In the article “Laptops, Classrooms, and Matters of Electrate Concern” A. Reid discusses technology use in the classroom. A study by Susan Payne Carter, Kyle Greenberg, and Michael Walker has recently shown that students who use laptops in classrooms do not perform as well as students without laptops. The author thinks that there could be possible reasons for this. Firstly, he states that students who use their computers during class could be doing other things such as surfing the internet or messaging friends, drawing their attention away from class. Second, using computers to take notes is less effective than using a pen and paper. Another possible explanation could be that professors could be interacting differently to those who do use computers. The author thinks that both teachers and students have not yet figured out hot to learn and work in this media-cognitive ecology because technology is often pulling us in different directions. He also thinks that in our courses we go on as if the conditions for learning have not changed over the years. He suggests that as a faculty we rethink or curriculum and the way we teach since it operates in a different way than before. What we do know is very limited. We should not just accept what is handed to us, both with digital and non digital practices. It is easy to just stick to lectures and exams instead of venturing out to what we are not familiar with. In the future we need to start experimenting more. Change is not going to occur immediately, but come about slowly. It is important that we create new learning environments that go hand in hand with the curriculum.

Technology in the classroom definitely has its pros and cons. I agree with the beginning of this article and Reid’s reasons why students who use laptops may have lower scores. I reacted to this article so strongly because in my undergrad I used my laptop for almost every class and very easily got distracted on it. I was the student surfing the internet and messaging my friends. Most of my classes were taught in French so I very easily got distracted and zoned out, and this was reflected in some of my marks. I also found it easier to memorize notes and take in information when I was writing it instead of typing it. It was so much easier to write because there are so many accents in French and I would constantly have to add them in if I was typing. This does not mean that technology shouldn’t be allowed in the classroom. Technology in the classroom can be very distracting but I do think it should be allowed. In my opinion technology can help with learning as well. To me, technology should not be the main part of the lesson, but should be there to enhance learning. The teacher should still teach part of the lesson using non digital tools, this way students are paying attention and aren’t distracted, but can later use the technology to further help students grasp the key parts of the lesson. In my placements I often used videos on the iPads to help my students understand the lesson. I always taught the lesson first and then used the technology in small parts throughout the main lesson. In today’s times where technology is becoming bigger and bigger, it is important to incorporate it into the students’ learning. Before reading this post I thought that technology was a valuable asset in the classroom. I still think this but have gained some new information on the topic. The most important thing that I received from this article is that we need to keep experimenting with technology. Changes won’t be made if we don’t try. It will be a slow change but we will see the change occur. Moving forward I am going to try new programs and apps that I could incorporate into my lessons. I think it is important for teacher’s to share as well. Share what you have found, what works and what doesn’t. We are all in this together!  

I decided to create a Sketchnote of the article that I read. Here (Laptops or No Laptops) is a pdf version with a bigger version of the image.

How do we limit cellphone use in the classroom?

http://https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-tackling-tech-how-some-ontario-teachers-are-attempting-to-limit/

“Tackling tech” was a very intriguing article to read. I found myself divulged into the reading because of the magnitude of the current issue. Living in the twenty first century, technology plays a significant role in the lives of most people. The users of technology are only becoming younger and younger and more students are coming to school with their own cellular devices. We are living in a society where our students are constantly surrounded by technology in one form or another.

When choosing what platform, I wanted to use to make my video, I wanted to use another platform that I was unfamiliar with. I wanted to give myself a challenge instead of using something that I know how to use. I decided to create a stop motion animation video with my own writing and drawings. After watching a couple sample videos online, I thought to myself, how difficult could it be? This is a unique way to represent my thoughts. I soon realized after I began writing out each word and taking a picture after every single word for every single sentence that this idea was going to be very time consuming. I ended up taking 390 photos to make my stop motion video. I am glad that I learned how to complete a stop motion video because in the future, I will be able to show my students how to do this for a project or task in class. It was not that writing out each word individually and taking the pictures was difficult, it was time consuming and very tedious.

