A VIU: Learning Community

Website with a good blog with strategies for teachers to make learning fun and for teaching creative and critical thinking skills. "While that is still an important piece, it has blossomed into so much more. At this point, about 3/4 of the posts here are written by guest bloggers in the field of education. This has resulted in Minds in Bloom becoming an amazing resource for teachers, tutors, and homeschoolers, as well as counselors, and other professionals who work with children. In addition to posts about teaching strategies and classroom management, you will also find plenty of freebies and an occasional giveaway."

I have found a number of interesting and useful articles on the blog at Minds in Bloom. In particular, the guest posts by occupational therapist Loren Shlaes offer ideas about things I wouldn't have thought of otherwise. How children sit, affects their brains and abilities to focus. Asking kids to sit still harms, rather than helps learning!

Hul'q'umi'num' / Halq'eméylem / hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ Resources Community Identified Resources A list of educational resources from and identified by the Hul'q'umi'num' / Halq'eméylem / hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ speaking Nations.

The Learning Circle: Classroom Activities on First Nations in Canada, Ages 8 to 11 Researched and written by Harvey McCue and Associates for Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, from 2006. Special thanks to: The First Nations Confederacy of Cultural Education Centres The National Association of Friendship Centres

This is a learning research from the Ministry of Northern and Indigenous Affairs (from 2006). It has learning and lesson activities related to topics relevant to First Nations in Canada today. The activities will not apply to all First Nations and should be adapted to appropriately reflect the knowledge and cultures of the local First Nations where you live and work. I like that this resource encourages a focus on contemporary First Nations communities and reserves. It also has a section on First Nations heroes and a section on critically examining stereotypes in media about First Nations people.

This site has lots of resources for education, with a specific BC curriculum focus. There is also a nice focus on First Nations topics across a number of subject areas. It could be a good idea to take a closer look for things like lessons plans or lesson ideas if you're running low on creativity.

This site has some great resources to help organize your digital workflow. The resources have been nicely organized and categorized into the following areas: Within a Learning Management System; On a Webpage, Wiki or Blog; Using a Web Tool both Teachers and Students can curate content; Using Open Educational Resources; Using Primary Source Material ... and more.

Photosforclass.com includes built-in #creativecommons search engine. Great search engine for free images that include image citations. Safe G Rated images.

Although more than 15 years old, some things are timeless and this applies! I think every teacher should have a short version of this tattoed to their arm... So relevant and so easily forgotten.

This is a good review of the chapters that we read from Karen Kear in 503. The article talks about the various tools used to communicate with students and their effects on both the asynchronous and synchronous learner.

This is a great site with tons of resources. It was the resource package used for the "Foundations of Virtual Education" MOOC offered by Coursera. It well organized and provides a good overview.

Edutopia offers a wealth of resources to help you facilitate blended learning.

"This course provides teachers with the foundation for understanding the movement towards virtual instruction. It introduces fundamental knowledge needed by teachers to succeed in a technology-dependent, instructional environment."

"How can we use digital media so that they help us become empowered participants rather than passive consumers? In his book Net Smart, Howard Rheingold shows how to use social media intelligently, humanely, and, above all, mindfully."

Richard Byrne describes how to use this free online collaborative whiteboard tool, Stoodle. Stoodle provides users multiple "pages" to write on and the option to import files from a wide variety of sources including Dropbox, Google Drive, and Evernote. Students can work collaboratively on a file and chat about is in real time using the chat box and microphone features.

Online assessment tool that reduces and focuses information submitted by the creator.

The Community of Inquiry Framework is a powerful tool for helping to design and organize online learning environments. The Webinar series are great learning activities for professionals engaged in online education.

Primary Teacher / Tech Leader

Remind is a tool used to sent students or parents quick updates or reminders to their cell-phones via text (or to email). It allows teachers/facilitators to organize their classes into groups, and send messages without either party ever having to share their phone numbers with the other, therefore limiting privacy concerns. Instructors are able to have different classes or groups, which allows specific communication with individual groups, or even parent groups. Facilitators can also schedule reminders/messages to send on a future date and time, which allows seamless flexibility in when you want to send your reminders. It's a tool use regularly with my f2f classes, and the feedback is extreamly positive.

By Rob McTaggart. "We all have a digital tattoo, and if we do not choose how to ink it, somebody else will. Rob McTaggart discusses how we might move the fear-based cybersafety agenda forward toward a conversation about digital empowerment and supporting our students' growth in an online world."

For those looking for a quiz/test tool, classmarker might be one that you could try out. I've used classmarker for about 5 years now, and I really like the many options it has. The ability to make question banks quite easily, and re-use quizzes/tests over and over again for different groups makes it really nice if you are teaching the same classes again and again. It can be a bit complex with all the different settings/tools/options/etc. but I think you will find it useful and easy to use if you are looking for a powerful quizzing/testing tool.

Bulletin of the IDEA Education Research Network, "New Communication and Information Technologies and Education: hegemony and resistance."