#UWinDig

The Technology Integration module that we read through, Technologist through “extend” Ontario, was very informative to adding, substituting and enhancing lessons and assessments for students.  Technology is a big part of our lives, with all the smart phones, tablets, and computers, that fill our society, even our K-12 students are becoming more literate with and using devices than ever before.  We should be teaching our students the skills they will need to be successful in developing and using technology.  However, in our school systems today their is still a lack of technology use and development being done.  Students stick to Microsoft or Google documents and slides and when doing Google searches do not look past the first result.  As teachers, we should be pushing them to look outside the box using their creativities to push them past their determined limits.  Their is so much potential and knowledge that our students can be learning about technology, yet the boundaries to what is taught and explored is so small.  In my opinion and from what I have observed, there are three main reasons that teachers aren’t using technology in their classrooms to enhance learning and it is because they are unsure of how to use the overwhelming number of tools and don’t know which ones to select, there are few totally free for use sites and finally they are uncomfortable with the tools and media, needing to get permission to use the sites from the school board, school administration and/or parents.  It’s complicated, however, we should be selecting the challenge and working on expanding our knowledge of teaching using technology, because it will only enhance our lessons by making students more engaged with the material and allowing them to interact with the tools available to them, which may be important for their future careers.  For educators interested in entering the technology world and using tools that are unfamiliar to them, I think the Technologist module is a great resource to integrating technology into the classroom.

This resource allows educators to obtain a certificate by completing the full module, and I found that the additional videos and linked articles were helpful in enhancing my knowledge of digital literacy and the digital thinking approach that was outlined.  I think the first step to incorporating technology is to understand and create your own working definition of a digital literacy.  It isn’t a simple concept, rather it is about effectively integrating technology to enhance learning in a safe space for students to interact with the world around them academically.  It’s also about the process of designing, communicating and using technology to share ideas.  Coming to an understanding of digital literacy and the importance of choosing technology that is safe for students is the first step to integrating technology into the classroom.

The next part of the module went into design thinking and the importance of making sure that the problem/challenge and the technology tool or media that is chosen to enrich the learning experiences of students is human-centred and involving learners in the use of technology in a way that enhances collaboration.  The module laid out one approach to integrating technology: Empathize with your learners by understanding their unique needs, defining the learner’s challenge where the educator looks at where technology can be used to enhance or change a lesson or assessment (SAMR model can be used here to identify how the integration of technology changes the learning environment), ideate by choosing and assessing the tool or media, prototype the exploration, designing, sharing and modifying of the tool, and connecting to the curriculum finding where your creation fits in with the expected learning.

This approach is useful, but the only thing is you should be assessing the connection to the curriculum all the way through, not designing and using the tool to only find that their is no connection.  Instead, you should be looking at the connections all the way through to ensure that you know the curriculum and can be implementing the expectations into the creation of your tool.  That’s my only thought.

I chose to do an infographic (see below) because I thought that the step-by-step fashion of the article would look best presented in this format. I used an infographic for the last multi-media reflection and I thought that this format would be perfect, as I’d get to practice using Piktochart again and I started from scratch without using a template.  I think this resource is great to use in the classroom for poster making and I wanted to learn more about the tools and options that are available.  I can see myself using this tool in my classroom and I now have a two examples of what posters that start with a blank white sheet of paper can turn into.  This can show students that they have the option of not sticking to a template and using their creativity to design their own projects, as well.  I like that this tool is very user friendly and once you’ve experimented for a very short time, you can use the site’s features, images from Google (using the “labeled for reuse” tool) to create a visually appealing and simple poster that conveys meaning through text and pictures.

These assignments have taught me the importance of pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, trying something new and staying up to date as an educator.   It is time consuming to learn about these sites and the features they offer, but it is well worth it to have students learn about technology tools that are available for their use in creating projects along with traditional paper and pencil methods too.  The more students know, the more well off they will be in their futures.  We need to be pushing our boundaries to push theirs to new heights!

The TED Talk by Khurram Vieni on Data-Driven Education was very interesting and contained a lot of content.  His main idea, the importance of Data-Driven Education, was one part of his speech, which I used to create the Infographic, found below.  He is both a technologist and an educator; so naturally, he decided to compare the two, technology and education.  He concluded that both serve industries, move people forward, is about people’s experiences and outcomes, are crafts that are influenced by science and they both come down to finding the best approach.  At first, I did not see the link between the two and was wondering where this video was going.  Upon further reflection and thinking about these key points, I realized he was spot on about the link.  We are using technology more and more in the classroom, sometimes so much so, that we are leaving students at a disadvantage.  Students are learning less and less on how to write and spell, and are creating students to be literate at typing and using spell check.  Technology is advancing at an incredible rate, while education is lagging behind, where the gap between education and the real world of skills needed for future jobs gets bigger.  Education is not changing at the rate of education, and we seem to be getting lost in preparing students for the future, because technology is creating an ever-changing world.  We cannot even guess what jobs will be in need in the next decade- they might not even exist today.  Unfortunately, we are no longer teaching for the future, and we are not even teaching for today!  That is the biggest challenge in teaching, constant change and improving our lessons to meet the needs of all our students.

