Monthly Archives: October 2018

Oct 31 2018
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332thursday10

21st Century Teaching…What Gives?!

Hey everyone! This time I decided to use Piktochart  for Dr. Michele Jacobsen’s article “Teaching in a Participatory Digital World” and Henry Jenkin’s video “The Influence of Participatory Culture on Education“. Last time I attempted to make a sketch note…and I have come to find that Piktochart can be used in a similar way, except much less time consuming. The best part is being able to edit my assignment unlike the sketch note where once I write something down with pen or marker it’s set.

For this assignment it really started to open up my view of participatory culture and how digital society creates helps to promote participatory. Prior to reading through Michele’s article my perspective of teaching and learning with digital technology was low. I wanted nothing to do with it. I have continually taken a stubborn position in resisting the change because it has seemed too daunting for me to do online participation. I have tried to stick to only in person collaboration. BUT, I’ve come to learn that it is not as scary or difficult as I first thought and that it can actually be quite effective in learning and help keep both myself and students more engaged in whatever lesson or material is being taught.

During my placement my associate teacher was using a few different platforms and technologies that I found really enhanced the classroom learning environment. There was technology used that connected the students to the teacher online even after school and in a safe manner; there is always a concern that teachers need to be careful in communicating with students to ensure no inappropriate relationship is developed. Even the parents were able to connect to the same website between the students with a special login. The parents are able to both easily message the teacher and view the marks of their kids on this website. I found the students become continually engaged in participating in something called “missions” which is like a multiple choice quiz, but it also includes short teaching reminder videos in between. This was easily used because my associate teacher books an iPad cart for his class quite often. The students are really able to participate together in the online learning it really has boosted the class collaboration.

Another part I found interesting was the benefit of not just the students, but the teachers collaborating together as well. My associate teacher frequently participates in extra professional development and exchanges ideas with other teachers and this helps him to learn and improve upon his own teaching in the class room, especially with keeping pace with other classes in the same subject and grade.

The way I organized my piktochart was showing the new shift in digital technology and digital learning. I  described how there are many benefits in teaching more in this way.

Link to my Piktochart

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Oct 31 2018
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332thursday10

Education and Technology are Friends not Foes

For my second multimedia reflection I made my infographic based on Henry Jenkins’ Video: The influence of participatory culture on education, as well as the “Teaching in a Participatory Digital World” article written by Dr. Michele Jacobsen.

I chose to do an infographic using Piktochart and Microsoft PowerPoint. For the last reflection I made a sketchnote, so I decided to branch out from “pen and paper” to a fully digital medium. I enjoyed creating an infographic as I found it to be a clear and organized way to get points across. I am excited to try a different style of medium for my next reflection, as the infographic was easy to use but it was also slightly creatively restrictive.  I used Piktochart to make my title banner, and then used PowerPoint to make the rest of my infographic. I chose to use both platforms as I find PowerPoint gives you more freedom, is more user-friendly and has less restrictions. I like the font selection on Piktochart, as well as the background options, which is why I used it to make the title banner.

When watching Jenkins’ video, I was struck by Jenkins’ saying “Don’t build something like YouTube. Use YouTube”, when referring to how a lot of educators are trying to remake things in technology that already exist. This really struck me as I think many people shy away from technology thinking that it is this dangerous thing that cannot possibly be used for educational purposes, when really, it can be an amazing and enriching tool. This also made me realize that “moving forward” onto bigger and better things is not always necessary, and instead there are benefits to working with what you already have.

