Oct 28 2018
4 Comments
By ellswor1 322monday21

Hook Me Up With Some INFO!

My reflection was based on the TED Talk Data-Driven Education and the Podcast Episode 10: Audrey Watters & The Teaching Machine. In the video, it is discussed how data collection is not being used appropriately to collect information about students, and in turn, technology is not being used properly or is being overused in some school settings. The Podcast involves an interview of Audrey Watters and her book the Teaching Machine. During the interview, Audrey explains how technology has been used to make our lives easier since the 40’s and that the history of machines are just represented differently today and are more advanced. Having technology help us gain a personalized education is nothing new.  The artifact I chose to use to display the representation of the TED Talk and Podcast was Twitter Essays. Data collection is very significant when it comes to studying information about the school, students, teachers, academics, etc. If it is to be collected, it must be used or it is a waste of time. The TED Talk and Podcast both dig deeper and ignite the conversation surrounding how data collection can help students become more independent with their learning; the data can pinpoint the student’s strengths and weaknesses.

Looking at my experiences while teaching. Data collection is taken every day to make sure that there is a thriving educational environment occurring. Attendance is one example that is done throughout the day which takes data to see how much a student is missing during the school year. One of the biggest tests that I helped with was the EQAO test which is a data collected test that occurs in grade 3 and 6. This test looks at how each student is progressing and also takes data within the test to see what questions are good and are not. It is a standardized test that sees if each student is at the right grade level. I truly believe that a data-driven education system where information is taken constantly and consistently would definitely help assess students learning and their needs and modifications. I personally believe that technology is key to learning and is very important to the development of young minds and the development of education. My ideas on the issue before were the same. Data collection is very important in schools. Statistics on all information about the school, student, community, teachers, etc. come in the form of data and data allows assessment of the pros and cons of how education is being delivered. There was no new information that I learned. I knew that data was always relevant and significant in education; however, I never realized how much data should be taken on a day-to-day basis in order to make the educational system more accessible and simplistic.

I used Twitter as my artifact to display what I learned from the TED Talk because I have had the chance to use it before, but itself is a platform that uses data collection for many purposes, so I felt like it was a good way to show data collection. Algorithms and data are consistently being shared through Twitter. As I post my tweets information is outputted and inputted, so I thought making a Twitter Essays would be an excellent way to pinpoint some main points that I felt were relevant to the TED Talk and Podcast and were key-points. I enjoyed how simplistic it was to make this artifact and it was straightforward adding relateable pictures and memes to help highlight what I learned. A first I did not fully understand the parameters around how to make a Twitter Essay, but once I got rolling, it ended up being a great way to express what I was able to read and listen to.

 

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