Embrace the Mullet: Exploring the pedagogy and the playfulness of Educational Technology and Makerspace
A series of dynamic, interactive workshops formatted with “pedagogy in the front, practice in the back”
From the front, the mullet* is easy to identify as a serious, hardworking haircut. From the back, the mullet is a statement in self-expression and dare we say it, a creative application of fashion. Similarly, when learning about a new technology, the theoretical and pedagogical underpinnings of the tool used must be clear and easily understood first. When envisioning the tool in use, from the back, creative and practical examples can open the door for deep and engaging learning opportunities. Wow, has the Mullet ever looked this good?! At the Educational Technology & Makerspace Showcase 2021 we challenge you to rock your Mullet with pride and leave lasting impressions.
* The Mullet: a hairstyle in which the hair is short at the front and sides, but long at the back. Source: Wikipedia. Also: “Business in the front, party in the back.” Source: unknown.
Why Attend
- Learn about a new educational technology
- Develop maker-mindsets and skills needed for teaching future ready students
- Develop deeper understanding and application of existing/common technologies
- Learn more about assistive technologies
- Explore educational technology for differentiated instruction
- Rethink and refresh best practices/pedagogy in teaching K-12 online
- Learn more about gamification of curriculum
Event Schedule
Registrants will select two, 40-minute workshops OR one 80-minutes workshop on a topic of their choice, followed by a virtual mixer!
We begin the conference with a welcome message followed by an explanation of how to access your workshops and expectations for the mixer at the end of the day.
| Presenter | Title | Description | Capacity |
| SMART (Alek Kolga) | From Static Content to Engaging Activities with SMART | Start with any file. Open it with SMART. Put it on any student device, anywhere. Add individual or collaborative workspaces, use the built-in whiteboard on the fly, customize games, assessments, and polls. Drop in on any connected student and provide real time feedback. Do it all live or asynchronously. | 15 |
| Code to Learn (Peter Skillen) | The Art of the Lynx | Students will explore some simple geometric and coding ideas by creating art! Learners will be able to - Control the turtle’s pen, direction (using both relative and absolute commands), colour, pensize, fill, random - Create loops with ’repeat’, variables, and conditionals - Teach the turtle new commands (write procedures) - Nest sub-procedures inside super-procedures - Construct geometric art shapes and designs using the Total Turtle Trip Theorem | 15 |
| Dave Potts | Online Variations of Pencil, Paper, and Tabletop Activities | We’re all spending more time online, but sometimes we’re missing that social connection. Adding the magic of in-person pencil and paper and tabletop games to your virtual events addresses that. Break up your instructional and transactional online meetings with opportunities for your participants to engage in play. This will help establish and develop social bonds, while unlocking your learner’s creativity. Join us for a practical look at how to build your own online activities for engagement and socialization using Google Slides presentations and other simple tools. | 15 |
| Dane DiCesare | Engaging Students with Interactive Videos | This workshop will focus on creating interactive videos for K-12 students using free presentation software (keynote, EDPuzzle). Participants will learn best practices in creating interactive videos and will be provided with take-away resources to help them create their own. | 15 |
| Susan & Shannon | To "Bitmoji" and Beyond | Come and explore multiple ways to use Bitmojis in the classroom. From stickers to lockers and so much more, let’s go ‘beyond’ the bitmoji virtual classroom and be Bitmojis strong. | 15 |
| Brian D’Souza | Google it: Tools for Virtual Teaching using the Google Educational Suite for Distant Education | In response to the safety measures required during this pandemic, schooling has changed and teachers have increased their use of technology. This workshop highlights experiences from teaching secondary school science to remote and hybrid learners using the G Suite for Education: Google Classroom, Google Meet, & Google Forms. This session will guide you through the set-up of a virtual classroom, instructional strategies for delivering curriculum & assessing students, and, aligned with the Mullet theme, helpful tips that are both practical yet creative. | 15 |
| Tina Zita | Start Creating with Stop Motion | Let’s animate together! Using the free STOP MOTION STUDIO app on our mobile devices (phone, tablets) and items right around us we will create together. As we are creating we will discuss the possible uses from K - 12 and beyond. | 15 |
| Peel District School Board - Shareen Engalla | Beyond the Math Textbook: Using the online resource MathUP. | This workshop highlights the use of online math resources to support student learning with specific attention to MathUP by Marian Small. We will discuss how to deepen student understanding in math by focusing on open ended questions and good questioning. We will navigate the online resource together while sharing examples of its implementation to create a fun & engaging, yet comprehensive and balanced mathematical program into your classroom. | 15 |