Jacobsen’s article highlighted to me how it can be frightening for teachers to have to embrace so much new technology but also how rewarding it can be. I think many teachers are initially opposed to technology, because they simply don’t understand it. I remember in elementary school and high school, the majority of my teachers used an overhead projector, or simply just the chalkboard to teach our lessons. I even had one teacher who would use an actual old-school movie projector (I’m talking about the ones that use film), because they “couldn’t” find the movie in any other format…It was 2009. It’s not that the technology wasn’t out there and available in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, but instead it was new, and many educators were afraid to use it or were stuck in their ways. They were on their own when it came to technology, so my more tech-savvy teachers (often the younger ones), incorporated a little bit of technology into the classroom, but not nearly as much as is incorporated today. Jacobsen highlighted in her article, that top-down support is crucial for technology to be incorporated properly into classrooms. I think if more support and resources were provided to my teachers at that time, then they would have felt more comfortable with incorporating technology into the classroom.

Before reading this article, I never realized that the reason for lack of technology in my classrooms growing up, wasn’t necessarily because the teachers didn’t want to use it. Instead, it was because they didn’t have the necessary resources from administration to be confident in using it. Reading this article was very enlightening as it allowed me to think back on my past experiences with technology at school in a completely different manner. It made me critically think about how my school experience with technology could have been very different if my teachers were given the support mentioned in Jacobsen’s article.

The little use of technology from my school experiences is far from the participatory learning technologies that Jacobsen discusses in her article. Participatory learning is interactive, and it requires support from administration. Which is why I think it is so important that Jacobsen highlighted the need for top-down support. The ministry needs to provide professional development for principals so that they can better support their teachers and ensure that the students have the resources they need.

I plan on using the knowledge gained from Jacobsen’s article and Jenkins’ video in my own teaching practices, and hope to be able to incorporate technology in a meaningful manner. Jacobsen’s article reminded me of our lesson in Lecture #3 on the SAMR model (by Dr. R. R. Puentedura) about how technology should not be simply a substitution for something, but instead it should enhance and offer something more than what was possible before (redefinition). I am excited to further explore participatory learning, and use technology to redefine what was possible before. I am also excited to read and watch everyone else’s posts and opinions on the article and video.

Multimedia Reflection #2 – This link is to the .pdf version of my infographic, which has clearer images and working hyperlinks.

References: 

Henry Jenkins: the influence of participatory culture on education. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYbSD_GdkjU

Jacobsen, M. (2010). Teaching in a participatory digital world. https://www.edcan.ca/articles/teaching-in-a-participatory-digital-world

SAMR Model: A Practical Guide for EdTech Integration. https://www.schoology.com/blog/samr-model-practical-guide-edtech-integration

Image Sources:

https://annenberg.usc.edu/faculty/communication-journalism/henry-jenkins

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1061/1924/files/100_Emoji.png?9898922749706957214

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Oct 31 2018
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332thursday10

Digital World Takeover

My multimedia reflection, a Twitter essay was based on the article Teaching in a Participatory Digital World by Michele Jacobsen and the video, The Influence of Participatory Culture on Education by Henry Jenkins where the takeover of the new world of digital technology and the Web 2.0 in education is discussed. The article and the video both have many supporting arguments as to why teachers and the education systems should use these new technologies to their benefit. Before reading this article, I thought that technology should be introduced into the classroom more and more with the upbringing of all of these digital platforms. Growing up with technology, I have seen the importance and benefits that the technology brings to learning habits. I personally have gotten the opportunity to incorporate technology into my education and hope that I can do the same for my students education in a way to benefit their learning. I think that it is important that teachers take this step forward to learn how to properly use all this technology for the benefit of the students. It may be a lot of work for the teachers to get started and it may be hard for them to put aside their old ways but it is the way society is going and we should keep up with it. I think that it is an important learning curve for the teachers to take, to benefit the students learning.

