#UWinDig

I confess, I’m a shortcut platform junkie. I have used most of the ones mentioned in the Hink article at least once. They have helped me in my work and in my personal life but I can see the limitations.

As the article explains, these platforms have become just another way for students to try to ‘get
the right answer.’ They are haunted by the ghosts of education past that say that students should be filled with facts and figures. Those facts are then regurgitated onto a worksheet or standardized test. This model of education continues to permeate our system and many of the tools we use to try to extend beyond it continue to limit students within the context of rules and boundaries. The Powtoon below both describes this idea and is also an example of the limiting features of these types of platforms. Just check out this Powtoon by another student in a different class to see how limiting they can be – we created something very similar and we don’t even know each other (somehow I think we even sound the same!)
I do want to challenge the article in one way. Many of these platforms can act as a scaffolding tool to something bigger and better. Especially in the junior years I believe they definitely have a place in getting students creating digital content, even if it is within certain parameters. One of Hinks criticisms of shortcut platforms is students believe they are “guaranteed [a] working product at the end with little risk of failure.” Students need to learn to take risks but sometimes they need an opportunity to create something with a small risk. Once they are comfortable in an area, they are more likely to move beyond it to something more challenging.  And believe me, there is no guarantee even on a platform like Powtoon that everything will turn out they way you want it to. I was ready to give up on mine more than once!

So, my ‘take-away’ is to be careful. Be careful of the message we are sending to our students with each platform we use. We need to be sure to celebrate failures and show them how we are limited within the frameworks. Creativity takes a lot of risk and we should provide our students with as many open-ended opportunities as possible.

Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom raises many relevant points comparing the assumptions made regarding media use and the realities seen in classrooms today. Ultimately, the author indicates that students must be encouraged to develop digital literacy outside of shortcut template platforms (STP). While I certainly agree with the author that students must develop creativity in order to become creators of digital content, rather than simply relying on available templates.

By creating the above reflection, I had the opportunity to explore two different STPs: Mindmup and Canva. While both have their benefits, there are also many drawbacks. Mindmup allows the user to create a mindmap, using pre-determined themes. It is free provided that the user does not include any images. The mindmap can then be downloaded as a .jpg file that is very high quality. Meanwhile, Canva allows the user the opportunity to create their own design using a blank template (a feature that the author fails to recognize). Therefore, I uploaded by mindmap in order to add photos and make it more interactive in that regard. The drawback to doing this is that the overall image quality was reduced. This has resulted in a more dynamic reflection, that is of lower visual quality.

Ultimately, this combination of positive elements of free STPs with the inevitable drawbacks is a reality of much digital content curation. Hopefully, I will be able to elevate my students beyond my own comfort level to enable their creativity and encourage them to become far more comfortable with digital content creation than I am.

Please select the image to view in greater detail.

The internet is full of websites and platforms that allow digital media making easier and that requires little technical knowledge. Canva provides templates for posters and social media posts. Google Slides offers pre-made themes for slideshows that doesn’t require any decisions on font, color, and placement. These platforms invite students to follow simple directions and receive admiration on the creativity of someone else. Although students are starting to create their own media now, the ghosts of the shortcut websites are still there. Students are identifying their hesitancy and trial-and-error as a failure, rather than an inevitable and important part of the digital making process. Troubleshooting has helped students see their projects as works in progress and has allowed them to see the expertise in themselves and their classmates. We have to help students see that they are capable of producing digital media and they don’t have to limit their creativity with the platforms that are out there.

Head to my twitter @mrpopel for the full thread! https://twitter.com/mrpopel/status/1045437774655102978

I hope you enjoy!
Michael Popel

My video is discussing the article “Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom”, written by Ashley Hinck. The article describes how student expectations of technology classrooms often stems from their experiences both in school, and from the common websites or programs they might use in their daily lives. Websites like Canva provide templates for students, with simple to follow instructions to get a working product. These instructions provide little-to-no risk for failure, and students have the preconceived expectation that what they might do in a technology classroom would be akin to following instructions on a worksheet (with the assumption of there being a ‘right’ answer) or following a template saved in programs or websites. As students are given access to more open-ended programs like HTML, students still have the tendency to assume that there is a ‘right’ answer, instead of experimenting and exploring what they could create. Teachers who want to critical digital pedagogues should expose students to failure (by showing that even their teacher will make mistakes, and there is no shame in mistakes), and show that templates are limiting to their creativity and their expression of their individuality. I decided to make a video on the subject because it would be something atypical for me, and would allow me to be more expressive.