The article “Tackling tech: How some Ontario teachers are attempting to limit students’ cellphone use” by Nadine Yousif, focuses mainly on the use of cellphones in the classroom. Throughout the article there are a couple of different methods that some teachers have tried to use to gain control over the use of cellular devices in their classrooms. One teacher decided that the students could take their phones to their desks, but only once they put their cellular device into a specialized pouch. This pouch was designed to block any access to Wifi and social media apps while enclosed in the pouch. Also, the design of this case could only be opened at an unlocking device that was controlled by their teacher. A teacher from Kitchener believes the only method that will work in reducing the usage of cellular devices in the classroom is to separate teens from their smartphones. Another teacher implemented the “Yondr” case style in their classroom which is a lockable pouch. Mr. Acheson claims that his class average raised 8% after utilizing this style of case in his classroom for the student’s cellular devices. He believes students get more done.

Many teachers believe that these tools of technology are a problem and cause only a distraction for the students. I asked myself while reading the article, why are we trying to separate teens from their smartphones? Are they not a tool many students have access to at their fingertips that can be beneficial in certain circumstances in the classroom? I believe that many schools are trying to promote the use of technology in the classroom after seeing many examples in my placement, from supply teaching and from discussions with other teachers. How can we promote technology in the classroom but not let students utilize the technology they have and are familiar with? The answer is not only black and white. There are many pros and cons to having technology and cell phone use in the classroom, but in the grand scheme I believe students should be allowed to have their cell phones in class and be able to use them with permission from their teachers at appropriate times. I should not be giving up in trying to control the usage of cellphones in my future classroom by eliminating cell phone use in all. I believe this will make students want to be sneakier in class and find a way to use their device because today’s society, several teens cannot be separated from their devices. However, as stated in the article, Premier Doug Ford suggested the outright ban of cellphones in schools, in order to “maximize learning time”, or in France they recently banned cell phone use on all school property as well as classrooms.

There will always be people who have different opinions and views of this topic. Everyone has a right to their own opinion, but I believe as a future teachers, it will be up to us to use our professional judgement and make the call for our own classroom. Of course, I will have to follow and respect the rules of the school and principal. Some believe that teens need a “detox” from their technology but why prohibit a tool that can be beneficial to their learning if used in a proper way? I do not believe that teens need a “detox” from their technology, rather instead they should be learning new ways how to use their devices for educational purposes. My beliefs on technology include to always be growing and trying new things and adapting to the ever changing world of technology. I aspire to be a teacher who is engaging and promotes the use of technology in the classroom. Another idea stated in the article that I thought was brilliant, involved a teacher from Waterloo who developed the Resistor Case. Marcel O’Gorman designed a case using vinyl, Velcro and duct tape. This case does not lock, rather it makes a very loud noise (from the Velcro) when a student opens the case. This technique makes students think not only once, but twice about opening the case and drawing negative attention to themselves very quickly. I do not believe most students want to be a disruption in a class and therefor would not open the case unless given permission from the teacher. Teachers have tried some traditional methods to control cell phone usage in classrooms and although I have not had that opportunity for myself yet, the Resistor Case appears to be a popular method of control. Allowing the students to be in charge of their own cellular device will allow my future students to develop self control and respect for everyone in the class.

There is an extent to the usage of cell phones in the classrooms. In older grades, students could be using Kahoot or Mentimeter, or another application where they need some type of technology to complete the activity. In my placement, I had problems with the classroom iPad’s and computers not working properly with the activities I wanted to do online together, but they worked completely fine with a cell phone. There are also times when a teacher needs the laptops or iPad’s for their class but cannot get access to them for the day they want. I also found it a useful tool for myself as a French immersion teacher. When students did not know a word in French, or they wanted to spell it correctly, they could quickly use their device or ask me to use mine and look up the word on word reference or a dictionary online. Allowing students to use their personal devices solves that problem instantly. I believe there should not be a ban completely on cellphones in the classrooms entirely. I also think students could earn time throughout the week, if they do not go on their cell phones and are attentive, they would be given some time on a Friday or project day to use their own cellular devices. Some teachers may also be nervous that their students are always using their devices for non-educational purposes. But using a teaching method that revolves around authentic education, a teacher should not always use a lecture style approach to teach. I will do my best to be roaming around the classroom as I teach, helping my students with their work while all at the same time overseeing what my students are doing on the phones. This will help the students to stay on task and get their work done.