These platforms create participatory platforms that can benefit the classroom by enforcing higher order critical thinking through creative participation, focused conversation, innovative explorations and online simulations and experiments. These technologies can help develop deeper understanding and increased motivation with the students with active participation and different ways of learning. I know that some subjects may be hard to incorporate more of this inquiry based thinking through digital technologies, that is okay. I think it is okay to have a blend of both, the old-fashioned way of teaching and this new interactive style with digital technology. These digital technologies can also benefit the classroom with the reflection portion of leaning where online environments can easily be created for peer collaboration and individual reflection. Using the digital world to enhance teaching also allows the benefit of having these resources available to you, where teachers can strengthen their resources and students can support their learning with additional information. I disagreed with the article when they said that the access the students the web should be unfiltered. I don’t think that we will ever be able to trust the students enough to allow this. The students use Web 2.0 platforms for their own personal use as well, we should most definitely keep the web access to the students filtered to keep them focused on using the web for educational purposes.

For the most part, I can see the shift to using more digital technology to educate in schools where the teachers are starting to forget about their old ways and incorporate more interactive online technologies. I know when I was teaching in my second week of my practicum, I tried my best to incorporate online applications like Kahoot, Mentimeter and online research activities. I could rent out a cart of laptops so that all the students had the proper access to the web. I saw that the students were motivated to learn in these settings being interactive, thinking critically and even creating their own multimedia project. It was a fun and interactive way for them to learn the concepts, inquiring on their own.

Doing the multimedia reflection as a Twitter essay was a huge learning curve for me. As I do not normally use twitter, I struggled when trying to use the format to the best of its abilities. I tried to make each tweet involve some sort of GIF or a poll to make them a little bit more interesting than just the plain old text its self as a tweet. I also found it hard to keep my thoughts within the 280 characters even though they had just recently increased the character count from 140 characters. I feel like I may think too much to simplify my thoughts in one tweet. Another struggle I came across was just through the posting process. I kept posting a tweet and realizing that it wasn’t attached to the tweet before or I just simply forgot the hashtag that we needed. Over all, I think that the twitter essay is a great way to share thoughts and opinions, being something that I would consider using again. Access to my multimedia reflection on twitter is located here, as well as some snap shots of some of my tweets below.

Oct 31 2018
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332thursday10

Technology + Classroom = :)

After reading Dr. Michelle Jacobsen’s article, Teaching in a Participatory Digital World, and watching the video, Henry Jenkins: The influence of Participatory Culture on Education, I feel that I have a deeper understanding of the importance of incorporating technology into the classroom in meaningful ways, and I hope to incorporate these techniques into my classroom in the future. The article made me realize that my elementary and secondary teachers could have done a better job at using the technology available. This does not mean they were bad teachers; however they may not have had the learning opportunities needed to understand the advantages of technology and therefore could not pass this on to the class. Like Jacobsen discusses, it all starts with the teachers. We cannot expect to have digital literate students who use technology to make deep, meaningful connections if we do not have teachers who can pass this knowledge to them. This is something that seems obvious but I had never really thought critically about before reading this article. Of course we need to provide teachers with the necessary knowledge and skills if we expect them to incorporate technology into their lesson plans. I feel that this course is a great way to provide pre-service teachers with a foundational understanding of technology in the classroom setting and provide future educators with many different resources that bring active participation, reflection, collaboration and web 2.o aspects into the learning environment. During practicum, I had the opportunity to implement technological aspects that brought active participation into the classroom. Not only did the students’ respond well to it, but my associate teacher told me that they loved the resource I used and plan on implementing it again in the future. The knowledge I have gained from this course so far has been very useful in the classroom and has helped a teacher (my associate) and many future teachers’ (our class) enhance their practice.

Many “old school” style teachers punish their students for using technology in class, even confiscating devices. Rather than reprimanding the students, teachers should show them how to use technology responsibly in the classroom to gain knowledge, make connections, reflect on their work and actively participate within the online community in a meaningful way. I wish that my teacher’s would have given us this opportunity, as I feel there is much to learn by connecting with people around the world, as we saw first hand in our twitter discussion last week. As future teachers, it is important for us to continue brainstorming the ways in which we can create the optimal learning environment for our students by incorporating technology that will help push their educational experiences to the next level. This being said, I also feel it is important to recognize when technology is simply being used in substitution for an analog model and when it is used to transform the ways in which students gain knowledge.