Teaching technology is beneficial for our schools, but we need to find a balance that allows students to use and learn from technology, while also learning basic skills like writing and arithmetic.  Our students are becoming to reliant on technology and it is scary to see that students cannot spell, do simple math and cursive write (they no longer have a signature!)  That seems crazy to me!  I think we can find the balance necessary to teach students basic skills in writing, math and technology without limiting ourselves to one over the other.  In my two placements, I have seen a classroom too dependent on technology and one that had a good balance.  The one with the balance, used many types of technology, like Kahoot, math-based games and the Google Programs without losing out on the basic writing skills.  For example, they would write and edit (sometimes peer edit) their rough drafts and have the option to type their final draft.  Spelling and computing basic math facts, even in this grade eight class was still very weak.  Therefore, like many things in life, I believe that it is important to find a balance with the use of technology in the classroom.  Students should have the opportunity to learn both technology skills and skills in math and writing that will allow them to choose which system of skills they like best.  Some students felt it was unfair that cursive writing was no longer taught and they spent their indoor recesses practicing themselves.

Data- Driven Education is a method for improving teaching and learning in the classroom, used by teachers.  Although, I have not heard about this technique until listening to the TED talk, I feel that I am always checking in with students to see where they are at in their learning.  Sometimes as teachers we have to be flexible and ensure that students understand concepts, even if we need to teach it in a different way.  It’s all about experimenting and finding the best way to teach our students.  Changing things up and teaching with the needs of your students in mind will help improve teaching and learning.  What works for one class will usually not work for the next class.  It’s all about knowing your students and catering to their needs.

I chose to represent the sequence for Data-Driven Education in an infographic because I thought the information would look best in a poster-like format.  I used Piktochart to create my infographic and being new to the program, I thought it was very user friendly.  I used a step-by-step guide from the website to help me and before starting, I looked around at all the options and tools for the program.  I decided to start the infographic from scratch and did not choose to use a layout.  I could not find one I liked, so I went to work creating my own.  I would definitely use this program in the future and I would have my students create posters and other projects using this website.  It would be easy for me to teach to my students and provide more variety than the common used Google or Microsoft products. Overall, I had a great experience with this infographic and I am glad I had the opportunity to try it out.  I think it turned out great.

For this first Multimedia Assignment, I chose to represent the key ideas from the article, “Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom” by Ashley Hinck: http://hybridpedagogy.org/digital-ghosts-modern-classroom/, using a Sketchnote.  This was my first time developing a Sketchnote and I tried my best to use different sizes and colours to represent the main points, in addition to the doodles.  This article brought up the problem of students following the worksheet and template models in the classroom and in digital media.  Students have fallen into a comfort zone of producing work that their teachers want to see and this limits their creativity.  I think we should be pushing our students outside the box and having them create and make things across the subject disciplines and shaking the idea that there is a single right answer or way of doing things. The idea that failure is bad and means that you are no good at something is the mindset students adopt, when really failure should push you to try again and discover success.  The school system has been built on linear steps of learning and we should be challenging this idea by having students do more creating and discovery, through inquiry-based learning.  Worksheets and template can help students learn and achieve knowledge but they should not be the only things students do and learn from. Adding variety to teaching and learning will reduce these expectations students are developing and increase new expectations surrounding creativity, failure and successes.

As a learner, the shortcut/template model was the only model.  I learned how to do basic things on the computer and Internet.  I learned how to use Word, Powerpoint, Excel and Publisher- following the template and examples as I went.  Art assignments, projects and worksheets were completed similarly to exemplars that were shown to us.  Creativity was limited and I think that has developed me into a leaner that requires and strives off of the linear steps given to complete anything.  I think that this assignment challenged me to create something given limited steps to follow, pushing me to think creatively, while providing meaning in the Sketchnote.  As a teacher, I want to push my students to think in many different ways, including creatively.  We, as teachers, should be breaking this cycle of the template model and developing negative expectations when it comes to digital media and schooling.  Students should be doing more than just worksheets and using templates.  Instead, they should have the opportunities to create, make and speak without being provided concrete instructions.  We should push comfort zones when working on digital media too.  They should be given experiences prior to post-secondary schooling to interact with and use technologies that force students to make decisions, engage and create media and experience failures that when worked on can become success.  Based on the article and my own experiences as a learner in our K-12 system, I believe that we as teachers should be working on getting our students to the top of Bloom’s taxonomy and changing the mindsets and expectations that students have developed.