Living in today’s society, we are all surrounded by technology and this does not make it easy for students to not become distracted and some students may become addicted to their devices and cannot control themselves. I believe having a restriction of when students can use their devices, could help to solve the jittery texting fingers whilst promoting technology usage in the classroom. Prior to reading this article, I had not heard of any of the methods that these teachers are implementing in their classrooms for cell phone control. Before engaging with this article, honestly, I had only heard of the traditional methods such as putting all the cell phones at the front of the classroom, or hanging the cellphones in a pocket chart at the front of the classroom. This article was enlightening, knowing now that there are several different methods for cell phone control in classrooms. I truly feel strongly after reading this article that as a future educator, I should not just give up and eliminate the use of personal devices in the classrooms entirely, but the usage should be moderated and controlled using professional judgement. The entire text gave me new ideas and information on ways that I will be able to control cell phone use in my classroom. I am eager to put these ideas into motion when I have my own classroom.

I chose to analyze the Leave No Dark Corner article by ABC News. To do so I created a Twitter Rant which worked out to 11 tweets that both summarized and reflected on the article and related the concepts discussed back to a classroom setting.

Prior to reading this article I had no idea that there were projects of the like taking place around the world. I have seen this concept in different movies and video games, but I always perceived it to be invasive and unrealistic. Throughout the text I learned most about how the project would impact the lives of the public by engaging in the testimonial stories from two Chinese citizens who are at different levels on the Social Credit scale.

First and foremost, the article presented Social Credits, a new type of social engineering underway in China, which ultimately creates a Digital Totalitarian State. Social credits are essentially a score out of eight or nine hundred that each citizen has that influences their day-to-day activities. Those with higher scores will receive more education and job opportunities as well as VIP treatment in establishments including airports, restaurants, and financial institutions. The score is calculated through an array of 200 million CCTV cameras equipped with facial recognition and geo-thermal technology that cover every corner of the city. The score is influenced by every action made, item purchased, social interaction, and dollar held. All of these will determine whether one is given ample opportunities or shutout from society as a whole.

In relating this article back to a classroom I found there to be many similarities. There is a current push in education to incorporate technology in the classroom. More specifically, institutions have started using software that tracks student behaviour, engagement, and performance. Through tracking, the students are then rewarded in some way for high scores. In a strange way, it seems very similar, yet to a lesser extent, than the Digital Totalitarian State presented by the Chinese government. Given that similarity, where should the line be drawn?

I then explored a few pros and cons to this concept. First is that some students will embrace the abundance of opportunities and responsibilities they might earn that they would not have received otherwise. Second is that this technology could be another means to marginalize students that do not perform at grade level. Instead of receiving more assistance, they may be pushed to the side for the other high achieving students. A clear “rich get richer” type of mentality where the students working at or above grade level receive all of the praise and opportunity where as those below grade level sink that much further.

There are clearly benefits to technology in the classroom, I believe that there are still quite a few significant limitations to its implementation on a full scale perspective in schools. For now new technologies should continue to be explored by school boards and prospective teachers.

I chose to respond to the podcast “HybridPod*: Episode 10 – Questioning Learning”, where Chris Friend and Amy Collier compare standardized education to personalized lessons, using a Powtoon** video. The podcast mentions how “best practices” in education do not mean that the individual is acquiring the skills and knowledge that are right for them. Instead, students are being taught and evaluated the same way, based on a general testing and very generic learning outcomes. This results in “standardized content, standardized delivery and standardized humans,” where the personal purpose of education is absent. Amy mentions how teachers should question their purpose and connection with their students more often. Rather than just wanting students to “understand” content – which is a term that is unmeasurable, and incomplete – it is important to think positively about the learning experience using “rhetoric of opportunity” and ask questions, such as; “For whom is education? Why do we do it?”, “How do we know when they are learning?”, and “What learning outcome would cause me to wonder? To be blown away?”. If these reflection questions are paired up with a teacher who is willing to take risks, embrace discomfort, experiment with unpredictability, and set uncertainty as a goal, then the students will have a real opportunity to thrive in education.

