Tag Archives: #UWinDig

Feb 18 2019
2 Comments
332thursday10

TeChNoLoGiSt MoDuLe: ThE tEaChEr I wAnNa Be!

This Multimedia Reflection serves to address the Technologist Module on eCampus Ontario and PD files.  To begin, I must address the issue within the video that spoke about XYZ approaches.  I must admit, I was unsure and naïve about this concept and had to do some research regarding the terminology used.  Subsequently, I came to find that this XYZ approachcan be trying to tie in elements of technology and integrating them realizingly within a classroom setting.  I found that this concept altered my perception about the passages I began to read and explore in depth.  Furthermore, I saw this module as a way to effectively use technology to deliver content that is relevant, interactive and informative.  When reviewing this module, it mentioned the importance of digital literacies and how they can be complex.  This reminded me of the Cynefin model for complex and chaotic designs.  I realized as an educator, I must consider the complexity of a task and how it may enhance a lessen or diminish a student’s confidence.  How would I choose a tool that could only benefit the learning environment?

This question was answered by looking deeper within the module to discover the Technologist Module Design Thinking Process.  Woven into this model is the premise that empathy should be at the root of all design related connections and prototypes.  I must look into the needs of students and develop a differentiated instructional method that is aimed towards equality and multiple intelligences.  In addition, I must do my best to remain fair and create effective lessons that integrate technology that is culturally respected and diverse.  As mentioned in the module, “design thinking needs to start with understand what that person needs and how they usually go about accessing it.”  Moreover, it provided a suggestion as to how to brainstorm using a Technology-Enables Learning Activity Document or Mindmap to achieve success within a class and as an educator.  Tools that I hope to use within a class setting!

For my project, I wanted to create a POWTOON that highlighted the use of “toolkits” and addresses digital practices clearly.  I wanted to define the role of using empathy and feedback from students to enhance practices.  Using the SAMR model and TPACK design, I decided to make it my mission to revolutionize the classroom atmosphere by constantly keeping focuses on what task needs to be accomplished, what success criteria has to be achieved and what expectations need to be reinforced.  In addition, I decided to do a Word Art in the shape of an apple to show “taking a bite out of education.”  I believe this is very important in order to illustrate how this technologist perspective comprises a multi-dimensional approach to learning.  It looks at a range of learners and the universal design to empathize with students to make sure needs are being met.  In addition, for my last multimedia reflection I created a music video that was developed using iMovie.  Personally, I find iMovie to be easier and faster to manipulate sources.  I did find PowToon to lag behind and I had to keep logging out and signing back in.  Furthermore, I had a tough time accessing some materials I wanted to use as this site is not free an accessible to all students and educators, there is a paid version with full access to high definition videos and cartoon characters.  I did draw a Word Art map that I think emphasizes the points made in this video well.  It outlines how education meets the fruit of knowledge.  And if students and educators learn to “bite” from good sources, they ultimately become healthy and digitally sound individuals. I have seen this in action, as during my practicum placement multiple lesson plans were modified or altered to ensure success of the students and to help their understanding of the material.

Technologist Approach Word Art

In my own practicum experience, I was only allowed to use the projector as the room limited my creativity to explore other options. However, after using the Tool Parade and realizing the endless possibilities technology provides, I am equipped with many worthwhile options that introduce effective learning strategies.  I cannot wait to use Google Expedition, Weebly, and Padlet to “revolutionize” the setting and provide students with the means to achieve and work with technology.

Ultimately, as an educator I wish to impart a technologically savvy wisdom that incorporates technology efficiently and successfully into the classroom setting.  It is easy to look at a lesson and choose a paper and pencil activity—but that is not the most effective way to teach.  How we augment these pieces within a lesson define the success rate of the students and the educational system that supports the growth and minds of our future children.  I am doing my best and using my “toolkit” to dive into multi-dimensional lessons that reinforce concepts and introduce inquiry and discovery learning techniques. I will not choose to sit by and use the same redundant methods that made me fall asleep in a class. No!  I choose to be an advocate for this technological integration by doing my research and modifying my practice.  I am ready for the challenge… Are You?

Enjoy,

Anthony Pisciuneri

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Feb 18 2019
3 Comments
322monday21

Lets Get Integrated!

