#UWinDig

Thanks to extend by ecampusontario, teachers now have access to an exact pathway to follow in order to become a “technologist”. The technologist module is just one of several free resources that teachers have access to. With major advancements in technology it has become more important than ever that we develop our digital literacies and provide the proper tools and resources to help our students do the same. When teachers decide to bring a digital aspect to their classroom they must ensure that this is something the students can handle. Digital literacy involves using technology safely and responsibly, and so teachers must be sure that the safety and privacy of their students will never be in jeopardy. Once the teacher knows the learners have the digital literacy needed, technology can easily be implemented. Digital literacy is ongoing- we continue to learn and develop it as we continue our digital practices.

The technologist model offers definitions of important terms including digital literacy and design thinking, with in depth descriptions and external resources for each of the previously mentioned topics. Furthermore, the module analyzes the 5 steps associated with design thinking; empathize, define, ideate, prototype and connect. As defined in my infographic below, empathize encourages teachers to put themselves in the shoes of their learners and understand where they may have challenges. Define involves targeting specific problem areas that your technological tool will solve or address. The next step, ideate, is when teachers will form the main ideas of which they will use the tool to demonstrate. Next, teachers will create a prototype that acts as a rough draft, allowing them to experiment with their tool before implementing it. Lastly, connect requires teachers to make connections between their technological adaption and the curriculum topics they would like to display to their learners.

When I first began to review the technologist module I was having a hard time fully understanding what was meant by design thinking. Design thinking is a somewhat complicated idea that involves designing a product that will help your learners find a solution to a problem or challenge. Design thinking is human-centered. This means that those who are involved in the creation of the final product will be the ones who benefit from it. As previously mentioned, design thinking follows the steps outlined above; empathize, define, ideate, prototype and connect. Following these steps and experimenting with the final product will help teachers develop a stronger digital literacy which they can use to further their students learning.

The design thinking model reminded me of one of the articles that our first multimedia assignment analyzed, Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom by Ashley Hinck. Hinck discusses how important the process of trial and error is, and how learning from mistakes can lead to some of the best learning experiences. The design model steps, particularly the prototype step, involves constantly testing your ideas based on the information you have gathered and experimenting with your product. This involves making mistakes, learning from them and re-developing the product before implementing it into the classroom. I also realized that the design thinking method could be compared to the scientific method (outlined in the image below). Both involve gathering information to form ideas, testing those ideas and making changes based on what you have observed. Incorporating design thinking in science could help students take the scientific method, and inquiry based lessons and labs, to the next level. Science is actually a very creative process, which is something many people don’t realize, including students. In the future I would like to try to incorporate design thinking into my science lessons and labs to bring out students creativity. I feel that introducing them to this method will not only help them develop their digital literacy, it will also allow them to view science concepts from a different perspective and make complex concepts easier to understand and visualize. Design thinking is something I had never been exposed to previously. My high school and grade school teachers never made it far beyond the substitution portion of the SAMR model and they probably were unsure as to how they could integrate technology to modify or redefine a lesson. For a new teacher with mediocre digital literacy, the design thinking method makes technology integration less intimidating to me and really helped me to understand exactly how the integration process can be executed. In the future I will refer back to extend ecampusontario’s technologist module to give my students the best learning experiences possible through the integration of science and technology.

For this multimedia assignment I decided to give Canva a try. I recently used Piktochart to create an infographic for another course and wanted to see how these two sites compare to one another. Canva was extremely user friendly and straight forward. Once I figured out the text that I wanted to include in my poster it did not take me long at all to organize them on the poster template that Canva provided. The template I chose was basically just a navy blue background with some decorative images at the bottom so I had creative control to add in all of the text and images in anyway I liked. Both the multimedia poster below and the design thinking steps image above were created on Canva. I really enjoyed using this platform and will definitely consider using it again for future assignments!