Thank you for watching~

Christopher Cuffaro

The Need for a Critical Digital Pedagogy- A Commentary on https://t.co/BuujrBlRtO #UWinDig

— CriticalDigitalPedagogy-AnEssay (@CriticalDigita2) September 29, 2018

For my digital artifact I created a twitter essay discussing the article Digital Ghost in the Modern Classroom by Ashley Hinck.  Hinck felt that template based digital media platforms have shaped the minds of the youth who have grew up using them.  Similar to many aspects of the education system, these platforms are linear.  They follow steps, theres always a working product or a “right answer,”  and the simplicity has made students shy away from the trial and error process.  It is important for for educators to encourage students to use platforms such as HTML, where you don’t follow steps but instead create.  Students need to learn the value of failing in the learning process.  Students need to learn that trial and error are important aspects of growing.  Critical digital pedagogy will use platforms like HTML to help students grow into creators and develop a voice.  Many aspects of this will benefit students cross-curricular, as they are not just simply learning technology.  Creativity and being able to learn from failures our great qualities that will help students develop into well-rounded learners.

Here are some highlights from my twitter essay, please use the link at the top of the post to view the essay in its entirety.

Thanks,

Joseph Power

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

Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom

Throughout Ashley Hinck’s brilliantly written piece, Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom, readers are transfixed by her ability to depict one of the most profound fights within the field of education, standardisation versus authenticity. This, as depicted in Hinck’s article, has remarkable implications both for students and educators. For the former, the battle of standardisation versus authenticity shapes their entire outlook with regards to learning. If standardisation remains, the belief of a binary right or wrong will be ever present within both their educational and personal lives, thus, robbing students of their creativity and their ability to learn from trial and error. For the latter party in this titanic struggle, this educational matchup means that teaching styles and years of practice may have to be altered or abandoned altogether. Thus, it is easily discernible that the main theme of Hinck’s Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom has both important short and long-term consequences.

If teaching professionals wish to stand by the established orthodoxy of Standardised Education, students’ outlook on education, and indeed life, could be characterised by, as Hinck stated in her piece, “disconnect between their expectations…and what they actually encounter.”

However, if Standardised Education is archived into the annals of educational history, teachers can usher in a new age; this brave new world of education would see students free to experiment, use trial and error methodology, and make mistakes.

From the reading of Hinck’s article, it is overtly clear that she, along with a myriad of other educators, wish to see education traverse the path offered by Authentic Education. 

Please enjoy the video below.

Cheers,

Thomas Merritt

https://ctl2.uwindsor.ca/uview/show/38561603E104E33C/

Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom written by Ashley Hinck, explores the influences left behind by shortcut/template websites and platforms on students while in the classroom and in their everyday lives. Students often times don’t realize they have such limited choices because it’s what they’ve grown accustomed to when constructing social media posts or taking a SnapChat and adding a filter. Similarly, students don’t have as much freedom when creating in the classroom either. The shortcut/template platforms used by teachers allow the students to incorporate some of their own work as long as it fits in the predetermined spaces within the selected template. These learning apps and platforms invite students to follow the directions, get the right answer, turn it in, and get praise. Although many teachers will claim to be moving towards a more authentic way of educating children, either purposely or without knowing these websites and platforms used by teachers reflect the old way of teaching and learning, which views students as containers to be filled with the right answers by teachers. Unfortunately even when these platforms and websites are absent from classrooms they are still affecting student learning, instead we as educators need to help our students move away from users of shortcut/template platforms to makers, creators and critical thinkers.

I chose to use a Sketchnote to respond and reflect to this article. Sketchnotes are essentially purposeful doodling and are much a method of notetaking as they are a form of creative expression. I chose this medium for my response because after exploring a few of the other options I was a little intimidated by needing to create something digitally. Additionally, after reading the article which spoke about online platforms limiting creative freedom I felt as though this medium just made sense because it would allow me to get my genuine untouched thoughts across. If I were to use this medium again for a similar purpose I would spend more time brainstorming and planning my Sketchnote before getting started.

A few thoughts came to mind while reading and reflecting on this article. First, the education system is a taking a big step with trying to incorporate STEAM into the classroom but these digital ghosts seem to directly contradict the STEAM approach. STEAM is about incorporating the arts into math, science and technology but by using these shortcut/template websites and platforms we are limiting the range of creative freedom for students trying to create when using technology. Secondly, I think that we need to give students the tools to critically reflect on these platforms on their own. By teaching our students to think critically and analytically they can start finding these digital ghosts themselves and find alternative ways to create digitally that allow them to use all of their own authentic ideas.

Digital Ghosts Sketchnote – Please open this link to view my artifact, you’ll also need to flip the image to view it I couldn’t figure out how to make it stay that way after I saved it.

Christine Belcher

Although teachers have been increasingly incorporating more and more tech into their classrooms, does this really mean that we are in an age of digital literacy and authentic education? According to Ashley Hinck in the article ‘Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom’, we have yet to take the leap away from standardized education. Efforts to create digital literacy within the classroom environment often involves template-based web applications. These applications are useful for getting students antiquated with tech, however, they do not allow for much exploration or creativity.

I believe that in order to have students become truly digitally literate, we need to provide them with the opportunity to explore and create. The elimination of these templates will surely result in some failure, but it is important for students to understand that failure is an essential part in the process of learning. This shift from template-based learning to active exploration will help us to achieve the shift from standardized to authentic education.