#UWinDig

Implementing the Assessment of Technologist Design Thinking

Technologist is an interesting and crucial read for teachers. With various perspectives coming into play in the module such as consideration of the learner and teacher, I found the read to be engaging. I feel although the module did have a lot of buzz words that often repeated the same ideas, it did in conclusion come to some vert practical points. The most important practical process the module spoke about that I decided to examine was the Design Thinking Process. This process focused on 5 stages starting with empathizing, defining, ideate, prototype and connect. Each stage built upon the next which I feel is a practical thing to have for teachers. With scaffolding in our own learning being present it makes it even easier to apply that kind of teaching style in our classroom. The components from the process that stuck out to me most were the empathy map template and the SECTIONS model. It is quite interesting when we think about all the internal and external factors that may be influencing our students. An empathy map contains things such as what a student is influenced by, what their emotions or feelings may be preoccupied it, or what students may see in their environment, or what their behavior might be as in what they see and do. I feel something like this can be used in every aspect of a classroom when it comes to understanding a student socially, academically and finally from a technologist perspective. The SECTIONS model stood out to me because it examined realistically the aspects of the technology. Such as if it is a good fit for the teacher, students, the institute and whether it is sustainable or not. All these considerations are taken into account in the stage of ‘ideate’ which I think is  brilliant as one way or another one of these issues can arise down the road when using technology. I feel the sections model can also be use to evaluate perhaps large purchases for classrooms that are outside of the technology realm.

Below you will find a video I have put together of the Design Thinking Process. I decided to use a commonly available form of tech to put together this quick, upbeat informative video. I bet you can’t guess what it is…Powerpoint!!! This piece of tech has been often written off as typical, boring and mundane. Well, I’d like to challenge that assumption today by exploring the creative side of Powerpoint and it’s many features. With a little bit of research and quite a bit of trial and error I was able to put together a motion design based typography video. I enjoyed the process and am quite happy with my work in the end. I can see myself using this video in the future for presentations and perhaps for even grabbing students attention for specific lessons. Check it out below technologist!

I’m not one to usually engage in the twitter world, recently I have found it to be quite engaging and eye opening to both mine and other’s experiences. I feel when we are limited by time or type count than we have more opportunity to speak quite bluntly about how we feel rather than  beat around the bush. For this reason, I decided to challenge my own tweeting skills and limit myself in word count for each point and create a twitter thread that can be found here. In this thread I summarize the Ted Talk by Khurram Virani on Data Driven Technology.

From my experience in a classroom and as a tech user, I do not entirely agree with the TED talk. I feel that yes data should not just be collected and left unused but rather should be invested into the classroom just as it is used to improve tech. I do not feel that this can be an immediate adaption to the classroom though. In my experience teaching students is not always a cut and paste experience but rather there is a lot of trial and error as Virani did say there is with technology. I feel the difference though is that in education, we do not see the effective or ineffective use of technology until a substantial amount of time has passed to see if this technology is truly something that can be effectively integrated into a classroom. By the time we establish whether an app is suitable for all teachers to implement and can be modified for various student needs, perhaps the data or tech may change by then. This is why in my personal experience I feel things need to be tried and tested long term before establishing whether they are good for both students and the classroom in the long run. Technology is ever changing and rapid irritation is not necessarily the most compelling method of change in a class. Information is considered to create a curriculum that can take years to develop. Constant change of the curriculum or teaching methods may be financially cumbersome and implementing it may be daunting to some teachers who already feel their plate is full.

Algorithms were not a huge concern for me as an educator before or in fact after this video. I do think tests and work of students should be looked at and evaluated in terms of where things are commonly going wrong, or where they are challenging for a majority of students. Once this data or information has been collected then it must be used in the classroom effectively. The only new point that I learned and had a chance to reflect on was the fact that data should be collected more often just as tech is ever improving and growing.

I chose to analyze and illustrate the article on Hybrid Pedagogy, Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom. The article starts off by explaining the common reasons for why students may take on the endeavor of learning about tech. Some of the reasons being that it is fun, interesting and that there are job prospects. From a personal perspective of both a learner of tech and future teacher of digital pedagogue, I created a poster to compare two very broad concepts of learning. The first category is an image of a teacher at the traditional starting point of learning, a blackboard. Within this blackboard there is an image of a laptop. Much like in the article there is a concept of traditional learning and teaching. Although the teacher is teaching a new subject he is still using an old teaching method of a chalkboard and self-centered teaching. If the viewer takes a closer look they are able to see that the computer screen has little avatars dropping and placing various images and texts on specific spots. This is a representation from the article of how the many of the current types of tech teaching in classrooms resembles the past ghost of fill in the blank hand out toil.

The right side of the versus contains individual design which can mean many things to different people. Perhaps the concept of dragging and dropping might be one person’s cup of tea and may be how presidential Obama marketing made their campaign, or perhaps it can also feel restrictive for those looking to make their vision come to mind. I chose this specific graphic for this side as it portrays many things spilling out of the screen without a proper place to land. This is how much of tech works as it can be messy business and will not always go as planned. There are various small icons within this graphic such as color pallets, eyedropper, camera, etc. All these images imply that there is not just one way of doing things but rather multiple mediums to the computer tech world and how we go about implementing our ideas right in the middle.

Now, what is good learning? This can vary from individual to individual. For new teachers, good learning is stepping away from standardized education as the article discusses that in previous classrooms this was the norm. The article emphasizes the need to depart from the ghosts of traditional classrooms in the digital world so students are able to experience good learning instead of traditional learning. Good learning is not perfect learning, meaning there is room for failure, success and growth.

What is building without direction? Well, with any stable project or endeavor a firm foundation is needed. This foundation can come in many forms, if it comes in the form of a template then it is based on one direction with spots to fill until the template is complete. Now when it comes to building something like a sculpture or an HTML webpage, there is no solid template, yes there is the initial blob of clay which is the foundation. There is the original HTML code that sets the framework, but the rest of the sculpture and format of the website is rightfully dependent on the maker.

Overall I agree with the article and that is why I chose to illustrate the main concepts of it in a self-made photoshop image. The fonts, colors, images have all been edited and altered by me to fit my own vision of the article Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom. There were a few trial and error copies that I discarded and even started from scratch at one point. I chose to create my own piece on a non-template program to further push the concept of individual design and individual learning. I am a self-taught photographer and amateur graphic designer. My experience outside of the classroom such as henna art, a photography tumblr, advertising jobs, lead me to the discovery of the tech world. Which further pushed me to learn about photoshop, lightroom and HTML through online articles and youtube videos. I believe the tech world is very much based around individual learning, individual design and individual variation, a concept of having one’s own voice and being a maker. I believe digital pedagogues must reclaim this right and allow their students to fail, succeed and fail again through inquiry-based learning in the tech world.

Yours in education,

Mrs. Ahmad