Tag Archives: #UWinDig

Oct 31 2018
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332thursday10

Integrating Technology Into Student Education

I choose to do the article Teaching in a Participatory Digital World by Jacobsen, M. The article does a good job presenting the perspective of how important technology is in the education system in today’s society. The educators of today must be willing to learn and adapt to using new technologies in the classroom. There is great importance in applying these technologies in the classroom. Students can have a more individualized education by using the internet as a resource for their specific topics of interest. The article mentioned that people that are interested in something more niche can now be interconnected on the internet and gain access to previously unavailable information. Not only is more information accessible through technology but students obtain a deeper understanding of material and can complete more complex learning goals when supplemented with the right use of digital technology.

The article changed the way I viewed how important the use if technology is in schooling, teaching and learning. The importance of teachers knowing how to utilize the use of technology can affect their students. The article really opened my eyes and made it clear that many different organizations and people are responsible for teachers to learn about these technologies. It was important to learn from the article that students obtain a deeper understanding of concepts by integrating technology into their learning. More complex learning goals can be achieved for your students as well. Ultimately, the article informed me how useful, important and life changing proper use of technology can be to students in the classroom.

For this multimedia reflection I choose to use coggle. Coggle is a website that allows you to create a digital mind map. At first use it did not seem very user friendly. As time went on the program became quite easy to use. I recommend using a mouse when trying to create a mind map on Coggle to improve your experience. Coggle allows the use of inserting images into the mind map which can greatly enhance the theme. There are, however, several features that are locked behind having a subscription which is a drawback. Overall, Coggle was good to use for this article as it allowed for lots of connections to made with the main theme of the article. It was easy to make connections between ideas with Coggle because of the connections you can make with the branches of the mind map.

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Oct 31 2018
5 Comments
332thursday10

21st Century Teaching…What Gives?!

Hey everyone! This time I decided to use Piktochart  for Dr. Michele Jacobsen’s article “Teaching in a Participatory Digital World” and Henry Jenkin’s video “The Influence of Participatory Culture on Education“. Last time I attempted to make a sketch note…and I have come to find that Piktochart can be used in a similar way, except much less time consuming. The best part is being able to edit my assignment unlike the sketch note where once I write something down with pen or marker it’s set.

For this assignment it really started to open up my view of participatory culture and how digital society creates helps to promote participatory. Prior to reading through Michele’s article my perspective of teaching and learning with digital technology was low. I wanted nothing to do with it. I have continually taken a stubborn position in resisting the change because it has seemed too daunting for me to do online participation. I have tried to stick to only in person collaboration. BUT, I’ve come to learn that it is not as scary or difficult as I first thought and that it can actually be quite effective in learning and help keep both myself and students more engaged in whatever lesson or material is being taught.

During my placement my associate teacher was using a few different platforms and technologies that I found really enhanced the classroom learning environment. There was technology used that connected the students to the teacher online even after school and in a safe manner; there is always a concern that teachers need to be careful in communicating with students to ensure no inappropriate relationship is developed. Even the parents were able to connect to the same website between the students with a special login. The parents are able to both easily message the teacher and view the marks of their kids on this website. I found the students become continually engaged in participating in something called “missions” which is like a multiple choice quiz, but it also includes short teaching reminder videos in between. This was easily used because my associate teacher books an iPad cart for his class quite often. The students are really able to participate together in the online learning it really has boosted the class collaboration.

Another part I found interesting was the benefit of not just the students, but the teachers collaborating together as well. My associate teacher frequently participates in extra professional development and exchanges ideas with other teachers and this helps him to learn and improve upon his own teaching in the class room, especially with keeping pace with other classes in the same subject and grade.

The way I organized my piktochart was showing the new shift in digital technology and digital learning. I  described how there are many benefits in teaching more in this way.

Link to my Piktochart

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Oct 31 2018
4 Comments
332thursday10

Education and Technology are Friends not Foes

For my second multimedia reflection I made my infographic based on Henry Jenkins’ Video: The influence of participatory culture on education, as well as the “Teaching in a Participatory Digital World” article written by Dr. Michele Jacobsen.