I found this podcast to have an interesting take on the controversial topic of standardized education. The speakers explain both sides of the argument using pros and cons of each, which really left me torn. My opinion on standardized education did not change after listening to this podcast, however I noticed that I do possess a fear of embracing uncertainty in learning outcomes. We are taught as future educators to plan our lessons with specific goals in mind, particularly those of curriculum expectations, but we are in a new era of education where the focus in to inspire our students to be life long learners. The best way this can be done is to focus on the way the students are gaining knowledge, rather than blindly following the old formulaic approach that we are comfortable with. Students should be encouraged to be creative and think for themselves. I hope to one day find a way of educating where I am just as inspired by my students, as they are by me.

When using Powtoon, I felt that the medium allowed for a lot of creativity, but was at times quite confusing. There are several elements to choose from on this platform, which all add value to the media if used correctly. However, it was not easy finding the exact elements that portrayed the message that I wanted (especially when half of them are “pro” elements requiring a $200/year subscription). On a more positive note, the tutorial videos were very helpful, and the templates were a great starting point for my creative process. I did not choose to use a template in the end, but after seeing how they were played out, I was able to see how Powtoon videos can be used to enhance a message, rather than simply describing my idea in words. Overall, I feel that Powtoon is a great example of how teaching (using any form of technology, or in general) can be tricky at first, but with the right guidance, it is possible to make any lesson your own.

Now check out my video for yourself!

*The HybridPod podcast can be found here.

**Here is the Powtoon link to the video: “Questioning Learning”

Out with the old ways of standardized education…

And in with the new! Check out Dan Meyer’s creative way of teaching Math concepts through youtube videos, as an example of this! Chris and Amy reference this concept at the end of the podcast as an example of relishing in uncertainty because the scenarios beg the curiosity that drives the educational experience.

The article I chose to review and summarize by using Piktochart was Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom. The article explains how students think that creating a digital media piece is a simple task that just involves drag & drop, simple steps, and a final product that is perfectly made. This is not the case! Standardized education has been ingrained in many students and much of students learning has resembled by the way students view digital media platforms. There is a lack of knowledge of how to use digital media efficiently and effectively in the classroom and tools need to be given to students in order to know how to use digital media in a positive way to promote learning.

The platform I used was Piktochart. I thought it was a simple way to visually explain some significant points from the article. I mostly had a positive experience with the platform, but I thought it was difficult to manoeuvre through the platform. I think I had a difficult time because there are so many tools and devices to use to assist you in the developing process. So, having all the options can be a blessing and a curse at the same time. I feel like this would be a great resource to present to a class and introduce them to how to use digital media platforms and to illustrate how making digital media might be difficult, but worth it to go through the learning process and use digital media platforms to create pieces in any subject.

Personally, as a learner, there are still many things that I want to learn and I am learning about creating and using digital media. Using the digital media platform has opened my eyes to the possibilities that are out there when it comes to utilizing digital media platforms to create work. I think to have digital media platforms that are simple to use and straightforward are user-friendly and as a beginner think they would benefit the learner in order to learn the basics. Simplistic platforms that have generic layouts and features I think as a student would benefit the learner because it is easy to access and promotes confidence in the user. So, using it in a K-12 school learner would only promote a growth mindset attitude for the students. As a teacher, introducing students at a young age the basics of digital media platforms would only benefit students and the teacher; together the teacher and the student can learn together. With digital media platforms, the learning process is trial and error and so allowing room for failure will allow students to learn from their mistakes and become more technically sound when it comes to digital media platforms. The experience of creating my artifact connected to the text I was reflecting on because in the article Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom, the author was trying to explain how students need to move from users of shortcut/template platforms to makers, creators, and speakers, and the digital media platform directly went against what the article was suggesting. Piktochart was the exact opposite of what the article was trying to promote. Piktochart involved drag and drop/ copy and paste with a simple layout and was easy to use. I did have to create my own visual with words and important text from the article, but I think the article is trying to say that students need to be able to create their own platforms from scratch in order to learn, which I totally disagree with. Like I said before, these digital media platforms set the foundation and you can build on them.

