Final Vision

With a greater demand for digital resources that work well with BC’s new curriculum, I would like to update and finish my current Socials 8 online course.  I have had experiences with student and teacher friendly online offerings for over 15 years now and have always made those resources available on my personal website; www.trickey.ca .  All of the resources that I have provided at this site are organized as independent online courses.  Many schools around the province, have made use of these courses and how those resources have been used varies.  Some schools have told me that the Learning Resource Room and the counselling department make use of my courses for students at-risk.  While other classroom teachers use them to supplement their own resources.  Because I have always kept the format of the documents open, without restrictions, anyone can easily edit to fit what is being shared to their specific needs.  These two uses and approaches is not surprising in that is the ultimate aim has always been the same, to create something that can and will be used.

Switch to Online Learning during COVID

During the switch to Online Learning during the COVID crisis of the Spring of 2020, I had a few conversations with people who had made good use of the courses already posted because of the way in which they are organized and the way in which they are easily and freely accessible digitally.  My Socials 7 and Socials 8 courses in particular were found to be useful by others.  It is because of this I would like to complete my up-date of my Socials 8 course to also better align with the new BC Assessment practices around competency assessment.  My target audience will then be those Grade 8 teachers in BC who are not only looking to add to their own personal resources, but take advantage of a teacher/student friendly online course materials that may be useful if we return to Online Learning this Winter of 2020.

Large but Doable and Usable

This Vision project is a large scale and comprehensive project which includes lesson by lesson design with online, printable readings and worksheets, supplemented with supporting videos and alternative work for struggling learners.  Fortunately, a lot of the heavy work has already been done, because it is a course that I have been working on for a couple of years now, adding, supplementing, editing, etc… . What needs to be done next, is to complete or update some more of the end of unit inquiry projects and supports that can be used to help demonstrate proficiencies.  I am also looking to receive some constructive feedback as to what else can be done to make my online Socials 8 resource more usable and useful for the classroom teacher.

The intent of this Vision project follows my personal and professional philosophy that the most important aspect of teaching is the interactions and relationships that can help a student become successful.  If I can create something that lessens the amount time that needs to be devoted to preparing and planning online friendly material during a pandemic, then that time, effort and energy can be focused on those relationships, even if it has to migrate to an online form.