#UWinDig 2020

I read “Digital Ghosts In The Modern Classroom” by Ashley Hinck.

In the article, Hinck emphasizes the importance of eliminating the traditional school system that treats students as “containers to be filled with correct answers by teachers”. She criticizes the use of shortcut/template platforms in schools and in digital media learning because these platforms limit students’ understanding of digital media making. Hinck mentions platforms such as Canva, WIX, and GIPHY as examples of apps that provide pre-made themes and templates to make the process of creating something easier, quicker and more convenient for students. In reality, these platforms create users who lack creativity, sense of discovery and authority.

I believe that today, our world embraces the need for creativity. In our days successful and prosperous people are those characterized as creators, inventors, and great thinkers. For that reason, as future educators, we need to equip our students with the skills that will enable them to be producers of originality not “copy-pasters”. However, I also think that shortcut platforms are useful in a way because they introduce students to the digital media making process and its unique world. They provide examples and help students visualize the end product of an assignment or a project. Yet, teachers, students, and schools should not be limited to these platforms but use them as building blocks that will lead to the creation of an original product. Shortcut platforms offer only one idea or perspective of what the final product will look like.

It is also important to realize that not all students have the capacity to create an authentic project. Creativity is not a mysterious element but I believe that everyone is born with it. It is up to that person to exercise it and grow it, and it is up to the school system to promote that growth. This was my first time creating an infographic using Visme. I chose a blank template to see if I was able to start from scratch. When I found out there were ready-to-use sections that I could drag into my template, I started using them because it saved me time and it allowed me to envision my ideas and how I wanted to display them. I don’t think using these pre-made sections made me less creative or made me feel that I had less control over my project because I used them as a starting point and I was able to fix, delete, add, change whatever I desired to reach my end result.

Hinck argues that students have learned to always assume that there is only one right answer and only one right way to get to that answer. Again, this narrow type of thinking originates from the traditional method of teaching using worksheets and thinking that the correct answer exists in the pockets of the teachers. Users of digital media, then, are discouraged and hesitant because being a creator means that you will make many mistakes and face many technical troubles and student users translate this to failure and an imperfect final project.

I believe that the role of the teacher is very important in this case because students must see their teacher as a coach, someone who will guide them and steer them toward the right ways. Educators must teach their students the importance of risk-taking and get them to understand that trying, failing and taking longer to achieve something great is part of the learning process that will help them grow as efficient learners. Digital learners must know that technology can be really complicated at times but it offers a lot of space for trial and error, improvement and creating unique products.

It is important to mention that in order to teach students how to be creators, speakers, and makers, we must teach teachers how to be all that as well. Teachers have to be creators in the sense that they must come up with new ways, more approachable and effective, for teaching students. Teachers should be models of what a true learner should look like.

I read the article Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom by Ashley Hinck. I chose to use an infographic because I have not made something quite like this before and wanted the experience of trying something new. I really liked this format because it allows you to to incorporate different depths of information in a quick format. Your eyes quickly catch the pictures and subtitles and the main idea is quickly conveyed. The infographic format really allows for creativity in how the information is expressed.

I can relate to the students in this article. I rely on a set of steps to lead me to one correct answer. This is just the way I have been learning my whole life since I am a science and math student. We have always been given a series of steps to follow, however I can really see the upside to changing this. Allowing students to express themselves and figure out their own path will prevent the school system from killing creativity in students. I like the way that in Ashley Hinck’s class the students use more creativity than what traditional template programs would allow. I believe this is a great way to get students out of their comfort zone and break the mold of the banking model of education. Hinck also mentions how these drag and drop platforms that she characterizes as “digital ghosts” always give the student a working product. This does not allow students to face adversity where they would have to learn from their failures and build upon them. This model Hinck uses is much more relatable to the real world.