After reading Dr. Michelle Jacobsen’s article, Teaching in a Participatory Digital World, and watching the video, Henry Jenkins: The influence of Participatory Culture on Education, I feel that I have a deeper understanding of the importance of incorporating technology into the classroom in meaningful ways, and I hope to incorporate these techniques into my classroom in the future. The article made me realize that my elementary and secondary teachers could have done a better job at using the technology available. This does not mean they were bad teachers; however they may not have had the learning opportunities needed to understand the advantages of technology and therefore could not pass this on to the class. Like Jacobsen discusses, it all starts with the teachers. We cannot expect to have digital literate students who use technology to make deep, meaningful connections if we do not have teachers who can pass this knowledge to them. This is something that seems obvious but I had never really thought critically about before reading this article. Of course we need to provide teachers with the necessary knowledge and skills if we expect them to incorporate technology into their lesson plans. I feel that this course is a great way to provide pre-service teachers with a foundational understanding of technology in the classroom setting and provide future educators with many different resources that bring active participation, reflection, collaboration and web 2.o aspects into the learning environment. During practicum, I had the opportunity to implement technological aspects that brought active participation into the classroom. Not only did the students’ respond well to it, but my associate teacher told me that they loved the resource I used and plan on implementing it again in the future. The knowledge I have gained from this course so far has been very useful in the classroom and has helped a teacher (my associate) and many future teachers’ (our class) enhance their practice.

Many “old school” style teachers punish their students for using technology in class, even confiscating devices. Rather than reprimanding the students, teachers should show them how to use technology responsibly in the classroom to gain knowledge, make connections, reflect on their work and actively participate within the online community in a meaningful way. I wish that my teacher’s would have given us this opportunity, as I feel there is much to learn by connecting with people around the world, as we saw first hand in our twitter discussion last week. As future teachers, it is important for us to continue brainstorming the ways in which we can create the optimal learning environment for our students by incorporating technology that will help push their educational experiences to the next level. This being said, I also feel it is important to recognize when technology is simply being used in substitution for an analog model and when it is used to transform the ways in which students gain knowledge.

For my multimedia reflection I decided to create an animated sketchnote using the app “Scribble Together Whiteboard” on my iPad. I screen recorded while I sketched on the app and then put these videos to music using iMovie. Although buying an apple pencil by no means turned me into an artist, I feel that this medium allowed me to express my thoughts thoroughly through text as well as doodles. The Powtoon video I created for my last reflection was visually nicer, however the sketchnote looks much more organic and real, and I am happy with the final product. I also had more creative control, as I could draw, write or add in any images I wanted. The app is actually a great tool to use in the classroom, as it allows you to “share your whiteboard” with others. Anyone who has access to the board can add their own thoughts and ideas, allowing students and teachers to collaborate further. You may want to incorporate into a lesson at your next practicum!

I hope my childlike drawings make you smile! 🙂

I really enjoyed reading Ashley Hinck’s article “Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom” and it taught me a lot about the affordances of adding a technological aspect to your teaching style. Hinck explains how shortcut and template platforms are easy for students to use, however they remove the need for creativity, openness and trial and error, turning students into robots who create products simply to impress their teacher. Even after you remove these platforms, their “ghost” remains, as students have now acquired a “one correct answer” type of thinking and have trouble creating a finished product without a template or exact instructions. I have used platforms like these as a student and now I understand that although they were user friendly, they did not allow me to be fully creative and to have control over my final product. I feel that their “ghost” did linger in the classroom because throughout grade school and high school I remember being intimidated when I was not provided with detailed instructions for an assignment. I especially realized this while working on my artifact, as at first I was a bit overwhelmed with the amount of creative control allowed for this assignment. Although Powtoon was a platform with many predetermined preferences, I feel I was still able to implement many of my own ideas, just in a more organized way. This article changed the way I view the use of technology in the classroom and will definitely have an influence on my pedagogical decisions during my practicum and once I become a teacher.

Although it was challenging at first, I really enjoyed using Powtoon and actually had a lot of fun working on this video. The only barrier I came across was that to use themes from the “pro version” for free, the video must be under 3 minutes. I had to cut back some information from my reflection, however I am still happy with the final product. I will definitely use Powtoon again in the future and would recommend giving it a try!

I hope you enjoy my video!

-Olivia Kireta