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Monday, February 6, 2012

Cool Happenings in the Learning Commons

Many cool things happen in the HCS Learning Commons, and the last few months have been no exception!  From physical renovations and weeding our inventory, to gathering new collaborative space, purchasing new tables, and electronic equipment,  our Learning Commons is hopping!  Students can enjoy more of a 21st century experience with tables designed for collaboration, iPads and Netbooks for research, as well as E readers for reading.  Our Learning Commons staff has risen to the challenge of learning many new devices quickly,  and efficiently in the past few months,  with digital training from Paul Kelly.  I am SO thankful that God has blessed us with such an amazing team, who bring many gifts to the fore!

 Flat StanleyImage via WikipediaOur Flat Stanley wiki has taken shape, and students in the physical commons are already contributing.  Grade 5 HCS students have taken up the writing challenge,  and Natalie will soon be sharing their work on the wiki.  If you have not had a chance to take a look we encourage you to join in this literacy campaign!
Thanks Steve for leading this in the Physical commons, and to Natalie for compiling on the wiki!



Read Around the World has captured many student's interest,  and we have about 130 students registered. Fantastic prizes are in store for our winners in each grade, with  2 E readers as prizes for the primary and high school divisions.  Thanks Shandra, Eirena and Sherri for launching  this program!

Book Clubs are really flying this year as our adult and student book clubs take shape under the leadership of Kathy Strebchuk,  April Mcleod, Mark Daley, Joris Kempers, Paul Kelly and myself.  They are encouraging wonderful facilitation in these classrooms using amazing techie tools to inspire learning.  I hope to have them share at our April meetings.  Adult book clubs are underway and there is lots of personal interaction and amazing prayer support.  Mark Daley has shared how his group has enjoyed wonderful collaboration as they meet on a weekly basis.  A huge thank you to all of our book club moderators, who enjoy giving voice to our community.

Image representing Ning as depicted in CrunchBaseImage via CrunchBase

Our Ning community is growing, collaboration is happening and our techie geek squad is really sharing and discussing all things techie.  We encourage you to start your own groups and use the ning as a place to share E learning with your families.  Some of our families are already using, by posting images/photographs for their teachers.  Christine Loewen is encouraging all teachers to share their learning camps via the ning by adding events.  Stay tuned for more training. Thanks to our ning moderators who continue to lead the way in the ning!  Stay tuned for more of Janet's forums:)


A screenshot of the Elluminate Live programImage via Wikipedia 
Learning Commons webinars are happening via Elluminate,  and Ryan Johnson did an awesome presentation on social networking.  We are excited  to see how Ted Talk star, Dave Krismer, who is also an HCOS student leads in video tutorial workshops on Van Island.   Gord is helping facilitate this workshop.   If you would like to present a webinar on your specific passion or niche please let us know?

various e-book readers. From right to left iPa...


Overdrive E Book library has launched well and we are happy to see many books flying off the E shelves.  If you or your families have experienced any difficulties during the sign in process please contact us and we will be happy to help.

Renovations continue to happen in the LC.  We have cleared space for our new spiffy tables, and completed a huge weed of our collection to make space for these changes.  We look forward to seeing how our digital presenter will be used for future presentations!  We also hope to have some new comfy chairs to complement our desks.  Big thumbs up to all our learning commons team for making this transition so smooth!

We appreciate constructive feedback on how the learning commons is growing, and look forward to seeing you all on the ning.

God Bless!

Pippa and  the Learning Commons team.
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4 comments:

  1. Great work, Pippa! Always exciting to hear what is happening in Physical and Digital space! Bless you!

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  2. Thanks Paul. I appreciate your encouragement!! Blessings to you:)

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  3. Oh how my boys loved doing the Flat Stanley project when they were attending HCS! What fun memories you just conjured up Pippa! :)

    Blessings to you!
    Camille

    P.S. Thank you for your faithful friendship and for your sweet encouragement...I appreciate you!

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  4. Ha yes Flat Stanley is still around:) Hopefully he is still just as exciting now as then. Thanks for the encouragement and friendship too Camille! I appreciate you too! Praise Him for blogs and connecting in cyberspace!

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