For my multimedia reflection I decided to create an animated sketchnote using the app “Scribble Together Whiteboard” on my iPad. I screen recorded while I sketched on the app and then put these videos to music using iMovie. Although buying an apple pencil by no means turned me into an artist, I feel that this medium allowed me to express my thoughts thoroughly through text as well as doodles. The Powtoon video I created for my last reflection was visually nicer, however the sketchnote looks much more organic and real, and I am happy with the final product. I also had more creative control, as I could draw, write or add in any images I wanted. The app is actually a great tool to use in the classroom, as it allows you to “share your whiteboard” with others. Anyone who has access to the board can add their own thoughts and ideas, allowing students and teachers to collaborate further. You may want to incorporate into a lesson at your next practicum!

I hope my childlike drawings make you smile! 🙂

 

 

Oct 31 2018
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332thursday10

Teachers are you ready for the 21st century teaching??

I read the article Teaching in a participatory digital world by Dr. Michele Jacobsen

https://www.edcan.ca/articles/teaching-in-a-participatory-digital-world/

This article talks about the benefits of shifting the digital learning into participatory digital learning and the steps required to make this shift.

The quick evolution of digital technology to participatory social and academic environments calls for changed mindsets about schooling. Students and teachers are always connected and communicating online, so combining inquiry and technology opens the door to powerful new teaching and assessment practices.

Every person who is a part of the education system needs to be engaged in this shifting process starting from school jurisdictions , principals to teachers and students.

To improve this type of learning, teachers along with their professional learning opportunities should be engaged to strengthen their digital competencies to be able to guide and mentor the students  to be engaged successfully in 21st century work. This change will open lots of opportunities for these students and develop the competencies they need for expert adult performance. To enhance this learning style, students and teachers should reflect on their own work because students will learn better and teachers will strengthen their own practices.

Overall, I agree with the ideas in this article especially after my  practicum, I noticed how students are into technology in classrooms but schools have deficiencies in technology devices and some teachers, including myself ( a future teacher), are not ready for this shift yet. I think teachers are not ready because they did not receive the proper education that gives them confidence to use technology professionally and effectively in their classes.

For me , thinking of the idea of using technology in my class scares me because of my limited knowledge  in this area specifically and growing up thinking that the best and only way of teaching is pen and paper. Exploring technology especially in this course had changed my approach to technology because I am learning how effective it is for teachers and students when implemented and used correctly. while reading this article, I related to how frustrated I was to use twitter but turned out to be a good experience ,so I think as teachers we need sometimes to step out of our comfort zone for the benefits of our students .

I chose to make a piktochart this time. I really enjoyed it, it was easy working with  but the only problem I faced is the limited choice of graphics they have.

 

#UWinDig

https://create.piktochart.com/infographic/saved/33856581

Oct 31 2018
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332thursday10

Are School Administrators Mind-Controlling Students???

Before our Digital Tech and Social Media Applications lesson last week, I had never heard of the term “redlining”. After learning about the issue, I was very intrigued and decided to do my second Multimedia Reflection on the Gillard & Culik article. After reading the article, I learned about what redlining is, and how it can be very problematic and discriminatory. I also learned that digital redlining can create invisible boundaries which make it even harder to recognize and regulate.

 

A point in the article that resonated strongly with me is the concept that AUPs create “invisible boundaries”. I was shocked to find out that students are not notified when they’ve searched a term that has been blocked, they simply don’t receive any search results related to the topic. Like Nina from the article, I think that most people would assume that the issue they are searching is simply not that prevalent, not that it is being actively blocked by their school’s network. It makes me think back to all the times I’ve researched topics on my university’s wi-fi; has this ever happened to me? I probably wouldn’t remember if it had because I would have brushed it off and searched another topic as Nina did. A college could argue that their AUP (which the student is asked to agree to before using their internet) clearly states which types of terms are blocked, but it is well known that most people don’t read this fine print and even if they did, it can be easily forgettable.