For this assignment I wanted to use a different medium that I have never experienced before, so I picked to do a Powtoon. At first, I was nervous about using this medium, I have never used it and it looked intimidating. But after doing the modules I took their advice and watched tutorials on how to use it. The part about choosing a template made me rethink it due to the many options, but I wanted to increase my knowledge of mediums, so I took the risk and picked a blank one to start from scratch. Image result for confusion gifThe blank template gave me more room for my own personal creativity, which made the process of creating the Powtoon much easier. I thought of doing it more as reflection of what the website offers, making it as more of an informative video for those that want to know what it is all about. I also found at the end I had to delete some slides due to the limitation of a free membership with the medium. If I wanted to have a video that was more than three minutes long, I would have to upgrade to the next membership. Related imageOnce I finished the visual multi-media I felt better about using the medium and I plan on it using in the future with my classes. I have already thought about how I would use in the classroom, for example for media literacy class to create business pitch for a product/company.

 

 

 

The modules on the website, Technologist, at first looks like something that would be grueling and not exciting to undertake. Before beginning the modules, the website gives you the breakdown of what will be achieved throughout and at the end of the modules. It is a great website for teachers to learn how to integrate digital technology into lessons that would be advantageous for their students. I found that in the past some of my teachers had difficulty integrating digital technology into lessons or even projects. The digital technology did not integrate smoothly into the content being taught, which ended up with most of my classmates trailing off from the work that was asked of us. The modules explain every aspect of planning it, allowing the learner/reader to concentrate on a certain aspect of the integration into lessons. The first module explains the term “digital literacies”, which I have heard of beforehand, but I now have a better understanding after reading many different articles that explain the term. This is an aspect that teachers need as an educator, it allows for a better understanding of how to use digital technology and how to implement it to its full advantage. This is something I am hoping to develop more of to ensure that I can use digital technology to its full advantage and use it in my lessons as much as possible to have differentiation for different learning styles. There are seven elements of digital literacies that you are capable of learning (shown in the picture labeled the seven elements of digital literacies).
Seven element of digital literaciesAs a future educator it is important to learn information about the students to use when finding digital technologies; it is important to find the learner challenges that the students have in the class. If most students require a text-to-speech feature, the teacher will need to ensure that digital technology has this feature to ensure every student has equal opportunity in the class. The module, Empathize with your Learners, explains what questions to ask your students to learn what is necessary for choosing the most beneficial digital technology. During my summer break I was a scribe at a school and was able to experience a digital technology that would read any text to a student. The school evidently got to know their students and ensured they had text-to-speech technology that would help those that require it for their learning. Then the next set of modules go into using the digital technology with the students to see if it works to increase their learning; creating something tangible. I have had it in the past where the teacher would continuously assign us to do math work on the math circus, but I found that it did not increase my learning rather I would cheat or do the same activities every time. The teachers need to ensure that the students will learn from the digital technology; another way to test the usefulness of the digital technology is with other teachers. The other teachers will also give feedback that will be helpful about whether they think the digital technology will be useful or keep the students at a stand still. Another great system to follow is SAMR, which teachers can use to evaluate whether the digital technology will redefine, modify, augment, and/or substitute the student’s learning. If the teacher finds the digital technology falls under 1 or more of these categories, the digital technology is useful in the classroom for learning. Image result for samrThis website I found to be very informative and something I will use in the future to help me integrate digital technology. I want my students to learn in many different ways rather than listening to lessons all day from a PowerPoint slide. The integration of digital technology into my class is something I developed a passion for when I began teacher’s college.

Fun Fact: My sister took a class in university with the professor that invented the human-centered design and participatory design approach.

 

 

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Feb 18 2019
4 Comments
322monday21

Technologist Teaching

As I read through the Technologist modules, I was reminded of the SAMR concept. Teachers tend to incorporate technology with no real reasoning. By following the five steps of design thinking, educators are able to use technology purposefully enriching the learning of the student in their classrooms. Technology has come so far and shows no signs of slowing down. As teachers, there is no escaping digital literacy. The more we expose our students to technology, the better. There is no telling what kind of digital work they will face after school and it is up to us to prepare them for a world that does not yet exist. Good teachers will not shy away from technology that intimidates them, but embrace all the positive uses that can be implemented into the classroom. The design thinking process ensures educators make good use of technological tools by enriching education. By empathizing with the learner, the teacher will understand the struggle they face. Then by defining the real issue and really taking the time to understand the problem can we hope to get somewhere with a solution. The teacher would ideate characteristics around the problem before sharing a prototype with the classroom and being open to feedback. Finally, the teacher will implement the technology in their own way and connect it with the curriculum. These five steps are what makes up design thinking and encourages digital literacy among students and teachers alike.

