SET-BC Blog

Central Okanagan Kindergarten teachers, Barbara and Jolene, explore the use of FreshGrade e-portfolios to engage students and build a strong home and school connection. Read more

Grade 6/7 students at Glenbrooke Middle School in New Westminster explore coding through Scratch as a way of demonstrating their knowledge of the human body. Read More

At a recent workshop, teachers in SD85 Vancouver Island North braved a power outage and some stormy conditions to learn and plan engaging PBE activities for their students. Read More

Lisa Schneider, a Grade 5 teacher at McKenzie Elementary in Victoria, inspires us with her determination to effectively use Chromebooks and Google tools to include and support all students in her class. Read more

Ford is a bright Grade 1 student who is using a video magnifier to support his love of learning. Read More

Kristina Carley's Grade 4/5 students at Marlborough Elementary in Burnaby have added Clicker 7 and Google Docs to their technology toolbelts and are writing up a storm! Read more

Norman Jay, a science teacher at Magee Secondary, explores using his own YouTube channel and iPad technology to "flip" his senior science classes. Read more

Three teachers (classroom, resource, and teacher-librarian) at Pierre Trudeau Elementary in Vancouver have teamed up to support each other as they successfully implement Clicker 7 and Clicker iOS apps in a Grade 3 classroom. Read More

Janine Buckley, a Grade 4/5 teacher at Ecole Puntledge Park Elementary in Courtenay, rises to the challenge of supporting her students' needs by app-smashing a variety of iOS apps. Read more

We are very excited to be offering additional Synergy Project support for the 2017-2018 school year! These are district- or school-based projects focusing on four areas. Deadline is June 15th! Read more

This year, Michelle Walsh-Anstey, a Grade 3 teacher at Rogers Elementary in Victoria, has effectively supported her students' Language Arts and Social Studies work using iPads and iOS apps. Read more

We are excited to announce that the applications for the 2017-2018 Synergy Projects (formerly known as the Classroom-based Projects) are now available! Check our our Synergy Project area for complete information! Read more

Catching up on Andrew McPhee's SD64 Fernwood Elementary Grade 5 class and their inspirational use of technology to develop problem solving and critical thinking skills. Read More

Cette année scolaire, Hazel Lising, professeur de français langue seconde à l’école David Thompson à Vancouver, introduit la technologie à ses classes pour voir ce qu’elle pourrait ajouter à l’enseignement et l’apprentissage de langue. Read More

During the 2015-2016 school year, SD 63 Saanich participated in a SET-BC District Project in which classes at North Saanich Middle School and Claremont Secondary successfully piloted Read & Write for Google Chrome. Watch Video

Our online training schedule for March, April, May and June is now available! Check out our Upcoming Events calendar for the many interesting options being presented - a quick way to learn about a technology you are currently using or…

Two schools in Saanich are exploring new ways to help students learn to write a five point paragraph using RW4GC (Read and Write for Google Chrome) and G Suite tools on Chromebooks. Read More

On February 28th, SET-BC will be facilitating a provincial workshop on complex needs technologies that support students accessing AAC and computers through eye gaze. The workshop is being hosted by the Surrey school district but is open to anyone interested…

We are happy to announce that the CNTP 2016-2017 technologies are starting to ship this week! Boxes should start arriving in districts by mid-week - we look forward to hearing from teams as they receive this important complex needs trial…

Photo credit: Monica Berra Only a short time ago the practice of 'learning to code' was very inaccessible. A missing semicolon, an uncapitalized letter, or getting the math not quite right meant that a program would simply crash. This year,…

Students in Grade 4/5 French Immersion at Ecole John Stubbs Memorial Elementary in Sooke are exploring and using different apps to demonstrate their learning in a number of curricular areas. Integrating photos, videos, handwriting, text, voice input, and sound recording,…

SET-BC is hosting an exciting conference on February 21st and 22nd! The conference, entitled Supporting Diversity in the Secondary School Setting, is an opportunity for educators (and District Partners!) to get together to learn how to support students who may…

From January to March, our consultants have a great lineup of online training opportunities that we hope will interest teams using technology with students. Some sessions titles include: overviews of Clicker apps, iOS accessibility, Co:Writer Universal implementation, Explain Everything app,…

