Transition time at RECIT-VT

It is time for me to pass the ICT 'baton' to James Burn from Riverside School Board. He is the new Educational Consultant for Vocational Training – Integration of Technology. My time at RECIT-VT was short but very interesting. Thank you all for visiting this blog and attending the 2015-2016 workshop series. All the best and keep integrating technology in your teaching for the benefit of vocational education students.

Mozaïk-Portal from GRICS

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GRICS has announced that the development of the first phase of the new Mozaïk-Portal is well underway. By June, schools will have an ideal tool to maintain the link between parents and the school, the Parents Portal.

This first phase is an alternative to site "My children" in Edu-group. The Parents Portal offers all the desired information by parents to track the success of their children, and communication tools with the staff of the school.

All children of the same family are grouped together, regardless if they are in different schools or whether they are primary or secondary! No need to look, all the information is there! In addition, information is always at your fingertips whether on a smartphone, tablet or computer.


Teachers should have access to the new Mozaik Portal in the fall, it is not clear if vocational education will be included by GRICS in this evolution of the Edu-group portal. 

The Fourth industrial revolution

The world economical forum (WEF) is advocating that the Fourth Industrial Revolution has the potential to raise global income levels and improve the quality of life for populations around the world. Watch the above video to understand how  the demand for highly skilled workers has increased while the demand for workers with less education and lower skills has decreased. The result is a job market with a strong demand at the high and low ends, but a hollowing out of the middle.

Free software in education

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a nonprofit with a worldwide mission to promote computer user freedom and to defend the rights of all free software users. On March 17, free software icon Richard Stallman spoke to a crowd of nearly 200 attendees at the ‘Logiciel libre et votre liberté’ conference at Dawson. The Free Software Foundation is working to secure freedom for computer users by promoting the development and use of free (as in freedom) software and documentation

Office Mix an extension to PowerPoint

Office Mix was apparently created with educators in mind. It is a free add-in for PowerPoint with everything you need to easily create and share interactive online lessons. With Office Mix, you can add:

• Audio and video narration
• Real-time digital inking
• Screen recordings that show actions you take on your computer
• Quizzes and polls
• Simulations, videos, and live web pages

… all from within PowerPoint. Publishing a mix is as easy as uploading it to the web and deciding who can view it. The people you share it with can view your mix in any web browser on any device. Office Mix shows you data about who watched your mix, how much time they spent on each slide, and how they answered your quiz and poll questions. You can even export that data to Microsoft Excel for further analysis. 

MoodleCloud User Guide for Voc. Ed.

https://goo.gl/thKVDj

This user guide is available in PDF format and can be reproduced as needed. It is published under Creative Common Licence and is aimed at vocational education teachers to support them in building engaging web-based education courses and sharing training material with students.

Moodle/MoodleCloud is the leading Open Source learning management system. It is a tool to enhance teaching, by posting on the web interactive learning material and online social leaning activities for students to reach their leaning potential.

Vocational Education and blended learning


In recent years, Quebec has been innovating in alternative vocational training delivery. At the OCE (Observatoire Compétence-Emplois) based at UQAM, a number of new initiatives are being reviewed, like the model of 'blended learning', which puts forward a new form of internship or apprenticehip. The online and in the workplace Diploma of Vocational Education (DVS) is a pioneering model that enables the worker/student and the teacher to transcend the physical premises of the school and the company. This blended learning can enhance learning at the boundary between academia and industry. 

See this free online course for the Vocational Education and Training sector to promote effective practice and pedagogy in blended learning offered by Leeds University in UK.

Ongoing professional development

At Edtech Teacher ongoing, sustained PD in offered to support successful technology integration.  A full year Teaching for the 21st Century program (T21) works with cohorts of educators over the course of a school year, combining face-to-face workshops, live webinars, online course work, and one-to-one coaching to help bring about change. T21 web tools program include digital storytelling courses that will help teachers develop a thorough understanding of how technology can be thoughtfully integrated into the classroom to promote student learning and demonstration of understanding through varied project outcomes. 

Vocational Education Olympics

From May 4th to 7th, Québec City will host the 14th Vocational & Technical Education Provincial Olympics. In each edition of the Olympic Games, more than 12 000 young visitors attend the event. Alongside the competitions, various activities are offered to visitors, activities where they can take concrete action in relation to trades. The aim is to raise awareness of the work functions, which are taught in training centers and colleges.

How To Dice An Onion

The pedagogical benefits of video for teaching and learning are yet to be explained to educators. Although, several millions of viewed videos and decades of research are here to indicating that videos can impact on teaching and learning and encourage teachers to consider the flipped classroom model, where learners can digest lecture content at their pace and explore content more deeply during class/lab time.
As you can see, this video on HOW TO DICE AND ONION can be as good as an instructor in communicating facts or demonstrating procedures to assist in mastery learning where a student can view complex clinical or mechanical procedures as many times as they need to.

Winter-spring 2016 RECIT-VT Webinars 

A webinar schedule in English and French is being offered jointly by both RÉCIT_FP and RÉCIT -VT. You can now proceed with registration!

>> View the schedule and  register online at  REGISTRATION

Webinars are accessible solo (one participant at a computer) or in small groups (several participants gathered in a room with a projector).

If you have any questions or if you want to organize a webinar at another time, please, feel free to contact me at : recitvt@gmail.com.

QR CODES IN EDUCATION

QR stands for Quick Response. It's basically a quick, scannable barcode-like image that takes you to a specific digital destination. QR codes can be a great voting tool allowing students to vote by simply scanning the code as they enter or exit the classroom. This can save time, and it gets your students up and moving.

QR codes are a great arsenal for the teacher tool belt. This technology is a tool and needs to fit a purpose. It can help create engagement in a lesson, manage your classroom, be part of student work or facilitate inquiry in a project. See this video on ideas for using QR codes.

TVETipedia Glossary 

The TVETipedia glossary is a glossary of terms that are commonly used globally in the area of Technical and Vocational Education and Training. This glossary provides definitions and background information from various trustworthy sources.

NB : UNESCO-UNEVOC is UNESCO's specialized Centre for technical and vocational education and training (TVET). It assists UNESCO's 195 member states to strengthen and upgrade their TVET systems.

2016 Future of Education Technology Conference

Next week, in Orlando, Florida the FETC is gathering technology leaders and educators to engage in a conversation about emerging technologies and creative implementations. This event has picked 9 focus areas for 2016.

1.       Communication and Collaboration 

2.       Digital Teaching Tools and Game-Based Learning 

3.       Educational Policy and Leadership 

4.       Emerging Technologies and Maker Tools 

5.       Instructional Design 

6.       Mobile Learning 

7.       Online and Blended Learning 

8.    Professional Development

9.       Technology Infrastructure 

For more information visit the conference web site at www.fetc.org