start gaining some momentum.

Let's do this #yycbe!

Here is the story that was told through Twitter throughout the day with George Couros (@gcouros). It was fun seeing new people tweet and connect through this medium. Let's hope it continues!

Building a Culture of Digital Citizenship

2014-03-12T11:41:00.000-06:00

With all that is happening in Education today, it’s more important than ever that our schools are places that both model good digital citizenship and support our learners in becoming good digital citizens, so today’s post is focused on Digital Citizenship (DC).

To begin, we wanted to share some work our team has been doing related to DC. Last Friday, Innovation and Learning Technology launched the latest installment in our Ed Talks: Digital Citizenship – The mini series. The first episode, Growing Healthy Habits, focused on helping students learn about how to use technology and the internet both at home and at school, in ways that are safe and healthy. Today we launched the second episode: Building a Culture of Digital Citizenship. This episode focuses on what schools can do to build a strong culture of digital citizenship in their buildings. Be sure to check it out for some really good ideas and examples of strategies for building strong DC. Next week we will be launching the last episode in the series, DC and Professionalism, in which we explore the rights and responsibilities we have as educators when it comes to using technology and modeling digital citizenship.

The Ed Talks are a great place to start, and in preparing the Ed Talks we were able to talk with many teachers about the interesting and creative ways they are engaging with students around DC.

Creating Engaged Citizens by using Twitter and KidBlog with Kindergarten students

Kindergarten teachers, Heather McKay and Jaime Hatchette, from Andrew Sibbald School spoke about the importance of starting with our youngest learners to build DC skills and how they use generic Twitter and Blogging accounts to help build student awareness and knowledge of DC principles. Click on the images below to watch the videos in CORE.

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