I had not yet created an infographic and was eager to explore this tool on canva. I found it intimidating at first because the infographics my peers have made were impressive and so professional looking. After reading the modules and taking notes, I tackled canva. Once I started, it really became easy. I had issues with finding a template, positioning the text boxes, finding the perfect images, etc. Then I found myself focused on tedious small details for far too long – sizing my graphics just right and lining them up perfectly. After seeing the finished product, I am happy with the outcome and would most definitely create an other if an opportunity arose.

For a bigger view of my infographic, click here.

 

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Feb 18 2019
3 Comments
322monday20

BE A TECHNOLOGIST

I used the medium canva to represent the main ideas from the module of Technologist. I used the infographic template to look at the steps to integrate technology in the classroom. I am somewhat comfortable with canva as I have used on about three other occasions in my academic career. Although, even using it this time, I still noticed features that I did not notice in the past. I think canva is a great template that can be used for a variety of projects especially in the classroom. It would help to engage those students who are not interested as well as offer assistance to the students who cannot do it on their own or get frustrated. Society is constantly changing and technology is not going anywhere. In order to be successful in the classroom, the integration of technology is essential. I think that as a teacher, I need to find a balance between using technology while catering to the other learning styles in the classroom as well as being sure that the technology is being used in an appropriate manner.

 

This module was a great tool to show how technology can be integrated. I love that it broke down into steps that showed the progressions and challenges that can be associated. Educators often find themselves torn and skeptical about using technology in the classroom – should they use it as it is the latest and greatest invention or for evidence-based practice (research). Although technology can have a number of benefits, it is important to be informed about when it is appropriate to use technology and when it is not. The Technologist module outlines how to select, use and integrate technologies to support, facilitate and enrich the learning experience. The success criteria for this module is to use technology tools effectively to address specific learning challenges.

Digital literacy can refer to a multitude of things but is an ongoing process. One of the aspects is incorporating technological tools to address specific learning challenges. This includes the ability to locate, use, summarize, evaluate, create and communicate through these digital platforms. Other challenges such as online safety and be responsible would be included. Design Thinking approach is the 5 step toolkit used to engage users in creating and experimenting online through feedback for improvement. It is a human-centered approach which consists of the following steps: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Connect. I like this model as it provides a step-by-step framework to follow that is simple for the learner. It is a collaborative process that allows learners to engage with one another and use their feedback.

Empathize is the first step in design thinking which refers to know the needs of your audience. This similar to teaching as you want to teach to your class, therefore you need to know the students in your class. For example, when creating lesson plans you must think of the resources available in the classroom and the students’ learning styles in the classroom. Define is the second step in the framework which is about looking at the problem closely to build you solution around that. In this section, you want to start small and make your way to working big similar to a scaffolding approach in teaching. There are numbed of principles for assisting to help define a good learner challenge to assist the learner in this section. The next step is ideate which is the forming and building of features and characteristics that could be used to address your learner challenge. The question that you need to ask yourself is “how might I?” A number of technological tools are suggested to be used like mind maps to build off the main idea.

Prototype is the next step that involves putting a creation in front of your users and using the feedback provided to better it. The steps include: design, share and refine. Each of these steps are broken down even further to explain what each step entails. The last section is connect. This is the section where you integrate technology into your curriculum, the idea of how you will “integrate this integration”. This is the implementation plan on how your leaners will progress through your tech creation as an activity.

I like the modules provide different activities within each section for the reader to further explore the topic. For example, digital literacies provide a number of definitions or the use of the empathy map. I also like that each module also has extension activities to help further understand said topic. I like the modules include more information on how to do the various steps. For example, it outlines how to choose a technology tool. My favourite part as a learner is the module checklist. This helps the learner to understand exacts what it should entail.