I chose to do an infographic using Piktochart and Microsoft PowerPoint. For the last reflection I made a sketchnote, so I decided to branch out from “pen and paper” to a fully digital medium. I enjoyed creating an infographic as I found it to be a clear and organized way to get points across. I am excited to try a different style of medium for my next reflection, as the infographic was easy to use but it was also slightly creatively restrictive.  I used Piktochart to make my title banner, and then used PowerPoint to make the rest of my infographic. I chose to use both platforms as I find PowerPoint gives you more freedom, is more user-friendly and has less restrictions. I like the font selection on Piktochart, as well as the background options, which is why I used it to make the title banner.

When watching Jenkins’ video, I was struck by Jenkins’ saying “Don’t build something like YouTube. Use YouTube”, when referring to how a lot of educators are trying to remake things in technology that already exist. This really struck me as I think many people shy away from technology thinking that it is this dangerous thing that cannot possibly be used for educational purposes, when really, it can be an amazing and enriching tool. This also made me realize that “moving forward” onto bigger and better things is not always necessary, and instead there are benefits to working with what you already have.

Jacobsen’s article highlighted to me how it can be frightening for teachers to have to embrace so much new technology but also how rewarding it can be. I think many teachers are initially opposed to technology, because they simply don’t understand it. I remember in elementary school and high school, the majority of my teachers used an overhead projector, or simply just the chalkboard to teach our lessons. I even had one teacher who would use an actual old-school movie projector (I’m talking about the ones that use film), because they “couldn’t” find the movie in any other format…It was 2009. It’s not that the technology wasn’t out there and available in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, but instead it was new, and many educators were afraid to use it or were stuck in their ways. They were on their own when it came to technology, so my more tech-savvy teachers (often the younger ones), incorporated a little bit of technology into the classroom, but not nearly as much as is incorporated today. Jacobsen highlighted in her article, that top-down support is crucial for technology to be incorporated properly into classrooms. I think if more support and resources were provided to my teachers at that time, then they would have felt more comfortable with incorporating technology into the classroom.

Before reading this article, I never realized that the reason for lack of technology in my classrooms growing up, wasn’t necessarily because the teachers didn’t want to use it. Instead, it was because they didn’t have the necessary resources from administration to be confident in using it. Reading this article was very enlightening as it allowed me to think back on my past experiences with technology at school in a completely different manner. It made me critically think about how my school experience with technology could have been very different if my teachers were given the support mentioned in Jacobsen’s article.

The little use of technology from my school experiences is far from the participatory learning technologies that Jacobsen discusses in her article. Participatory learning is interactive, and it requires support from administration. Which is why I think it is so important that Jacobsen highlighted the need for top-down support. The ministry needs to provide professional development for principals so that they can better support their teachers and ensure that the students have the resources they need.

I plan on using the knowledge gained from Jacobsen’s article and Jenkins’ video in my own teaching practices, and hope to be able to incorporate technology in a meaningful manner. Jacobsen’s article reminded me of our lesson in Lecture #3 on the SAMR model (by Dr. R. R. Puentedura) about how technology should not be simply a substitution for something, but instead it should enhance and offer something more than what was possible before (redefinition). I am excited to further explore participatory learning, and use technology to redefine what was possible before. I am also excited to read and watch everyone else’s posts and opinions on the article and video.

Multimedia Reflection #2 – This link is to the .pdf version of my infographic, which has clearer images and working hyperlinks.

References: 

Henry Jenkins: the influence of participatory culture on education. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYbSD_GdkjU

Jacobsen, M. (2010). Teaching in a participatory digital world. https://www.edcan.ca/articles/teaching-in-a-participatory-digital-world

SAMR Model: A Practical Guide for EdTech Integration. https://www.schoology.com/blog/samr-model-practical-guide-edtech-integration

Image Sources:

https://annenberg.usc.edu/faculty/communication-journalism/henry-jenkins

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1061/1924/files/100_Emoji.png?9898922749706957214

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Oct 31 2018
4 Comments
332thursday10

Are School Administrators Mind-Controlling Students???

Before our Digital Tech and Social Media Applications lesson last week, I had never heard of the term “redlining”. After learning about the issue, I was very intrigued and decided to do my second Multimedia Reflection on the Gillard & Culik article. After reading the article, I learned about what redlining is, and how it can be very problematic and discriminatory. I also learned that digital redlining can create invisible boundaries which make it even harder to recognize and regulate.

