Innovation in Math - Sue Chow

Math 'literacy' (also called 'numeracy) means having the ability to analyze information and problem solve. Students who struggle to understand basic math literacy and its' relevance in real life, can lack the foundation necessary for future success in basic math. The goal is to provide students with support and context so they understand the math concepts and their relevance in daily life.  

In this video, I describe how students can use software, called Desmos, (a narrow literacy) to better understand the practical applications of Linear Equations and Linear Expressions. Understanding how math is connected to the world provides students with richer math literacy. Use of the software enables students to more quickly make connections between what is suggested and the result.

Twine E-encyclopedia - Ben Vanry

Hello LLED 361 Classmates!

Here is the link to the Twine: http://textadventures.co.uk/games/view/7stooackce6rc2p0m2kdog/dune-primer

Click the GREEN "PLAY ONLINE" button

The "Fremen", "Spacing Guild", "Harkonnen", "Paul Atreides", "Gurney Halleck", and "Shai-Hulud" pages are all complete and can be explored at your leisure. **WARNING HEADPHONE USERS!!**

The innovative twist I put on part of my novel study is to use software called twine (v.2.0) as well as some basic HTML coding to collaboratively create a multi-modal resource. 

My plan for the twine is to use it as a hook to grab students' interest before reading the novel. Then, as an ongoing formative assessment, have individual students or groups create entries for the empty pages or add entirely new entries (with some justification given to the class before their addition). This sort of "e-encyclopedia" for the novel lets students demonstrate multiple digital literacies including HTML 5.2, web hosting, as well as objective topic-specific writing.

This is a really fun way to reimagine resources like glossaries and make them more easily accessible to students. This means, hopefully, that students will be more likely to use to aid with reading comprehension and boost engagement with the material.

There are some important things to be aware if you wanted to create your own e-encyclopedia:

1. Twines must be opened using Google Chrome browser to be viewed

2. Creating your own website to host the urls for artifacts you want to include in your twine, such as images, sounds, videos etc, is highly recommended (Yola is the website maker I use). If you use artifacts simply taken from image search, the host/owner may make them unavailable suddenly. You may also be unwittingly infringing on copyright law. No one wants a cease and desist letter!

3. Support for mobile on this new version of twine is still fairly hit or miss. The developers have promised to sort this out asap.

Innovation in Food Studies - Diana Lauzon

The video below highlights innovation in Food Studies classes. Foods and Textiles is now categorized in BC's New Curriculum as ADST (Applied Design, Skills, and Technology) and is based on the Design Thinking Cycle. Please check out the video to learn more about Design Thinking in Home Economics!

The literacies highlighted in this example are students applying their knowledge of reading and writing recipes.

Innovation in Textiles

Hi, this is Sabrina. For my video we looked into a unit I did in the textiles portion of my Home Economics 8 class on denim fabric. We talk specifically about innovation in making denim fabric in terms of the machines used and a case study on Japan for why they make some of the best quality denim in the world. The literacies used in this unit were interpreting videos and PowerPoint presentations.

Innovations in Social Studies - Nick Gill

Hello All,

This is Nick Gill, and my contribution to the groups’s Innovation theme is the activity in an Urban Geography unit that I created while teaching Explorations 11. The overall theme was building community by learning about the city in which the school was located.

I use the City of Burnaby’s online geographic information system (GIS), Burnaby Map to look at historic airphotos. The activity allows students to gain familiarity with the content available in GISs while allowing for historical analysis, compare/contrast, and basic airphoto analysis.

It is the last one mentioned, airphoto analysis, that was part of the literacy that was most developed during the activity. I was reminded that, while airphotographs have become ubiquitous, being able to interpret them is a language, a literacy, that is learned.

If you are working anywhere in Metro Vancouver, the Burnaby Map GIS can be used in an Urban Geography or Social Studies activity. My suggestion would be to have students use Skytrain Station locations, Metrotown, BCIT, or the SFU campus as locations for analysis and exploration. Even if they do not live in Burnaby, these locations are 'regional draws' that most students will be familiar with and will allow students to see changes over time.

If you will be teaching outside of Metro Vancouver, the Burnaby Map site is still useful, as it is one of only a few online GISs that have such a great range of orthorectified, geo-referenced historic airphotos.

Additionally, municipal GIS have a wealth of information that give much more information than is available on Google Maps or Google Earth.

The City of Burnaby online GIS can be found here.

My video about the process can be found below.