AlphaPlus Blog

Digital Technology Lesson Plans and Learning Activities

maria — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:26:39 +0000

One of our greatest challenges in the adult literacy community in Canada is keeping a handle on what our peers and colleagues are doing across the country. In thinking about finding information and resources that could support Ontario practitioners in working with the Digital Technology Competency in the OALCF, I have set myself the task of finding what is happening in other provinces.

I started on the west coast and found this great collection of resources from Decoda Literacy Solutions in B.C. It’s a set of downloadable lesson plans and workbook activities related to Computer Use. There is a wealth of material here which could be used as is, or adapted by programs and practitioners as they build their own learning activities and task lists. It’s well worth checking out….

Thanks Decoda!!

Teaching and learning better Google search skills…

maria — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:19:27 +0000

I have just been exploring the Google Search Education site – it’s aimed at teachers in the K-12 sector but there is a lot here that could be very useful to literacy practitioners and students. Take a look at the Lesson Plan section – it covers basic and more advanced searching as well as evaluating the credibility of search results. There’s also a set of very good Webinars on all aspects of using Google for teaching and learning. I think there is much material here that could be helpful to practitioners who are working on developing tasks in the Find and Use and Digital Technology competencies in the OALCF. It’s well worth checking out.

And to round things off – here’s a neat Infographic Get More out of Google – with lots of tips and tricks…

Enjoy!

Switching to Google Drive … or not

maria — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:03:33 +0000

Over the past week or so there has been quite a lot of buzz about Google Drive - the just released Google option for storing your “stuff” in the cloud. In a way it’s a more sophisticated version of Google Docs. Google Drive allows you to store documents, photos, music, videos all in one place, it syncs will all your devices and tracks changes so if you edit a document and save it you can see all the revisions made in the last 30 days.

I know that many people in the adult literacy field are using Google Docs and may be wondering about whether or not to switch to Google Drive. There are pros and cons…. On the plus side you get lots of functionality and 5 gigabytes of storage space for free, on the minus side there has been some controversy about just who “owns” your files on Google Drive. This CNET article, Who owns your files on Google Drive? offers a very clear explanation of the controversy and compares terms of use etc. between Google Drive and other cloud storage services such as Dropbox. And several commentators have pointed out that we should all take advantage of ALL the free cloud storage services, so it’s not either – or… check out The Everything Drive and Google Drive, SkyDrive, Dropbox? Heck use ‘em all!

If you want to check out Google Drive features Google has put together a good introduction, click HERE to see a short video and read about all the features, or if you prefer take a look at the YouTube video, Go Google, Google Drive . If you want to figure out how to use Google Drive Edudemic has put together a step-by-step guide to how to enable it. And finally, here’s a pretty good Google Drive FAQ

Keyboard shortcuts – what and why…

maria — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 18:41:26 +0000

I’ll admit that I’m a mouse-girl, I’ve never really taken to the track pad on my laptop – I guess I’ve just grown accustomed to the feel of a mouse in my hand, but… sometimes I grip it just a little too tight and have noticed that by then end of the day my mouse hand aches a bit. That’s where keyboard shortcuts come in – apparently using them allow us to work faster and is a good way to prevent repetitive strain injury. Here are a couple of great lists of short cut.
The first is,17 keyboard shortcuts you must know compliments of Doug Peterson a great blogger from the University of Windsor and an endless source of digital technology information and wisdom. The second is 9 browser shortcuts everyone should know a third is Top 10 keyboard shortcuts everyone should know, finally here is a short booklet, The Reluctant Mouser with all the major shortcuts from RSIPrevention.com

One of the great things about computers is that there is always more than one way to do things, and I wonder if practitioners could use these lists – to develop a lesson, or to extend learning, as they work with students in the context of the digital technology competency?

Privacy and Security on Facebook

maria — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:59:32 +0000

It’s estimated that there are 17,545,580 Facebook users in Canada! I often wonder how many Facebook users there are in the adult literacy community! As the use of social media sites like Facebook grows and grows the issue of personal privacy and security also grows and grows. I came across a great post -How to Lockdown Your Facebook Account For Maximum Privacy and Security - on the Facecrooks site. It lays out the basics to “lock-down” personal privacy and security in your Facebook account. It’s written in fairly clear language and gives instructions on how to make use privacy settings and do’s and don’t s to ensure maximum personal privacy and security.

