Disrupting Morning Announcements
I’ve been working on and off for a little while in the off hours on re-configuring how announcements are delivered at schools. We currently have an incredibly convoluted process that Paul Hatala and I conjured up when we were building the secondary school landing pages in the HUB (our LMS). Looking at it now, it…
I need help, STAT!
A couple of years ago, we started thinking about the idea of a student run tech team. It’s not something we can take credit for coming up with. There are numerous examples on the internet, with some secondary institutions even offering a course for credit. Check this link as well for more details: https://jennscheffer.wordpress.com/2014/12/27/student-tech-teams-101-a-toolkit-for-educators/ I…
Goodbye TV.HWDSB, Hello HWDSB.TV (or, third time is a charm)
I’m not sure how many people — outside of the 21CL team — are privy to the ongoing video platform saga here at HWDSB. Back in 2013 we recognized the need for a centralized video platform within the board. I think we are one of the few K12 school boards in Ontario with such a…
SSL Everywhere
Warning; technical details ahead: Over the weekend, the entirety of the Commons was switched over to the HTTPS protocol. This has been in the works for a few months now, and took a few key steps. We first needed to secure all of the content that you share on your site. We accomplished this by…
The Commons Experiment
5 years ago, around this time of the year, we sat in the Memorial Building in Ancaster, feeling like perhaps it was too late, and that maybe we should wait to launch until Semester Two. What would become the Commons had just been brought to life on a small server. Most of the summer was…
It’s Your Turn
We have been maintaining this blog for a few years now. We blog on it quite sporadically. Sometimes I think that’s because when we are working with teachers, the stories we have are their stories, and we might break their trust by telling them. I can tell my own stories, but I can’t tell your…