Once again, a team of staff members headed out last week to share the exciting, progressive work that is being done at Sagonaska with other teachers and educators at a conference. The conference this time was the impressive, Quest, hosted by York Region District School Board. The theme of the conference this year was "Deep Learning in a Digital World" and local and international participants came together to consider a dynamic cultural shift in teaching and learning strategies that will help ensure students are prepared for post-secondary learning and changing employment environments.
Sagonaska's team shared a presentation called "Beyond BYOD - How Fluent Use of Personal Devices Shifts Past Engagement to Deep Learning" and although the staff lead the workshop, it was the videos and the voice of the students that inspired all the participants. We shared examples of how we are teaching our students to first become literate and then fluent with their devices, in order for them to share their learning in transformational ways. We know that technology use is essential for our students with Learning Disabilities to share with the world what their true capabilities.
If you have a Drop Box account, you can scan the QR Code above and view the presentation as a PDF (unfortunately the videos will not play) but I have included one of our favourite clips from the presentation. Watch the video below and see what our students think about a Bring Your Own Device policy and what it means to them.