I listened to Chris Friend’s interview with Amy Collier, “Questioning Learning”. The podcast talks about critical pedagogy and gets in depth with the importance with taking risks in the classroom. Amy Collier emphasizes when you standardize learning, it creates the idea of ‘best ideas’ which are based on assumptions from the class content, delivery, and the people in the classroom. It causes a lack of personal interest and individuality in the students and it creates one-size-fits-all model for students. To avoid this, Collier explains that students and teachers should be constantly asking questions about what kind of information is being given and how the information is delivered.

In addition, to avoid the notion of ‘best ideas’ teachers and students should focus on embracing the idea of taking risks in the classroom and coming to terms with the idea of discomfort of not having clear answers to move forward. That it’s the experiences of learning that build your understandings and prepare you for the incredibly unpredictable world that we live in.

When I listened to this podcast, it made me reflect on my time in school. I remember my early grade school days that consisted of the same routine of the teacher speaking, writing on the board, and giving out handouts. This kind of learning technique discouraged me from wanting to learn because it did not fit my style of learning. It was not until grade 7 that I had a teacher that constantly made us question the curriculum and made us realize that, as students, we have a lot of valid things to say. For me, she was the gateway of pushing the limits in terms of the curriculum, and that it’s okay to not be right or have answers all the time. I find that my experience is an example of when students and teachers embrace risk and uncertainty, it allows the students to be confident in what they learn and how they choose to communicate in the classroom.

For my artifact I chose to do a mind map because I believe it reflects the idea of how education shouldn’t be formulaic and linear. How the ideas and points should be free flowing, unexpected, and unpredictable, however, when done effectively it all comes together and makes sense. As I was making my mind map, I found myself over thinking the placements of certain points, however, once I let that anxiety go I embraced the idea of being unpredictable and it allowed me to experiment with the formatting of my mind map.

For this assignment, I chose to produce a twitter essay based off of Ashley Hinck’s article “Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom.”

Hinck’s refers to the overused digital tools that, like class worksheets, limit the abilities of student learning… and essentially follow students around their educational careers. To some it may not seem like the biggest deal, but what Hinck suggests is that limiting student learning tools further limits student’s creativity. Because common tools are so easy to navigate, the task at hand is simple for students to simply drag and drop.

Hinck promotes digital tools like CSS, HTML, and Scratch, that allow for multiple right answers rather than regurgitated curriculum. With tools that allow for diverse thinking and creativity, students will shy away from the fear of being wrong. Teachers should promote the joy of discovery, and figuring out learning through trial and error processes. 

Personally, doing this activity as a twitter essay was very much like using the suggested tools in Hinck’s article. I admired the idea of commenting on my own posts material that was short and to the point, or at least I thought so at first. As interesting as it was to include GIFS and images in my responses, the responses themselves were limited to a low about of characters, just like any other tweet. 

My mistake was posting each tweet after finalizing it, rather than writing out each tweet individually on a document and moving them on to the twitter platform. Four or five tweets in I realized I could have added another tweet or two in-between tweets I had already posted.

This was frustrating and cumbersome to fix, but it at least allowed me to learn from my mistake and approach the platform a little differently. 

You can view my twitter essay in its entirety by clicking here!

The podcast Questioning Learning by Chris Friend and Amy Collier was very insightful, informative and had me questioning a lot about how students learn and how we teach both in the classroom and online.

My overall experience in constructing a sketchnote can be compared to that of a roller coaster ride. It was full of ups and downs, but at the end of the ride it was well worth it. I ran into a couple of challenges along the way while creating this artifact, such as trying to find a way to express the podcast in the form of images and single words or phrases. If I had any suggestions for future users it would be to make sure you clearly lay out how you are going to connect your ideas through the use of colour, arrows, word size, etc., to ensure that it is easy to follow for the reader. Sketchnotes are a creative way to speak your mind. At the end of the day all you need is a little perseverance, imagination, creativity and a pen and paper. I would definitely do a sketchnote again and would recommend its use to future students. 

