#UWinDig

Now I have to be completely honest here, I’ve never been the go-to person to ask about technology. I can work my way around an iPhone but it’s like all hope is lost when I need to integrate tech into my lessons. Well, that is until I got my hands on the Technologist module! eCampus Ontario has provided us educators with the perfect solution to the scary world of technology. Even though we have discussed SAMR plenty of times, I still felt a little worrisome of how I could actually implement it. Now that we have access to the technologist module, I feel a little better about how to go from substitution to redefinition. I also find that the module did a great job of not jumping into the bulk of it right away. It first gave us an overview, and a scenario that essentially asked, “are you stuck in old habits and can’t find a way to integrate technology into your classes?”. It breaks it down for us by saying we are not alone, and in order for educators to implement tech, we need to do it in a way that supports and enriches learning for our students.

The way that eCampus has suggested we tackle this is by incorporating design-thinking. What is design-thinking you ask? It is a way to spark new ideas and help learners find a solution to a challenge in a collaborative and iterative way. The 5 steps involved are: empathize, define, ideate, prototype and connect, and I will gladly go into more depth!

1. Empathize: understanding and determining what our learners actually need. Ask yourself what the challenge is, and if you can solve it through the purposeful use of technology.
2. Define: narrowing in and really identifying the challenge that is at hand. It is important to really make sense of the problem so that educators can start to determine a solution.
3. Ideate: forming and building the characteristics of what form of technology can really help to create a solution for you. It’s also important to address the challenges that your learners have and form the best solution to fulfil the learners’ needs.
4. Prototype: experimenting, diving in and understanding the tool that you have chosen to address learner challenges. Ask yourself, learners and peers what worked and what didn’t work in order to best decide how to refine and move on.
5. Connect: integrating your chosen tech tool into the classroom, connecting it to the curriculum and implementing plans to progress to other areas of technology.

I believe that at times it may be difficult and daunting to understand these steps and actually follow through with it, but I think that it would be very beneficial in an educators’ “bag of tricks”.These steps also help to improve our digital literacy skills as well as our students. As teachers we need to understand our students’ many intelligences and learning styles. We need to meet the needs of each student and by understanding technology we can begin to differentiate and help our students to succeed in all aspects! Please enjoy my infographic as I feel this was the best way to summarize the main ideas of the module. I believe that infographics can tell a story through pictures and words and it easily lays out my thoughts.

I chose to analyze the podcast featuring Bruce Schneier, and the interview he gave about his new book titled, Click Here to Kill Everybody. I have to say that this podcast was rather intriguing and terrifying at the same time. Within minutes of listening to the podcast I found myself cringing at the fact that there are real risks in the new technological, networked and computer-based world. Schneier calls this new world “internet plus” and I truly believe we are now living in this almost unfortunate society. He explains throughout the podcast that it is nearly impossible to buy a product that is not connected to the internet in some way. Cars, appliances, televisions, medical supplies, etc. are all connected to the internet in some way or form and we are putting ourselves at a real risk for hacking. It is no longer about worrying that someone will steal private information from the hospital and use it against you, now it’s about hacking the database and changing the blood type to kill you. He simply states the internet is coming, and it isn’t all it’s hyped up to be. A casino in vegas was hacked through an internet connected fish tank (and to me that sounds unheard of). Schneier explains that we can longer afford to make products in which systems and the government can spy on us, because the “bad guys” are using the same route to take things over. One day we will wake up with a hacked thermostat and be forced to pay in order to reclaim our houses. Schneier ends with the point that the government needs to put defense before offence. Companies need to ensure that systems are secure, rather than keep systems vulnerable for threats in order to attack against said threat. It’s out of our hands… companies need to change, and the government needs to change in order to secure safety.

While I was listening to this podcast, the thought came to me that this directly relates to the twitter hashtag #unboundeq that we’ve recently had in this class. All of thetopics that Bruce Schneier was talking about was basically the class discussion we had on twitter. The internet is all around us and it’s scary how often someone is listening to us, especially when it comes to our personalized ads on Facebook.

This might be naive or ignorant of me, but I don’t necessarily think about these bad things happening in my life, including breaches of privacy. I think that is why I find it so scary that these people have the knowledge and resources to hack into what I used to think were secure networks. Then there is my ideas about these actual products that hackers are taking control of… I never thought I would need a toaster or refrigerator that connected to the internet, but then once you have it you become lazy and rely on it, so every product after that needs to be connected. That is why when Schneier explained that authorities should be offering jail time for companies who do not take the time to secure these products made me stop and think about it for a minute. Do these companies want us to potentially get hacked? Or are they just more concerned with the look and consumerism to care about the vulnerability of the product? Either way, after listening to this podcast, it has definitely made me think about future purchases and getting the best secured network I can get.

Additionally, because I had so many thoughts that were running through my mind, I figured a mind map would be the best way to lay them out. What I took from the podcast was almost like “4 steps on how to reduce hacking”. I laid out my mind map in a way that audiences can see the connections between the topics, but ultimately end on the note that things need to change. After listening to this podcast, it is clear to me as a future educator that this topic cannot be taken lightly. We cannot risk the safety of ourselves, or our future students, so learning how to properly protect ourselves online is a step in the right direction.

I have also attached a PDF copy of my artifact in case you need to zoom in on the words!

Leslie

I had the opportunity to read the following compelling article that was written by Ashley Hinck, on how to avoid digital ghosts in the modern classroom.

Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom

Now after reading the article and if we’re being completely honest… When I first entered this class, I felt exactly the same way as many of students did entering Hinck’s class; hoping to learn about the basics of technology so I could implement it in the classroom one day. However, with further exploration of the article, I, along with the aforementioned students, came to understand that the way we have understood, explored technology and attempted to become the digital pedagogues that Hinck talks about, is obviously lacking. Hinck explains that the way students have become accustomed to technology relates to the banking model of education. Students are considered blank slates that the education system needs to fill with standardized tests and textbook reading, all while creating educational robots.

This expands upon the way that students use technology; they stick to what they know, limit themselves creatively with the shortcut/template options and hope and pray they followed the right steps to avoid failure. Yes, it is possible to have some imagination when it comes to these predetermined templates, but students still have to ensure that their creativity fits. It is unfortunate that these applications and technologies are programmed this way because it limits innovation, creativity and openness for students. Hinck concludes with ways in which we as educators can make the transition from the step-by-step linear instruction to a more open-ended, discovery-based way to implement technology in the classroom, and ultimately learning in general. If we give students the opportunity to try, fail, revise and succeed, students will be better equipped to become makers, creators and critical thinkers.

As you can tell from my infographic below, I have chosen to create a poster that highlights the different views that Hinck expressed in her article. Like I previously mentioned, the beginning of the article describes a more standardized form of education whereas the end it transitions towards authentic education and I found this infograph to be extremely helpful in getting my points across about these issues. I can conclude that I have definitely learned that the best way to shape critical thinkers, creators and makers, is to implement more discovery-based technology and let students try and succeed on their own.

-Leslie Webber