#UWinDig

Found below is a Powtoon video that I created, summarizing the key points on Technologists Module of eCampus Ontario’s open PD modules. Here is the link to the module itself.

https://extend.ecampusontario.ca/technologist-scenario/

I have to admit, for each of the 2 past multimedia reflections that were assigned to us and posted on this blog, I attempted to use Powtoon. However, I gave up after a creating a couple slides because I deemed it too difficult of a process. For this reflection I was determined to start and finish a full reflection using this media. It took me a couple hours just to get myself accustomed to the program. There are still many options on the task bar that I am not sure of what they do, but once I figured out how the basic aspects of it worked I got faster at creating my slides. I cannot say I particularly enjoyed working with Powtoon, nor am I extremely happy with my finished product. But I worked very hard on it, and as it was my first time I expected this type of outcome. In the future, if I use Powtoon again, I will have to explore all of its functions more in depth in order to create a better video as a whole. While creating this Powtoon it was difficult for me to find a good balance of pictures and words, without being overbearing. I also struggled with giving the video more of a flow, unfortunately I think it ended up being choppy. A limitation to Powtoon that I experienced was that you can only make a 3 minute video for free, anything above this requires a purchase. I understand that they have to make money, but it defers me from using the program at all. Overall, my experience making the Powtoon was a difficult one. However I am proud of myself for sticking with it even though the finished product isn’t exactly what I had hoped for it.

As I journeyed through the Technologist Module, there were many things that I did not know. Honestly, this is not surprising, as I accept the fact I am not extremely knowledgeable in integrating technology into the classroom except for what I have learned throughout this semester. I was aware of digital literacies, however the design thinking approach was new to me. I think that it is a perfect guide to follow when integrating technology into the classroom. It is an in depth step by step process to integrate technology, but at the same time it is easy to follow and uses terminology that is easy to understand. The five steps to design thinking are empathize, define, ideate, prototype and connect. To summarize, empathize is getting the perspective of your students. Define refers to understanding the challenge that the students are experience, which the technology will be used to solve. Ideate involves selecting a tool and using the SECTIONS model to evaluate if the tool will be effective. Prototype discusses working with the tool and testing it out. Lastly, it is important to connect the tool back to the curriculum and course outline. Overall, when choosing a technology and/or program, it is important that it touches upon the students needs and that it connects with the course.

Another very positive aspect of doing the Technologist Module are the Extend activities that it offers after each section in order for the participant to get more engaged and gain some experience with the design thinking approach. For example, on the “Define” tab of the module, the Extend activity directs the participant to come up with a student challenge and add it to a Padlet. Where other challenges are posted and ideas can be shared. Another example is under the “Empathy” tab, where the Extend activity encourages the participant to create an empathy map where it provides instructions on how to do so and an empathy map template.

During my placement this year, I did not integrate technology into the classroom as much as I would have liked. This is because I struggled to make it relevant to what we were doing. If I had something like the design thinking approach to follow, it may have helped me in using more technologies and programs that directly related to my course and curriculum. Some of the technologies that I did use included tools such as Kahoot and Google Slides. I realize now that these were simple substitutions and did not reach the higher levels of SAMR such as modification or redefinition. I struggle with the thought of reaching these levels, however by following the design thinking approach I think that I could do this more comfortably. I will use this approach in my future classrooms in order to make sure that I am using the right technologies and programs for the job, so my students can benefit. The Technologist Module offered an extensive list of programs that can be used in the classroom, which is extremely beneficial to me as I always find myself using the same ones. Overall, participating in the module was a huge success and I am looking forward to applying what I learned to an actual classroom.

Found below is a link to the Twitter Essay I created, summarizing the key points and my opinions on “Digital Redlining, Access and Privacy” written by Chris Gilliard and Hugh Culik, published on May 24^th, 2016. Here is a link to the article itself.  https://www.commonsense.org/education/privacy/blog/digital-redlining-access-privacy.