In my own practicum, I try to incorporate technology whenever I can to engage my students and get more participation when possible. I find my students respond more and even better at times with technology is being used. One of my favourite classes to use technology in is math. This allows a step away from the standardized lesson format of taking up homework, new lesson and doing homework. I have used a number of technological platforms and the smart board to assist with the teaching and the learning in the classroom. This was my first time using some of these platforms, therefore I had to explore and discover prior to my classes. I found that most of my students were very comfortable with the tools being used. Using the module would be very beneficial as technology is on the rise and will not be disappearing in years to come in education but rather blooming in the classrooms. As a teacher, I want to implement technology as much as I can! It can help to reach all learners in the classroom and be more engaging than previous lessons. The important aspect similar to getting feedback is being a reflective teacher. After using a technology platform, it is important to reflect on if it worked, what would you change next time and if you would even use it again.

 

Check out my infographic here: Be A Technologist

 

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Feb 17 2019
3 Comments
332wednesday12

Be a Tech-y Teacher!

This course has constantly been showing me how important digital literacies are in the classroom, especially for us up and coming teachers! The technologist module really outlined how it is possible to do it, essentially breaking it down step by step.

I really enjoyed going through this module because of its interactiveness and multiple options to extend each module. There were a lot of useful definitions, links, and videos that really helped understand the concepts being presented. I do appreciate when teachers use technology in their classroom and it genuinely motivates me to the same. The entire piece on design thinking made me realize that there is a real process to doing things and incorporating new elements into the classroom, rather than just going in blindly. Research is necessary and this really highlighted how important it is to know your students. It is all about them right? We need to be able to cater the learning in their favor rather than cater the teaching in ours. During my practicum, I had to keep finding ways to keep students engaged because French was clearly not their favourite subject (for the most part). I used a lot of videos and music clips but I feel there was more I could do. Having taken this class and gone through that module, I know I can definitely expand my arsenal to incorporate different digital literacies in the future.

My first reflection was a sketchnote, and that one went alright so I went with the twitter essay for my second reflection and I absolutely loved it! I was on the fence with trying something new for my third reflection, but given this module, I legitimately believed the Twitter essay was the best way to encapsulate everything. It allowed me to break down each part of the module into small blocks (tweets) so I could keep it organized on my thread. As previously mentioned, the module outlines a step by step process, and that is exactly what I tried to do in my essay. It keeps things clear seemingly chronological. I hope you all enjoy the gifs just as much as I did for a little comedic relief!

Check out my thread below!

 

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Feb 17 2019
2 Comments
322monday20

5 QUICK STEPS TO BECOMING A TECHNOLOGIST (NUMBER 4 MAY SURPRISE YOU!) ft. POWTOON

For this multimedia reflection I decided to try out Powtoon after hearing about it in several classes over the past two years. For those who don’t know Powtoon is a flashy power-point variant that gives you the option to present your work in the form of a video.

Take a look:

A Link to Daniel Cartier's Powtoon

Wow! Pretty cool right?! Makes you just wanna make one right this second yeah? Welllllll…

 

You see Powtoon is a freemium model which means you can pay for extra features with either a PRO or PRO+ membership, which allows you to unlock different backgrounds, music, clipart, and export features (such as download). This actually made the creation of the Powtoon harder because ideas I had would be squashed by what was available to me as a free user.

 

However, perhaps your wondering is Powtoon is worth buying into?

Powtoon's Pricing Structure. $16 at the cheapest?!

…Yeah no…

Because much of Powtoon is locked behind a paywall I think it may end up being a bit infuriating to use, as students are going to naturally want to use content that they cannot within the free version.

It should be stated however that if you want to do the legwork and find your own videos and images you are allowed to import them but videos cannot come from Youtube which means every video needs to be downloaded and re-uploaded…something that is just not feasible on classroom WiFi.

In my opinion Powtoon was little more exciting that creating a power-point and some of the free user woes really soured my opinion of it. Was the final product cool? Yes. Would my students want to possibly create one of their own? Sure. But as we look at Powtoon through the CONNECT phase of Design Learning the flaws mean that is really not feasible until the intermediate grades where even still the actual execution is not worth the end result.

Thank you for listening to my Ted Talk.