| Bushra Shahid | Coding in the Elementary Classroom | Together we will look at integrating coding and assessment practices into teaching and learning. This hands-on session will provide an opportunity to create and share an integrated lesson for coding in Scratch, while demonstrating how educators can assess learners as they code. We will share resources for exploring coding applications connected to the curriculum. | 15 |
| NFB - Kevin Chlebovec | The NFB – A Digital Treasure Trove | From Diversity and Inclusion to the Environment and Sustainability, Canada’s National Film Board is a destination designed to engage and inspire creativity through innovative storytelling and artful media. Discover a variety of educational resources including mini-lessons, learning programs, and film playlists. A treasure trove of educational resources that foster deep learning and creativity is offered through CAMPUS - our portal for 21st-century learning. | 15 |
| Ocean School - Lucija Prelovec | Dive into Ocean School with 360° videos and Google Cardboard | 360° videos in the classroom? Shell yeah! Learn about the benefits of including this immersive technology in your own classrooms. Build a Google Cardboard with us and sample some flounder-ful Ocean School media. Ocean School, a free, bilingual, inquiry-based, online learning experience for students aged 11 to 15 meant to strengthen learners’ personal connection to the ocean. Free Google Cardboard included! | 15 |
| Royal Botanical Gardens - Karin Davidson-Taylor | The Fall and Rise of Cootes Paradise | Have you ever walked the Captain Cootes Trail and wondered at the biodiversity of the area? …It was very nearly destroyed. Here’s a chance for you to experience an engaging presentation using interactive applications while discovering the history of an amazing ecosystem that the Royal Botanical Gardens has brought back to life. | 15 |
| ESRI – Jean Tong | Fun with Storymaps! | Story Maps are an engaging storytelling tool that incorporates the use of maps, text, photographs and other media. In this workshop, we will share how you can engage and inspire your students using the ArcGIS StoryMaps builder to visualize and share your data. Follow along as we outline the flexible storytelling options, the built-in express maps, and explore the pre-designed themes that you can apply to your story and data. | 15 |
| Krista & Jeff | Media Production | Are students struggling to maintain focus and read through your digital lesson materials? This workshop will explore best practices (and some fun ideas) used in the Graphic and Web Design industry to assist your end-users (your students) are able to easily navigate your online course materials. From former graphic designers turned teachers, this session will cover creating clear and concise communication with a focus on creative and consistent design to improve student comprehension and engagement. Create a better connection while learning online. | 15 |
| Presenter | Title | Description | Capacity |
| SMART (Jody Bean) | Learning SMART: Building Interactive Activities | How to use SMART Learning Suite to create the very best in interactive lessons. Active delivery from anywhere… because that’s what students need. | 15 |
| Code to Learn (Michael Quinn) | Coin Toss Probability | Students will code an investigation to see how trial size impacts the probability of an event. Learners will be able to - Randomly choose an event - Set the number of trials for an investigation - Keep track of how many times an event occurs - Create a graph using the data | 15 |
| Dave Potts | Ozobots Online! | Robotics activities have typically been delivered through face-to-face facilitation. We no longer enjoy the luxury of conducting robotics explorations that way, but that doesn’t need to stop us from taking advantage of this rich instructional resource. Applying a bit of problem-solving and a few technical innovations blending robotics, media technologies and cloud-based digital tools we can unlock our learner’s ability to influence robots in a remote lab, the Instructional Resource Centre. This session explores the technological and pedagogical considerations for implementing the new Ontario Math curriculum, while addressing the challenges posed by remote learning. Join us for a demonstration of a remote robotics activity using Google Slides, a tablet, a document camera, and an Ozobot. | 15 |
| Dane DiCesare | Engaging Students with Interactive Videos | This workshop will focus on creating interactive videos for K-12 students using free presentation software (keynote, EDPuzzle). Participants will learn best practices in creating interactive videos and will be provided with take-away resources to help them create their own. | 15 |
| Susan & Shannon | To "Bitmoji" and Beyond | Come and explore multiple ways to use Bitmojis in the classroom. From stickers to lockers and so much more, let’s go ‘beyond’ the bitmoji virtual classroom and be Bitmojis strong. | 15 |
| Tina Zita | Start Creating with Stop Motion | Let’s animate together! Using the free STOP MOTION STUDIO app on our mobile devices (phone, tablets) and items right around us we will create together. As we are creating we will discuss the possible uses from K - 12 and beyond. | 15 |
| Bushra Shahid | Scratch Coding (Mathematics) | This workshop is focusing on the Coding and Assessment practices and what educators can do to embrace that into teaching and learning practices. Audience will be provided with resources and links to explore coding applications and connection to the curriculum based on a STEAM approach. | 15 |