I chose to read Ashley Hinck’s article ‘Digital Ghost in the Modern Classroom‘. This article talks about how teachers have been incorporating more and more technology into their classroom. According to Hinck, classrooms have yet to leap from the standardized education. Teachers are simply replacing the paper and pencils with a digital templates. The article explores how shortcuts and template websites and platforms influence students while in the classroom and in their everyday lives. When the students are given a platform with shortcuts and templates allows students to complete their work as long as it’s in the predetermined spaces within their selected template.

I chose to summarize this article using a canva template. I chose this because I wanted to attempt to stay within the the predetermined template. Through this process, I realized that it was difficult to formulate what I wanted to say about the article. I believe that to truly integrate digital technologies into the classroom where they can truly benefit students, we (as teachers) need to provide them with the opportunity to explore and create. When gearing away from template based platforms will most likely result in failure but it is important to understand that failure is necessary in the process of learning. Shifting from template based learning to active exploration will help shift from standardized to authentic education.

For this first Multimedia Assignment, I chose to represent the key ideas from the article, “Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom” by Ashley Hinck: http://hybridpedagogy.org/digital-ghosts-modern-classroom/, using a Sketchnote.  This was my first time developing a Sketchnote and I tried my best to use different sizes and colours to represent the main points, in addition to the doodles.  This article brought up the problem of students following the worksheet and template models in the classroom and in digital media.  Students have fallen into a comfort zone of producing work that their teachers want to see and this limits their creativity.  I think we should be pushing our students outside the box and having them create and make things across the subject disciplines and shaking the idea that there is a single right answer or way of doing things. The idea that failure is bad and means that you are no good at something is the mindset students adopt, when really failure should push you to try again and discover success.  The school system has been built on linear steps of learning and we should be challenging this idea by having students do more creating and discovery, through inquiry-based learning.  Worksheets and template can help students learn and achieve knowledge but they should not be the only things students do and learn from. Adding variety to teaching and learning will reduce these expectations students are developing and increase new expectations surrounding creativity, failure and successes.

As a learner, the shortcut/template model was the only model.  I learned how to do basic things on the computer and Internet.  I learned how to use Word, Powerpoint, Excel and Publisher- following the template and examples as I went.  Art assignments, projects and worksheets were completed similarly to exemplars that were shown to us.  Creativity was limited and I think that has developed me into a leaner that requires and strives off of the linear steps given to complete anything.  I think that this assignment challenged me to create something given limited steps to follow, pushing me to think creatively, while providing meaning in the Sketchnote.  As a teacher, I want to push my students to think in many different ways, including creatively.  We, as teachers, should be breaking this cycle of the template model and developing negative expectations when it comes to digital media and schooling.  Students should be doing more than just worksheets and using templates.  Instead, they should have the opportunities to create, make and speak without being provided concrete instructions.  We should push comfort zones when working on digital media too.  They should be given experiences prior to post-secondary schooling to interact with and use technologies that force students to make decisions, engage and create media and experience failures that when worked on can become success.  Based on the article and my own experiences as a learner in our K-12 system, I believe that we as teachers should be working on getting our students to the top of Bloom’s taxonomy and changing the mindsets and expectations that students have developed.

The article Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom by Ashley Hinck was not only a good representation of our modern day classroom in terms of technology or lack there of, but also represented how technology affected us in our everyday life. I particularly enjoyed the idea of the “drag and drop” model. I believe that many students, myself included, use this idea in many aspects of our lives. We tend to take shortcuts in our lives whether it be online shopping or online classes.

