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Telling Stories, Building Skills: Canva for Digital Storytelling in the Classroom

  Staff Development Training Plan: Creating Digital Stories with Canva Title: Telling Stories, Building Skills: Canva for Digital Storytelling in the Classroom Program Purpose: This professional development session(s) is designed to introduce educators to the power of digital storytelling using Canva which is a free tool that allows teachers and students to combine visuals, text, audio, and creativity to tell meaningful stories for student engagement, reflection, and cross-curricular learning. This training is to support teacher confidence and creativity when integrating technology into teaching. By the end of the session, teachers will have the tools to create their own digital stories and begin implementing projects with students. Preparation and Materials Technology Setup : Ensure each teacher is assigned a Chromebook/laptop with: Google Chrome installed Access to Canva.com Audio/microphone support (for recording or upl...
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Balancing Screens and Social Skills

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  Today, we clearly see the effects of using computers for both work and play. Whether you're staring at a screen to complete a task in the office or trying to beat a level in a video game, extended screen time can take a toll on your overall wellbeing, including your physical and mental health. Time spent on digital devices has increased over the years. While this has led to impressive achievements and creative output, it has also brought about negative consequences. Children, in particular, now often have limited interaction with the real world and parents are concerned that children have too much screen time. In his article, McKenzie (2007) critiques the push for digital classrooms, arguing that many advocates have made sweeping generalizations not always supported by data. He specifically responds to Prensky’s (2001) claims that all children are digitally focused. McKenzie challenges this notion by pointing out that children, even of the same age group, vary in their intere...
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Learning Through Creation: Lessons from a Digital Storytelling Project

  The task of making a digital story took a lot longer than expected. Creative projects like this often take longer than expected. From experience, even something as simple as cutting paper for a matching activity can be more time-consuming than anticipated. Although this project took a significant amount of time, it was enjoyable. A task like this would be better suited to an end-of-term or end-of-year project, when students have enough time to explore ideas without feeling rushed. One challenge that can arise is understanding copyright. If students aren't aware of how fair use or fair share works, they could unintentionally misuse content. This is an important topic that should be addressed early on, as part of introducing digital work and media use. For my digital story, I chose to use the free version of Canva. The topic centered around a class project in which students planned a bake sale to raise money for gym equipment. They were responsible for calculating costs and pro...
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Stories That Click: Exploring Digital Storytelling

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  I had never heard of digital storytelling before and initially struggled to understand the concept. At first, I thought it was simply a presentation made with PowerPoint or Google Slides. Although digital storytelling can use presentation software, it involves telling an emotional story that shares a journey, incorporating facts and knowledge gained. Having understood the definition, I realized I have experienced many digital stories through films, documentaries, and YouTube. Whether they were biographies, stories of overcoming illness, or narratives told from the perspective of an object using anthropomorphism, they all used storytelling to convey an emotional and informative experience. Personal stories tend to be more engaging to tell and to hear because they create a deeper connection with the audience. There are different ways to tell stories digitally, including videos, blogs, podcasts, and more. Videos are becoming especially popular with the rise of video-sharing plat...
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Google Docs in Action: Supporting the 4Cs in Education

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  Google Docs is a powerful collaboration tool, especially useful for group projects and remote teamwork. One of its features is the availability of three editing modes, editing, suggesting, and viewing which support various stages of the writing process. A document can be shared with peers for editing, proofreading, or feedback. Collaborators can leave comments or suggestions, which the document owner can choose to accept or reject. Once finalized, the document can be prepared for printing or submission. The built-in version history allows users to track changes over time, providing a clear view of progress and accountability. Another valuable feature is the "Explore" tool, which supports collaborative research and content creation. It allows team members to search for information, images, or resources directly within the document. In group work, roles can be assigned based on individual strengths. For example, one student might gather images or conduct online research, wh...
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Making Group Work Work with Google Tools

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  Group projects can be both a rewarding and a frustrating experience. When they work well, group projects can use and develop important 21st-century skills such as collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving. Through these tasks, students learn how to share responsibility, listen to perspectives from others, and contribute toward a common goal. These skills are important in both the classroom and the wider world. One project students were engaged in was to create new packaging for a chocolate bar. The task was to design how the packaging will look and how to ensure the dimensions were correct to fit a specific size bar. Additionally, they were to cost the project to produce x amounts of the final product. Students were split into teams where they could design their own product and present their ideas to the class. Students really enjoyed this type of activity and were really engaged in the different process involved in completing the project. However, ...
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Chromebooks in Today's Classroom

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  When Chromebooks first entered the market, they weren’t seen as serious contenders by many Windows users. From a functionality perspective, they were underpowered and had significant limitations in terms of the software and applications they could run. For example, users with Microsoft accounts couldn’t install desktop versions of Microsoft Office which remains widely used in the computing world. While web-based versions like Office 365 are now available, they often lack the full functionality and responsiveness of the desktop apps, especially for more advanced users or tasks. Chromebooks rely heavily on an internet connection since most of their functions are web-based. This becomes a major drawback if students or teachers need to work in environments without stable internet access. Additionally, Chromebooks are not upgradeable, users can’t add more RAM or increase storage capacity, which limits their long term use. Windows based computers are often modular. You can upgrade ...
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