My question is WHY doesn’t the school notify students when they’ve searched a blocked term? If they were notified, then perhaps they could do their research on a different internet connection. I don’t see a downside in notifying students when they are pushing a boundary instead of just silently tracking it, so I am genuinely curious to hear other’s opinions on why colleges are so secretive about this.

 

An additional point in the article which piqued my interest was the part about how community colleges have stricter AUPs because they deem themselves as mainly “job training” so the administrators don’t think the students need access to as much information. This part infuriated me because why should administrators be the ones to deem what information is “important enough” for students to know and which information is okay to omit? The students should not be mind-controlled, they should be in charge of their own knowledge. I believe that students should be the ones deciding what they know, and how much they know because it will affect their futures. No matter what school they go to, they are still paying tuition to be there and should be allowed full access to any information they choose to seek out on the internet.

 

My experience using Piktochart to create my Multimedia Reflection was overall very positive. I found the platform easy to use and aesthetically pleasing. It didn’t take me long to create a beautiful, sophisticated, informative work of art that deserves an A+. I would definitely use this platform again myself, or as part of an activity or assignment in my future classroom.

 

My infographic is shown below. Also, here is the link.

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Oct 31 2018
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332thursday10

But I’m Ready to Learn of the POWER of Technology! (Yes, it’s a Celine Dion Reference)

For the second multimedia reflection, I chose to analyze the perspectives of Henry Jenkins, who created this notion of participatory learning (you can view his video here) as well as Dr. Michele Jacobsen who looks at all the possibilities that technology brings to teachers/people (you can view her article here).  They both view technology as a very important resource in the teaching world in today’s society.

Technology is beneficial in more ways than one, as it is such a powerful resource.  It is a useful tool in order to collaborate ideas with people. This can be student/student collaboration, teacher/teacher collaboration, or just sharing ideas for others to utilize.  Social media and technology allow for this to occur on a global scale.  As well, using technology helps students to become more engaged in classroom activity.  Students are glued to their phone (this was seen during placement), and any lesson that incorporates the use of their phone/computers of any sort becomes so much more interesting to students.  They can use it in a positive way, which in turn makes them feel like they are contributing so much into the classroom.  Teachers need to integrate more things that students can connect with on a personal level, and what better way to start than with technology.

Technology allows for the support of autonomous learners.  Students have the ability to become more creative and individualize their work.  It allows them to learn in a way that best suits them; they can utilize information given to them and form it into a learning model that works best for them.

However, there are some problems that can come up when dealing with technology.  One problem is most teachers are uneducated in how to use specific platforms.  Jenkins quotes “don’t build something like YouTube, use YouTube”.  It is very true in the sense that don’t build something to be used, use the tools that you have in front of you, but use them properly. There are many resources that can aid teachers, but some aren’t willing to adapt their teaching methods to best suit these students.  Also, most students have some access to technology, whether it be through a phone, computer or even iPad.  A problem that we are faced with is that students aren’t using it properly; in inappropriate ways.  We as educators (in training) need to teach students how to use technology in the best way for them.

My blog post (which you can view here) shows how useful technology can be, how teachers need to be willing to adapt and it looks at the tools that digital media bring to the table.

A lot of things came into my mind while absorbing all of this information.  In my opinion, it’s crazy that some teachers were defiant to the idea of incorporating technology into their pedagogical methods.  Why not use a resource to make your life easier?  I understand that in 2014 technology and the internet were still relatively foreign concepts, but it is an easy tool to learn.  If my teachers in high school incorporated more technology, I think school would be a lot more enjoyable and allow more connections to be made.  As well, I personally think that being able to connect with people all over the world and share ideas is such a cool concept.  Why not help each other out with becoming better teachers?  Why not share ideas, or lesson plans?  I know I will be reaching out to see what I am able to utilize for my teaching.  I can also show students what other schools/teachers are doing in their classrooms on the other side of the world and compare learning strategies between them.

