Beginning 2021 as an ACE

A special google doodle to start the school year

It is a new year and today is the first day of school for teachers and students. At my workplace, we welcomed quite a large number of teachers too during our divisional meet earlier today. Just that they would not exactly be teaching for some time. 

Began with a little poll on Slido

My boss, the divisional director, welcomed us all warmly (as warmly as he can through the zoom windows as some of us still work from home) back to a new work year by laying out his expectations and sharing his perspectives on the work to come. 

Cynefin framework

Showing the cynefin framework again for the benefit of the newbies, he explained how our division was possibly dealing with more of the 3Cs especially since we are dealing with technology. I agree that most, if not all, our tasks or work are not simple or obvious. However, I am still considered relatively new in this space and I always take the learner's stance to be open minded and prepare myself to be ready to take on any challenges. 

Last year, before the pandemic truly disrupted our work lives, my boss shared only 4 things that the division were focusing on. This year, due to accelerations and implementations of new policy, we have a bit more on our plate. We also have to keep in mind public sentiments as the memory of HBL is still pretty vivid and there are those who only have bad things to say about how the system coped during the crisis. However, good work cannot stop just because of sentiments and instead one should just strive to improve further moving forward.

ETD Values (ICT-AS)

There are certain skills, attitudes and values that are expected for one to thrive where I work and I personally feel that one should really take the initiative to upskill and upgrade oneself to be better able to address the increasingly complex, if not yet chaotic, world that we face as 21st century educators.

Adobe Educators Profile

I realised that for some of the work that I have been assigned to I will need a higher level of imagination and creativity so I decided to start picking up some relevant skills as an Adobe Creative Educator. (ACE) Completing some online courses with practical components, I was able to attain the ACE level 1 and 2 qualifications and learn about the various tools that Adobe Creative Cloud offers for educators to teach students to be creative (Note that creative teachers do not guarantee students' creativity). 

Congratulatory screens at the end of the courses

I was quite pleasantly surprised to learn about Adobe's SPARK which is like a Canva alternative and I had the chance to make simple infographics/posters and quick videos to share some of the things I took away from the lessons. I even posted one of my simpler artefacts on Twitter too.

I also learnt about Adobe Acrobat and the functions it offers. I am hoping to try out the Blackout Poetry variation perhaps with a Blackout Summary for my future English language lessons. There are still much more to learn from the Adobe Education Exchange platform and I hope to find time to pick up the skills gradually or in a just in time manner for my workplace. It definitely helps that the platform gamifies the PD process with points and even a leaderboard as well as badges for us to continue learning and becoming better educators who apply and share what we have learnt in the schools we are in. 

Check out the ACE courses for PD using Adobe Tech tools for Education. #AdobeEduCreatives pic.twitter.com/CnM1h8FpkE

— Suhaimizs (@SuhaimiZS) December 22, 2020