Category: Magazine Articles

Nova Scotia CSAP’s Virtual School makes it possible to provide more course choices to grade 11 and 12 students. They set their own academic path and progress independently through the course content. Teachers periodically collect evidence of learning through triangulation to ensure that course objectives are accomplished. This article examines the thinking behind the teaching and learning practices leveraged at the CSAP Virtual School.

Whether in elementary or secondary classrooms, today’s curricula are far too complex to assess using products only. A case in point comes from students in a third-grade classroom in Manitoba.

In 2021-2022, École Cœur-Soleil piloted a digital portfolio project with two grade levels, preschool and Grade 3. Resource teacher Caroline Labbé was granted release time as part of a project submitted to the Quebec’s Ministry of Education, which allowed her to prepare the basic model, facilitate the first three periods of the project in class, and be present and available for the teachers involved.

More than 90% of students in classrooms are video game enthusiasts (Toppo, 2015), and they are therefore accustomed to persevering to overcome increasingly complex levels. Moreover, younger teachers are more likely to understand the mechanisms associated with video games, being seasoned players themselves, sometimes even die-hard gamers.

Evidence of learning includes products, observations and conversations (the three sources that make up triangulation). Digital tools are gradually used to facilitate this triangulation. By making it possible to create a greater variety of evidence (written, audio, visual, etc.), these tools provide more options for teachers and students. 

Podcasting is growing in popularity, and many teachers are wondering about its educational potential within the school environment. How can it be integrated into the classroom? How can it be considered evidence of learning? These questions are all the more relevant since podcasting is often used as a complementary teaching tool for teachers, but not necessarily as a new creative option for students…but that is changing.

Among educational researchers, there is no consensus about the definition of the word “creativity.” However, among the various definitions of this ability, concepts such as production, ideas, connections, and new creations are common. We can therefore conclude that a teacher seeking to promote creativity in their students must create situations in which they can express their own ideas, in their own way, with the flexibility of choosing which tools to use.

One of the ways to encourage students to engage in their learning is to have them experience realistic situations; that is, actual situations rooted in reality. Using video in your teaching, either by viewing or creating, is a good way to achieve this.

I admit it. When I first began teaching, I thought I knew how to effectively engage students in self-assessments. In retrospect, I realize we may have just gone through the motions at times. It took a few shifts in my mindset and actions before my learners and I fully experienced the benefits of self-assessments. Was it worth the time and energy to make the shifts? The answer is a resounding yes!

To better understand the issues that need to be addressed in geography class, it is now possible to start with real-life situations thanks to an increasing number of online platforms and applications. These resources benefit teachers who assist students in developing abilities including understanding a territory’s structure, interpreting a territorial issue, and increasing their global civic awareness. Digital tools help make geography concepts more engaging and tangible.