In today’s world we simply skip steps but still manage to get to the finish line. Since we are used to convenience and getting everything instantly, this can translate over to our academics. Unfortunately, this is hindering the creativity of many students. This is particularly alarming in today’s world because technology is advancing rapidly and technology is a skill that is required in almost every job now. This drag and drop mentality ensures that students do not use their creativity and instead look for the easy way out.

As I was reading this article, I found myself relating to many things the author was saying. Even though I grew up in the technology generation, I fear technology to a certain extent. I am very nervous of walking into a classroom where the students are more tech savvy than me. I am also nervous about using technology and failing. The author mentioned that learning how to use technology is not a linear process. This is an extremely powerful sentence because we have been engrained to believe that everything we learn in school is linear and that there is a right and wrong answer. This however is not the case for technology. These drag and drop templates fool us into believing that we are being creative when in reality, they are limiting our creativity. I decided to make a canva and use a grid as a background because it reminded me of the rigid, standardized way we are thought to think in school. I also added some quotes to emphasize how we are receiving conflicting advice from our teachers when it comes to technology. I purposely made this look like a drag and drop piece of work to emphasize how these platforms almost encourage our students not to use their creativity. I even left the words “item 1, 2, 3,4,5” on my chart to showcase how little imagination we have to use nowadays and how oftentimes we, students and teachers alike, struggle to make the connection between school and technology.

 http://hybridpedagogy.org/digital-ghosts-modern-classroom/

The article I chose to look at was “Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom” by Hinck, A (2018). http://hybridpedagogy.org/digital-ghosts-modern-classroom/

The Ashley Hinck begins writing about how students are interested in taking digital media classes because the want to learn to create media through, photoshop, HTML/CSS, and even personalized GIFs. However, what they are really looking for is to learn how to use drag-and-drop platforms to make what they’re looking for. These shortcut/template platforms have huge effects on students because similar to everything else in the classroom, there are blank spaces that the student copies information and pastes to. To me, this was often the case when using technology in the classroom. My teachers always gave us projects where we would just learn about how to create posters, presentations and such from programs what required us to just find information and paste it into the spaces. As a music teacher, I expect my students to use expression, and creativity when performing because music is about personal and group discovery and learning to bring out the beauty within. How can I as a teacher expect these things when I can’t do the same when using digital media.

As well, the article states that these shortcut/template websites and platforms are becoming the new “worksheets” and that we should be trying to get away from this and turn to technologies that promote openness and experimentation. The issue with these approaches is that students will draw from their previous experiences which happens to be the programs that are holding them back. We need to find a way to get students away from these programs from the get go so that these habits are never instilled in them.

On the other hand, when we look to these programs like HTML/CSS, Raspberry Pi, and Scratch, what we don’t realize is that these platforms don’t guarantee a finished product in the end. There is so much openness and exploration that students become very frustrated from working for long periods of time only to be met with error after error. Students are not comfortable with making mistakes and having to diagnose the problem by themselves but through trial and error and a little bit of patience, the struggles do eventually pay off. Digital media is a struggle and is full of the unknown, but allows more control over the final product.

Moving forward, we must learn from our mistakes and take the time to learn about these programs so that we can effectively teach our students. As well, we must lead the way and help guide/show them that mistakes are okay and that they must learn to try and try again until it works. If we can get to this point, out students will see that they can become great makers, creators, and speakers in the digital world.

Lastly, when I started this assignment, I decided I would look at a bunch of the recommended platforms to see which one I thought I could get fairly comfortable with before starting any of the reading/listening. When doing so, I found that Piktochart was really interesting and stuck out, especially because all I needed to do was to find a template and copy and paste my information into it… However, once I read the article, I had a moment where I laughed out loud because of how ironic it was. From here, I decided I would go and start with a completely blank page and see what I could come up with. This was an interesting time because I actually had about three other info graphics that I started only to change my idea and start a new one. I ended up with this one because I thought it worked well for what I was aiming for. There is a lot I would change but I am happy with where I ended up at with all the trial and error and I know now to try to get away from all of the copy and pasting.

– Jon Chaif

https://create.piktochart.com/output/32980414-new-piktochart