A morning spent in Andrew McPhee’s classroom in Salt Spring Island’s Fernwood Elementary beautifully illustrates the benefit of integrating technology into the heart of the classroom curriculum. Read More

There have been a number of new trainings added to the amazing list of FREE 30 Minute trainings in the on-line calendar for the month of November. If you are looking brush up on SOLO6 – there is a 5…

At this time of year, we would like to remind you of some of the Remembrance Day student technology-based resources we have available in our collection.         Remembrance Day A story about Remembrance Day and attending a…

We are excited to announce the second year of our Complex Needs Technology Project!  District teams are invited to apply for participation in the project over the next three weeks.  The project is designed to support district capacity to trial…

On December 5th, Darren Laur makes a return visit to SET-BC presenting his very popular Internet Safety for Educators workshop. Darren presented this topic last year at our Virtual District Partner Conference and many attendees indicated the information shared was…

It has been a very busy October as we approach the October 31st Collaborative Action Plan deadline. SET-BC consultants have been focused this month on completing the planning process with district and school teams for services in all three tiers.…

While most teachers in BC were enjoying the first Professional Development day of 2016-2017, many SET-BC consultants were busy facilitating Tier 1 and Tier 2 Pro D sessions all over the province. Read More

We were excited to launch our new SETdirect Social Inclusion Project in October. The focus of SETdirect is to support social inclusion for complex needs students by providing district teams with simple technologies that can be used for a variety…

On September 26th, SET-BC was delighted to host a large group of Korean students, support workers, teachers, and Korean education ministry delegates as they visited our program as part of their BC tour. Read More

On September 30th, eight vision resource teachers and two student support workers came together at the SET-BC Provincial Centre in Vancouver to attend a workshop to learn more about the Focus 40, a refreshable braille display from Scientific Freedom. Read…

SET-BC's Retired Inventory Program 2016-2017 started this week! District Specialists are invited to request specialized equipment that has been retired from our Provincial Loan Bank. Bookmark the Retired Inventory Program webpage and check back frequently as available equipment is constantly…

Our SET-BC consultants are providing a large number of online training sessions for teams interested in implementing some of the more commonly used software and apps. Check out the SET-BC Online Training Flyer  for more information or go directly to…

We are so excited to be welcoming Adrienne Gear back for another great presentation!  On November 16th, she will be presenting Nonfiction Reading Power at the SET-BC Provincial Centre with streaming to other locations around the province. In this full day…

With the cool days of fall coming soon, you may be looking for some technology-based resources to support student learning. Take a moment to check out a few examples of our autumn-themed student resources currently available in pictureSET and curriculumSET!  …

SET-BC provides three tiers of both core and supplemental services.  We've created a "Quick Start Guide" for BC educators to use to determine what services are available, how to apply for the services and where to go on our site…

We are very excited to be starting the new school year with new staff, new projects, and renewed energy!  After enjoying the summer break, our SET-BC consultants are anxious to begin supporting teams using technology to support students.  The first…

In Shelly Chandra's grade 4 classroom at Fraserwood Elementary, students are learning how to identify their own "Success in Progress". Students select, reflect, and share their learning in FreshGrade using a blend of devices provided by SET-BC, the school, and…

iPads and Clicker Apps are having a big impact on learning at a little school in northern BC.​  Students at Kitwanga Elementary are using Clicker apps and Adrienne Gear's reading and writing strategies to support their literacy development. Read More

Eralee is a cheerful grade five student living in Kaslo, B.C. Her team decided to implement Clicker 6 software to help develop her literacy and academic skills.​ Read More

In the past month, we've been delighted to hear about students all over our province using classroom- and student-based technology solutions to support their learning. We've heard from teachers at all grade levels who have embraced the challenge and the…

Look at all the great learning opportunities available on-line through SET-BC in the month of May. There are general topics like Digital Citizenship. There are platform specific presentations like Visual Schedule Apps, On-line Tools for differentiating text and Mac OS…

We are excited to announce that the third provincial classroom-based projects - innovative projects - is now available for team application. Teams interested in submitting an application for support in the 2016-2017 school year should visit our http://www.setbc.org/current-projects-available-for-application for information…

Eda is a grade 2/3 student in the Vancouver school district. She is an independent, happy girl and this has allowed her to quickly learn how to use technology to help her participate in class and express her learning. Eda's…