According to the podcast message, the concept of “best practice” can be described as a standard way to teach, the idea that a specific way is best, and that all students can learn in that same way. This way of thinking is based on standardization, which in my opinion is a process that should be avoided in the classroom. It is important to use critical pedagogy, and question whether or not this is the best way of teaching? Why? For whom?Instead of finding the best way to simply teach all students we should be inquiring and experimenting with how specific students learn best from our teaching practices and adjusting our teaching style based on how they learn and what we’re teaching.  

The article mentions online courses being like “canned courses,” meaning the course is designed so that students do the same assignment, go through the same path, in the hope that they finish by gaining the same credentials at the end of the course. The teacher is merely there to grade assignments and answer questions when needed. Collier presents the idea of virtual office hours and bringing in online speakers. As a teacher, if I was selected to be an online teacher, I would definitely include virtual office hours and online speakers as well as add other creative ways to build that student-teacher relationship within the online world. 

Using “Beacons instead of outcomes.”  In my classroom, I would take the time to help guide my students in creating outcomes; goals that should be accomplished by the end of the unit. The notion of creating outcomes to be interesting and inspiring (beacons), as mentioned in the video, really resonated with me. I think the idea of transforming outcomes into big questions is a great idea. In this way, students know what is expected and can also come up with their own way to answer the questions at hand. 

“Learnification” is another topic that can be described as the individualization of education with a focus on the student learning for themselves instead of attaining help from the teacher.  In this case, the teacher can be seen as a “ghost” a figure that is still present in the classroom but out-of-reach for the student.  

Once again, I believe that a teacher/student relationship is key in education. When you build that relationship, you are able to get to know your students and design lessons that are built to their specific needs and learning styles. In this case, learning is individualized for the student but there is still that essential bond between the student and their teacher. 

To further explain my point, I believe the article demonstrates two main paths on the road to teaching and learning. The first would be the standardized “factory model” path, an environment in which everyone is conditioned to be like clones; depicted on the sketchnote by the red cars, brought up to learn the same way and hopefully reach the same goal in the same manner.  You will have certain students who reach success since they may learn best through, or in spite of, that particular teaching style. However, you will also have a large number of “cars” that run out of gas, reach dead ends, get discouraged or give up and in the worse case scenario “dropout.”  

Alternatively, I believe the article is demonstrating another “pathway to success”, one in which not all students are the same, one which acknowledges individuality and a multitude of learning differences.  Students on this path can be depicted as cars of different shapes, colours and size, symbolizing that each individual comes in with prior knowledge, prior experiences and prior baggage that may have an impact on their learning. Drawing on my own personal teaching experiences working with a learning support teacher, no two children learn the same or reach the same goal at the same time.  I would always try different tools for students whether that be hands on activities, comedy, demonstrations, examples, etc. and some tools would work better on one student and not at all on the other. Students may seek different avenues of learning, may branch out in different directions, obtain specific directions in order to reach their desired destination. No two people have to follow the same path in order to obtain success.  

Amy Collier discusses what is important in education today by discussing the concept of “NOT-YETNESS” with Chris Friend from HybridPod.  This is my initial reaction to having to create a digital artifact. I wanted to jump off something! Luckily the highest thing around was this trusty 3 foot high desk. All kidding aside this assignment was a huge LEAP for me, into the unknown FUN yet CREATIVE world of educational artifacts!

In response to this podcast I tunneled my creativity into a digital sketchnote!  The process of creating this digital artifact was surprisingly very fun however tedious primarily because of using the iPad pen. It would have been much easier to just use thicker pencils or markers of a different colours. With the iPad however each change of these elements was 4 maneuvers with the pen on the touch screen. Next time I will simply utilize a pen and paper, because it is the process of condensing and summarizing thoughts and adding creativity into the artifact that is the point, not the medium.

The creative visuals I brought into the sketch note-the stop sign, flower, globe, can, pendulum definitely helped me and would aid other students as well in remembering and mastering the content.  I would have my students create a sketchnote from one of my lectures and share it with the class. It would also be a great way of displaying to students that perspective and internalization of the same information is different, therefore learning is a creative individualized process. RISK, CREATIVITY and DISCOMFORT would definitely come into play as they presented their works and defended their interpretations-having them live in this realm of uncertainty each day, as Amy suggested. Uncertain of others opinions and perhaps open rejections and responding to these situations would help greatly to prepare them for a world they will THRIVE in.

