Author Archives: green1x

Feb 21 2019
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332thursday10

Put Your Digital Tech in Check

I viewed the technologist tutorial from eCampusOntario as an excellent professional development opportunity for educators. I think that there are a lot of teachers out there that happen to be stuck in their own ways, not only because they are unwilling to change. Their lack of knowledge in digital literacy affects their teaching philosophies on how they view and use technology in the classroom. This is because they may not know how to use is, when, how or why. I have seen this in my own teaching experiences where teachers did not use technology to its full potential. When I came in with fresh eyes and ideas I could suggest the use of technology in different areas of lesson and ended up inspiring my associate teacher to do so. This tutorial addressed ways in which technology integration can tackle specific learner-centered challenges. This is key. Technology can be such a powerful tool, if it is used in the right way. If we as educators take into consideration the design thinking approach that is discussed, technology can be incorporated to positively enhance a student’s learning experience.

I think that each step that is incorporated in the design thinking approach is important and valued. The first step and the last step I found to be the most important. To EMPATHIZE is to meet with the student to discuss what it is that the student needs. The collaboration with the student is what makes this so important, it is necessary because it is all about the student. Empathize is all about having a conversation to see how we as an educator can help overcome their learning challenge. Technology is a way to do so, it is a way for differentiated learning and instruction. The last step in the module is CONNECT. If technology is being used, there needs to be a purpose behind it and there needs to be a connection to the curriculum. This is crucial. A lot of teachers may over look this step because of the shininess that technology brings. However, technology isn’t just a shiny object, it can bring so much to the classroom for the learning of the students.

I hope that other educators can get as much out of this module as I did. It really allowed for me to think critically about the process that should be applied before technology is brought to the table. I believe that each student is different, and needs different things. This may include different forms of instruction or different tools to complete tasks. Technology can help overcome students challenges and learning needs.

I did the multimedia reflection as a Twitter essay for the second time and I can honestly say that it was still a huge learning curve for me. As I do not normally use twitter, I struggled when trying to use the format to the best of its abilities. I learned from last time when I tried to make each tweet involve some sort of GIF that it is not always needed. Therefore, I left some tweets alone. Another struggle I came across was in the posting process. I kept posting a tweet and realizing that it wasn’t attached to the tweet before or I just simply forgot the hashtag that we needed. I realized at the end that I had only used the #UWinDig on the first tweet, and forgot to include #OntarioExtend. Over all, I think that the twitter essay is a great way to share thoughts and opinions. I felt that I could provide a good summary and reflect on the tutorial.

 

 

 

 

Oct 31 2018
3 Comments
332thursday10

Digital World Takeover

My multimedia reflection, a Twitter essay was based on the article Teaching in a Participatory Digital World by Michele Jacobsen and the video, The Influence of Participatory Culture on Education by Henry Jenkins where the takeover of the new world of digital technology and the Web 2.0 in education is discussed. The article and the video both have many supporting arguments as to why teachers and the education systems should use these new technologies to their benefit. Before reading this article, I thought that technology should be introduced into the classroom more and more with the upbringing of all of these digital platforms. Growing up with technology, I have seen the importance and benefits that the technology brings to learning habits. I personally have gotten the opportunity to incorporate technology into my education and hope that I can do the same for my students education in a way to benefit their learning. I think that it is important that teachers take this step forward to learn how to properly use all this technology for the benefit of the students. It may be a lot of work for the teachers to get started and it may be hard for them to put aside their old ways but it is the way society is going and we should keep up with it. I think that it is an important learning curve for the teachers to take, to benefit the students learning.

These platforms create participatory platforms that can benefit the classroom by enforcing higher order critical thinking through creative participation, focused conversation, innovative explorations and online simulations and experiments. These technologies can help develop deeper understanding and increased motivation with the students with active participation and different ways of learning. I know that some subjects may be hard to incorporate more of this inquiry based thinking through digital technologies, that is okay. I think it is okay to have a blend of both, the old-fashioned way of teaching and this new interactive style with digital technology. These digital technologies can also benefit the classroom with the reflection portion of leaning where online environments can easily be created for peer collaboration and individual reflection. Using the digital world to enhance teaching also allows the benefit of having these resources available to you, where teachers can strengthen their resources and students can support their learning with additional information. I disagreed with the article when they said that the access the students the web should be unfiltered. I don’t think that we will ever be able to trust the students enough to allow this. The students use Web 2.0 platforms for their own personal use as well, we should most definitely keep the web access to the students filtered to keep them focused on using the web for educational purposes.

For the most part, I can see the shift to using more digital technology to educate in schools where the teachers are starting to forget about their old ways and incorporate more interactive online technologies. I know when I was teaching in my second week of my practicum, I tried my best to incorporate online applications like Kahoot, Mentimeter and online research activities. I could rent out a cart of laptops so that all the students had the proper access to the web. I saw that the students were motivated to learn in these settings being interactive, thinking critically and even creating their own multimedia project. It was a fun and interactive way for them to learn the concepts, inquiring on their own.

Doing the multimedia reflection as a Twitter essay was a huge learning curve for me. As I do not normally use twitter, I struggled when trying to use the format to the best of its abilities. I tried to make each tweet involve some sort of GIF or a poll to make them a little bit more interesting than just the plain old text its self as a tweet. I also found it hard to keep my thoughts within the 280 characters even though they had just recently increased the character count from 140 characters. I feel like I may think too much to simplify my thoughts in one tweet. Another struggle I came across was just through the posting process. I kept posting a tweet and realizing that it wasn’t attached to the tweet before or I just simply forgot the hashtag that we needed. Over all, I think that the twitter essay is a great way to share thoughts and opinions, being something that I would consider using again. Access to my multimedia reflection on twitter is located here, as well as some snap shots of some of my tweets below.

Oct 02 2018
6 Comments
332thursday10

Choose the Creative Path

In this multimedia reflection on the article Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom by Ashley Hinck, I chose to display my thoughts in the form of a sketchnote.  Through sketchnote, I was able to show the two different paths that we can teach and demonstrate to students. There is the shortcut route, which is the road that most students take by using templates, drag and drop methods, standardized steps and a guaranteed working final product. Although this route is not preferred due to limiting the creativity of the student, I placed a yellow light at the beginning of the road opposed to a red light to inform students to proceed with caution. This path is not necessarily the wrong path but it is a path that does not show the students full potential. To get the students to show their full potential without the digital ghost in the classroom we need educators to lead students to take risks and encourage them to be creators from a blank canvas.  By taking the longer path that may provide a challenge to the students will lead them to a one of a kind masterpiece that is not influenced by the digital ghost or an easy to fill in template. When doing my sketch note, Choose the Creative Path, I felt that I began with a blank canvas eliminating the digital ghost and templates from my reflection. Starting off with a blank canvas definitely had its challenges, mainly just the challenge of starting but it allowed me to use my full creative potential.