 

A point in the article that resonated strongly with me is the concept that AUPs create “invisible boundaries”. I was shocked to find out that students are not notified when they’ve searched a term that has been blocked, they simply don’t receive any search results related to the topic. Like Nina from the article, I think that most people would assume that the issue they are searching is simply not that prevalent, not that it is being actively blocked by their school’s network. It makes me think back to all the times I’ve researched topics on my university’s wi-fi; has this ever happened to me? I probably wouldn’t remember if it had because I would have brushed it off and searched another topic as Nina did. A college could argue that their AUP (which the student is asked to agree to before using their internet) clearly states which types of terms are blocked, but it is well known that most people don’t read this fine print and even if they did, it can be easily forgettable.

My question is WHY doesn’t the school notify students when they’ve searched a blocked term? If they were notified, then perhaps they could do their research on a different internet connection. I don’t see a downside in notifying students when they are pushing a boundary instead of just silently tracking it, so I am genuinely curious to hear other’s opinions on why colleges are so secretive about this.

 

An additional point in the article which piqued my interest was the part about how community colleges have stricter AUPs because they deem themselves as mainly “job training” so the administrators don’t think the students need access to as much information. This part infuriated me because why should administrators be the ones to deem what information is “important enough” for students to know and which information is okay to omit? The students should not be mind-controlled, they should be in charge of their own knowledge. I believe that students should be the ones deciding what they know, and how much they know because it will affect their futures. No matter what school they go to, they are still paying tuition to be there and should be allowed full access to any information they choose to seek out on the internet.

 

My experience using Piktochart to create my Multimedia Reflection was overall very positive. I found the platform easy to use and aesthetically pleasing. It didn’t take me long to create a beautiful, sophisticated, informative work of art that deserves an A+. I would definitely use this platform again myself, or as part of an activity or assignment in my future classroom.

 

My infographic is shown below. Also, here is the link.

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Oct 31 2018
3 Comments
332thursday10

But I’m Ready to Learn of the POWER of Technology! (Yes, it’s a Celine Dion Reference)

For the second multimedia reflection, I chose to analyze the perspectives of Henry Jenkins, who created this notion of participatory learning (you can view his video here) as well as Dr. Michele Jacobsen who looks at all the possibilities that technology brings to teachers/people (you can view her article here).  They both view technology as a very important resource in the teaching world in today’s society.

Technology is beneficial in more ways than one, as it is such a powerful resource.  It is a useful tool in order to collaborate ideas with people. This can be student/student collaboration, teacher/teacher collaboration, or just sharing ideas for others to utilize.  Social media and technology allow for this to occur on a global scale.  As well, using technology helps students to become more engaged in classroom activity.  Students are glued to their phone (this was seen during placement), and any lesson that incorporates the use of their phone/computers of any sort becomes so much more interesting to students.  They can use it in a positive way, which in turn makes them feel like they are contributing so much into the classroom.  Teachers need to integrate more things that students can connect with on a personal level, and what better way to start than with technology.

Technology allows for the support of autonomous learners.  Students have the ability to become more creative and individualize their work.  It allows them to learn in a way that best suits them; they can utilize information given to them and form it into a learning model that works best for them.

However, there are some problems that can come up when dealing with technology.  One problem is most teachers are uneducated in how to use specific platforms.  Jenkins quotes “don’t build something like YouTube, use YouTube”.  It is very true in the sense that don’t build something to be used, use the tools that you have in front of you, but use them properly. There are many resources that can aid teachers, but some aren’t willing to adapt their teaching methods to best suit these students.  Also, most students have some access to technology, whether it be through a phone, computer or even iPad.  A problem that we are faced with is that students aren’t using it properly; in inappropriate ways.  We as educators (in training) need to teach students how to use technology in the best way for them.

My blog post (which you can view here) shows how useful technology can be, how teachers need to be willing to adapt and it looks at the tools that digital media bring to the table.

A lot of things came into my mind while absorbing all of this information.  In my opinion, it’s crazy that some teachers were defiant to the idea of incorporating technology into their pedagogical methods.  Why not use a resource to make your life easier?  I understand that in 2014 technology and the internet were still relatively foreign concepts, but it is an easy tool to learn.  If my teachers in high school incorporated more technology, I think school would be a lot more enjoyable and allow more connections to be made.  As well, I personally think that being able to connect with people all over the world and share ideas is such a cool concept.  Why not help each other out with becoming better teachers?  Why not share ideas, or lesson plans?  I know I will be reaching out to see what I am able to utilize for my teaching.  I can also show students what other schools/teachers are doing in their classrooms on the other side of the world and compare learning strategies between them.