/rant

 

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Oct 31 2018
9 Comments
332thursday10

Shaping Education to a New Digital World

It is interesting how the internet came to life in 1989. Not to date myself but that was before I was born. I am not bringing up my age to date people and their age, but to acknowledge how the internet is such a new concept in today’s society.My memory of the internet was playing online video games and watching youtube. Internet and technology really came into my life when I was diagnosed with a learning disability. The programs that I was introduced to and the tech used to help my learning really expanded my knowledge on what the internet really can do.We are quick to forget that the internet is full of information and data that we did not have access to before the internet. Now if we are not sure on something, I quote “let me google that.” The sheer presence of the internet has shaped the world we live in now, what does that say about our education system? With the internet giving us information we did not have access to, it is giving educators more recourses to use and co – workers to communicate with. However, the term ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ is still important for us to remember.  Beside the fact that I only quote Spiderman, the internet is often misused and not portrayed effectively in the classroom setting. When you listen to Henry Jenkins talk about his view on educational culture, he brings up how university level professors should incorporate the internet in their teaching to further help their students education. This runs very close to me as a student, but also as an educator. Being a math major with a minor in business, there are times when I walk out of a class and confused on a topic discussed. From there I have 3 options, see the prof for help, ask a friend, or google it. Sometimes you cannot see the prof due to their weird office hours or the fact that their way of communication is not clear to you. That’s when you would then go to your friend to learn or google it. How much you wanna bet that your friend googled that point as well? Knowledge is becoming so vast, Jenkins mentioned how profs should use the internet to get content out to students to help them learn as well. The idea of the internet being such an innovative tool, but is not being used to t’s full potential makes me nervous about the growth of our student. Dr. Michele Jacobsen posted about the importance of the digital world and how important it is to use technology provided to use in the society we live in. What the internet has done for this generation is create discussions and questions. We look back at the time before the internet and see that discussion was only in a classroom environment and questions were to be solved through selected books or talking to your peers in your hometown. But now, you can create conversations with people on the other side of the world and can asked the internet any question you want. Teaching is evolving with the advancement of technology, we cannot forget the importance of using it for our students.

https://www.edcan.ca/articles/teaching-in-a-participatory-digital-world/

Coogle!!

Teaching using the Internet

 

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Oct 31 2018
5 Comments
332thursday10

New Device Update: Cloak of Invisibility Edition

For my Multimedia Response #2, I decided to read Digital Redlining, Access, and Privacy by Chris Gilliard and listen to the Ed 322 Oct 12 class conversation involving him. I decided to do a Twitter Essay even though originally I was intrigued by the prospect of using a sketch note because as soon as I read this article, I really connected with it and had several ideas swirling in my head about what imagery I could use. But alas, due to my inability to access (wink wink) pencil crayons, I had to abandon that idea. The runner-up was doing a Twitter Essay since I really enjoyed tweeting during our open hashtag chat last week. At first, I wasn’t really sure what a twitter essay was but when I did some research (clicked on the links provided by Bonnie), I saw this was something doable for my skill level (not very). I was also really excited because it looked more straightforward than the Piktochart I did last time (after the Powtoon debacle). But little did I know, it would take me three times as long as the last response took. Who would’ve thought!?

Now, a little about me. I’m chatty. Basically run my mouth a little too much chatty. Also, I like seeing my thoughts together on one paper so I can see them right there. With Twitter, after I was done with one tweet, there was scrolling and checking and multiple pieces involved….it just broke up the flow for me. Also parsing my thoughts down into 140 characters and then doing that about 21 times was…. horrendous. I struggled. Not to say it wasn’t a learning process. It was. I learned a lot.

I think I started out strong. (Check out my essay by clicking the image below!)

A question that asks the audience to interact with the tweet and maybe pulls them in so they feel inspired to read the rest. But I think about halfway through the 21 tweets, I lost my way. It was really hard to keep my thinking linear so that each subsequent tweet followed the ideas of the one that came before. And yet, I don’t normally struggle with this process when writing an essay on a normal paper.

I think overall, I learned a lot about my quirks as a writer and my own thinking process. And definitely how involved tweeting is. I have a new respect for people who do this every day to raise awareness about various issues. My favourite thing I would have to say was using Gifs, polls and making my own images. I feel like that made it much more interactive for both the reader and for me than a simple paper and pen essay would have been.

Would I do it again? I don’t know. In any case, this is a skill that I will need to work on some more to formulate my final opinion of whether it is for me or not.