On a snowy day in February, SET-BC Tier 1 consultants, Takashi Yamada and Debby Kim facilitated a workshop on “Project Based Learning (PBL) in the Secondary Classroom” using the principles and guidelines of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) at Whistler…

We are already planning our events for the 2016-2017 school year and wanted to give everyone an early notice of our scheduled District Partner Conference.  It will be held February 21st and 22nd, 2017 in Richmond and we are delighted…

On April 15, 2016, Prince Charles Secondary School in Creston hosted a SET-BC facilitated student workshop focusing on how to build their individual Universal Design For Learning (UDL) Tool Kit. During the session, the students explored the meaning of UDL,…

At John Henderson School in Vancouver, Grade 4 students are using iPads and Clicker apps to develop writing fluency. Classroom teacher Joan Jung and resource teacher Kim Grey have been busy implementing a Tier 2 classroom-based solution they received from…

Sherri's class continues to amaze us with their latest inquiry-based project. The class has produced a short informational video about Green Screen Technology to introduce parents to the technology that they had been using. With a little support from their…

We have great 30 minute online training opportunities for the end of April and beginning of May. Are you looking for training in Kurzweil 3000, Clicker 6, SOLO 6, Boardmaker, Chrome extensions, Digital Citizenship, Co:Writer app or Sensory apps? Check…

Brian Ee, a teacher at Lord Selkirk Elementary in Vancouver, embraces all his superhero powers to help his students learn to write. As a recipient of a SET-BC Tier 2 classroom-based solution this school year, Brian has learned to use…

With a Tier 2 classroom-based technology loan of 15 Chromebooks from SET-BC this year, Shelley Putman is “Going Google” in her grade 5 classroom at Mountain Elementary in SD #34 (Abbotsford). With assistance from one of the district’s technology helping…

Our SET-BC consultants are providing a large number of online training sessions for teams interested in implementing some of the more commonly used software and apps. Check out the SET-BC Online Training Flyer April - June 2016  for more information…

Each year SET-BC supports a small number of classroom-based technology projects. These are provincially coordinated and different from the Tier 2 classroom-based solutions that are supported through our standard service delivery model. Applications for the 2016-2017 provincial classroom-based projects are…

Join us for face-to-face sessions at the SET-BC Provincial Centre during April, May and June to explore common technology tools you already have in your classroom! Participants will learn how to use their technology and then have time to use…

At Sir Alexander MacKenzie Elementary School in Vancouver, teacher Sean Martin has taken a thoughtful, logical approach to introducing technology to his students.  His Grade 4 students have a myriad of learning needs from written output challenges and learning disabilities…

Maggie Wherle, an award winning writer, accomplished musician and innovative artist has been sharing her creative gifts since she started as a Kindergarten student at Margaret Jenkins Elementary 4 years ago. Maggie recently won first prize for her age category…

The students in Christine Lang's Grade 2 classroom at Lord Roberts Elementary probably have no idea what Universal Design for Learning is but they experience it every day!   Their teacher offers them many different ways to engage, express and…

Adapting to Change ​- A Northern District Builds its Capacity to Support Complex Needs Students For some district teams, the change to SET-BC's three-tiered service delivery model had initially necessitated facing some challenges around how the district would meet the…

The North Saanich Middle School team is implementing Google Apps for Education (GAFE) and Google Read Write in order to support grade 6/7 students in an inclusive model middle school. Their hope is that GAFE will allow all students within…

Students in Ted Coombs' Grade 3/4 class at Livingstone Elementary in Vancouver are finding new and innovative ways to connect with each other and their learning.  It's all thanks to staff that are interested in trying new approaches with popular…

As you may know, we shipped the Complex Needs Technology Bundles to districts just before spring break.  Teams quickly sent messages of excitement as they opened the many boxes to discover all the technology tools they will be able to…

With spring upon us, we naturally think of celebrating our favourite planet - Earth! These resources will help your students participate in Earth Day type activities. CurriculumSET Earth's Natural Resources (Clicker 5/6) - This activity will help students learn and write…

As SET-BC consultants delivering technology training to educators all over the province, we hope we are making a difference for students and building team capacity to use technology to support them in the classroom setting. Sometimes, we find out our…

