Gulf Islands Secondary School

9 - 1 2 Tr a n s i t i o n s P r o g r a m
The Social Dimension of Learning in
Blended Learning Environments
Career Life Education
Career Life Connections
Capstone Project

By Maria G. Soto

The Gulf Islands School District #64

School District 64
The Southern Gulf Islands

consists of eleven schools and just

over 1700 students.
The district has schools on Salt
Spring Island, Saturna Island, Mayne
Island, Pender Island, Galiano Island,

and even a school in neighbouring

North Vancouver.
Although the southern Gulf Islands
distinctive geography present unique
learning

opportunities,

they

also

present several challenges.

Image Source: Google Maps

Gulf Islands Secondary School (GISS) is

the only high school in the district and

Gulf Islands Secondary School

(GISS)

enrolls around 600 students from grades

9 12

The transition in, and out of, GISS is

one of the main challenges faced by our
students
Career and Life Education courses aim
to assist students in managing these
concerns.
During the 2013-2014 school year, we

questioned if this learning was taking

place at the time when students needed
it the most

Image Source: Google Maps

G I S S 9 1 2 Tr a n s i t i o n s P r o g r a m
Career Life Education

Career Life Connections

Capstone Project

The implementation of British Columbias new curriculum replaced the Planning 10 and Graduation Transitions courses with
the 10- 12 Career Education curriculum (Career Life Education, Career Life Connections and Capstone Project).
This change gave us an opportunity to rethink the delivery of Career and Life Education and design a four-year linear program

that would target different aspects of our students' needs and concerns at each particular stage in their journey.
The first component is REAL 9, where a team of five teachers design and deliver a particular unit and the students rotate in
cohorts from teacher to teacher every three weeks during the first semester.
The program continues to offer support to students in grades 10, 11 and 12, but this support takes place outside the timetable
by organizing a variety of workshops, events and assignments outside the schools block rotation structure through a very
rudimentary blended program.

The Rational Behind the Program

Transitioning i nto
Adulthood
The intense transformation that occurs throughout high
school brings into play a lot more than academic concerns.
The transition from the middle to the high school brings
substantially different demands in regards to academic,
behavioral and social expectations.
Students in grades 10, 11 and 12 face many important
decisions, and it is crucial to provide them with appropriate
scaffolding to assist them on their path towards graduation.

Adapting to these expectations may be a long and stressful

process for many students.

Course Design
Model
When thinking about course design there are
many factors to be considered and the teacher
must balance the course learning outcomes,
students needs, expectations and goals, as
well as the available resources, to deliver the

course.
The model, then, should be simple enough to
be easily adaptable, but complex enough to be

meaningful.

The Challenge:

Keeping it Social
The Transitions Programs greatest struggle
is to provide students with opportunities to
connect with each other and their teachers
as part of the learning process
Merging the Community of Inquiry Model
(CoI) and Salmons Five Stage Model for
Teaching and Learning Online, was the ideal
framework from which to develop the
Transitions Program as it will engender the
conditions necessary to foster the social
aspect of learning.

Benefits & Problems of Online & Blended Learning

Communities
Flexibility &
Choice

Delivering a course outside the students

Challenges with
technology

timetable (without an assigned block during

school day) demands a throughout

Learning with
others

Sense of community
& belonging

assessments of the benefits and problems not

Problems

only when establishing the program but

quotidianly.
In order be successful, it is fundamental that
the teaching and administrative staff have the
general understanding of the program and are
willing to support it.

Information
Overload

Learners may be have

a different persona
online and f2f

Benefits

Continuing learning
through connections

Higher level
learning
Low
participation

Impersonality

To o l s o f O n l i n e C o m m u n i c a t i o n
Flexible
time,
flexible
place

Discussion

Asynchronous

Chat tools, IM, discussion

forums, blogs

Resource
Sharing

Media sharing sites and

applications, cloud storage,
podcasts, e-portfolios

Collaborative
Writing

Wikis, social book marking,

online word processors

Tools of
Online
Communication

Same time,
flexible
place

Synchronous
Social
Interaction

Audio / video conference

apps, internet telephony, IM,
social networking sites

When evaluating
tools ask:
How they enhance the
learning experience and
help build a learning
community?
Are they appropriate,
aligned with SD policy,
reliable, safe, user
friendly, mobile,
attractive?