Also, while reading the article/watching the videos, I was trying to envision how I was going to incorporate more technology-based platforms into my teaching methods when I go back on practicum at the end of November.  Standing at the front of the room and seeing all of the students on their phones is disheartening, but if I come up with ways to positively utilize them, then the students will be more engaged.  This is where platforms like Kahoot will come into play, especially in a science-based classroom.  As a student, I enjoyed activities that allowed me to be engaged and get involved. Now, with the big technology epidemic, what better way to involve students.  I know that if I was a student, I would have been able to get a better understanding of certain topics with all of these platforms at my fingertips. Even the addition of Edsby in the classroom is such a valuable, useful resource.

For this multimedia assignment, I decided to try a new platform.  I chose to utilize Piktochart.  It was an overall positive experience, that I was not expecting.  It was easy to use and right at my fingertips. They have different graphics, icons, shapes and pictures that can be added right to your piece.  Changing fonts, sizing, and backgrounds was also user friendly. However, the only downside that I came across was colour schemes; you need to upgrade (pay) for the version to be able to pick your own colours.  This meant that I had the option of choosing between dirty brown or unpleasant green as my default (I went with the green!).  I would definitely recommend this platform for anyone who is doubting using technology, as I was hesitant during the first Multimedia assignment.  I am definitely more open to using technology!

P.S. The Piktochart itself is a little blurry… I tried to add close up shots of it in different frames, but they seem to be blurry too.  I inserted a link into the post above, but here’s another link if you want to view in better quality!

 

 

 

 

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Oct 31 2018
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332thursday10

All Aboard the S.S. Social Media!

I had the opportunity to read the article Teaching in a Participatory Digital World by Dr. Michele Jacobsen, and to listen to Henry Jenkins talk about, in a short video, the potential that communities have when they participate in digital collaborations to change their students’ experiences in education.  Some things that really stood out about the article to me was that educators have no idea how to navigate the digital world or use social media platforms.  It’s scary to me to know that students aren’t being taught how to properly and safely use anything in the online world.  I know it is unrealistic to expect every teacher to start being active online, but I can hope for maybe one day.   One thing that left me totally flabbergasted was that every student in my high school placement owned and used phones religiously, considering that during my placement I had multiple occasions when I had to ask kids to put their phones away.

Before reading this article, and even before this digital technology course, my views on social media or the online world were very skewed in one direction.  I am a very old fashioned person, where I never wanted to be online because I thought it was pointless.  I need face-to-face conversations and meaningful, personal relationships to thrive in this world, which social media could not offer me and thus I deemed it incompatible with my life.  My ideas about social media have all changed since the start of this course, and after reading this article, to a more reasonable understanding.  Digital tools are available to us as educators to help us increase our productivity when it comes to teaching students and to assist students in their learning process, not as a hindrance.

In the article, Dr. Jacobsen talked about how the greatest benefit to online social learning is student interaction. Social learning is the basis of learning content through conversations about problems.  One of my teachers had a saying where if a student didn’t know an answer, first ask each other, then the internet and then ask him.  Of course, there is a time and place where the teacher needs to lead the discussion about a topic, but in doing this strategy we were forced to learn from one another or learn how to find information online.  I think this teaching strategy would have been way more effective if there was a place online that we could, as students, collaborate our ideas to come up with solutions, or if the teacher showed us techniques on finding information online.