| DSBN (Lee Martin) | Kids Just Wanna Have Fun: A look at how making can provide a vehicle to meaningfully engage ALL learners | This session will explore a variety of tools and pedagogical approaches that have proven to engage and empower every student in your P/J/I classroom across the curriculum. Makerspace, minimakers, design thinking, STEM, STEAM, second language learning. | 15 |
| NFB - Kevin Chlebovec | NFB – A Digital Treasure Trove | From Diversity and Inclusion to the Environment and Sustainability, Canada’s National Film Board is a destination designed to engage and inspire creativity through innovative storytelling and artful media. Discover a variety of educational resources including mini-lessons, learning programs, and film playlists. A treasure trove of educational resources that foster deep learning and creativity is offered through CAMPUS - our portal for 21st-century learning. | 15 |
| Ocean School - Lucija Prelovec | Dive into Ocean School with 360° videos and Google Cardboard | 360° videos in the classroom? Shell yeah! Learn about the benefits of including this immersive technology in your own classrooms. Build a Google Cardboard with us and sample some flounder-ful Ocean School media. Ocean School, a free, bilingual, inquiry-based, online learning experience for students aged 11 to 15 meant to strengthen learners’ personal connection to the ocean. Free Google Cardboard included! | 15 |
| Royal Botanical Gardens - Karin Davidson-Taylor | The Fall and Rise of Cootes Paradise | Have you ever walked the Captain Cootes Trail and wondered at the biodiversity of the area? …It was very nearly destroyed. Here’s a chance for you to experience an engaging presentation using interactive applications while discovering the history of an amazing ecosystem that the Royal Botanical Gardens has brought back to life. | 15 |
| ESRI - Jean Tong | Fun with Storymaps! | Story Maps are an engaging storytelling tool that incorporates the use of maps, text, photographs and other media. In this workshop, we will share how you can engage and inspire your students using the ArcGIS StoryMaps builder to visualize and share your data. Follow along as we outline the flexible storytelling options, the built-in express maps, and explore the pre-designed themes that you can apply to your story and data. | 15 |
| DSBN (Jill Russell) | Coding isn’t just for Computer Science | Learn how you can harness the power of smartphones to engage students in the creation of simple apps for any subject area. In less than 2 hours, using on-line tutorials, you and your students can develop the skills to create a simple smartphone app. Once you develop these basic skills, innovation and creativity take over. Come away with not only ideas, but the tools and resource you will need to implement this in your classroom. |
| Presenter | Title | Description | Capacity |
| Kids Code Jeunesse | Introduction to Coding in Scratch | This workshop will introduce educators to the introductory concepts behind block coding by using the popular coding platform called Scratch. Block coding is an amazing way for kids and educators to start coding and fun to implement into the classroom through hand-on visual activities which are only limited by your imagination. Scratch can be used to enhance any subject but especially language arts, social studies, history, story telling, etc. | 15 |
| Kids Code Jeunesse | Introduction to Micro:bits | Introduction to Micro:bits - This workshop will introduce teachers to the micro:bit which is a small programmable computer able to take on some pretty big coding tasks! Micro:bits use block coding to run various experiments and activities, which is kid friendly and a fun way to learn all about coding. | 15 |
| MAD-learn (Alefiya Master) | BYOA: Build Your Own App with MAD-learn | Come learn how to turn your ideas into REAL products and BYOA – Build Your Own App. Learn how to empower student entrepreneurs, techpreneurs, and appreneurs while you experience a rapid fire round of design-thinking and Mobile App Development, using MAD-learn. Attendance to this workshop comes with trial licenses for you and your students to use during the school year! There will also be a $50 Amazon gift card giveaway for the best app created during the workshop! | 15 |
| MAD-learn (Gregg Stone) | BYOA: Build Your Own App with MAD-learn | Come learn how to turn your ideas into REAL products and BYOA – Build Your Own App. Learn how to empower student entrepreneurs, techpreneurs, and appreneurs while you experience a rapid fire round of design-thinking and Mobile App Development, using MAD-learn. Attendance to this workshop comes with trial licenses for you and your students to use during the school year! There will also be a $50 Amazon gift card giveaway for the best app created during the workshop! | 15 |
| Canada Learning Code | Scratch for Educators | In this workshop, we’ll explore a variety of coding concepts and practices, while experiencing example Scratch lessons and becoming more familiar with the tool. We’ll also share some awesome (free!) resources to help you get started with using Scratch in the classroom. This workshop is for any grade of interest! | 15 |
This virtual session will be a great space for developing connections with other educational technology enthusiasts. Registrants will join together for a few closing remarks and then stay for some fun and virtual networking.