Amy defines “NOT-YETNESS” as when you are working on building your experiences and understanding but you are not quite there yet therefore you are embracing RISK and DISCOMFORT. Amy is talking about the critical time when new, ground breaking discoveries could be made….. the BRINK !!!  She believes education is a series of risks and that we need to swing the learning PENDULUM outcomes to qualitative measures. I definitely believe this to be critically important for growth. We can do this by bringing our experience, background and our inspiration into the classroom and creating excitement about the topics we present!

When I reflect on my own education, we focused on key concepts, formulas, memorizing, canned courses and rogue answers. I was on the road everyone else traveled (see me on the road above in my sketch note) and it was not personalized, did not involve risk and discomfort. I was not on the BRINK of discovery, yet could have been if my teachers tapped into my love for chemical reactions and science and let me explore this more through collaboration and development of further experimentation. I would love to share this passion with my students.

Learning outcomes were not individualized based on my interests, where creative freedom was embraced. When I think back I don’t even know if all of my teachers knew my interests, heck some did not know my name. I think it would be amazing to ask myself instead what I would ADMIRE as a learning goal for my students as Amy suggested. For me I would admire my students if they developed an ability to collaborate and foster respectful relationships while experiencing risk in areas that interest them. My teachers did not concentrate on what brought me JOY and what ignited a FIRE within me. It was A +B =C student who understands the concepts and who we can check the box for. Many on-line “canned” courses as Amy refers to them were exactly the same, creating clones of regurgitated information. Deposits in the heads of students like money in a piggy bank. To try to avoid this I would try to make online courses more personal and foster connections with students.

For students to THRIVE in this WORLD today they have to be exposed to unpredictability and uncertainty because the WORLD is exactly this!! I could not agree more!! Students spend SOOO much time in the classroom so let use this time wisely and prepare them for the REAL WORLD. 

In order to do this we have to focus on creative educational experiences, so that our students can be the next generation of CREATORS. What would this look like to me in my classroom?  I would give opportunity to build confidence with creative learning opportunities that are NOT EVALUATED. 

An example in Science would be to have my students devise a new and creative way to deal with environmental sustainability. Even if their creation is not at all practical or sustainable that does not matter, what matters is their reflection of what they learned. Why they chose to make this creation, implications on society and understanding of sustainability in practice.  The reflection demonstrates a whole other level of understanding and ties together their overall learning experience and does NOT KILL their CREATIVITY!!

You never know, maybe just maybe one of my future students will come up with a brilliant creative idea because I provided the scaffolding for such an opportunity. Or maybe a few students could collaborate on an risky idea and expand it into a groundbreaking innovation. After all CREATIVITY is a precursor for innovation!

Another way we could have students experience more risk is to get together with other classes and have OPINION BASED DEBATES on CREATIVE APPLICATIONS of the curriculum. This puts students into a RISKY environment where they have to know material well, be ready to defend their point of view, think on their feet, and apply their knowledge to creative opinion-based forum. Again NOT KILL CREATIVITY with right or wrong questions yet utilize their content knowledge and apply it to creative concepts.

Amys notion of critical pedagogy, encourages us all to NOT always have clear answers and best practices and to embrace this discomfort as a best practice. If teachers adopt this GROWTH mindset in class it will force students to do this as well and will better prepare them for the work force. I have worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 20 years and embracing change and discomfort is critically important for developing new therapies and asking new questions as to what should be studied or investigated next. Risk and uncertainty has always been an integral part of the pharmacy industry and of my personal and professional growth.

IT IS THE SUPREME ART OF THE TEACHER TO AWAKEN JOY IN CREATION EXPRESSION AND KNOWLEDGE-Albert Einstein

After all Einstein had it right decades ago…..so why has it taken us so long to catch on, and make CREATIVITY a priority in TEACHING.

PASS IT ON!