Inspiring Resources for ICT Integration in Your Classroom

Whether you already master the fine art of teaching with new technologies or you’ve just started experimenting with information and communication technologies (ICTs) using a more cautious ‘baby steps’ approach, you will find plenty of resources on Profweb to inspire you. To start the semester off on the right foot, here is a collection of various resources that revolve around the theme of bolstering your lesson plans with ICTs.

Resources for Your Lesson Plans

If you would like to try new learning activities or to experiment with new pedagogical approaches, it can be reassuring to start off with credible resources. To round out your planning, we suggest checking out some of the helpful resources from the Ministerial IT partner organizations, members of the Quebec college network (and beyond) below.

• CCDMD’s PerfecTIC offers ready-to-use teaching scenarios in PDF format. You can print the documentation right away. To research a scenario, simply choose one of the disciplinary fields listed under Activities (codes 000 to 600).
• Ceres, an on-line search tool and catalogue of teaching and learning resources, is managed by the VTÉ (Vitrine technologie-éducation).
• The Edutopia Technology Integration page contains several short videos and blog articles about educators that are integrating technology into the classroom. While the focus of the Edutopia is largely K-12 education, you are sure to find a variety of resources and debates that are pertinent to your teaching practice.

Educational Freeware and Open Source Software

• The IT REPS Network developed a  Free Software and Freeware database for college education. It is now managed by the ADTE (Association pour le développement technologique en éducation). You can search for open source software and freeware by discipline, program and college. The “Comments” area generally describes the educational activities or uses associated with each software.
• If you want to know more about the database project (or if you wonder what is the difference between educational freeware and free software), read Nicole Perreault’s article on Profweb.

Mobile Technologies in your Classroom

Looking for inspiration before you start your journey down the Bring Your Own Device road? You will find several Real Life Stories on Profweb that highlight the integration of mobile technology within various disciplines:

• Dance and the iPad: In Step Together presents the use of mobile tablets in the Dance Program at the Cégep de Saint-Laurent. They are more flexible than traditional cameras, since mobile tablets can record videos and facilitate sharing these videos by email. Video apps are ideal for analyzing the accuracy of a dancer’s movement or technique. Teachers can provide instant feedback and annotate the video. By watching themselves on video, students also benefit from a valuable self-assessment exercise.
• We’ve Got Highlights: Tablets and Moodle in Physical Education for Student Performance Enhancement provides a summary of the webinar The iPad: A Simple and Amusing Gadget or Relevant Pedagogical Tool for Physical Education? [translation]. This Phys. Ed. project was developed by the Cégep de Victoriaville and the Cégep de Trois-Rivières. The teachers have taken advantage of the educational potential of various apps to record audio comments, annotate videos and play them back in slow motion. They combined the use of mobile tablets with the Moodle platform for efficient feedback and evaluation.
• Susan MacNeil, an ESL teacher from Collège Mérici, chose to include smartphones in her pedagogical activities rather than ban them from the classroom. In a Real Life Story published on Profweb, she explains how to mix business with pleasure using Socrative on smartphones in class.
  • Socrative is an application that allows real-time polling and instant feedback. It is an online alternative to clickers. Socrative can be used on smartphones, tablets or laptops.
  • The use of smartphones in the classroom offered students the opportunity to learn how to use their mobile devices in a constructive and responsible manner.
  • For a quick primer on Socrative, check out this Tutorial on YouTube: Socrative – Higher Education Technology Tutorial.

If you are looking to try out some other apps, why not find some inspiration in a presentation on SlideShare that was given by Rafael Scapin, the IT Representative (Education Advisor) from Dawson College.

Want to know more about mobile technology and Ipads? Watch the APOP video entitled iPad-ogogy: Teaching with a Tablet. Allan McDonald, a teacher at Heritage College, provides an overview of how the iPad can be used in teaching. The session includes a demonstration of some of the apps he uses in his teaching practice.

Cloud Computing

• Kevin Lenton, a Physics teacher at Vanier College wrote an interesting Real-Life Story of his experience creating interactive quizzes with branching using Google Apps. His story, Immediate Feedback to Students Using the Branching Feature on Google Forms is complete with a screencast tour of a quiz and a sample quiz.
• Alexandre Enkerli (VTÉ) hosts a session in the APOP video capsule entitled The Use of Google Docs at the College Level. This professional development activity presents various educational uses of Google Docs and explores the issues surrounding cloud computing within a pedagogical context. Wifi-availability, end-user experience, maintaining privacy and Google’s use of personal information and data (including the localization of users) are all addressed by Alex, who also summarizes some key points from a presentation by François Casabon that occurred during an earlier VTE Lab event on Cloud Computing (in French). Channeling Mr. Casabon, Alex reminds the attendees that teachers and staff are not always aware of college governance policies and the greater legal context. You can also check out François Casabon’s original presentation (also in French).

Moodle

• Chantal Desrosiers, an IT Educational Advisor at Cégep de Trois-Rivières, published a Featured Report on Profweb: Pedagogical Practices That Integrate Learning Management Systems (LMSs). Her report covers the impact of the use of the technology on both students and teachers and provides some useful tips for the organization of activities and classroom management, among others within this report.
• In an article published on Profweb, Orzu Kamolova (IT Educational Advisor and Moodle Consultant) introduces readers to Moodle by explaining how this course management system works and how it can be used to facilitate the transfer of knowledge to students. Orzu is the community leader for a community of practice for English Moodle users in Québec. The community website includes video tutorials and online training sessions are held from time-to-time (in a virtual classroom). You may also want to download the FAQ.

Other Moodle resources within the college Network include:

• World of Images, developed by the CCDMD (Collegial Centre for Educational Materials Development), is an online database that offers media files (images, videos, audio files) through a Creative Commons licence for the development of educational material. The collection includes Moodle video tutorials, in English and in French.
• The DECclic corporation offers Moodle online sessions to learn how to use Moodle and to present its various pedagogical applications. Click on the following link to view the Fall 2015 schedule.
• Don’t forget to browse through the CDC’s (Centre de documentation collégial)  eBooks on Moodle, their online catalogue or their Pinterest page. Pin your favourite titles to your heart’s content!

The 5^th Canadian MoodleMoot will take place in Montréal on October 21-23, 2015. If you’re a Moodle enthusiast, you won’t want to miss this upcoming event! It is being hosted by the Université de Montréal and the École polytechnique de Montréal. This year’s theme is Connecting with Moodle. There are 3 conference streams:

• Stream #1: How it works
• Stream #2: Making it work
• Stream #3: New ways of working

Would you like to share other helpful resources for educational activities that use ICTs? Let us know by using comment area below!