Online Learning
This is the week to try something new!
Being the Educational Computing Organization in Ontario means that this week is a really big deal to us!
It’s Computer Science Education Week, with events happening all week long to support you and your students to start looking at coding if you have never done so before or to challenge those of you who know their way around the blocks. 🙂
We’ve put 10 coding organizations that are geared towards Canadian educators all in one place so you can take your pick of what you want to try but the point is, try something.
Take a look at the Coding Platform tab in the Collected Resources on the ecoo.org website but also watch the Events page as well. SO many opportunities are out there for you to experience.
Just tonight, I ventured into a multi-player Minecraft world with Andy Forgrave and some other brave Ontario educators and although I couldn’t make my computer do what I wanted it to do without a mouse, the fact that I have dabbled with my students during this week in years past with events like Hour of Code meant that at least I could code my agent to do a task. THAT was an accomplishment.
Now it may be next year during Computer Science Education Week before I get a micro.bit coded to water my plant but I’ve taken a first step. Maybe you and your students will soar. You just won’t know until you try. This IS the week to try something new. Double tap that SPACE bar and see what happens.
#CSEdWeek #HourofCode #HACKERGALDAY
Et ACTION! Fall Support Series is flippin’ awesome!
Last week, I wrote a blog post about the first partner we have for the ECOO Fall Support Series, Logics Academy. Starting on Tuesday, November 17, they will be working with participants to help them gain an understanding of Coding through StoryTelling or Game Design. I ended that post by saying, but wait, there’s more. Well. Not really those words but you’ll see why I’m saying it now.
During the summer, four very passionate educators joined the ECOOcamp Ontario committee and blew me away with their enthusiasm, skill and desire to help others navigate what online/blended/whatever back to school would look like. Michelle Fenn, Max Thomson, Megan Park and Deanna Palmer make up the incredible team of @TechTime4EDU. They started by offering PD by the Pool to KPRDSB educators during the summer and now are continuing to support the KPR community with a PD in Pyjamas series. Insert virtual hug here.
When Logics mentioned that they would like to introduce Flipgrid as a presentation tool at the end of their 4 week series of workshops, I could not think of a better support to offer those educators (and everyone one else!) than a session about Flipgrid with TechTime4EDU and the best part is that the workshop is being offered in french and in english. Did I mention how incredibly talented these women are?
- Flipping over Flipgrid
- On Flip sur Flipgrid
Full session description can be found the Fall Support Series page under the events tab:
Register at the Fall Support Series page. Once you are registered, you will be directed to a form to choose these workshops and select from any of the other sessions offered. They’re all part of your package but you choose what you would like to attend.
Remember, ECOOcamp Ontario participants have a free registration to the Support Series but they must check their email for the link to sign up for sessions!
Everyone else gets to register for $15.00 and then have access to the over 20 webinars and events that will take place between November 17 and December 9.
Come play, learn and connect. We all need a little play time right now.
Great Learning … plus some Door Prizes!
Sessions in our online Fall Support Series are set to get underway in a little less than a week, and as the starting dates approach, it’s time for us to let everyone know of some of the door prizes that will be available to lucky participants!
We were so pleased to have the support of many generous sponsors during our August ECOOcamp Ontario online conference, with at least one door prize for each of the over 115 sessions that were offered during the 3-day event. (A little bird tells me there were, in fact, over 200 prize winners all told.)
CanCodetoLearn was one of our most generous sponsors at ECOOcamp Ontario and they are hitting the ball out of the park again! They are donating a LAPTOP and a CHROMEBOOK for two lucky participants in our Fall series — all you have to do to be eligible to win is to sign up for a Fall Support Series session!
Participants in the sessions offered by Logics Academy will have an opportunity to win robots — a Dash and an MBot will be available as door prizes for the Grades 1-4 Coding through Storytelling series and the Grades 5-8 Coding through Game Design series. Note that each of those four-session series begins this coming week, with registration closing on Monday and Tuesday respectively — if you’ve not yet registered, The Time is Now!
If you registered to participate in ECOOcamp Ontario this summer, your summer registration allows you to join into the Fall Support Series at no cost. Check your inbox for details on how to select your sessions and get your name into the running for the door prizes.
If you weren’t with us in August, you can register for the Fall Support Series at the reduced price of $15 — allowing you to attend all of the sessions over November – December event, as well as gaining access to the 100+ session recordings and 80+ slide decks/resources from ECOOcamp Ontario. That’s a pretty decent bargain!
Full details of all sessions (along with the Registration button for New Participants) are listed on the Fall Support Series page. We look forward to reconnecting with you in the coming weeks and hope to add some additional support to your efforts during the push through to the winter break. Stay the course!
Online Learning: Week of May 25th
Check out the Upcoming Events calendar for links to a bunch of online learning opportunities scheduled for May 26th-29th.
Online Learning This Week
There is a lot happening this week — full details and links for this week’s online learning opportunities are available in the Upcoming Events section of the website.
OTF Connects – Webinar series
New, practical and fun! The Ontario Teachers’ Federation has just announced the latest series of their OTF Connects webinars, bringing together a selection of Ontario educators to share hands-on distance teaching strategies and approaches to wellbeing.
“Come join us in a relaxed atmosphere as we jump into stories of what has been working for us – or maybe not so much – and what you might want to try out as we navigate these unprecedented times together.”
View the list of upcoming webinars. The individual sessions are also listed in the ECOO Upcoming Events.
Can’t join the live webinar? No problem. All webinars will be recorded and archived for easy access anytime.
Click on past webinars to view OTF Connects archived webinars from previous series.
“Make A Difference” #MADPD 2020
The organizers of MADPD invite you to join in all weekend long — from the comfort of your home — to learn from and share with educators around the globe.
How does #MADPD work?
Every half hour, starting at 8am on Saturday morning, a presenter will populate their MAD (Make A Difference) Video to the “Viewer’s Guide”. They will also share their video using the #MADPD Hashtag on Twitter. View the video, engage in a Twitter chat with the presenter, ask questions, share your own ideas and learn.
Continue learning and sharing all weekend long, referring to the “MADPD Viewer’s Guide”while following along and engaging in conversation on Twitter using #MADPD.
Sessions run every half hour each day starting at 8 am through to 9 pm — that makes for 25 x 2 –> 50 different learning opportunities over one weekend! Check out the Viewer’s Guide and get ready to engage this weekend.
#OTT20: Online Teaching Tuesday
The Office of Open Learning, University of Windsor is hosting a series of weekly online pedagogy drop-in sessions on Tuesday afternoons from 3:15 pm to 4:00 pm. The #OTT20 Online Teaching Tuesday series is a continuing component of their online learning in a hurry: K12 and higher education offerings.
Educators are invited to register and drop in. The events are scheduled for April 28, May 5th, May 12th, May 19th, and May 26th and visible on our Events page.
Kudos to Bonnie Stewart, Dave Cormier, and Nick Baker in supporting this excellent opportunity for Ontario educators.
Be sure to also check out the 3 recordings from earlier this month, Webinar Series to Help Teachers with Online Lessons.