#UWinDig

For our final multimedia reflection, I chose to create an infographic using Canva to summarize the key points of the Technologist Module from the eCampus Ontario website. I chose to create an infographic because I am a visual learner and I believe infographics allow the message to be conveyed effectively. This platform is beginning to grow more and more on me as I experiment with it. I truly do enjoy the drag and drop method even though it may limit my creations sometimes.  One thing I noticed while creating my infographic was that many more of the graphics needed to be purchased before inserting them. When previously using Canva, I did not struggle to incorporate visuals, however it was quite challenging to find a visual to get my message across.

The overall goal of the technologist module is to educate users how to effectively incorporate technology tools in the classroom while still addressing a variety of specific learning styles. Our world continues to become more and more digital and I believe it is important for educators to stay relevant. In my placement, I often tried to incorporate technology in my lessons in order to appeal to my students needs and wants. However, I generally stuck to platforms that I was more comfortable and experienced with such as Kahoot , Gizmos, and Mentimeters.  I often questioned whether if the tools I was using were beneficial to my lessons and student needs. In order to successively incorporate technology, it is imperative that one reflects on their own digital literacies. After reading other definitions, I believe my definition of digital literacy most resembles the one from the government of British Columbia. Digital literacy relies heavily on one’s interests, attitudes and ability to appropriately use digital technology and communication tools to access, manage, integrate and evaluate information, construct new knowledge, and create and communication with others. On the other hand, I believe Jisc did a great job of breaking down some of the elements relating to digital literacy. The elements included:

1. Media literacy – read, create and produce resources in a range of media
2. Communications and collaboration – engage in digital communities to benefit learning and research
3. Career and identity management – be aware of the effects the internet may have on your reputation and identity
4. ICT literacy – use digital devices, applications and services
5. Learning skills – gain skills by actively participating in technology-rich environments
6. Digital scholarship – engage in academic, professional and research practices
7. Information literacy – find, analyze, manage and share information

As our digital society is constantly changing from one day to the next, it is important we acknowledge this in order for us to become more digitally literate. The Extend Ontario website provides the Design Thinking approach which emphasizes the importance of involving users in the creation and experimentation process. As per Growing Success, students’ engagement and commitment to learning is much higher when they are directly involved in the process of creating success criteria, learning goals and feedback in relation to goals etc. I can say first hand that I observed for this to be true in my first placement. When working on narratives, I had mentioned to my students that their peers would be assessing their final products and I have never seen the class so silent and hard at work. Putting the students at the center of their learning allows them to take more accountability for their work.

The Design-Thinking Process follows five simple steps which will help teachers involve learners in finding a solution in relation to learning challenges.

Empathize – when creating any type of activity or lesson, it is important to put your learner’s needs at the forefront. Teachers must gather information about learning styles through feedback, other teachers and by simply asking students what they need.

Define – once the information is gathered, the teacher must start small and define the problem or challenge at hand. This step emphasizes the importance of the greatest good/utility for everyone.

Ideate – gather important features and characteristics of how technology could solve your issue. At this stage, using a mindmap and thinking aloud is highly encouraged in order to choose the right technology. When selecting an appropriate tool, The SECTIONS model does a great job of breaking down specific considerations you should keep in mind. They include:

• students learning styles,
• how easy it is to use,
• cost/time concerns,
• the teaching function,
• interaction (student centered vs teacher centered),
• organisational readiness of the tool in terms of support,
• networking (is the tool useful outside of the classroom)
• security and privacy

Prototype – test out the technology tool for yourself. Design a prototype for your students to refer to. I personally think the  Technology-Enabled Activity Planning Document would be super useful when it comes to my time management skills in the classroom. I struggled a lot when creating our Sway presentation and was forced to read and watch several tutorials. Although I spent much time learning how the platform works, I still do not feel comfortable with it. Using the post-it notes method would have helped me tremendously when trying to work my way around as it could have laid out important steps for me instead of having to go revisit the tutorial each time. By sharing each other’s triumphs, challenges and questions, we can better refine our creations to suit our learners.

Connect – the most important element in my opinion. It is crucial to ensure that the technology tool that you have chosen allows for curriculum expectations to be met. By creating a clear and concise list for your students, you are able to scaffold and guide your students in the right direction.

Overall, I believe that this model was effective because it made me reflect on some of my teaching practices. Next time I plan to incorporate technology in the classroom, I need to ask myself questions such as “Is it allowing for differentiation?” , “Are my students at the center of their learning?” and “Is it helping me meet curriculum expectations?” .