Our Technical Support Team is very busy this week shipping the many (many!) boxes of equipment for the Complex Needs Technology Project. We are very pleased that we can get these tools for assessment and trials into the hands of…

District teams are already meeting to plan for their SET-BC services in the coming school year.  To help with this planning, we have released the SET-BC Service Delivery Guide 2016-2017 with updated information, examples, templates, and sample forms. The guide…

With the support of Lynnmour's Principal Kelly La Roue and help from SET-BC consultant Nedra Post, Kindergarten teacher Tessa Harrington has been incorporating the technology loaned by SET-BC into her daily teaching practice. She began this year with two goals…

At Juniper Ridge Elementary in SD#73 (Kamloops), Grade 1 students are using iPads and the "Explain Everything" app to practice reading and to receive self-feedback. The classroom received a SET-BC Tier 2 classroom solution this year in the form of…

Teacher Josh Withrow and the Grade 7 students at John Knox Christian School are creating podcasts with their SET-BC Tier 2 Classroom Based Solution. Josh chose iPads to engage his students in podcasting because he felt that infusing technology into…

"I had never used an iPad before this school year." - Salt Spring Island Middle School, Classroom Teacher. Salt Spring Island Middle School's grade 6/7 teacher and students have been learning together this year. Teacher, Kim Moffat, with the support of…

Educators around BC have created some "love"ly resources for February. Check out these popular activities from curriculumSET and pictureSET... ​​Valentine Spelling [ClassroomSuite4] This Valentines Spelling activity is for Grade 1, Grade 2 - Using an onscreen keyboard, where the letters you don’t…

Students and teachers in Lac La Hache, a small rural school in SD#27 (Cariboo-Chilcotin), have built on the successful implementation of technology last year and are using Clicker apps and Clicker 6 software to support literacy development. Following UDL and…

Allison Bos, a teacher in the Cariboo-Chilcotin school district, explains how supporting Universal Design for Learning (UDL) strategies with iPad technology has transformed her students’ learning and her own teaching. Student engagement has increased significantly and students are able to…

On January 21st, 2016, the SET-BC Provincial team was delighted to welcome Adrienne Gear back for her third presentation.  Adrienne provided workshop participants with another engaging presentation on "Reading Power" during which she highlighted strategies to help all students with…

Creativity abounds in a Grade 3/4 class at Ecole Sandy Hill Elementary where teacher, Nancy Desormeaux, has embarked on a SET-BC Tier 2 Classroom Based Solution.  A morning spent in her classroom provided a snapshot of an animated group of…

Relevant, individualized and evidence-based professional development is an important goal for all school districts in British Columbia. When it comes to planning effective Professional Development activities to help staff who support students who use Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC) the planning…

Wood Elementary is a small elementary school in the picturesque Alberni Valley.  In Ms. Clark's busy grade 5 class, students are beginning to use a word-cueing program called WordQ.  WordQ is a simple, yet powerful text prediction and reading tool…

As in past years, we are provincially supporting a number of classroom-based projects this year around the province.  These are distinct from the Tier 2 Classroom-based Solutions that district teams have identified for support through our core three-tiered service delivery…

SET-BC is pleased to be hosting a second virtual District Partner Conference on February 16th and 17th. For those who ​attended sessions last year, you will notice some changes! Darren Laur - a provincially and nationally decorated Canadian Law enforcement professional - will be…

There were are few 'Aha moments' at Ecole Aubrey Elementary School recently as classroom teams discovered Clicker 6 resources in SET-BC's CurriculumSET and the Cricksoft collection. Two teachers exclaimed 'Oh my goodness' at the same time. Their smiles told it all! ​ The…

We are very pleased to announce that applications are now available for our Complex Needs Technology Project. The purpose of the project is to assist BC school districts in building their capacity to support students with complex needs. This project…

SET-BC consultants will be facilitating a wide variety of online sessions between January and March. These short, 30 minute sessions are quick, convenient, and designed to help you explore many of the common technology tools that can help engage and…

Happy New Year to everyone! If you'd like to jump into learning in 2016, Dr. Bruce Beairsto is hosting an SFU CSELP Symposium: Purposeful Use of Technology: beginning with the end in mind, and keeping it on February 13, 2016.…

