I’m at the Symposium for eLearning in Northern Ontario in Thunder Bay where principals, educators, and Ministry people are meeting to talk about all things eLearning and Blended Learning. I really like the catch phrase “Reaching Ontario students through digital learning”.
I had the great opportunity to hear Rob Scott, Peter Sovran, and Rose Burton-Spohn talk about the latest from eLearning Ontario. My notes are below.
Rob Scott – New Tools to Support Student Learning
- Rob demonstrated some of the new tools that have been added to the Ministry’s Learning Management System
- Recording Audio is available in Dropbox, Discussion, News and ePortfolio – Record Audio button appears along side “Add a File ” button on the message creation. “Add Video” will be the next addition – requires Flash to activate the service enable access to your computer
- “Insert Stuff” tool lets you insert YouTube, Flickr, or and resource with an Embed code or files from the local hard drive – insert from Flick carries the copyright information forward – DeLC has to assign “Media Integration” to the teachers profile
- The LMS can be accessed from handhelds and tablets
- The Pager tool has been completely designed – now includes a Friends list
- ePortfolio is a huge tool for storing, organizing, reflecting on and sharing items – artifacts
- There is a Provincial Blended Learning Community – self-register and view training videos
- Number of options for students to submit work – email, Dropbox – use “Leave Feedback” to provide feedback to students
- Dropbox for Teachers app – inclusion of write over technology so that you can mark work on your portable device
- Friends have to be in same Organizational unit in order to be added to your list – all students in your class are automatically your friends
- artifacts can be tagged so that they can be easily retrieved by a concept
- Presentation artifact stays inside the student’s ePortfolio – others can add/view comments
Peter Sovran – Reaching All Students Through Digital Learning
- “An Ontario where students have unlimited opportunities to learn and achieve at a high level within a digital and ever changing world”
- Did a PollEverywhere to get a definition of Blended Learning from the group
- Differentiating instruction – student engagement were common answers
- Collaboration
- Face-to-Face ——————- Blended ——————- LMS
- New multi-year contract with D2L
- ePortfolio and analytics
- Mobile enabled access
- Elementary interface under development
- SIS pilots currently underway
- Call to Action – Investigate ePortfolio
- Call to Action – Join an eCommunity
- Call to Action – Find out who your eLC is
- Homework Help – Mathematics for Grades 7-10
- Grade 12 Literacy Course (OLC40)
- Capacity Building
- Blended Learning
- Instructional Use of Digital Learning Resources
- Creating / Modifying Digital Learning Resources
- There are 125 secondary courses available – includes a Java ICS course
- Grade 7&8 courses – mathematics, science
- Call to Action – help eLO set priorities
- http://ontario.ca/elearning
Rose Burton-Spohn – Successful Implementation Strategies for Blended Learning
- Professional Development – customize LMS content, tools of the LMS, other packages, restructuring of classroom time
- Four of the eight boards at the Symposium were pilot boards
- Large group, small group, job-embedded, virtual, PLCs, buddy system
- Choose your tools from the LMS wisely
- Digital tools – board supplied computers, tablets, home supplied computers, tablets, smart phones
- Connectivity is an asset – classrooms, common areas, student homes, buses, community areas
- ePortfolio just might be shared with more than the original intented audience
doug --- off the record 