Exploring Brightspace in Ontario’s VLE event at the Thames Valley District School Board Education Centre
Join us for a free hands-on event at the TVDSB Education Centre on September 18th from 4:30pm-6:30pm to discover Brightspace in Ontario’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) powered by D2L’s Brightspace. This session which is appropriate for kindergarten to grade 12 educators, will let you discover some of the tools available to Ontario teachers through the VLE.
This event will allow educators to choose a PD stream that best fits their comfort and experience with the VLE. All sessions have been designed to offer both instructional demos as well as active hands-on experience.
Access Thames Valley Brightspace here.
Event Schedule:
4:30 – 4:45 Welcome/Introduction
4:45 – 5:35 Session 1
5:35 – 6:25 Session 2
6:25 – 6:30 Closing
Stream 1 – Beginners:
Getting Started with the VLE:
New to Brightspace in the VLE? Wondering how to access your board’s VLE? Come to this session to explore how to start using this comprehensive and flexible learning platform this school year! We will be covering important information such as login instructions, resources and support, as well as navigating within the VLE. We will show you how to access your board homepage, locate your courses, and cover some basic tips and tricks to get started.
Navigating and Setting Up Your Virtual Classroom
In this applied session, educators will collaborate with VLE experts from TVDSB and D2L to apply some best practices in setting up their own virtual classroom. In this workshop style session, educators will participate in a hands-on session helping them to set up and personalize their own classroom. This session will be a free-flowing work space for educators to work together to explore the VLE and how they will be able to apply it in the classroom.
Stream 2 – Portfolio:
Using Portfolio to Support Student Learning
An integral part of the VLE, Portfolio offers students the ability to easily transition from creating work to showcase their efforts. Learn how students and educators can create a digital portfolio through this introductory session. In this session, educators will explore ways to use digital portfolios to support student success, life-long learning, and pedagogical documentation. As an educator, you will develop an understanding of Portfolio and be able to navigate as well as manage and configure settings to personalize your classroom.
This session will include an instructional demo of Portfolio including the web experience and apps, showcasing student and teacher workflows.
You can download the Portfolio app for free here:
Application of Portfolio in your Classroom
In this applied, hands-on session, educators will work together to explore using Portfolio as a pedagogical documentation tool and develop strategies for implementing it in their classrooms. During this workshop-style session, educators will discuss applications and possible use cases, identify possible roadblocks and navigating solutions, as well as work on developing ideas for lessons to apply in the classroom.
Stream 3 – Experienced:
Engaging Your Students with the VLE: Activity Feed And Other Tools
Activity Feed and Intelligent Agents Presentation
Setting up Intelligent Agents Video
Intelligent Agents Reference Guide
In this session, educators will look at how you can use tools such as Activity Feed, Lessons and the assessment tools to help you engage with your students and save you time. This session will be both instructional and offer hands-on exploration of the tools through small groups and activities.
Note: This session is part 1 of 2, and will continue during Session #2
Engaging Your Students with the VLE: Activity Feed And Other Tools (Continued)
In this session, educators will continue to explore how tools such as Activity Feed, Lessons and the assessment tools can be applied in their classroom. This session will be both instructional and offer hands-on exploration of the tools through small groups and activities.
Be sure to bring your laptop so you can get logged in to your board’s “Virtual Learning Environment.
More about Ontario’s VLE
Ontario’s VLE is a dynamic learning platform provided by the Ministry of Education at no cost to Ontario’s publicly funded school boards.
The VLE includes digital portfolios, assignments, rubrics, lessons linked to curriculum expectations, quizzes, and much more! Hands-on breakout sessions will show you how to save time while increasing student engagement and achievement using the VLE. With such a wide variety of features, functionality, and flexibility, the VLE will appeal to all teachers—from the tech newbie to the tech guru!
Want to explore the VLE or learn more? Go to www.D2L.com/VLE and select your school board to find your login page.
Please be sure to bring a laptop to this event.