#UWinDig

As a student teachers we are always looking for new ways to benefit students learning. We study all of the theories of the philosophers in hopes that it will help us understand our profession more. We try to differentiate and integrate technology but the fact is in this technological era many of us have fallen victims to outdated curriculum and  misuse of technology in the classroom. I do not learn best from text books and I don’t believe that I could have made it through Chemistry in university without the aid of youtube. The thing is all of our classes tell us that students learn in different ways, so why the constant textbook work and lectures only catering to a few students needs?  Technology with proper use can help with all students learning and assist with many of the challenges they face. The Technologists Module addresses this need for proper use of technology in the classroom and goes through a step by step process that outlines how to select the proper technology. This five step process is a path to design thinking. The first step is Empathy. It is vital to empathise with the students, to see the challenge in front of them from their eyes. Many of us in university who have only been accustomed to academic classrooms and do not see the obstacles in some students lives. It is so easy to think that “this is easy, they should be getting this” so it becomes very important that we take the time to try to understand what they are going through. This leads to the second step, to Define the challenge the students are facing. Once you can visualise this problem you can begin to ideate; ask yourself how technology could solve this problem? What resources are available? The next step is to build the prototype; to choose the technology and try it out in the classroom. In this phase it is really important to reflect on how well it worked and ask the students what they thought. It can always be improved.  So in this phase it is important as teachers to realize that we are human and to accept critical feedback from students. If the attempt is a failure revaluate and try again. As teachers we want to model resilience and perseverance for our students. We can not ask them to be determined and self motivated if we are not. The last step is to connect this to the curriculum, to ensure that the learning goals are still met and that we have chosen an effective technology.

I chose to do a piktochart to illustrate this process. I have never used this platform before but will definitely encourage my students to use it in the future for projects. It was easy to use and creates professional looking charts. This pictochart emphasises the key points of design thinking including the five steps; empathise, define, ideate, prototype and connect. It also outlines this collaborative way of introducing something new in the classroom. Hope you enjoy!

I read the article Digital Redlining, Access, and Privacy by Chris Gilliard. I thought that in my response I should add an image that reflects the origination of the term redlining especially since it happened so close to home. Before reading this article I had no idea that redlining was a problem that was faced in the physical world and now the digital one. Redlining the marginalized communities only lead to huge gaps in finance between the white population and the African American population. By denying these poor communities mortgages the government ensured that they could not escape from poverty.  The marginalized are trapped in poverty and become more likely to go to jail, have a drug addiction and commit suicide all because the rich want to stay rich. Today the majority of the black community are still living in poverty and the average prison statistically more full of the marginalized communities. Now the same thing is happening digitally, only this time instead of denying mortgage they are denying students educational sources based on institutions wealth. The institutions that are more wealthy and well known for their research programs and education are granted more resources. The community colleges and smaller universities are granted less. They could not afford to go the to higher level schools so they do not get to have a well rounded and whole education; that seems unfair. How is anyone supposed to break the bonds of poverty if their education is hindered because of their financial situation.

Before I read this article I had no idea that redlining was even an issue. I have since tried to find articles for my philosophy paper and was having a hard time. My cousin who went to Laurier said that he never had problems finding articles there.  I had no idea that institutions have different access to sources!! I also watched the digital classroom recording with Chris It hit me when he said that at his institution he could not read the article that he published. WOW! I can’t even believe that anything like this could happen. I had a little bit of experience with this in the classroom. I did some small scale reactions of the Alkali Metals due to the reactiveness of these elements I could not do a larder scale reaction. After I gained the attention of the class with the reactions I wanted to show a video of a larger scale reaction of these metals. I had my video selected but it would not let me play it in the school.  The students were denied that learning experience because of the schools access. This is unacceptable, it is time to take the red tape down! This is a money making scheme that we need to put to rest for the sake of greater education. We need to stop extinguishing students curiosity with a big red blocked sign!

I responded to this article with a sketch note of the images that came into my head as I read the article on this topic. First of all there is a red line spiting the page in half. The right half of the page are those who benefit from redlining that is why this side is depicted in colour to indicate their privilege. The left side of the drawing is enclosed by the red line and in poverty, they are depicted in black and white to indicate that something is missing. At the top I have two very different locations; a large city and poorer homes. This explains the origins of the word redlining which is to keep the poor and marginalized poor by not allowing them to have a mortgage.  The next image is of a man standing on the edge of a cliff, with a rainbow bridge that is blocked by the red line. To me this image represents the steps towards a solution that must be taken. The red line must come down so the people living in poverty can share the benefits of their neighbours both physically and digitally.  The last images are of two people on computers, the one on the right goes to a top university and has access to all the resources she needs. The one on the left has no connection and in his search finds a blocked page. This guy represents those who’s education is hindered by the redlining of our society.

Below is my sketch note. Hope you enjoy!

I am responding to the Hybrid pedagogy article; Digital ghosts in the modern classroom by Ashley Hinck. This article describes the tendency of students to use online templates for assignments and even for social media. She describes the templates as limiting, a drag and drop platform leaving no room for creativeness and invention. These templates are easier to use but students do not learn anything from them. The author challenges her students to use different platforms that allow for them to invent their own theme as well as look at different social media sites with a critical eye. Wonder why they limit words, why the profile picture is in that location and how they incorporate task bars in their websites. This will give the students a better understanding of the technological age in which they live. I found this article to be surprisingly interesting. After the author made these points I was able to see that students fall back on these templates out of comfort level, because the work is already done for them and because they are afraid to step outside of the box. A template simply gives them someone’s ideas so that they don’t have to use their brain to solve a problem. These students see a problem and run away instead of confronting it. Ashley mentions that they are afraid of trial and error they feel as though the answer should just be right there in front of them. This is a very narrow mindset that is often enforced on students; that there is only one right answer and it is the end of the world to get the wrong one. I have outlined many of the problems with templates and solutions that the author has suggested integrated with my own ideas as well as why I believe the students choose to use templates in a mind map below: hope you enjoy!

click link to for better view —> Templates are destroying creativity