Bamboo Beat

Welcome to The Canvascasters Podcast.

Jim Wolf has finally joined our show! In his current position, Jim trains and coaches teachers on Canvas utilization and other educational platforms and trains teachers on technology integration. He has a MSEd in Education from DePaul University and a MSEd in Instructional Technology from Northern Illinois University. Jim is a Certified Technology Specialist, a Canvas Administrator, Instructure Advocate, a Google Certified Educator levels 1 and 2, and an Apple Teacher.

He is currently studying for his Certified Education Technology Leader Certification. Jim is also currently working through BETA testing for the Canvas Certified Educator program, as well as facilitating CCE courses. He truly believes that technology is the best way to engage with students. In his free time, Jim does documentary and artistic photography, and he has recently become a beekeeper. He is a California transplant and when Jim grows up, he hopes to become a Director of Instructional Technology.

Find Jim Wolf on Twitter @wjameswolf

*****Canvas Certified Educator Program*****

Love using Canvas? We invite you to deepen your Canvas knowledge and officially become a Certified Canvas Educator. Take a series of online courses designed to strengthen your hands-on experience teaching with Canvas as you learn pedagogical best practices for online and blended learning.

Music Provided By:

Finding Happiness by Dj Quads http://soundcloud.com/aka-dj-quads

Music provided by Free Music for Vlogs https://youtu.be/Yh9fk9iLR4s

Sponsorships: on for this episode

Shelly and guest co-host Amber Williams huddle-up with Janie Solinski -Ruddy to talk about the new and improved Training Services Portal for Canvas. We also talk #ConfettiWithCanvas and talk mental wellness moments with our #CanvasFam!

Submit your #ConfettiWithCanvas moments, and win stuff!! Let's Share the Shine!

Guest Host Nicole Hiers, Principal Instructional Designer for Instructure, chats with Dr. KC Testerman, manager of Instructure’s Learning Services, to talk all about acts of appreciation teachers need and deserve. And from all of us at Instructure, thank you to teachers everywhere, both past and present, who give so much each day to help to shape our future.

In this episode, Marcus chats with Jenni Balcom, a fifth year teacher at Episcopal Collegiate School, an independent school in Little Rock, Arkansas. She teaches 6th to 10th grade students Spanish, and co-sponsors a Middle School Language Club. We discuss some ways in which Canvas LMS truly enhances her classes and specifically, the history and culture elements of her curriculum. Some of the most memorable moments of learning a new language, are in learning about Spanish speaking countries around the World, their history, their culture, their music, and more!

This week we welcome Snehal Bhakta to the Canvascasters Podcast!

Currently, Snehal is a CTE Administrator employed for the 5th largest school district in the country, Clark County School District(CCSD) focusing on ensuring that Nevada’s future workforce is prepared for success. Snehal has worked on projects related to increasing student and community participation with National Job Shadow Day, started an Annual Student Workforce & Innovation Summit for seniors, promoted growth of Career & Technical Student Organizations, and leads CCSD’s #GirlsinSTEM and #GirlsinTECH Initiatives as well as supporting STEM Equity and Diversity programs across 59 middle and 47 high schools especially for those students that are underserved and underrepresented.

Mr. Bhakta also serves as the Nevada Affiliate Coordinator for NCWIT(National Center for Women & Information Technology), legislative member for the Society of Information Management(SIM) of Las Vegas, steering committee member for the Intermountain STEM Steering Committee, and holds board positions on several other local organizations.

In 2017, he was awarded the Top Tech Exec Award in the Education Category by Cox Communications and in 2019, the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity(NAPE) awarded Snehal the 2019 Rising Star award at their National Summit for Educational Equity in Washington, D.C. and received the COX Business 2019 Top Tech Lifetime Achievement Award for his work with diversity in the workforce in Southern Nevada.

Mr. Bhakta has also been appointed in 2020 to the Governor’s Advisory Board for STEM, Nevada State Multicultural Committee, National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity(NAPE) Executive Committee, and the Inclusion, Access, Equity and Diversity Taskforce for the Association of Career and Technical Education(ACTE).

In This Episode You Will Hear Great Stuff Like:

“Data is great, but you still gotta work with humans”

“You can tackle equity with a hammer or with a scalpel”

“Empower learners to CHOOSE a CTE path, rather than force them down that path.”

You can find Snehal on Twitter @Snehalstocks

*****Canvas Certified Educator Program*****

Love using Canvas? We invite you to deepen your Canvas knowledge and officially become a Certified Canvas Educator. Take a series of online courses designed to strengthen your hands-on experience teaching with Canvas as you learn pedagogical best practices for online and blended learning.

Music Provided By:

Finding Happiness by Dj Quads http://soundcloud.com/aka-dj-quads

Music provided by Free Music for Vlogs https://youtu.be/Yh9fk9iLR4s