I thought these tips and tricks were great and will be applying them myself, then I thought the post would be interesting to practitioners and could make the basis for a really good Use Digital Technology task set, integrated with Find and Use Information for students who use Facebook. I think it’s well worth checking out…

Enjoy!

Summer in Smallywood- Made in Canada

maria — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 14:12:39 +0000

Have just spent a couple of hours playing Summer in Smallywood a wonderful online resource developed by The Centre for Skills Development and Training in Burlington Ontario. Summer in Smallywood is a set of 3 online games designed for 15-30 year olds, but I think it could be used with any group of adult literacy students. It focuses on 3 of the Essential Skills - Oral Communication, Working with Others and Thinking Skills. Using a video game format Summer in Smallywood is a fun, engaging and entertaining learning resource – sure to appeal to students of all ages. It comes with a comprehensive Facilitators package, making it an essential resource for busy adult literacy practitioners.

Thanks to the folks at the Centre for Skills Development and Training for leading the way in developing quality Canadian online resources. Maybe you, like me, find yourself wishing that it was a bit easier to find online learning resources made in Canada – it seems to me that there could and should be more and I hope that this is the first of many.

Enjoy!

An (post) Easter basket of digital goodies

maria — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:39:18 +0000

If you, like me, have had your fill of Easter chocolate – maybe you would like to “taste” some digital treats – here are a few I have been playing around with over the past week or so…

My Classroom Window is a directory of web tools for teachers – it’s intended for K-12 teachers but is a great tool for all educators – a quick and easy way to learn about web tools for learning.

Lino is a cloud-based service that gives you an online “canvas” where you can post and share notes, reminders and images. Try the free version, it looks like a fun and useful tool.

When I first read about Search Creative Commons I thought it was a search engine that would make searching for images licensed under creative commons easier, however, it is not a search engine but a portal allowing searching across a range of image libraries – so if you use it you will still need to verify that the image you choose has a creative commons license. However it is still a very useful way to find images relatively quickly and is definitely worth exploring.

Instapaper is a neat little tool that gives you a Read Later bookmark – when you see a site you want to explore but don’t have time to read, click Read later and it will be saved for you to check out at your leisure. This is a simple but very useful tool.

Enjoy!!

Monday morning inspiration

maria — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 15:45:10 +0000

Thanks to my colleague Debra Barrett of Street Haven Learning Centre for pointing this out to me – it’s a simply brilliant animation of Sir Ken Robinson’s talk on how schools kill creativity. It’s thought-provoking, challenging and inspiring – a great way to start the week…

Enjoy!!

Digital Spring Cleaning

maria — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 15:42:49 +0000

Spring is springing – or at least it was last week, and, like clockwork when the daffodils appear I get the spring-cleaning urge – there’s always lots to do as I must admit routine housekeeping has never been my strong suit!! This year as I set to work on the annual clean-up I decided to deal with some of my virtual dust bunnies too…. I set out to find some tips on how to spring-clean my digital life. Here are three short articles that really got me going … The first, Time for a Digital Spring Cleaning, has a good list of tips on cleaning up email and social media sites. Next is a short piece from the Toronto Star newspaper, Time to clean your digital footprint – with some very good information on how to deal with cleaning up your social media profiles, and dealing with that perennial problem of multiple passwords. Last, but by no means least, is an article on how to literally and safely clean computers and other digital devices-Time for Digital Spring Cleaning.

So, if you, like me, have a slight “digital hoarding” issue, you will find these articles helpful. I wonder too if digital clean-up could make for an interesting activity for literacy programs as we transition to the OALCF – it could be a “whole-program” activity to spruce up our digital environments.

Happy cleaning!!

Panoramio

maria — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:01:55 +0000

Panoramio has been around for a while but I am only just now starting to explore it. What a find! – last night I literally travelled North America in photographs – just amazing! The site was created to Google Earth users to learn more about a given area by viewing the photos that other users have taken at that place.

I think it could be a great site to explore with students – and anyone can submit photos – you just need to sign up. It’s free and easy. New photos are added every month – it’s well worth a visit

Enjoy!!