Google Classroom
Google Classroom is a great platform to provide content, interactivity with content , and organization. As part of the Google Apps for Education suite,
Google Classroom provides teachers and students with lots of options to build a community, work individually or collaborate, provide feedback, and
assessment for, as and of learning.
Google has great compatibility outside the Google suite and this makes it easy to integrate new tools to any classroom setting (traditional, blended or
fully online). Also, students can continue using most of the applications for free and share them with their personal Google account.

Dashboard
File Sharing
Teacher Student communication
Content posting and accessing
Interactivity with content

Features
It is easy to create a class and add students using your Google Apps account or by
providing students with a class code.
Teachers can post announcements and assignments, share files, links and videos from
their computer, Google Drive, YouTube, etc.
Students can access assignments and work on them and submit them through Google
Drive.
Automatically organizes your folders in Google Drive by class, assignment and
students.
Teachers can provide feedback and marks directly on the documents submitted by the
students.
Students ask questions and / or make comments on assignments and announcements.
The teacher can access the comments and respond directly from the classroom site.
It is easy to include quizzes, self assessments, surveys, etc by adding a link to the tool
of your preference (Google Forms, Socrative, SurveyMonkey, etc).

Course
Design

Blueprint
A small teaching team worked
to consolidate the wealth of
disjointed information with the
goal of producing a streamlined
program that will progressively
address the needs of our
students at different stages of
their high school journey

REAL 9
(Semester 1 , 12 class rotation)
Planning 9
(High School Pathway Exploration)
Grad Requirements

REAL 9
Career
Life
Education
(A)

Course exploration
GISS Programs
Attributes of a Graduate
Junior Achievement
Careers 9
Resume building (marketing)
Labour Market
Interview Skills
Post Secondary Options
CPR + AED
Health and Wellness 9
Mental Health
Sexual Health
Substance Abuse
Handling Situations

REAL 9 Semester 2
Tools of Success

E-portfolio updates

Learning Styles & Readiness

Effective Communication & Self advocacy

Junior Achievement

Employment Standards & Work Safety

Digital Citizenship

Capstone Project Introduction

E-Portfolio Development
Self reflection
Technology Skills

Tra n s i t i o n s 1 0
(Outside the timetable)

Tr a n s i t i o n s
10
Career
Life
Education
(B)

Planning & Careers 10

(High School Pathway Decisions)

Course Selection
Resume Building

Health 10
Recognition of Community Resources
Sexual Health
Mental Health
Community Programs (PARTY PROGRAM
Need2 Program, etc)

Capstone Project Foundations

Digital Citizenship
Digital Footprint

Tra n s i t i o n s 1 1
(Outside the timetable)

Planning & Careers 11

Tra n s i t i o n s
11
C a r e e r L i fe
Connection
s (A)

(Post-Sec Pathway Exploration)

Transition to Adulthood: personal
(finances, building support networks) &
professional (networking & marketing,
resume update)
Scholarships
Interview skills

Health 11
Mental
Sexual
Post Party Program

Capstone Project Consolidation

E-portfolio update

Tra n s i t i o n s 1 2
(Shift outside the timetable)

Post Secondary Education

Tr a n s i t i o n s
12
Career Li fe
Connections
(B)

Scholarships

Applications
Financial Support

Health
Making responsible choices
Mental, sexual, physical and emotional
health
Partying safely

Independent Living
Transition to adulthood:
Housing & transportation, legalities,
finances (credit, banking, taxes,
insurance)

Capstone Project Presentation

Presentation of e-portfolio in a multigrade home room (students have the
same HR teacher from grades 10-12)