To view my infographic more clearly, click HERE ! (still struggling to make it appear clearly directly on the page)

Matt Rosoff’s article examines the decline in the number of users the social media outlet has experienced due to recent sandals. While Facebook has been experiencing a decline, it still manages to have 2.23 billion monthly users. Facebook owns many other social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger which has helped them overcome their recent struggles as seen in Apple’s rankings of most popular free applications. Over the recent

year, Instagram has become a platform that has generated a high income. Instagram has grown 204%  year over year due to the number of advertisements which can be seen while using the application. Sponsored advertisements may have to be incorporated into WhatsApp and Messenger as another source of income in order to help save Facebook.

Looking more in depth at the recent Pew survey which included over 3,400 U.S. Facebook users, it concluded that millennials are either deleting the app, taking a break from it or many are simply adjusting their privacy settings. Facebook users are choosing to adjust their privacy settings due to the recent Cambridge Analytica event which breached users’ personal information. Moreover, Facebook is seeing a decline in users as Russian operatives also used Facebook to spread false news to influence the 2016 presidential elections.

Although there is a continued growth of Facebook users overseas, Facebook is seeing a major stall in North American users which included myself not so long ago. Before I engaged with the text, the Cambridge Analytica and the presidential scandal were not among my reasonings to delete Facebook, but I did find myself among one of the 42% users who needed to take a break. Every so often I choose to delete social media apps from my phone such as Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat which allows me to disconnect and just be present. After reading Rosoff’s article, I may reconsider removing myself from social media more often.  I deleted my Facebook account for over a year but I chose to reactivate my account for a few reasons. Facebook is a great application that allows me to keep in contact with previous teammates, family members and friends living all over the world. Not having a Facebook account often left me on the outside of the team’s Facebook page and multiple group projects as Messenger was the preferred means of communication. I now use the app mainly to keep up with my mom’s blog of her new puppy because I do not have the liberty of watching her grow back home in Montreal. Facebook privacy may have its downfalls, but it allows me to post albums and adjust the privacy settings so only I can see them. I enjoy this feature because iCloud doesn’t have the capacity to hold all of my pictures and I’m too cheap to pay for extra storage in all honesty. The text forced me to be more critical and think about what I am posting on social media because I now know that my photos aren’t only seen by me and that others may have access to them as well. Overall, I still enjoy using Facebook and being able to interact with friends and family through one simple click or like and I will think twice about posting something on Facebook in the future.

For the purpose of this assignment, I chose to create a mind map to summarize Rossoff’s article. I used Canva this time around which is similar to Piktochart which I used for the first multimedia artifact. I found Canva to be more user friendly and easier to navigate. I had access to a mouse and a large computer screen which I believed lessened my frustrations. Having the mouse allowed me to center objects somewhat better than Piktochart which relieved some of my OCD for small details as such. Overall, it was a much more positive experience creating this mind map.

Click to view my mind map! 

For my reflection assignment, I chose to read the Hinck article Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom. In the article, the author discusses the use of digital skills and how they are becoming more important in our modern day. However, the author argues that many technological platforms are restricting a student’s creativity by making them believe there is only one right way of accomplishing tasks similarly to standardized education. Moreover, through these platforms, users are not developing the digital skills needed to succeed. Instead, these technological platforms such as Piktochart which I used to create my poster, has preset templates which allows users to use a drag-and-drop method. Although this copy and paste method ultimately makes the process easier and faster, it also tends to limits creativity and exploration. Having made a poster myself, I can say that the templates and preset images made it easy for me to not be a creator. To add on, having to use a platform that I was unfamiliar with caused much frustration and anxiety because I was not getting the results I wanted. While creating my Piktochart, I had a vision but I found the search engine for Piktochart restricted me because I could not find the images I was looking for. Using Piktochart for the first time was challenging due to my lack of knowledge of this medium.
The author states that we should be avoiding shortcuts similarly to Piktochart and instead we should be encouraging our students to become makers, creators and speakers by teaching and providing them with the necessary skills and resources. In order do so, we as educators need to teach the students in the process to embrace their struggles and we need to encourage trial and error. I strongly agree with Hinck that we should be encouraging students to explore and make mistakes in the process because that is the best way to learn. Sometimes it is not about the end result and more so about how we got there.