My reflection was based on the Extend scenario from ecampusontario.ca, and the platform I used was Powtoon The scenario talked about how people or in general teachers can incorporate technology into the classroom. The link talks about a design-thinking approach in order to incorporate technology more as a teacher. The methodologies and approaches that it talks about include Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Connect and Test. If you follow these steps and follow the module checklist you will have the concepts, ideas, and tools in order to incorporate technology as a teacher. Empathy means understanding the learner’s needs and wants and making sure you are incorporating differentiation. As a teacher, it is important to make sure inclusion is key in terms of incorporating technology into any setting. Define involves understanding problems as a teacher and make sure the goal of incorporating technology is to help the students as a whole. Ideate involves brainstorming in order to come up with an idea to start planning on what type of technology is necessary; mind mapping is a great tool to use. Next, you come up with a prototype that involves you designing, sharing, and refining the technological product so that it is worthy to share and incorporate in class. Finally, you test your prototype and get feedback that you can use for the future in order to make the final product. During this whole process, a checklist can be used to make sure you are following all the design-thinking approaches.

The artifact that I used to illustrate how to incorporate technology as a teacher was Powtoon. This was the first time using this platform, and I have some mixed emotions of it. I wanted to try this platform because it is a great way to show a slideshow but in a more technological way. What I enjoyed about this platform, was that it came equipped with premade items to use such as premade slides that came with relatable material on them and figures. I first started using it, using a MAC computer, and I was very frustrated because it did not have a mouse to click on all the items and I had a difficult time with it. However, I was able to finish it on a Windows desktop computer with a mouse and it became easy after a while to go through the slides and add and delete items that you did not want. I think the most difficult thing about this platform is trying to time every item just right so that you can read the captions that you have. I think access to an easy tutorial on how to do certain things would be nice. I noticed a lot of the features I wanted to use cost money and you needed to sign up for a subscription in order to use it which was unfortunate.

Looking at the experiences while teaching, I try to incorporate technology every day. In my classroom, every morning for math I used Kahoot to ask questions in teams; the students love the fact they can use technology to answer questions and it a way to promote competition while learning. Many projects I did with many students involved the use of computers/tablets to do research. I even had them create artifacts at one point to make menus for health. Whenever I get a chance I try to incorporate technology because technology is only advancing and the students are advancing with the technology and love using it, and I believe students will learn better with tools that they are familiar with and love using already. I have never really thought of using the design-thinking technique, however; without trying the approaches are always covered.  I understood that the children love using technology and empathized with that and understood I should incorporate it when I can. I noticed that the problem is that many students were off task and when had the technology they were more focused. So, I came up with an idea to have technology in the classroom every morning. I came up with my prototype being the Kahoots to test if they would pay attention more and work together because could relate with technology, I definitely made sure every question I did was connected to the curriculum, and I tested my idea of having students work together as teams with the tablet to answer questions, and it worked. So, in conclusion, I have seen the design-thinking approaches work and I will keep on using the steps the design-thinking approach offers to include technology in the classroom!

Visit my Powtoon!

Update February 20th, 2019 NOTE: *Not paying for the subscription for the product altered my final product! So I found out that after publishing the final product that the templates that I used were free of charge but embedded in them were tools that are only allowed with the subscription, so my final Powtoon that you are viewing does not, in fact, look like what I produced. This is very upsetting because what people will view will look like there are pieces missing, when in fact it is a way better artifact than what is portrayed. There should have been some sort of warning for this that was more obvious. I was able to go back into the Powtoon site and edit the artifact so that every slide would work! Yay!

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.

This Twitter Essay will discuss the TED Talk: Data-Driven Education & the Podcast of “Audrey Watters and The Teaching Machine.” and will further look at the pros and cons of data collection promoting personal education. https://t.co/G99grfJWcYhttps://t.co/BmYh9NBZM5#UWinDig

— Mr. Ellsworth (@ellswor1) October 31, 2018

The article I chose to review and summarize by using Piktochart was Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom. The article explains how students think that creating a digital media piece is a simple task that just involves drag & drop, simple steps, and a final product that is perfectly made. This is not the case! Standardized education has been ingrained in many students and much of students learning has resembled by the way students view digital media platforms. There is a lack of knowledge of how to use digital media efficiently and effectively in the classroom and tools need to be given to students in order to know how to use digital media in a positive way to promote learning.

The platform I used was Piktochart. I thought it was a simple way to visually explain some significant points from the article. I mostly had a positive experience with the platform, but I thought it was difficult to manoeuvre through the platform. I think I had a difficult time because there are so many tools and devices to use to assist you in the developing process. So, having all the options can be a blessing and a curse at the same time. I feel like this would be a great resource to present to a class and introduce them to how to use digital media platforms and to illustrate how making digital media might be difficult, but worth it to go through the learning process and use digital media platforms to create pieces in any subject.

Personally, as a learner, there are still many things that I want to learn and I am learning about creating and using digital media. Using the digital media platform has opened my eyes to the possibilities that are out there when it comes to utilizing digital media platforms to create work. I think to have digital media platforms that are simple to use and straightforward are user-friendly and as a beginner think they would benefit the learner in order to learn the basics. Simplistic platforms that have generic layouts and features I think as a student would benefit the learner because it is easy to access and promotes confidence in the user. So, using it in a K-12 school learner would only promote a growth mindset attitude for the students. As a teacher, introducing students at a young age the basics of digital media platforms would only benefit students and the teacher; together the teacher and the student can learn together. With digital media platforms, the learning process is trial and error and so allowing room for failure will allow students to learn from their mistakes and become more technically sound when it comes to digital media platforms. The experience of creating my artifact connected to the text I was reflecting on because in the article Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom, the author was trying to explain how students need to move from users of shortcut/template platforms to makers, creators, and speakers, and the digital media platform directly went against what the article was suggesting. Piktochart was the exact opposite of what the article was trying to promote. Piktochart involved drag and drop/ copy and paste with a simple layout and was easy to use. I did have to create my own visual with words and important text from the article, but I think the article is trying to say that students need to be able to create their own platforms from scratch in order to learn, which I totally disagree with. Like I said before, these digital media platforms set the foundation and you can build on them.