Also, while reading the article/watching the videos, I was trying to envision how I was going to incorporate more technology-based platforms into my teaching methods when I go back on practicum at the end of November.  Standing at the front of the room and seeing all of the students on their phones is disheartening, but if I come up with ways to positively utilize them, then the students will be more engaged.  This is where platforms like Kahoot will come into play, especially in a science-based classroom.  As a student, I enjoyed activities that allowed me to be engaged and get involved. Now, with the big technology epidemic, what better way to involve students.  I know that if I was a student, I would have been able to get a better understanding of certain topics with all of these platforms at my fingertips. Even the addition of Edsby in the classroom is such a valuable, useful resource.

For this multimedia assignment, I decided to try a new platform.  I chose to utilize Piktochart.  It was an overall positive experience, that I was not expecting.  It was easy to use and right at my fingertips. They have different graphics, icons, shapes and pictures that can be added right to your piece.  Changing fonts, sizing, and backgrounds was also user friendly. However, the only downside that I came across was colour schemes; you need to upgrade (pay) for the version to be able to pick your own colours.  This meant that I had the option of choosing between dirty brown or unpleasant green as my default (I went with the green!).  I would definitely recommend this platform for anyone who is doubting using technology, as I was hesitant during the first Multimedia assignment.  I am definitely more open to using technology!

P.S. The Piktochart itself is a little blurry… I tried to add close up shots of it in different frames, but they seem to be blurry too.  I inserted a link into the post above, but here’s another link if you want to view in better quality!

 

 

 

 

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Oct 31 2018
4 Comments
332thursday10

All Aboard the S.S. Social Media!

I had the opportunity to read the article Teaching in a Participatory Digital World by Dr. Michele Jacobsen, and to listen to Henry Jenkins talk about, in a short video, the potential that communities have when they participate in digital collaborations to change their students’ experiences in education.  Some things that really stood out about the article to me was that educators have no idea how to navigate the digital world or use social media platforms.  It’s scary to me to know that students aren’t being taught how to properly and safely use anything in the online world.  I know it is unrealistic to expect every teacher to start being active online, but I can hope for maybe one day.   One thing that left me totally flabbergasted was that every student in my high school placement owned and used phones religiously, considering that during my placement I had multiple occasions when I had to ask kids to put their phones away.

Before reading this article, and even before this digital technology course, my views on social media or the online world were very skewed in one direction.  I am a very old fashioned person, where I never wanted to be online because I thought it was pointless.  I need face-to-face conversations and meaningful, personal relationships to thrive in this world, which social media could not offer me and thus I deemed it incompatible with my life.  My ideas about social media have all changed since the start of this course, and after reading this article, to a more reasonable understanding.  Digital tools are available to us as educators to help us increase our productivity when it comes to teaching students and to assist students in their learning process, not as a hindrance.

In the article, Dr. Jacobsen talked about how the greatest benefit to online social learning is student interaction. Social learning is the basis of learning content through conversations about problems.  One of my teachers had a saying where if a student didn’t know an answer, first ask each other, then the internet and then ask him.  Of course, there is a time and place where the teacher needs to lead the discussion about a topic, but in doing this strategy we were forced to learn from one another or learn how to find information online.  I think this teaching strategy would have been way more effective if there was a place online that we could, as students, collaborate our ideas to come up with solutions, or if the teacher showed us techniques on finding information online.

As I was trying to figure out how I was going to present my thoughts on the key ideas from this article and video, I was wanting to try a twitter essay.  However, as I was explaining the article to one of my friends, I realized that I had way too much to say about it so the character cap on Twitter wasn’t for me.  Thus, I made a podcast/rant about many topics the article talked about.  I struggled so much making this video though because I had so much to say.  It took six attempts to make sure it was a reasonable length so as not to lose the attention of whoever watched it. I think my first video ended up being over 20 minutes long and I didn’t even realize it!  If you notice, I am not in this video simply because I am not interesting enough to look at while I talk, so I came up with a quick solution.  Everyone loves to watch a fire, hence the yule log every year during Christmas season, even I enjoyed watching the fire while I spoke.  Sit back, grab a blanket and hot chocolate, and enjoy my soothing voice over a hot fire.

PS.  There is a bonus video (labeled bonus video) that I didn’t want to include in the main video.  It contains a cool idea that some of you may like on how we can make a more unique online society for students.

