On February 27, the CréaCamp Ottawa was held, organized in collaboration with the ICE (innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship) team of the Eastern Ontario Public School Board. More than 50 education professionals of all levels from Quebec and Ontario came together to reflect, explore and deepen new pedagogical approaches.
As with all CréaCamps of the École branchée, at the start of the day, participants had to make a heartbreaking choice among the five workshops offered by the team of facilitators. This was mainly made up of pedagogical advisers and dynamic teachers from CEPEO with whom the École branchée had the opportunity to meet in order to share their vision of pedagogy, digital technology and innovation!
In this series of articles, we present to you the craftsmen of this CréaCamp.
Google tools
This workshop was led by Nathalie Turgeon, Lead teacher at Nouvel Horizon public elementary school and by Stephany Bertrand, educational advisor in the field of innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship. Adept at technological efficiency, Nathalie loves to find new solutions supported by technology.
What prompted you to lead this workshop?
Nathalie: the animation of this workshop is a happy coincidence; nice colleagues thought of me to replace the colleague who was to host with Stéphany. It was a real pleasure for me to work with Stéphany and the team! Immersing myself in this world of animation allowed me to relive moments when I was an educational advisor with the TacTIC team at CFORP.
Stéphany: The desire to lead this workshop was to take up the various challenges I face with Google tools. Facilitating with Nathalie, I had no doubt that the workshop would be great and meet the needs of the participants. I had knowledge of Google tools, but Nathalie made me discover so many possibilities. I was also living a CréaCamp.
What's the first thing teachers need to know about Google Tools?
Nathalie and Stéphany: it's accessibility to tools and simplicity.
What do you think are the biggest advantages of Google tools?
Nathalie: For me, the biggest advantages are access, innovation and collaboration. The biggest advantage is that all of my Google Account content can be accessed from any device. When I hear people say " ah no, I forgot my key! », Je answer them " I have a solution for you! ". On the other hand, with any advantage comes a disadvantage, if the internet connection is not accessible, you have to think about it in advance. Which also brings me to my next advantage: innovation! Google tools are constantly changing; they are improving day by day. For some I can understand that this is unsettling, but I see it as a huge advantage. This forces me to stay alert and I quickly realized that improvements are sometimes unsettling, but always beneficial. Like the EXPLORE button for example: I feel like I have a personal assistant with me at all times! Isn't it amazing?
What did you take away from your experience as a facilitator at CréaCamp?
Nathalie: a word that sums up my experience as a facilitator at CréaCamp is EFFICIENCY. As a facilitator, I felt over-efficient, but I would say that what's even better is the appreciation of the workshop participants. They had an incredible sense of personal self-efficacy!
Stéphany: I would add that the flexibility of the facilitators ensures that each participant has the opportunity to come out of the workshop with something concrete that can put into practice in his reality after the CréaCamp
What is your educational crush?
Nathalie: For my part, the dynamic of the day is my favorite. The place encouraged discussion and the format of the day allowed for networking. Everyone was there with the desire to learn and create.
Learn more about Google tools with these two virtual trainings:
Get our Info #DevProf and l'Hebdo so you don't miss out on anything new at École branchée!