Now, on to the actual article and class chat. The premise of both was the concept of redlining and how it is evident nowadays in the digital world. Access to the internet and web resources is not a given for everyone. First, there are those students that for whatever reason, don’t have access to the internet. And then there are those students that have limited access. The limits are placed on them by “Acceptable Use Policies” that are enforced by all educational institutions to some degree (some more than others). According to Chris Gilliard, colleges enforce them to the degree where students are unable to access a lot of information whereas if students at a university tried to look up the same resources, they would be able to access them. This applies to peer-to-peer communication tools (blogs etc) and participatory learning tools (phone, Ipads etc) as well. This limit is obviously detrimental to those students because it means they become less competitive when they get to the workforce.

It was eye-opening to read this article. To be honest I had never even thought about how the privilege of going to a research-based institution affected my ability to get my hands on all sorts of research. I don’t think I’ve ever come across any “blockages” that stopped me from gaining access to anything I needed in all of my university career. I guess this was a situation of “you don’t know what you don’t know”.

I definitely agreed with Chris on the reasons why he thinks that this “digital redlining is not recognized as a post-secondary problem.” I relate to reasons 1 and 2 most strongly because they say that universities usually have an open environment towards learning and the socio-economic status in universities is such that, most students have outside access to web resources than just what is provided by the school (ex. phones etc)

To that end, now that I know about the issues, I will be much more critical about the policies put in place by the schools and boards that I work for. And try my best to make sure all my students have equal opportunities for accessing the information they want or need. This could be through providing them with printed resources (although this could introduce my own bias) and making sure they have time in the school library after school or at lunch to research for projects.

Overall, I agreed with the ideas presented in both the article and the class chat. They have both given me some food for thought and I hope to apply everything I have learned here to my own teaching practice.

Thanks for reading! (sorry it’s a lot)

Bharti

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Oct 31 2018
4 Comments
332thursday10

Caught in the Crossfire

Happy Halloween everyone ?

For my Multimedia Response #2, I read the article titled “Teaching in a Participatory Digital World” by Dr. Michele Jacobsen and watched the YouTube video titled “The Influence of Participatory Culture on Education” by Dr. Henry Jenkins. I decided to do a Twitter essay, which evidently turned out to be a lot more challenging than anticipated (my Twitter handle is @missmadisonbeth, please click the link to find the full essay). I am a very visual person, so I actually had to make my own sketch note after reading/watching the content to organize my thoughts and ideas. The most challenging part about using Twitter was the character limit. I had SO much I wanted to say, but creatively…Twitter was too limiting for me. Organizing my thoughts into the small character limit took a lot longer than I wanted and I ended up getting very frustrated. For my Multimedia Response #1, I designed a sketch note where I had complete freedom in what I incorporated. For a couple of my tweets in the essay, I drew words on pictures to help reflect what I was thinking, as seen on tweet #2:

My favourite component about Twitter was the ability to add a poll in the tweet itself. I thought this was a great, engaging way to get a discussion going on a topic. Another great component on Twitter is the ability to use emojis and gifs to help others understand the tone of the post. Twitter allows collaboration with peers and the ability to incorporate other resources to your thoughts to give further evidence (like adding a website link or a screen shot of research data).

Before reading the Jacobsen article and taking this Digital Tech & Social Media course, I never imagined that social media platforms could be used in a learning environment. During my high school experience, cell phones and personal social media was kept personal and would never have been thought to be integrated into the class lessons. I believe students today are caught in the crossfire between the way they have learned to communicate (i.e. they have grown up networking and collaborating via podcasts, social media, blogs, gaming, etc.) and the ways in which learning in the education system is taught (i.e. working individually, having standardized tests, collaboration is seen as cheating, etc.). Our education system appears to be frozen in time in the 20th century and is too stubborn to evolve with the rest of the world. I believe the uses of digital technology in the classroom should not be feared as it can provide teachers and students great value to the learning process. I agree with Dr. Michele Jacobsen in her article when she explains that digital technologies and platforms allow students to be creative and to actively participate with one another. Statistics show that the workforce is changing as the job opportunities in Canada are transitioning towards tertiary sector jobs (jobs that provide a service rather than extracting raw materials, like the primary jobs, or manufacturing goods, like the secondary jobs). Students should learn the proper skills to be critical thinkers, innovators, and collaborators in order to contribute to this changing society. Jacobsen argues that implementing open source platforms with technology in the classroom will provide opportunities for students to learn these required skills.