Main Video:  Learning in a Digital World

Bonus Video!

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Oct 30 2018
2 Comments
332wednesday12, Uncategorized

Digital Redlining and “Guerrilla Open Access”

I did a twitter essay on the Digital Redlining, Access, and Privacy article by Chris Gilliard for reflection #2.

Here it is:

And here is the unofficial sequel:

SUMMARY & REFLECTION

In my twitter essay I tried to address some of the less comfortable implications of digital redlining, beyond the fact that it is a pretty blatant form of institutionalized racism/classism. I argue that it is the natural result of a political and economic system in which the state perceives one’s worth based on how much a person owns, and creates laws and allocates resources based on that perception – creating very real barriers for all the ‘have nots’. There is little that we can do to remedy the situation without directly challenging the economic and political systems that created it (which probably isn’t going to happen). I end up concluding that it is a mistake to assume that supposedly ‘woke’ institutions like ‘higher education’ don’t play a role in reinforcing class hierarchies along racial lines. It’s all very depressing and unfun. Pass.

The second part (the unofficial sequel) has the closest thing to a solution I can think of that we could be moving towards in the present – open access. It’s a funner thread with a lot of information on the economics of academic research that I only recently found out about. Also, the gifs are better. I’ve never personally experienced not being able to find stuff  on JSTOR while doing research (that I know of – very spooky – happy halloween). I imagine UWindsor has access to most of the archive, but who knows. I’ve had a lot more experience dealing with paywalls. Over the past few years I’ve quite often had to help friends in college who are unable to access a certain journal on JSTOR, or friends who graduated university and lost access to JSTOR. I usually just download the article and send it to them, which I assume is illegal/piracy, so that’s cool. Paywalls are wack. Academic publishing is a racket.

As far as teaching goes, this article connected some dots for me, providing an important critique of the supposed exclusively positive effect technology beyond just the concept of the digital divide. Basically, I need to apply a class analysis of the way educational institutions are funded (digital redlining) on top of the class analysis of digital technology in general (digital divide). What this will mean praxis-wise I’m not entirely sure. As far as I can tell digital redlining is not exactly a hot button issue in education, so trying to make the problem more visible and educating people about it would probably be a good start. I have no practical solutions here other than promoting ideas of digital equity – open access and net neutrality. Awareness and understanding of the problem helps, but ultimately it would be better if we could do something a little more concrete. A lot would have to change in order to actually address the problem of digital redlining in any meaningful way, and in this political climate, I don’t see that happening any time soon.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Also, I just realized that I forgot to include the quote I used for my blog post title in my twitter essay. It’s more of a quote about the digital divide. It’s from Aaron Swartz’s “Guerrilla Open Access Manifesto” (which I link to at the end of the twitter essay but here it is a motherboard article on it/him, reading is fun), and I figured that his connection to open access and to JSTOR made it appropriate.. so, here it is:

**Whelp…. this is getting very long. See what I mean about not being focused. Anyways there was going to be a whole section in part 2 of my twitter essay on JSTOR, and Swartz, and his open access and net neutrality activism, and his prosecution for trying to download the entire JSTOR archive to post online for free like a gosh darn folk hero of the internet age, and his eventual tragic suicide… but I guess I’ll just link to this article right HERE instead. Bye.

REFLECTION ON THE MAKING OF THE TWITTER BIT THAT’S PROBABLY NOT NECESSARY BUT I THOUGHT IT WAS FOR SOME REASON, WHOOPS

I’m pretty happy over how much easier this was to make than my last reflection. But, it was difficult for me to keep it focused. I like twitter, and I don’t think increasing the amount of characters you can post on twitter is a good idea, but I feel like without carefully planning everything out having only 140 characters makes it more likely to veer off course because larger ideas and arguments are parsed into smaller (and sometimes unnatural) chunks. I actually ended up deleting the entire original thread and started over. I think it’s better now?

I’ll probably make a video again next time (depending on the topic).  But with more of my cat.

 

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Oct 30 2018
4 Comments
332wednesday12

Say goodbye to old and hello to the new

For the second multimedia, I decided to focus on the Henry Jenkins video along with the Michele Jacobson article. I was really excited and eager to try out a different platform beside the mind map. I decided to try out the Piktochart in the beginning, I found a few things such as how to properly get images and pictures. It was something that I quickly grasped and began to find was fairly easy and straightforward. It remained me a lot of the PowerPoint platform on how you can add text and add pictures.

