Fall colours invite us to take time to reflect on transitions of seasons, time, and the changes surrounding us we have little influence over.  In education we serve the needs and interests of our students and their parents, we respond to the shifting world surrounding us and do our best to help make it better.  As the leaves and rains fall, we at CANeLearn hope you find strength and renewed purpose and find the hidden treasures in life’s simple changes…

This month we are pleased to announce our partnership with BlendEd BC and our partners in Western Canada to support the 19th Annual Digitial Learning Symposium – a return to in-person learning at the Delta Hotels Burnaby Conference Centre!   We hope you can join us in Vancouver as we enjoy the west coast’s transition of seasons amidst spring blossoms.  Plan to stay longer in Vancouver as our preferred hotel rate has been extended both before and after our April 6-8 event dates.

2022 Digital Learning Symposium!

April 6-8, 2022 – Delta Burnaby Hotel for in-person learning!

Early bird registration still available!

Call for proposals – Share with others

Book your hotel room at the 2020 rate – $185!

Rate available before and after the event

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter #CANeLearn, Facebook, or YouTube.

Please forward this on to others in your own networks using the tools at the bottom.

Photos, unless otherwise noted, by @rlabonte, ekinsel, or Unsplash

Child Friendly Calls to Action

PDF booklet is a youth-friendly guide to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada 94 Calls to Action.

Resources for the Digital Classroom

Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash

WEBSITES you didn’t know you NEEDED to know!!

A collection of video resources of websites you did not know you need!  From Jen Giffen’s BlendEd BC Demo Slam

Yes, Jen won the Demo Slam!

From previous newsletters…

Back to School 2021-2022: Create a plan that leverages tech effectively and supports students’ digital well-being

Identify the best teaching tools for your classroom. Engage students and families around positive tech use. Support students’ emotional development as they use media for learning and for life. Links to resources.

Videoconferencing Alternatives: How Low-Bandwidth Teaching Will Save Us All
When we try to replicate classroom experiences in an online environment, it’s easy to think of video conferencing as our go-to tool for all sorts of learning objectives—and for good reason. Most of us have participated in a video conference at work or had a video chat with friends or family at some point. We like the idea of being able to see and hear our students while interacting with them in real time just like we do when teaching face to face. But there are two key factors that make this approach problematic.

Teaching Online Resources
The online teaching experience involves pedagogical methods that can be very different from those that many instructors are accustomed to using in a face-to-face environment. Fostering self-directed learning in a digital environment, conceptualizing the learning goals and methods of assessments, requires learner-centered practices and intentional instructional design.  Includes resources providing foundational support for teaching online.

Frameworks, Tools, Resources
A directory of links to resources compiled by BCcampus. Updated frequently.

Information Directory: Blogs and Opinions, Books and Videos, News, Research and Reports
An information directory created to fill the need for Canadian-based information, specifically British Columbia, on open education; however, content from many English-speaking countries is included. This is an ongoing resource that is updated as information becomes available.

Embracing Ways of Knowing
BCcampus supported the co-creation of the OER Pulling Together: A Guide for the Indigenization of Post-secondary Institutions. These resources are designed to

• Engage with varying audiences, including administration and educational leadership, teaching faculty, student services personnel, researchers, and instructional designers;
• Include resources and considerations on meaningful and authentic engagement;
• Supplement rather than replace training currently offered.

Conferencing Tools for teaching & learning: Best practices
Included are considerations for general etiquette, hosting virtual office hours, facilitating group work and presentations, lecturing, showing videos, hosting external presenters, and managing the space. Additionally, theoretical frameworks to support best practices when teaching online are provided.

BlendEd
A UK program of professional learning by and for teachers to support the pedagogy of blended learning. BlendEd helps teachers, school leaders, and other educators design effective teaching and learning that makes the most of digital technologies – in the classroom and from home, live and self-paced, in-person and online.

Creating and Using Rubrics for Assessment
Useful ideas for creating and using rubrics with guidelines for assessing a wide variety of activities, including e-portfolios, video and multimedia projects, teamwork, and research process.

Tips to Make Your LMS Content Accessible
While focused on Moodle, the information contained in this post can be applied to any LMS.

Designing for Accessibility (PDF posters) 
Includes tips for designing content for accessibility for special needs such as autism, dyslexia, users of screen readers, low vision, physical or motor disabilities, deaf or hard of hearing, and anxiety.

An Important Distance Learning Resource for Teachers, Students, and Parents

Wide Open School offers free learning activities for all grades. Students can browse activities related to various subjects including social studies, emotional wellbeing, reading and writing, math, arts, music, science, English language learning, digital citizenship, and more. Within each of these activities, you can search for materials by grade level or search label. You can for instance search for activities that include videos, worksheets, lessons, etc. Some of these activities offer free downloadable materials. You can also share them to Google Classroom.

Tools for Project-Based Learning

Project-based learning, or PBL, challenges students to design and engage in more authentic, extended, and complex learning. But while PBL is a trusted strategy for increasing student engagement and learning, it’s not easy to orchestrate. If you’re doing it right, students will be engaging in a variety of interest-driven projects all with various needs and on different schedules. So how do you manage it all? Tech can be a huge help. This list gathers some useful productivity and organization tools that can help both teachers and students keep track of, finish, and assess projects. There are also a few tools designed specifically for PBL, as well as plug-and-play PBL experiences. Learn about these tools here

Rough Guide for Spotting Bad Science

Being able to evaluate the evidence behind a scientific claim is important. Being able to recognize bad science reporting, or faults in scientific studies is equally important. Includes 12 points to help separate the science from the pseudoscience. Download the PDF here

ABC Learning Design 

Spreadsheet template to facilitate the collaborative design of learning scenarios. Check it out here

CANeLearn’s Emergency Remote Teaching Resources, Tools, Ideas 

• CANeLearn has published a page with a collection of resources from other organizations, emerging tools, and ideas about pivoting to remote teaching
• Check it out here

Photo by Mr Cup / Fabien Barral on Unsplash

Adventures in Archives

Check out links to past CANeLearn events

Featured Event

• CANeLearn researched what K-12 school districts across Canada have offered in the way of programming and supports during the pandemic.  Check out the research project website for reports, recordings, and slide decks.

All archives here