As I was trying to figure out how I was going to present my thoughts on the key ideas from this article and video, I was wanting to try a twitter essay.  However, as I was explaining the article to one of my friends, I realized that I had way too much to say about it so the character cap on Twitter wasn’t for me.  Thus, I made a podcast/rant about many topics the article talked about.  I struggled so much making this video though because I had so much to say.  It took six attempts to make sure it was a reasonable length so as not to lose the attention of whoever watched it. I think my first video ended up being over 20 minutes long and I didn’t even realize it!  If you notice, I am not in this video simply because I am not interesting enough to look at while I talk, so I came up with a quick solution.  Everyone loves to watch a fire, hence the yule log every year during Christmas season, even I enjoyed watching the fire while I spoke.  Sit back, grab a blanket and hot chocolate, and enjoy my soothing voice over a hot fire.

PS.  There is a bonus video (labeled bonus video) that I didn’t want to include in the main video.  It contains a cool idea that some of you may like on how we can make a more unique online society for students.

Main Video:  Learning in a Digital World

Bonus Video!

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Oct 31 2018
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332thursday10

Error 404 not Found

I decided to respond to the article Digital Redlining, Access, and Privacy by Chris Gilliard by creating an infographic using Canva. The article talks about the invisible boundaries imposed on community college students due to the informational technology policies put in place by these institutions.  These policies and algorithms act like filters which limit the type and amount of information the students have access to, which impacts the future financial opportunities of the students.  This places the students at a disadvantage when compared to graduates of higher-level institutions, who generally do not experience these filters.  A core component argued by Gilliard in this article deals with the working-class roots of community colleges, and how digital barriers are being transformed to reinforce class, race and ethnic boundaries.  The article ends on an uplifting note that I agree with, a call for educators to be aware of the limits imposed on students by educational technologies.  We must be careful not to categorize our students like the IT policies do and strive for creating an open environment for learning and this can be done by carefully choosing the programs and activities we assign to our students.  We need to make sure these barriers are not something that we make students encounter.

Ill admit that I never really thought about how the policies in place at some institutions could have a more profound impact than simply not having access to that information.  I ignored the fact that if some students can’t access the information at campus, they can’t access it at all and the information does not exist for them.  My personal experience and upbringing has always allowed me the freedom and opportunity to pursue and use informational technology both at home and at school.  During public school, when I was blocked from playing games or visiting YouTube on the school computers, it made sense to me because that really wasn’t what I was supposed to be doing.  Now that I know about digital redlining, I have to consider the angle that I was being limited in my education because something like YouTube has profound educational use.

The most shocking thing about reading this article was the revelation that for some students without access to internet at home, their future job potential and equity is adversely affected.   I used to think that these IT policies put in place by some campuses were necessary to protect the users from harm from malicious websites or prevent access to websites that were inappropriate to a school environment.  While this is certainly true, it is hard to look at some of these restrictions in the same way knowing that it has severe repercussions for some students attending a different campus.    I now know that, intentional or not, the filters utilized by IT polices at community colleges reinforce the boundaries of race and class present in the real world.  With this new information, it is important that I approach the discussion and use of digital redlining with the gravity it deserves and try to use digital media to transform educational experiences for students, not diminish them.

My experience with Canva was not a smooth one, I became extremely frustrated by the limitations of the program.  I’m reminded of the Ashely Hinck article, Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom, describing the limitations of template programs and could not agree more here.  The free version of Canva has very little elements, images and icons available to use, with premium features available for one dollar.  This creatively limited what I could present and achieve, which made me feel that an infographic may not have been the best way to respond and reflect on the article.  The free and premium features  encountered could be viewed as a boundary or limitation.  Those without the means to afford a premium account are limited to the responses they can create, and the quality of their infographic is lessened.  I found Piktochart, the program I used last for the prior reflection to have more powerful editing options and gave more freedom with a free account.

Brandon Varga

Oct 31 2018
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332thursday10

Mixing teaching, technology, and social media.

Henry Jenkins’ brings up interesting points in his video, The influence of participatory culture on education. He first speaks to the dangers of social media and how teens are exposed to it at a young age with essentially no guidelines. The idea is to have teachers trained in the use of social media, so that way they may be better equipped to teach safe practices to their students. I’m ok with this idea because I know social media was an issue while I was in high school. A lot of students were getting disciplined for cyberbullying. Some students even believed it was ok because their account was on private. Having teachers constantly warning against such actions can be of huge benefit.