We hope you have a wonderful holiday season with family and friends. The SET-BC Provincial Centre will be closed from December 28th to January 1st.  We will reopen on January 4th - we look forward to working with you in 2016!…

Many classroom teachers around the province have started implementing Tier 2 classroom-based solutions with their students.  At Pebble Hill Elementary in SD37, Lois Scott and her Grade 1 students have started using iPads with Clicker apps to support their literacy development.…

In November 2013, Weimen was introduced to a new communication system - Touch Chat on an iPad. His team reports that it has made a big difference in how he communicates in his school setting. With Touch Chat his social…

Araina uses the Touch Chat app on an iPad to communicate with peers and adults in her primary classroom. Once the iPad was introduced, she quickly learned how to participate in all aspects of her classroom activities. Read more

The holiday season has begun. Along with decorations, crafts and sing-alongs, curriculumSET and PictureSET offer great themed activities that are easy to download and start using with students and classes. Take a look at all the festive fun! Boardmaker 7…

​We are pleased to highlight two new areas of our ​online technology tutorials - Chrome Extensions and iPad ​Accessibility.  These resources contain short video demonstrations - the Chrome extension tutorials show how to access various Chrome extensions that will support students who are…

​We were very pleased last week to host Caroline Musselwhite and Adrienne Gear here at the SET-BC Provincial Centre. Caroline presented "Communication Circles" where she discussed the importance of forming groups of peers who support AAC users in the classroom setting.…

SET-BC will be hosting its first ever "unconference" or Edcamp style day of learning on December 10th in Vancouver.  The focus of the day is "Technology in the UDL Classroom" but, because of the way these days are organized, sessions…

The SET-BC team passed two milestones in this first year of provincial implementation of the new service delivery model. The deadline for District Requests for Service was September 30th. Even with a very short month, BC school districts met that…

Upcoming SET-BC provincial workshops - There is so much going on! Our provincial team is coordinating several upcoming Professional Development events. Please see the attached flyers for: Carolyn Musslewhite - Supporting Communicative Competence for AAC Users - November 23rd Adrienne…

On November 11th, members of the Canadian Armed Forces are commemorated.  This day marks the date and time when armies stopped fighting in World War I (the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month). Students in Lac…

On Friday, September 25th, there were no children roaming the halls of Trafalgar Middle School in Nelson, BC. But learning was definitely taking place! A group teachers and educational assistants from Trafalgar and LVR Rogers Secondary school gathered to explore the software…

We are very pleased to be hosting Dr. Bruce Beairsto on October 29th – live in Vancouver and streamed to Coquitlam, Quesnel, and Kamloops.  During this session, Dr. Beairsto will be sharing his personal journey of understanding over 35 years…

BC School Districts around the province have completed the first critical step in acquiring SET-BC services in the 2015-2016 school year. By September 30th, all districts needed to have submitted their annual District Request for Service (also known as the…

On September 8th, 9th, and 10th, SET-BC consultants from around the province met in Richmond at the first Provincial Plenary Session of the 2015-2016 school year.  It was a busy three days of discussions, planning, learning, and collaborating.  With the…

“Goodbyes always make my throat hurt…”  Charlie Brown. SET-BC will be starting the school year missing some of our long time staff.  We wanted to wish the following SET-BC consultants the best of luck in their new personal or professional…

As we roll into the new school year, there are several new SET-BC initiatives that have been designed to improve our Professional Development and training services.  One is the introduction of our SETconcierge who will provide personalized support for BC…

Taking the concept of the help you receive from a hotel concierge, our SETconcierge can offer you personalized Professional Development and training help designed to meet your individual learning goals, style and schedule. There are so many options available for…

We are so excited to be hosting a newly finished self-directed course called Curriculum for All.  This course has been developed by Shelley Moore and it is full of great information and strategies to help educators plan to provide an…

After a very successful pilot year in 2014-2015, we are excited to be bringing our three-tiered service delivery model to all districts in 2015-2016.  During the pilot year, nine school districts around the province tested the process for accessing our…

It’s hard to believe that PSAP – the Provincial Software Acquisition Plan – is going into its 11th year!  The Plan started with a focus on Kurzweil 3000 but, after a couple of years, grew to include many other literacy…