Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Our schools reflect the world we live in.
Today's world is a social world, a world of cooperation, creativity and knowledge.
Our role is to help young people become functional citizens
in this information-rich world, by guiding them through this labyrinth.
My name is Annick and in this video course,
I'll guide you through the steps involved in preparing a lesson here at the virtualmuseum.ca Teachers' Centre.
The Teachers' Centre is a portal at virtualmuseum.ca,
an initiative of the Canadian Heritage Information Network at the Department of Canadian Heritage.
This portal is your source for reliable bilingual Canadian multimedia content from museums across Canada.
Before using the Teachers Centre and enjoying access to all its applications,
you will need to register.
You can easily find the Teachers' Centre by doing a search using the keywords "virtual museum."
Select "Virtual Museum of Canada" and click "Teachers' Centre."
Now click "Free registration," and follow the instructions.
Take note of your username and password in case you forget them.
From now on, you can log onto the Virtual Museum site using the "Sign In" button.
Content is presented as learning object collections, individual learning objects, and digital assets.
Before creating a lesson, you'll need an idea for a theme.
A search using keywords from the index will enable you to check whether content on a given theme already exists.
The site houses extensive resources, but it does have limits.
You will find multimedia content on a wide range of subjects, but not on every subject.
Try a sample search using the keyword "ocean," for example.
Once you have a general idea of the lesson you'd like to teach,
you'll be in a better position to develop your lesson plan and decide exactly what you'll do in class with your students.
This step is crucial, since you don't want to use a new site
until you're sure you understand how to use it and have planned out your lesson in full.
The next step in building your lesson is to bookmark all the resources you plan to use.
Note that you can bookmark individual objects within learning object collections.
These files will be added to your "My Content" page automatically.
Now, you can click the "My Lessons" tab and create a new lesson.
Begin by giving your lesson a title and formulating learning objectives.
This step shouldn't be difficult because you already have your lesson plan.
You'll notice that you're required to save frequently, and that you can also preview a lesson.
Now it's time to add your lesson's building blocks: either your own text or a previously selected favourite each time.
Click the "Add My Content" button.
You'lll be taken to a page much like the "My Content" page, where all files you've saved are displayed.
Choose a favourite according to the order of your lesson.
If you'd prefer to add text with information from an outside source that your students will use
to complete an assignment, you can add a text file.
Once you've added all the files you plan to use,
you can still modify your lesson using the small arrows on the right side to move blocks around,
or by deleting files if necessary.
Finally, you can see the finished product by clicking "Lesson Preview."
Note that the lesson preview always opens in a new page.
Our lesson is now ready for use in the classroom or computer lab, or for printing.
One last reminder: technology is sometimes unreliable.
Your lesson should always include a "Plan B" in case of technical difficulties.
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/vmc_teachers for other examples or educational comments,
or on the Virtual Museum of Canada Teachers' Centre Facebook page.