The reason I decided to choose the Henry Jenkins video and the Jacobson article because personally I am more drawn to visually seeing something being taught to me rather than having to read articles. I like to break up articles with the use of videos I find it helps me learn better and understand a topic. When first watching the Jenkins video I really noticed how teachers of today’s teaching are not like they were 5-10 years ago.  When I was in elementary school the use of technology was very minimal and if it used it was never used very well. Technology is constantly changing into bigger and better things, the most important thing I think we as teachers need to malleable in the sense of being flexible and being subject to change in with the use of technology. This can be related back to our course that we were taught ways to be flexible and being able to use multiple platforms to allow students to succeed in the classroom.

During my first practicum, I noticed many new things that a classroom has to offer now since I’ve been out of high school. Many of these things are beneficial now to student learning, I’ve seen teachers use technology to help students with their English, such as having this new program called Alexa that allows students to work on English homework to better them as students. Along with Alexa, my associate was heavily into using YouTube videos in his lessons which gave students another viewpoint for them to learn that lesson. All these technological applications used in our digital media class can be applied to our second practicum in many ways, one being using a twitter hashtag that we did last week to spark students interest in a topic. We can also use the Mentimeter application to better understand our students and see what areas they need help in. This all can be tied back into the readings for this assignment by teachers and students working together to better the use of technology and helping each other out.

 

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Oct 30 2018
2 Comments
332wednesday12

Hey Technology, thank you!

For my second multimedia assignment, I was really excited to do a Twitter essay. The in-class assignment of the hashtag chat really got me engaged to use Twitter as my multimedia medium! Using the Twitter essay is perfect for this assignment in my eyes because of how recent we used it as a class. I used to be an avid Twitter user for leisure use, but being able to use it for a school assignment really had me enjoy it, rather than stress and dread over completing it on time. This piece by Dr. Michele Jacobsen was an excellent read and very relatable as a student and future (and kind of current) teacher. It really tied in the course material with realistic situations and even backed up by evidence of over 175 studies.

This course has opened up my eyes on how connected we really are, even when we don’t know it. As we discussed some of the negative effects in the hashtag chat in class, this multimedia piece focuses more on the positives. As I started reading the article, it seemed like it was going to go in a negative direction, and that is where my essay was going. It turned around very quickly as I read more and more on the article, truly seeing the positive aspects of the 24/7 connectedness.

Before reading this article, I would honestly say that I was indifferent on the subject. To me, I guess I understood why some teachers would not change their ways in the classroom and remain analogue, but this article has definitely changed my opinion. For some, they might have a “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” attitude towards their ways, and it is understandable. They have been doing something for a long time, and it has worked for the most part, why change it? I had no idea how much students truly benefited from including digital literacies in the classroom. Being at the faculty of Education has really made me see that it’s about the students, not us. My views have definitely changed about adaptation and teaching styles. There is always room for improvement.

I saw a lot of these benefits during my first practicum as my associate teacher always tried her best to stay connected to her students at all times. She used the Google Classroom platform so that she could post all resources and materials used in class, easily accessible to the students. She also used the Remind app to be able to give students updates on whatever she needed to, at all times of the day. The Remind app was also very useful because she turned on the option where students are able to message her back, almost like texting. The article really emphasized how it is up to the teacher to create a positive online learning environment for the students – giving them the best chance to succeed. I could really relate to that because that is how I want to teach when I am teaching full time. I want to be as engaging as she is, always looking to keep the students interested, no matter the lesson. After reading this, it has really encouraged me to be more aware of my technological resources because it can benefit me and my students in both teaching and learning. This course is teaching me a lot of about digital literacies and I am really looking forward to seeing what’s next to come!

Here are a few tweets from my Twitter essay, click on any of them and check out the thread to get the whole meat and potatoes on how I feel about digital literacies making their way into the classroom.

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Oct 29 2018
5 Comments
332thursday10

Let’s Start Digitalizing Classrooms!

My reflection is based on the article Teaching in a Participatory Digital World by Dr. Michele Jacobsen. In the article, they are mentioning that educators who teach using paper and pen should incorporate technology into their classrooms. The students that are now in school are growing up in a digital world and schools should prepare them for this. Students already know how to use technology, but it is the teacher’s job to guide students to use technology in a beneficial way for the 21st century. By incorporating technology, students can analyze information, solve real-world problems and successfully work in a digital world.

