#UWinDig

Education is sharing of ideas, using technology modules, access to personal data and using several available resources for learning like the internet.
I found it very boring when I teach same course over and over again especially mathematics and Science at grade level without using a new approach or adding something new to create interest from my students. There is need to incorporate technology for the benefits of students using varieties of platforms that can make learning enjoyable, integrating technology in a way that will benefit the learners.
The Technologist modules which is available through the Ontario Extend is a good platform to introduce technology that will benefit learners digital pedagogy.
As a teacher,i see the effective use of the module coupled with extensive interaction with colleagues,using various on-line platforms to obtain information and creating personal data for inferences, as a far reaching approach .The completion of the technologist module extend which is available through Ontario extend , a great achievement completes the whole process.
The module helps to use and integrate technologies in a way that supports,facilitate and enriches learning experiences.
Whereas digital literature is complex, but with the use of technology tools very effectively to address specific challenges through ability to locate,use, summarize,evaluate,create and communicate information while using digital technology and web based platforms has revolutionized digital learning.
How do we get started?
Design thinking toolkit is our start up. It helps users in creating and experimenting to spark new ideas and then use feedback to improve those ideas.We shall be looking at this approach as demonstrated in the design thinking module below;

https://www.powtoon.com/my-powtoons/#/

The five design thinking module start with EMPATHY;The listeners,users or learners we ask questions,what do they want?The need to identify with would be users,learners,listeners and what they want.The need to empathize with would be users,identify a challenge that could be solved through purposeful use of technology in our curriculum.All these come through feedback or share such resources with our colleagues for solution.DEFINING the learner challenge is the second module; It identifies a problem,or a challenge observed from learner and suggested the following to make amends;a)provide focus and frame the challenge,b)We inspires others around us as an entity,c)lay out your process and ask for ideas,d) have ability to capture the heart of users,e)help in conjunction with others ability to deliver the right concept.
IDEATE the third module asks questions about how do i build an ideal feature and characteristics of how tech can address the learning challenge-mind mapping with guidelines being the surest approach.PROTOTYPE,another level module chosen technology helps design a chosen prototype that works on three legs;Design,Share,and Refine.The last module being CONNECT to the curriculum the exercise,and how it be used to integrate technology in the curriculum is the final stage and how it will integrate into curriculum? a big challenge.

Should we shut down Facebook,what a big question ?

Facebook is the world largest social media and the app is used by over 204 million users in USA while India is the world largest user of Facebook with over 294 million users according to data from (c)statista 2018. It shows a global active user from 1 billion in 2012 to 2.23 billion active users in second quarter of 2018. While the number of active users has continue to decline in north america,the opposite is the case in other parts of the world.
Matt Rosoff’s article; should we shut down Facebook entirely due to privacy concern makes an interesting reading,especially when you take into account the global damage the platform has created in the world politics,domestic affairs,social and inter governmental cooperation. The west has been hugely affected where information dissemination has no restrictions unlike other parts of the world where information is guarded,and in some nations it comes with severe punishment.
The Pew survey carried out in the united states gives a graphic detail about the decline in the use of Facebook app in north america. There is no doubt the average age of 18-30 are the ones that spend 1/3 of their daily active hours on social medial,when such a cluster of people account for about 44% abstinence from the platform especially in north america, it calls for concern.
The good news though is the huge number that decided to adjust their security settings on the app to reduce hacking in their personal data.
The debate on the desirability of social platform especially Facebook will continue to generate interesting readings.We have witnessed a tremendous leap in global information dissemination in the last 15 years,the world has become a global village no thanks to all the social network platforms.The world has gained a lot and has equally lost a lot
In the recent report on PCWorld,Facebook has been cited in one out of every five divorce petitions,Divorce- online.Married men and women engaged in flirting,sexual chat and other inappropriate behaviors on social medial despite being married.Cambridge Analytical,a British data mining,data brokerage and data analysis firm has been indicted in several law cases of hacking and obtaining personal information without a permit,and only recently Facebook was confronted in its role in the United States 2010 presidential election where the FBI report that Russian operatives were using the platform to spread false news and information to influence the election result.
On the other side of the argument, Facebook has brought tremendous changes to our social life,it has connected various people who have never met before and in some cases ended up living as husband and wife.The platform has brought huge cultural integration in the globe and the social revolution is unimaginable.It has become a platform to market issues,enterprise,government policies,social and cultural issues and the cheapest platform for advertisement with huge readership.
Some of my high school classmates i have not seen in almost forty years we meet on Facebook group chat we created and share ideas.
In schools, we use the platform for learning when we use other Facebook apps like,Instagram,WhatsApp,and Messenger.
My info graphic visual shows lots of live activities like marriages,entertainment,social networking,leisure and several other platforms that social networking brought with just a tap of a Burton rather than the analogue ways we do things in the past.We are all affected one way or the other.
We all have a story about Facebook either good or bad ,but should we overlook the good and crucify the platform ?My own answer is NO, we must collectively ask for more privacy settings on the app.

