Updated Library to Learning Commons Implementation Guide

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

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:

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Are you thinking about Maker Education or Robotics?

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

“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

We Are Makers from Learning Studio on Vimeo.

Professional Learning at Your Fingertips

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

• Join CBE ILT Google+ Community
• Follow CBE ILT on Twitter
• Like CBE ILT on Facebook

Tannis Emann

on behalf of the ILT team

Calling All Teachers and Students: Google Show & Share Webinar

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