Gilliard and Culik discuss digital redlining in range of post secondary institutions, including community colleges as well as higher level institutions. The main purpose of the article is to make note of the filters in place between a student and the internet that block access to information within and throughout the different levels of educational institutions . If the school restricts information access, knowledge doesn’t simply become invisible, it does not even exist. This is the first time that I have ever been introduced to this idea in post secondary education. I knew of it in the grade school and high school levels to keep students off social media and inappropriate sites during school hours, which as someone who is studying to be a teacher I agree with, but I did not realize it existed at a higher level. I was under the impression that colleges and universities are supposed to be places with vast amount of knowledge and safe spaces for inquiry into any topic you want to gain knowledge on. I did not realize sources through the university are filtered, and this makes me question much of the past research I have done. What was I missing out on? Gilliard and Culik discuss that digital redlining is not a acknowledged problem in higher level institutions because many of the students come from a higher socioeconomic background and can access the internet at home rather than at school. I believe this is the category where I fall, I never thought much of digital redlining at school because a large chunk of my research has been done at home. Even when I did notice a difference in things such as the search results at home compared to school, I did not think anything of it until now. It is important that I know what digital redlining is and I can be aware of it while attending post secondary education. As well as, from the perspective of a future teacher, I am especially thankful for the information I have gained from this article, more specifically the possibility that knowledge may be blocked from my future students. I think more people need to be made aware, and it needs to be something we acknowledge and discuss as a society so we can work on changing the limits on information that students can access at all levels.

Here is the link to my Twitter Essay! By clicking on the tweet below, the first tweet in my series, you should be brought to the whole essay! Feel free to reply to my tweets and start a conversation!

1. Who out there has read "Digital Redlining, Access, and Privacy" by Chris Gilliard and Hugh Culik?

— DimuD (@dimu_d) October 24, 2018

Imbedded below is a video explaining my process using twitter and creating my twitter essay. I discuss the pros and cons to using twitter, some of cool things I could do with twitter as well as the difficulties that arose while I was working on my essay. I apologize for the quality, but I had to compress the video for it to upload to youtube. Enjoy!

The below video is of a Canva I created with an audio voiceover, summarizing the key points from “Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom” written by Ashley Hinck, published on March 29, 2018, http://hybridpedagogy.org/digital-ghosts-modern-classroom/.

Hinck criticizes the current digital pedagogy represented in schools, how teachers only use the basic programs that lack creativity. I agree with this, as in my educational experience teachers always promoted websites that were extremely user friendly with easy cut and paste methods. Looking back now, I see this lacked creativity, however in the moment I found these programs very useful.  I did not mind a rigid marking scheme with specific instructions to get the grade. People like myself like to stick with what they know, it is hard to venture into more complicated software, even if the simple programs lack control over the final product. However, it is important to me to learn more complex software in order to incorporate these aspects into my own classroom so my students do not miss out like I did in the digital technology educational process. My current mindset is though, that I will struggle incorporating these more complex software’s into my teachable subject of the social sciences. Thinking of different ways to integrate technology in general is a challenging process but integrating more complicated programs will be even more so difficult. Social sciences is extremely broad, made up of multiple different theories, majority of the class is understanding these theoretical perspectives. I think that using technology to teach these theories is going to be complicated, and I would be very interested in my collogues thoughts on this.

In regards to the media I used, Canva, it took me an hour or so to get myself accustomed to the program. Once I figured out how the task bar on the left hand side worked it became much easier to navigate the site and create my summary of Hinck’s article. I enjoyed working with Canva and am happy with my finished product, I know it could be better and if I ever have the opportunity I will explore Canva’s functions more in depth in order to use it for a range of future assignments and even use it in my own future classroom. I realize how it is ironic that I am using Canva while Hinck directly opposes these types of platforms. However I strongly believe that starting with programs like these and gaining some basic knowledge is not a bad thing, and can be a stepping stone to the more complex programs that Hinck wants students to look at. A limitation to Canva that I found was that it lacked the ability to download and incorporate gifs. I was looking forward to using gifs on my presentation. In addition to using Canva, I also used a program to screen record my presentation with audio, called Debut Screen and Video recorder. I used this Debut Screen and Video recorder because Canva did not have the capability to screen record, which is another limitation I came across. I have never screen recorded before so this was a struggle for me, however I was extremely happy to be introduced to it because of doing this assignment. In conclusion, my finished product was a video that incorporated my Canva graphic design as well as audio. Overall, it was a positive learning experience.

Dani Dimu