Monthly Archives: October 2019

Oct 01 2019
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Are Schools Really Where Students Learn; May turn out that they are not

While reading Ashley Hinck’s article “Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom” (2018) she explained that creativity will not be found in a modern classroom. Classrooms full of linear and standard steps, drag and drop applications, and worksheets are preventing creativity from occurring. Students cannot be creative with these types of technologies in the classroom due to their lack of freedom and their structured setup.

Even if they were more open and creative technologies, it would not matter as students have been trained to lack creativity. Even when the technology becomes more open, students fear being “wrong” from years and years of structured teaching and being told that there is a “right” and “wrong” answer or way to do something. Years of being taught like this has put a depression on the creativity of students.

From personal experience I can relate that schools drown the creativity in classroom assignments with highly structured, specific projects. Projects receiving the best marks were always those that represented the idea that the teacher had in their head, never the uniquely designed project. This killed my confidence and surely killed the confidence on thousands of students just like me.

Simply giving students more open and creative technologies will not undo years of fear and insecurity grown by the structured, linear format of classrooms. Ashley elaborates that the current technologies are open yet still very structured due to font size, pre-made templates and other predetermined options. She suggests that new technologies should be introduced to help students but not be the sole change that occurs to bring creativity back. I agree that new technologies such as HTML, Scratch, etc should be introduced but introducing more open technologies will not simply cure insecure students that are too afraid to leave the structured realm of classrooms. Ashley gave examples that students struggled and feared new technologies such as coding because of their insecurity to fail and mess up. This is where she introduced the second half of the change that must occur. Students cannot simply be given more creative ways of presenting ideas, they must be taught and shown that it is okay to fail and present their ideas in new manners. Ashley gave the example of giving fifteen minutes for students to partner up and troubleshoot code together.

This idea is the key to creating creativity in classrooms again. She introduced more open, manipulative technology and gave students time to explore and be vulnerable without fear. That is the biggest difference that needs to occur in classrooms. New technology needs to be introduced along with teachers setting up environments and mindsets where students can fail and explore without fear.

That being said, for the project, I investigated Ashley’s article further using my twitter essay as my artifact. I was not familiar with twitter at all but I felt that a twitter essay could be the minimally restricted, creative technology that Ashley talks about in her article. She also emphasized the importance of students just like myself working past their fear of failure and trying more unique technologies. This being said, I figured I would do exactly as she says to prove that I agree with her opinion in her article.

So overall I concluded that new technologies and new teaching styles/attitudes are needed to stop creativity from going extinct in the classroom. The fate of creativity falls into the hands of the upcoming teachers.

Oct 01 2019
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Digital Ghosts? Wait What, Who, How???

Jakob Edmunds’ Sketchnote

It was interesting trying to complete this project on Ashley Hinck’s “Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom” since it is very true that we have become accustomed to drag and drop programs that complete the work for us. I struggled trying to be creative since we are not given too much opportunity to be creative in our classes and I was basically lost for ideas. I am completely guilty of resorting to template programs for my presentations and projects because they make it so easy to get my work done. In modern day schools especially, these types of programs give students the easy way out of being creative while still having a “professional” presentation made using technology. I remember being in high school business class trying to make my own website through writing code (HTML) and my website never working. However, my teacher made the effort to go through our websites to see where we might have made a mistake. Even through his efforts, I did not feel as though I learned how to properly use HTML and end up resorting to using an easy program with a template.

As mentioned by Hinck, I also believe schools have killed creativity by encouraging students to stick to rubrics and guidelines that give them the right answers. It was very difficult for me to be creative with this project since I am not artsy (hence the stick figures and poor drawings) but I chose to do a sketch note since it was out of my element. I thought it would be interesting and could add to my own growth as a professional by challenging myself a little. It may not look like much, but I ended up going through three different drafts of my sketch note before using this one as my final draft. I was able to notice my mistakes, the main ones being space issues and a lack of visuals, but this helped me become more creative. With each new draft, I felt I was able to make my sketch a little better and more clear to audiences. I chose to do a comic strip style note because I thought it would be easy to follow and I could use text bubbles to add a little creativity over writing something out, but still be able to do my own portrayal of the article.

