VIRTUAL SUMMER LEARNING ACADEMY

By Brilliant Labs

The Nova Scotia Department of Education and Early Childhood Development’s (EECD) annual Summer Learning Academy may have had a different format this year, but there was no shortage of great information for the province's educators.

The week-long professional development opportunity for Nova Scotia teachers is usually held in person, but due to public health restrictions the event became virtual this year. Despite the change in format, over 150 sessions were offered and registration was higher than previous years’ events.

The conference offered a diverse range of sessions on topics from personal development and wellness to cutting edge technological tools to support student learning. Presentations were offered by EECD staff, community and corporate partners in education, as well as teachers and administrators from across the province. Brilliant Labs was one such community partner offering six sessions throughout the week on topics to help teachers incorporate maker-centred learning into their physical or virtual classroom.

“The whole Nova Scotia team was on board,” said Sarah Ryan, Brilliant Labs’ Provincial Director. “We delivered sessions on a wide variety of topics that teachers can use in these uncertain times”.

Brilliant Labs was quick to pivot to an online format when remote learning was instituted in March of this year. Many lessons were learned and techniques developed to deliver lessons in a fun, maker-centred, way that also provided clear ties to curricular outcomes. The goal of the sessions offered at the Summer Learning Academy was to impart these lessons to Nova Scotia teachers and share the resources developed over the last few months.

Two sessions were dedicated to sharing both new and existing projects and initiatives Brilliant Labs has available to teachers throughout the Atlantic region. Teachers will continue to be able to apply for project funding and support through www.brilliantlabs.ca/ funding and by contacting their closest program specialist, but the presentations also highlighted the wealth of content and resources the team has been working on for virtual learning.

Program Specialist Jeff Hennigar, and Provincial Director Sarah Ryan led these sessions and were excited to show educators how these new resources could be used in their classrooms.

“We have been working hard throughout remote learning to develop content that students will find engaging and that teachers can incorporate into their curriculum,” explained Ms. Ryan. “Every weekday during remote

learning we offered ready-made challenges, MakerFun activities, digital skills development sessions, and outdoor makerspace projects.”

The goal of this new content was to help teachers and parents keep students engaged, while also providing learning opportunities in a variety of subjects for all age levels. Each activity was accompanied by a walk through or video to demonstrate the skill, as well as a teachable moments document with ties to curriculum and a design thinking document designed to get students thinking about their learning in a broader context.

Mr. Hennigar also highlighted the importance Brilliant Labs placed on incorporating the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals into each activity. The 17 goals were developed as a road map to creating a safer, greener, and fairer world for everyone. “Students recognize and respond to being challenged to think

Welcome to BLVR. Here teachers can participate in virtual Professioanl Learning or host student classrooms. http://blvr.ca/ Q: info@brilliantlabs.ca

about these big world problems,” he shared.

Mr. Hennigar also led a session on encouraging student choice in assessment. Research shows that fostering discussion with students and asking them to engage in meaningful projects leads to positive learning outcomes. When we let kids make, we’re giving them permission to try, fail, and learn from their mistakes. They’re engaged in their work and learning resilience.

“We’re fostering their ability to turn their ideas into tangible products and helping them discover that their passions have a place in school. Regardless of age or grade, making and creating are not separate from learning. They are a part of it,” added Mr. Hennigar.

Brilliant Labs also provided sessions for teachers to learn specific skills and techniques they could easily translate into the classroom.

Creativity Catalyst, Alicia Collins, walked teachers through how to use the new virtual reality platform created at BLVR.ca. Teachers can create free virtual classrooms and worlds to enhance lessons, or let students create their own creations to demonstrate learning and increase engagement.

Program Specialists, Rachael MacKeigan and Nellie Keeting, showed teachers hands-on low-tech making activities that would spark student creativity and provide great ties to curriculum at any level.

They also provided a quick introduction to Brilliant Labs’ b.Board. The b.Board is an open source electronics hardware prototyping platform that allows students access to a library of over 600 different Click Boards™ of their choice. Measure heart rate, control 16 servo motors at once or make your own Internet of Things (IoT) device: it’s now all possible. Teachers can visit the Brilliant Labs Project Portal for ideas.

Teachers were excited to see the ease with which students would be able to prototype projects and had great ideas of how they could use it as part of existing lesson plans. Suggestions included creating a weather station to gather data on how differing conditions affect the growth of plants, or building a robotics vehicle from scratch.

Ms. Mackeigan and Ms. Keeting also led a session on how to record quality video content using a free program called OBS. The session included tips on how to improve sound, focus cameras, and include the teachers face while also screen recording.

“It is so important that students can see your face and your excitement during a lesson,” said Ms. Keeting, who is also the host of Brilliant Labs’ new MakerFun TV series. “Students take their cues from us, so it is always best to include yourself”.

Program Specialist, Gary Gaudet, finished the week by presenting on the educational power of Minecraft. Brilliant Labs began hosting a Minecraft server soon after remote learning began in March and has made this space available every

weekday since then.

“Students on the server participated in lots of fun, educational challenges like building a coral reef, launching a rocket, building a fireworks display, and so much more,” shared Mr. Gaudet. “Minecraft EDU is free for educators right now, so it is a good time to explore the possibilities”.

EECD recorded all sessions and they will be available soon on the Summer Learning Academy website at www.rebrand.ly/slans

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