by shaw | Apr 30, 2017
I have only one course left for my M.Ed, which has been the focus of this website so far; all my M.Ed work is posted here. However, the volume of time that has been consumed in completing this degree has left the blogging portion somewhat unattended; vacant even! I will have a year off between the M.Ed and the EdD (I will be submitting my application next winter to commence in July 2018), and that year will be devoted to blogging about education, pedagogy, technology, design-based learning, makerspaces, game-based learning, gamification and twenty-first century learning!! I am looking forward to exploring some of the details, tools and possibilities!!!
by shaw | Mar 29, 2017
I’ve run into a javascript error when trying to export my video from Go Animate directly into my YouTube channel, and am waiting for it to export the video as a .mp4 file that I can “paste” together with the remaining 4 minutes that need to be added. While it’s exporting, I thought I’d use take the opportunity to test the native player that Go Animate offers. So, here is part 1 of my video.
by shaw | Feb 17, 2016
What a mind-blowing day!! My Collaborative PD Day involved tours of three makerspaces in Calgary. Two with the Calgary Board of Education and one with the Calgary Catholic School District. A day spent with three incredible educators is nothing short of amazing.
The morning started at Midsun Junior High School in the southwest of Calgary. They are reworking their library to operate as a Learning Commons and Makerspace. I met with the amazing Amber Mazur and we discussed coding and the Raspberry Pi – and using the book Adventures in Raspberry Pi as a guided reading endeavour. (What a brilliant idea by Amber!). We discussed furniture choices and space reallocation within the library. We looked at the inquiry-based learning taking place throughout the school. And we debated the question “what is the difference between design-based learning and makerspaces?”
Midday took me to Calgary Catholic Board’s St. Augustine School school. I spent time chatting with brilliant Marylee about the maker movement in CCSD and the #MakerMarch design challenge she has issued for any schools in their board to participate in. We talked about the logistics of makerspaces, the re-envisioning of the library space, and teacher reactions to the changes.
The day finished up at Nose Creek School learning from the remarkable Steve Clark. We looked specifically at robotics and 3D printing. We discussed the positives (there are many) of 3D printing in schools as well as the challenges (they do exist).
Many thanks to Amber, Marylee and Steve for making my PD day so rich with information and learning!
