News and Information for LearnIT2teach participants

February 26, 2021 - Issue #106

Project News

What’s New in Avenue?
Avenue More Help Portal Page
This page has been re-organized for easier access to its support files, many of which are about topics not in the training stages. New teacher help files have been posted here about the Checklist, Scheduler and Feedback modules. 
http://learnit2teach.ca/wpnew/help/avenue-support/avenue-more-help/

Courseware Help 
New support resources for learners have recently been added to the Courseware Help page. This includes support for the ePortfolio/Binder, and the Wordcards, Scheduler, Checklist and Feedback modules.
https://avenue.ca/static/help_block/index.html

Avenue Site Update
On the evening of February 26 the Avenue learning management system will be updated to the latest version of Moodle. Other site updates will give teachers access to their Desk/storage area in the Moodle File Picker. Updates to the ePortfolio/Binder will also be made including: 

  • improvements to auto collection
  • the grouping of all artifacts and related feedback in a single activity into one artifact "card" (or thumbnail)
  • Improvements to sorting and filtering, 
  • bug fixes to the Upload function, and
  • basic editing capabilities for teachers to change an artifact name, course and skill

A Look Ahead
Access to Tutela using Avenue.ca credentials will be available soon. The next update to the ePortfolio will enable teachers to mark an artifact's CLB level and indicate whether or not it was successful. Work is continuing on the auto collection of assignments, including rubrics, PoodLL submissions and teacher-annotated PDFs. Also in the works, a web page to map and show the progress of the development of the custom tools on the Avenue site.

Web News

New English as Additional Language training offered for newcomer adults
A new English as an Additional Language (EAL) curriculum has been developed to provide newcomer adults with information on the history of Canada and some of its devastative effect on Indigenous peoples. ... The new curriculum is created by the Manitoba Association of Newcomer Serving Organizations (MANSO), Immigration Partnership Winnipeg (IPW), and the Treaty Relations Commission of Manitoba (TRCM). ... In December 2018, MANSO gathered a group of EAL curriculum developers who ...  consist of four teachers, a Portfolio Based Language Assessment (PBLA) specialist, a graphic designer, a video filmmaker and an Indigenous person ...
https://winnipegsun.com/news/news-news/new-english-as-additional-language-training-offered-for-newcomer-adults

Canada welcomed 184,000 new immigrants in 2020
New Canadian government data shows the country welcomed 184,370 new permanent residents in 2020 as newcomer flows fell due to the coronavirus pandemic. This is the lowest level of immigration to Canada since 1998 when it welcomed just over 174,000 immigrants that year. ...
https://www.cicnews.com/2021/02/canada-welcomed-184000-new-immigrants-in-2020-0217133.html

COVID-19 fuelling education's tech disruption, deepening digital divide
The COVID-19 pandemic deepened inequities in accessing and benefiting from education but the future of learning could be a more equal one, participants told Reuters Next panels on Monday. The pandemic hastened a rise in virtual learning and a disruption of the status quo already under way but probably won’t eliminate in-person instruction for good, they said. ...
https://www.reuters.com/article/education-future/reuters-next-covid-19-fuelling-educations-tech-disruption-deepening-digital-divide-idUSL1N2JP36Y

Good News Stories About Edtech From Across the Globe
Edtech is an increasingly popular tool that is being used in classrooms all over the world. There are plenty of reasons for its popularity and success – for example, an increase in academic results has been documented in schools that have started using technology. ... Chatterbox is an online learning facility that offers courses and workshops to teachers and educators who are also refugees. ....
https://www.thetechedvocate.org/good-news-stories-about-edtech-from-across-the-globe/

5 Ways VR Gives Students New Ways To Learn
Virtual Reality is being used more and more in day-to-day activities and is being used around the world. Education is one of the newer fields that it is being branched into, and there are a lot of different ways that Virtual Reality can enhance a student’s learning experience. ...
https://elearningindustry.com/why-vr-gives-students-new-ways-to-learn-education

Blogs

5 ways to be an innovative online instructor
Online learning isn't easy for every student or teacher--here's how you can work to become an innovative online instructor who engages students ... 1. Assess the level of student engagement ...
https://www.ecampusnews.com/2021/01/21/5-ways-to-be-an-innovative-online-instructor/