Personal Reflection;

I am a strong believer in social networking and appreciate the fact that we are in the digital age.Facebook is a revolution in social networking and ever since the platform was introduced sometimes in 2005,the media has witnessed tremendous shift in global interest and usage as both the old and the young has become active users of the app.like in any good innovation,nothing comes without the ugly side and so is the case with Facebook app. Efforts should be more on a Robust private setting that we protect our information exchange and make it absolutely private.

Ashley Hick’s article on digital Ghosts in the modern Classroom is a perfect study of what has become of today’s learners. Children love creativity no doubt and has become so used to the traditional platforms that are readily available and easy to use;the drag and drop,well laid out linear and standard steps and several working products that are easily used.The students create the products that the teacher wanted using templates as worksheet and other forms that accommodate multiple choice projects.Ashley was right when she asserted that most of these short cut templates hardly leaves the students even when they try their hands on open end working soft wares and platforms.
When you give a project to students especially in the intermediate grade their first search is to hook up with all these short cuts platforms and when they are absent it affects learning and they become restless from my own class observation.Ashley was of the view, we should help the students move from from users of shortcut/template platforms to makers,creators with very in-depth understanding of a complex system with open ends.
She was also right about her submission that When we look at the shortcut/template websites and platforms that makes digital image production very easy,it has removed the need for any technical know how because it is copy and paste in most cases.Ashley position is that students has become a garbage container from teachers who take in all that is released because they operate with a rigid platform /application with very little open space for students work and a narrowed predetermine correct answer.

Finding a solution ,we can help our students create their own application signature as makers rather than continue to depend on platforms and templates with close ends that does not encourage creativity.I really love it when Ashley wrote “We might help our students redefine good learning apart from the the dustbin dump concept by giving them explicit permission to try and fail and start again”Thinker trial and error approach methodology in classroom”.

As a teacher for several years in a different environment,i observed that students capacity and attitude to learning is always different.As illustrated in my blog,life is like a ladder,some people use the quick way and get to the top,others take the rough and lengthy route to achieve a desire .In our society ,majority always want to conform with established standard,they lack the fire power to seek and acquire more knowledge,to discover new platforms and hold patent .The comfort zone is always peak on their life radder and surprisingly most of them end up being very successful.

Ashley Hick’s article is good enough knowing that ultimate desires of students and why the interest in digital class was mainly to learn how to make GIFs,YouTube videos, and HTML/CSS websites.They want to make funny photo shopped pictures of their friends and several other social purposes which the world has conformed to.

Ashley also agree that the internet has created several platforms for make and remove,drag and drop and has made things so easy for any student to think of going the path of troubleshooting and creating platforms with open end.What they have is good and convenient for their primary purpose.

We also see why the ghosts worksheet,templates and shortcuts will for ever remain in classroom and i absolutely agree.I love to work with open end platforms as suggested by Ashley like; Raspberry Pi,Scratch,and HTML and CSS ,as Skallerup Bessette calls us to do,but why do i need to go to such level of uncertainty and possible failure when am comfortable with already established platforms that can meet my demand ?These are the questions “Ghost” that will be going on in the mind of these students for a while. Agreed open end platform is good when you know it gives advantage because the programs and computer language give the user much more control over the final product than the template/shortcut websites and platforms, but where there is no will there will be no power.In any situation the ghost of worksheet is always there.