Jacobsen brought up the idea, that in order to unleash the power of using open source platforms, such as Twitter, in a classroom setting, the firewalls and filters would need to be obliterated. This information completely changed how I previously thought about the safety provided on the school networks. In order for the education system to evolve in the 21st century with the rest of the world, students need to be able to understand how to navigate and collaborate effectively and safely. As I posted in my Twitter essay, I believe internet safety and ethics need to be taught to students at an early age as individuals are beginning to use technology earlier and earlier. This article was truly inspiring and I believe that educators have the power to truly make a difference in individuals’ lives, as Jacobsen said, “engaged teachers and engaged students go hand in hand.” I am inspired to provide challenging, inquiry based tasks that have true value beyond the classroom for my future students. I want to provide a learning environment that encourages passion-based learning, as I learned from the Jacobsen article.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog post!

 

 

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Oct 31 2018
7 Comments
332thursday10

SPOOKY! The Unseen Disadvantages in Digital Learning

Hello all, and Happy Halloween!

I decided to do this multimedia reflection on the Chris Gilliard/Hugh Culik article, “Digital Redlining, Access, and Privacy (link found below).  I found the article very informative in both a modern and a historical sense.  I learned about redlining in the United States in the past and how the concept of redlining can still be observed today in other forms.  These forms include the inability of students at community colleges to access certain information when using their school’s network.  Furthermore, these students also have little to no privacy as the school will be able to block searches it may deem to be inappropriate, even if they my not actually be so.  Also, the school may be sending usage diagnostics to third parties for research purposes, thus lessening the privacy to an even greater extent.  I was unaware of the presence of redlining today and I worry about the effects it will have in the future.  I also am concerned about redlining at the schools in my own community, including those at an elementary of high-school level.  I believe access should be the same across all institutions so, it is scary to think that access to information may be blocked to some students who are just trying to learn!

The causes of the redlining can be the funding of community colleges, the neglect of the institution to openness in all areas, the lack of questioning by the tech companies implementing the privacy programming, and the lack of awareness of the issue at large.  This issue is important as all students should be able to have access to important and up to date journals in research fields, or other websites if they are educational while at school.  The fact that students with private, personal WIFI have an advantage over those who only have access to school internet is not just.  In a lot of cases, it seems that the community colleges throughout the United States had lesser online access than that available at the higher-level institutions.  This is digital redlining as it stops groups from access based on socio-economic status and institutions need to take steps to limit the occurrence of this through questioning their current policies.

In terms of my own experience with redlining, I feel that I do not know if I have experienced it.  I am fortunate to attend a facility where research is regarded highly and I feel that I have had access to the things I’ve needed while on campus.  Also, I do have access to WIFI other than that provided by the school which I attend so at least I have options where some others may not.  I believe the problem for me arises in the fact that if I have ever not had access to certain websites or I have been blocked from pages, I have been completely unaware.  I feel that this unawareness would be fairly common among my peers as I have not personally thought about what types of boundaries have been implemented on the WIFI of my school and I don’t believe others would have had a reason to.  Thinking about it now makes me curious about what I can do to become more aware if there are limits to my searching capabilities.  I’m sure there are ways to find the policies used at an institution and become aware of what types of materials may be unaccessible, however, I am uncertain if there are steps I can directly take to avoid them.  I feel that education of the presence of redlining and the negative effects would be needed for the student body at large, followed by an outcry and petition for full access to the internet.  This makes me frustrated as many students trust in their institutions to provide them with the means to learn and not to limit them!

I used the platform Piktochart to make my multimedia reflection this time around and I have to say, I am impressed.  This option was very easy to use and understand.  I ran into very few difficulties and found setting up an infographic, finding graphics/images, and organizing my thoughts to be extremely efficient on this site.  I would recommend using this for summaries and reflections to my peers as well.  Even as future educators, I am sure this platform would be useful to explain topics or post information for an entire school to access easily.  The difficulties I ran into were easily solved and involved trying to make sure the work I had already completely was saved when I was on slower internet connections.  I found that Piktochart recovered all of my work when I thought I had lost it except for in one instance where I lost an image.  It took little time to remake the graphic so my opinion on Piktochart remains a very positive one.

Here is the Piktochart I have created to summarize the main points of the Gilliard/ Culik article, hope you enjoy it!

References:

Article: Gilliard/Culik. https://www.commonsense.org/education/privacy/blog/digital-redlining-access-privacy

Piktochart: https://create.piktochart.com/output/33882319-new-piktochart-conflict-copy

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