The second point Henry Jenkins touched on was open sourced learning. He claims that the roles of teachers would be to upload their lectures and content onto youtube and make it available to everyone. I’ve personally used an open source medium before. I found a professor on youtube who would upload his lectures. Whenever I needed the concept explained again, I would watch his videos. This is the beauty of using technology for education, if I missed a point I could rewind and listen to it again. Something I definitely could not do with the live lectures at school. Furthermore, I see no issue giving everyone the freedom to pursue knowledge in a topic that interests them. I do not think people stumble upon these videos on youtube, they have to be motivated and go search for them. I touched upon this point in my twitter Essay as well.

Dr. Michele Jacobsen article, Teaching in a Participatory Digital World speaks to using technology as a way to engage students. She states that participatory learning allows students to express their knowledge, thoughts, and ideas in a variety of ways (conversations, written assignments, media artifacts etc.). I like the idea of giving students multiple options for different assignments, projects, or general task. My issue is that I believe it’s a bit over idealized. What I mean by this is that just because technology is involved, does not always mean students will participate. For example, I did an online lab with my students and got a mixed reaction back. Some students loved it and went on to do other unrequired experiments, other student were just copying and clicking the “next” button as quickly as possible. I think students interest in the material needs to be “sparked” more than anything. Technology can help in this regard but not always.

My decision to make a twitter essay was one that involved much controversy, if you will. My journey began with trying to make a simple twitter account for the in-class open twitter chat. It immediately got shut down, so I made a second one and sure enough, it also got shut down. Later on, I made my third account (in class) and everything seemed good. The next day I try to log back in and the same thing happened again. At this point, my feelings towards twitter were very bitter. I’m three accounts in and nothing to show for it. However, I heard really good feedback from my peers about their twitter essays. Instead of making another fake account, I simply changed my name and decided to use my personal account. This decision was not that difficult seeing how I barely use my Twitter and I only have 9 followers. Once I began my essay, everything came naturally. I love the ability to use Gifs because it catches people’s attention, and can help further describe a point one’s trying to make. Also, hashtags are also really cool because they can connect you with multiple people with similar interest, or can be used as comic relief. The last tool I used for Twitter was the pool at the end to see how my 9 followers reacted to my essay. I would definitely recommend a twitter essay to my peers and encourage them to use all of these tools.

As a teacher candidate, I promote the use of technology. I believe technology makes lectures look more professional, it saves a lot of time, and it gives teachers a lot more freedom in terms of how they want to present material (video, images, activities, words, etc.) From a chemistry perspective, there are many ways to engage students with technology. Maybe the use of online labs depending on how interested your students are. If not, then for sure the use of interactive activities/simulations. For example, trying to teach quantum chemistry to teenage students can be very difficult especially since the topic is already incredibly abstract. My associate teacher used a simulation to help model the different theories of the Hydrogen atom. With my limited background in teaching, I believe this is the most effective way of articulating difficult concepts.

Before I read the article and watched the video, I was very pro-technology in the classroom. I still am but I can not say I have the same passion for it as Henry Jenkins. I do not agree with giving student complete access to the internet while at school. I am ok with the schools limiting certain content that they deem inappropriate. I also would understand why some schools would want to limit collaboration for students to an extent. One of the goals of teaching is to help students think more independently and not having to rely on other people. When Dr. Jacobsen spoke about the transitions schools would have to make to accommodate technology it got me thinking. It is very possible that teachers want to integrate technology, but the school does not have the funding. Like buying a camera and mic for each room to record lectures, hiring people to set these up, and then maintain later. This is true with all technology i.e. smartboards, computers etc. It’s possible schools want to do it, but simply can not at the momment. It’s a new idea that occured to me.

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