I can now see the good in offering students the chance to have open creativity on an assignment because it enforces skills that we are not always faced with in our classes such as critical thinking and planning. When using templates in programs such as PowerPoint, it is so easy to fix mistakes, move around the slideshow to your desire, and have it always work as soon as you press the present button. As you can see with my beautiful sketch note, it is very hard to get it perfect and the imperfections are rather noticeable (I will not point them out to you, but feel free to give me some feedback on the other things), but this is what comes with hand drawings and using pencils and markers. This is where the pass/fail aspect of Hinck’s article comes in as students are more or less afraid to make these mistakes and ending up with an imperfect project. We have become so accustomed to everything working on the first try and following the guidelines to only care about the grade we get on our work that we are no longer learning from fixing our mistakes and increasing our skills off what we got wrong. I hope that I will be able to take these experiences with me into my future classroom and start giving my students a chance to portray their own ways of being creative.

Oct 01 2019
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Are There Ghosts in Your Classroom?

Hi everyone! For my Multi Media Assignment I chose to do a SketchNote.

My SketchNote Design

To be perfectly honest I had a difficult time starting this project as I did not know which format to use. It felt almost redundant to use a “cookie cutter” media form Ashley Hinck referred to in her article, like Canva or Wix. But I also did not have a lot of faith that my artistic abilities would be able to get the job done. I finally went against my judgement and decided upon a sketch note because that seemed like the best fit for the assignment.

I started off by doing some doodling while I read the article to help map out what I was going to create later. Hinck starts by referencing media formats, so I first drew their logos. The left side of the page I dedicated to the formats that bar students from creative input. I also added quotes directly from the article that I thought would be beneficial in further getting my point across.

I used Banish the Ghosts! as the divider between the two areas of the paper. The right side of the page was when I got to use my own creativity. I actually found it very relaxing to read the article and draw what came to mind. I started off with the basics, (I took inspiration from the SpongeBob GIF when I created the “Imagination” drawing). I then tried my hand at drawing a brain which inevitably did not go over as well as I wanted to. Persevering on added the finishing touches to the right side with a think bubble as well as a science test tube. I was actually quite happy with how it ended up turning out. I have not picked up a coloured pencil probably since grade nine art class, so it was a great way to spend the evening. 

I really appreciated what Ashley Hinck had to say in her article. I think in today’s society kids are more prone to the “cookie cutter” templates because that is what is seen as the correct way of doing things. With technology ever evolving, sites like Canva, PowerPoint, and Prezi have taken over presentations. Students will not benefit from the “drag and drop” way of doing things, they need more space to extend their imagination to its fullest potential. 

Oct 01 2019
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GHOSTS: They’re real and are HAUNTING the classrooms!

Sketchnote by: Troy Biskey

For this assignment, I read Ashley Hinck’s article Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom http://hybridpedagogy.org/digital-ghosts-modern-classroom/. I found this article to be informative and intriguing, and she brought up some very interesting points about these “ghosts” that I never considered before. Coming into the classroom, students have a lack of knowledge when it comes to digital making because these students have been influenced by shortcuts and templates for many years of their schooling careers. These templates eliminate the need for creative expression and these students find some difficulty when it comes to using more complicated steps in creation.  

Closeup of Troy Biskey’s sketchnote

I agree with Ashley in that these shortcuts and templates that are given to students throughout the K-12 career (and sometimes past that) limit the ability to be creative and to “think outside the box”. I never considered that these templates and shortcuts almost train students in a way to rely on “drag-drop methods” and when it comes time to learn properly they become lost. I know from my personal experience I would use shortcuts all the time because they’re easier to use instead of making constant mistakes with the possibility of a non-working final product. I remember coming into university and using programs such as Final Cut Pro and Audacity that required a higher level of skill to use… and I was lacking those skills. I found it frustrating to use because I wanted an easy way to get a final working product, but now I can confidently say that I appreciate learning those skills as they will help me in the future and my teaching career ahead.

Illustration of a teacher banishing these “ghosts” who haunt the classroom

Although I do believe that shortcuts and templates are a large impact on creative student learning and experimentation, I also would consider that they do have their place in the classroom at times and can be a benefit. Ashley Hinck stated that students are held back by these shortcuts/templates, and that they can cause students to be weary or apprehensive about taking risks. These “ghosts” in a way diminish confidence in the students because making mistakes can be discouraging and I would agree with that, however, I believe that students have almost been trained to be scared because these “ghosts” haven’t been used to their most effective advantage. I would say that shortcuts/templates/multiple choice tests/fill in the blanks/etc… are used sometimes too often in the classroom which results in students relying on them for a “safety net” seeing as it’s easier to fall back on this net rather than go through a series of trial and error. I believe that limiting the use of these “ghosts” and integrating more trial and error learning would be more of a benefit in student’s learning, thus providing them a concrete foundation of more experiment based learning.  

