March 31, 2014

CORE CIA Input Advisory Team - Professional Learning Networking Kick-Off Event

Haven't registered yet? No problem. Just come!

Calling All Agents! Get ready to learn through a networked professional learning experience, provide input, and experiment! Are you a teacher in CBE, CCSD, RVS, GHSD or CRPS? Are you interested in using digital resources with students and sharing the best digital content to build your PLN? Want to provide input that will help to shape CORE, an innovative edtech prototype?

We are inviting all educators in CORE’s participating districts to join the CIA (CORE Input Advisory) Team. CIA events are opportunities to:
  • Chat and experiment with fellow educators
  • Pick the brains of the CORE implementation team
  • Explore digital resource trends, crowdsourcing, and user feedback for learning
  • Learn through creating and sharing content

Join us at our CIA Team Kick-Off Event!

When: Wednesday April 16, 2014 from 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Where: Rocky View Schools Education Centre, 2651 Chinook Winds Drive, Airdrie, AB, Room: Wild Rose A 
Who: Educators in CBE, CCSD, RVS, GHSD, and CRPS are welcome!
RSVP for this free opportunity: http://tiny.cc/corecia
Snacks will be provided.

Unlike the real CIA, this isn’t a secret. Bring your colleagues to explore the many ways in which CORE supports learning. If you can’t make it to our event, watch for resource posts and future events in different locations around the city via Twitter @core4learning and here on the CORE blog.

Questions? Tweet us or email Stephanie at sdchan@cbe.ab.ca.

See you there!

March 11, 2014

CORE Resource Spotlight: Munk Debates

Here's a new addition to the CORE resources that can be used to support learning in Social Studies, English Language Arts, Journalism, and Debate at the high school level.

Check out these great debate resources in CORE on a range of great topics including: Healthcare, China, Foreign Aid, Religion, Climate Change, Humanitarian Intervention, Taxing the Rich, North American Economy, Europe, Gender, and the next one (that will be streamed live on May 2, 2014) on State Surveillance

Debaters include significant thinkers like: Tony Blair, Niall Ferguson, Henry Kissinger, Stephen Lewis, Mia Farrow, Elizabeth May, Caitlin Moran and more.

After the event, you can access transcripts and short video clips. We've included a full list of the debates here in CORE. NOTE: Free sign-up required to access resources. 
Here's a small taste of a few of the debate questions:
  • HealthcareDo ballooning healthcare spending, evermore expensive prescription drugs and an increased use of private medicine foreshadow the wholesale reform of Canada’s universal, single-payer system? Or, are the divisive debates, social inequities, and sky-high expenditures associated with the U.S. experience with private medicine a validation of Canada’s universal Medicare system?
  • ChinaIs China's rise unstoppable? Powered by the human capital of 1.3 billion citizens, the latest technological advances, and a comparatively efficient system of state-directed capitalism, China seems poised to become the global super power in the coming century. The MunkDebates will table the motion: Be it resolved, the 21st century will belong to China.
  • Foreign Aid. In a world where over 3 billion people live on under $2 a day, where economies and threats are globally interconnected, and where only small amounts of aid are given, should wealthy nations do more? Or, given the poor track record of aid, the support it provides to dictators and tyrants, and the actual need for individual entrepreneurialism and free markets, should we focus our limited resources elsewhere? The debate question was: Is foreign aid doing more harm than good?
  • GenderSince the beginning of human civilization, men have been the dominant sex. But now, for the first time, a host of indicators suggest that women are not only achieving equality with men but are fast emerging as the more successful sex of the species. Are men, and the age-old power structures associated with “maleness,” permanently in decline? Or do men still retain significant control over the workplace, the family and society at large, including women? Where are the sexes headed in the 21st century?
From the site: Held semi-annually since 2008, the Munk Debates are Canada’s premier public policy forum. The Debates take place in Toronto in the evening in front of an audience of 3,000 people at Roy Thomson Hall. The event lasts approximately an hour and a half. Two panelists argue for a debate style motion and two against. The format is short opening statements followed by a civil and substantive moderated panel discussion, followed by short closing statements.

Have you used these resources? How? Leave a comment below this post or about the specific resource directly in CORE. We encourage all students and staff to leave ratings and comments in CORE (your first name will appear with your comment)!

March 7, 2014

A Pot of Gold Filled with CORE Resources

Are we every lucky! The wealth of resources keeps growing in CORE and we are excited to continue to share some highlights with you each weekday in March (or until our resident leprechaun goes on Spring Break). Follow us on Twitter @core4learning or check back here where we will share the daily resource treasures.


March 6, 2014

How CORE Fits in the Digital Learning Ecosystem

Yesterday, I wrote a blog post on the Innovation & Learning Technology (ILT) blog about approaching educational technologies as parts of a larger whole. I explained that, as educators and learners, we should feel in command of our edtech instead of the other way around. CORE is one of many players with specific role(s) within our digital learning ecosystem.

CORE is best at helping you do these things: 
  • Use immediately. Search, access and use digital resources from multiple repositories like Discovery Education, CBC, and LearnAlberta from one location, instead of searching each one separately.
  • Publish and share. Publish in a secure district-wide OR publicly accessible community. You can invite others to use and remix your items if you wish.
  • Easily manage your resources. As the contributor, you can edit, archive, delete, and even change ownership of a resource at any time. Share the CORE URL for a resource in any online location, including your LMS (like D2L or Moodle), blog, or website.
  • Share your thoughts. Use the comment and ratings features (similar to reviews on Amazon) to tell other users how a resource fits into learning and teaching in a particular context.
On the other hand, CORE is not great at helping you do these things:
  • Sharing with a smaller group than your school district. In this case you may wish to use a Web 2.0 tool or LMS course shell (like D2L or Moodle).
  • Collaborating in real-time. Contributing an item in CORE means that you are sharing it (whether in draft or final form) with others in the CORE community. If you want to collaborate in the same document in real time, you might consider Google Drive instead. However, you can always share your Google link in CORE like we have with our constantly-updated FAQs
Let's take our list of what CORE is best at one step further. Here's a generic example that illustrates the role that CORE could play in a group inquiry project. You can see how different pieces of technology can be used throughout the learning process, based on their features and functions. 
This example shows how:

a) Small group work can be organized and carried out using Google Apps
b) Research, publishing, sharing, and commenting can be done through CORE
c) Student reflections can be used throughout using Iris or other digital portfolio tool, and
d) Web and video resources can be shared, published and used as part of the learning process through CORE.

Here's a link to the original item in CORE in a form that you can modify, remix, reuse, and share. 

We'd love to hear your thoughts on how you use CORE and what it's best at in your learning context. Leave us a comment!

Stephanie
& the
 CORE team