Effective Strategies that Can Help You Learn a Language at Home
Learning a second (or third) language besides your mother tongue always earns you extra points on your resume. Being able to communicate in more than one language is a skill that most of us would like to have. ... We list below a few effective ways in which you can learn a language from the comforts of your home ...
https://news.elearninginside.com/effective-strategies-that-can-help-you-learn-a-language-at-home/

10 Top Language Exchange Apps & Websites [2021 Update]
If you want to speak a new language with confidence, you should get as much speaking practice as possible. ... Here are our picks of ten of the best platforms to find your perfect language buddy, and why a language exchange is so effective. ...
https://preply.com/en/blog/language-exchange-app

Tips to make your LMS content accessible
When it comes to creating a more equitable approach to education through online learning, Moodle HQ along with our community and Partner Network, believe that accessibility is crucial: ... Today, we look at some quick fixes and practical tips from accessibility experts Brickfield Education Labs you can implement right now on your learning platform ...
https://moodle.com/news/tips-to-make-your-lms-content-accessible

4 Learning Theories Every Online Educator Should Know
... most online educators don’t think of themselves as “instructional designers.” They usually view themselves as subject matter experts ... Subject matter experts who want to know more about how to teach a better class should learn more about how to design a good course. ... During the twentieth century, four major learning theories emerged, and each has lessons that online educators can learn from to design better courses. Let’s look at what they are.  ...
https://www.learndash.com/4-learning-theories-every-online-educator-should-know/

Professional Development

LearnIT2teach Annotated Bibliography New Resource: Engagement, Technology and Language Tasks
This paper looks at how to increase learner achievement while using a task-based approach to language learning. The author includes detailed suggestions for creating classroom tasks using a number of “facilitators” that engage learners not only by using these facilitators but also with the help of technology.
http://bib.learnit2teach.ca/blog/engagement-technology-and-language-tasks-optimizing-student-learning/

How Students Develop Online Learning Skills
More and more, adult learners are finding the convenience and flexibility of online learning a match for their learning goals and busy lifestyles. ... Educators have speculated on the development of student skills necessary to succeed in online learning, but relatively few publications cover the topic from the perspective of successful online students. I developed the study summarized here to provide this perspective and to identify useful strategies that instructors can promote in their online courses. ...
https://er.educause.edu/articles/2007/1/how-students-develop-online-learning-skills

E-learning: The Digital Teacher’s Secret Ingredient for Success
... How many times have you thought about or heard these words from other teachers?“Learning online is similar to learning in a classroom”, “There’s no need in changing the way we teach since we have the same students and the same curriculum” But unlike what those teachers think; e-learning is actually quite different from traditional learning. ....
https://educationpassion.com/2021/01/04/e-learning-the-digital-teachers-secret-ingredient-for-success/

Jobs

Online Curriculum Development for Enhanced Language Training
COSTI Immigrant Services seeks an experienced curriculum writer to review and update the existing on-line training modules on Moodle for the Enhanced Language Training (ELT) program for Internationally Trained Professionals. ...
https://www.teslontario.org/node/1574937

Curriculum Development on Indigenous Peoples for Language Instruction to Newcomers of Canada
COSTI Immigrant Services is inviting responses from consultants to update and enrich an existing language training curriculum on Indigenous Peoples for the Language Instruction to Newcomers of Canada (LINC) program and to adapt it for online delivery. ...
https://www.teslontario.org/node/1574938

e-Resource Corner

Learning English Online
You will find a lot of information about the English language on this site. You can learn English words, practise grammar, look at some basic rules, prepare for exams, do tests or just have fun playing games. Enjoy yourself with more than 1,000 exercises online.
https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/

1,500 Free Online Courses from Top Universities
Take online courses from the world’s top universities for free. Below, you will find 1,500 online courses from universities like Stanford, Yale, MIT, Harvard, Oxford and more. You can use this collection of online courses to learn everything you want ...
https://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses

New Language Solutions Inc.

 

Send an email to admin@learnIT2teach.ca or call 1-855-522-2221 to inquire about the training.

Disclaimer
The links to external web pages and job postings are for information purposes only. Neither LearnIT2teach nor its funder endorses or is responsible for their content.

About LearnIT2teach
Through funding from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, the LearnIT2teach Project provides LINC teachers with online tools and resources and extensive training to help them implement blended learning in their programs. Visit http://learnIT2teach.ca for more information.

LearnIT2teach News is researched and compiled by Jim Edgar