Big Ideas in Education Blog

Tag: Educational Technology

  • Learning is Complicated: 4 Myths in Education Explained

    Learning is Complicated: 4 Myths in Education Explained

      Education abounds with myths, several of those ‘myths’ are about how the brain works. These myths have a long standing history of being perpetuated, believed, purchased, and shared. As educators we all have our own inquiries and hypotheses of how students learn best, sometimes we do this with a lack of educational research. This…

  • Top 10 Steps to a 21st Century Learning Commons

    There are important elements that need to be considered when trying to create a 21st Century Learning Commons. Learning Commons in 2014 truly need to be spaces that promote both physical and virtual senses of Safety, Inclusiveness, and Equity. Regardless of your situation, Safety, Inclusiveness, and Equity need to be at the forefront of your planning. We…

  • 8 Steps to Integrate Science Curriculum in a Regular or Split Grade Class

    Integrating the curriculum in a split grade is challenging even at the best of times. Especially when we have been trained to not see any obvious links between the expectations. For instance, a Grade 2 science curriculum focusses on the states of matter, the Grade 3 curriculum focuses on structures. For many teachers, the ability…

  • Information Literacy in the 21st Century Classroom

          Information literacy skills are of paramount importance in the 21st Century. Information Literacy is an all encompassing term that includes traditional reading, writing, oral communication, digital literacy, media literacy, digital citizenship and higher order thinking skills. Higher order thinking skills includes critical thinking, and are are necessary for all curriculum areas and…

  • Help! Our School Structures are outdated and the Digital Divide is growing!

    This picture represents how learning was originally structured within school systems. One can make inferences about what was important in education in the 1800’s. But how much have things changed since our Canadian school system was implemented? Are Students engaged? I can’t help but think however, that for all of our new technologies and new…

  • Edtech: Harnessing Student Voice and Promoting Equity

        Educational Technology can be used to promote equity in our learning spaces, harness student voice, and provide new avenues for students to cultivate their passions in life. Educators can choose to use this edtech meaningfully in our learning spaces. We can use it for purposes including connecting, creating, knowledge building, publishing, giving students…

  • Twitter in Education

    Twitter is a social media platform that can be both safe and effective for learning and communicating, when used appropriately. Twitter is intended for two-way, open communication. However, when using it for class projects or classroom communication, teachers should consider adjusting the privacy settings on the account. Here are some suggestions: Safety First, it should…

  • Cultivating Knowledge in Virtual Spaces

      There are vast amounts of ‘blank’ spaces in our virtual worlds. The empty virtual spaces will eventually be filled with knowledge. But who’s knowledge will have the privilege of being promoted?  I believe that this is an issue that we need to be concerned about particularly in light of current events in the issue…