It is up to the teachers to provide students with the right tools to learn.  Teachers must constantly engage in professional learning to strengthen their digital competencies. They need to make authentic tasks that allows active learning for the students.  This include coming up with new learning methods and ways to incorporate technology into the classroom. Students and teachers must work together to allow student’s knowledge to grow constantly. When they work together, students can improve their ideas and learn actively instead of having them memorize and learn with paper and pen.

However, this is not something that can happen overnight. There needs to be support from principals, school legislations, and other teachers. They all need to work together for the incorporation of technology to be attainable n the classroom. I decided to make my reflection on supporting one another. Throughout the article, they mentioned that there needs to be support from others to help students use technology. I used Piktochart to make my infographic. I decided to make my infographic from scratch, without using a template. They did not have a lot of templates to choose from and I could not find something that would work with the layout I wanted. The layout that I used included an order of steps. Based on the article, there are steps that need to happen to make sure that educators can teach students about the digital world.  The 1st step must begin with the school legislation. If the school is not provided with internet and there are blocks to certain programs that the teachers want to use, it will be hard to incorporate technology into the classroom. The legislation needs to provide teachers and students with powerful tools to use technology. The 2nd step would come from the principals. They are the ones that need to engage in professional learning to provide support to the teachers. They need to make sure that teachers have the resources to teach technology. The 3rd step is teachers. They are the ones that must to make lessons to help students use the technology. They need to come up with authentic tasks that allow for active learning. Teachers can work together to bounce ideas off of one another and find new ways to make learning interactive. Finally, the 4th step is students. Without the first 3 steps, the students will not be prepared for the digital world. Once there is support from every step, that is when students can use technology and learn from their teachers on how to inquire, problem-solve and learn to work in the 21st century. It involves a community to make sure that students get the correct resources to learn.

Reflecting on this article, I found it important to have almost of a “chain reaction” effect with incorporating technology in the classroom. They are only as strong as the weakest link. While making the Piktochart, I found that using numbers to portray the order in which support needs to come from is important. Teachers can try to incorporate all the technology they like, but without the support and guidance from principals, school jurisdictions, and municipal government, it becomes very hard. Like the article mentioned, if the school places blocks on certain programs, that makes it harder for the teacher to incorporate the use of those technologies.

Before reading this article, I did not really pay attention to the issues. I know that the world is becoming more digitalized every day and that technology should be incorporated into the classroom but looking at how you need to have support will make it difficult. A lot of teachers like to stick to their old-fashioned way of teaching with the overhead projector and chalkboard because they are retiring soon and do not see a point in updating their teaching methods. During my placement, my associate said she has tried to incorporate technology into the classroom but the issue is with the wifi connection. She has done Kahoots in the past but the wifi connection is not strong, or cuts off in the middle of it, making it very frustrating for both the teacher and learners. Even something as simple as having them watch the movie, Osmosis Jones, on YouTube Premium would not work for her. She had purchased the movie for the students to relate to their osmosis unit and had them work on a worksheet during the movie. The wifi stopped working midway through the class so she had to start a new lesson. When she tried again the next day, the wifi still was not working and she had to bring in an older TV and DVD of the movie. This shows that without support, teachers that want to incorporate technology in the class will  find it to be very difficult.

Knowing how there are certain support programs for teachers to come together and learn new techniques about using technology gives me hope for the future. I hope by the time I graduate and have a full time position, that technology can be incorporated into every classroom but not just in a way of SAMR learning, specifically substitution, but in active learning and teaching. I hope that students can make the best out of technology and use it to help them excel in the digital world.

I personally did not enjoy using Piktochart and would prefer to do the Sketchnote like I had done for the first reflection as it was much easier to work with then using technology. With this program, there was always things glitching up, like the font sizes. If I tried to add a word, the font size would become larger and I would have to find the right font size to correct things. There is not a lot of freedom when it comes to changing the pictures that they already have in terms of colour coordination. So, I had to make sure that I found text pictures that were not clashing as well as cartoon like images from google that matched my layout. Once I was able to get past all the glitches and frustration, I found the program easy to navigate. For my next reflection, I will not be using Piktochart. I will try to find something with a bit more freedom in terms of styles and templates. All in all, I feel like through trail and error, I was able to get a result I was happy with.

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