DAIRY NEWS
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ONTARIO DAIRY EDUCATORS RETURN TO CLASSROOMS VIRTUALLY By Jennifer Nevans
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or long-time dairy educator Sue Wideman, watching her students discover something new about dairy farming is one of the best parts of her job. “I love how the kids’ faces light up when they see the inflatable balloon Holstein I bring to their classroom, the funny faces they make when they smell corn silage and the never-ending questions they have for me,” she says. Like many other dairy educators across Ontario, COVID-19 restrictions meant she would not be able to return to the classroom and see those faces for a while, and it meant Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s (DFO) Dairy Education Program would have to quickly pivot. “It was challenging, but the crisis pushed us to expedite the development of digital education modules, including the digital Learn-
TORONTO DAIRY EDUCATOR Emma Van Buskirk presenting to students in Toronto, Ont.
PEEL DAIRY EDUCATOR Brianne Crites wraps up a virtual presentation to a class at Ray Underhill Public School in Mississauga, Ont., as the students wave goodbye to her. 8
MARCH 2021 | MILKPRODUCER
ing Management System and Dairycraft.ca,” says Audrie Bouwmeester, DFO’s manager of school programs. Now, the dairy education team is excited to be back in the classroom virtually. To date, dairy educators have conducted more than 82 virtual presentations since the beginning of the year. The announcement comes as good news for educators like Wideman. For the last 14 years, Wideman has been interacting with students face to face, conducting around 400 presentations a year at schools throughout York Region. When the pandemic forced the world to embrace virtual meetings, the idea of going virtual was hard for Wideman to grasp. “How was I going to gauge the students’ reaction to what I was teaching when they are just tiny squares on my computer screen?” she says. But demand for dairy educators to return to classrooms was overwhelming. She says teach-
ers reached out requesting virtual presentations—in one school alone, she had 15 requests for presentations. Just like many who are new to virtual meetings, technology was Wideman’s biggest concern. “I know exactly how to transition from one activity to another in person, but what happens if I can’t get the movie to play when I go to share it virtually?” Wideman says. “I practised in front of my computer for more hours than I care to share.” One of the biggest lessons she learned during the pandemic came from one of her eight-yearold students. “While doing a virtual presentation, I mentioned to the teacher I couldn’t see all the students,” she says. “One student named Luke proceeded to talk me through the steps I needed to follow in order to see all the students— teaching this old dog a new trick.” Continued on page 10 W W W.MILK PRODUCER.CA