Illustration of Troy Biskey’s sketchnote

Reading this article was informative and intruiging as I have stated before and I did agree with most of what Ashley Hinck said, although I would say that one of the hardest parts of the assignment would be creating an artifact in a creative way. This was the first sketchnote that I have ever made, I enjoyed making it but it was challenging. There was a lot of information given in this article and I found it a little difficult to orchestrate through mostly imagery but I wound up using some text in my sketchnote, perhaps a bit too much! If I were to try this again I would get rid of most of the text/sidenotes and would incorporate more dynamic imagery. I was also a little intimidated to try and take on the online infograph because I am horrible at using technology… but maybe next time I’ll step out of that comfort zone and give it a shot!

Oct 01 2019
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A New View on Education!

I listened to Chris Friend’s Podcast with Amy Collier on Questioning Learning.

Listening to this podcast was a real eye opener for me. It forced me to develop a new view on education and the resources put out there for teachers and students. It made me realize that it’s okay to not always agree with other methods of teaching and it’s okay to ask questions; in fact, you should! I was able to get some insight on why canned courses are often seen in a negative way, that there are no set steps to good pedagogy, and that understanding is not measurable. To me, this was an incredibly insightful podcast and I will definitely take some of the lessons I highlighted above into the classroom one day with me. 

This is the main component of my sketch note. It represents how Amy Collier spoke about not taking best practices at face value. The rest of the podcast is based off the idea that we have to question these practices and think critically. I wrote the words “critical pedagogy” above this drawing because I wanted to show that there is a correlation between the two. By practicing critical pedagogy, we end up asking the questions that refrain us from using best practices just because that’s what they’re labelled as. 

In the podcast, Chris asks Amy to elaborate on why she uses the words risk, discomfort, unpredictability, and uncertainty; words that seem to have negative connotations. I chose to include all four of these words in my sketch note with the greatest emphasis on risk. Amy states that although these words might sound scary, they are truly the ultimate goal as they create fire and excitement in the classroom. 

Another part of the podcast I wanted to emphasize through my sketch note was Amy’s desire to question learning. She says to ask yourself why we use the methods we do and to be comfortable asking these types of questions.

I would recommend this podcast to new teachers trying to gain insight on the methods of good pedagogy. I would recommend this podcast to old teachers that are just a bit too comfortable using the same lesson plans they made 10 years ago. I would recommend this podcast to really anyone in the education community that is looking to learn more and think more critically about the methods of teaching.

Oct 01 2019
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“Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom”: An Unexpected Horror

Enthralled by Ashley Hinck’s article “Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom”, all about the institutional barriers set against students’ intuition and agency that only increased with our technological development, I set about writing my first multimedia reflection and blog post in reflection to that. To break up the monotony of text, I also opted to include an infographic. Lacking the hands-on artistic vision of my more creative colleagues, an infographic, when supported by the right software provider, can be easy to create and present information effectively, coupling them with just the right visuals, images, colours, and more to pass on a lesson in one of the best ways possible. I chose to work with Canva. 

Hinck focuses on the fact that the education system is ushering in a series of “template sites or services”, where student usage of technology is becoming analogous to worker bees: press this button now, mirror each other’s actions, find the same answer (essentially the “drag and drop” concept Hinck repeatedly draws attention to). While there is certainly something to be said for efficiency and streamlining, it is coming at a cost of individuality and expressive freedom, with students now feeling like they can’t or shouldn’t step beyond the set paths. 

Courtesy of Canva.

As the students of today and tomorrow continue to be steered away from the trial and error system, we collectively seem to forget one of life’s best lessons: you learn from your mistakes. With our education systems using technology and digital software to the extent that it is, a pattern set to climb with every passing year, it’s simultaneously making erroneous moves a taboo thing. It doesn’t help that the software we use or the tech pieces everyone has access to have increasingly sophisticated tutorials, how-tos, and walkthroughs directing us on how to operate what we’re using, all to the point where it’s expected for anyone under the age of twenty to have the technical mastery of a graduated IT worker. From a generational theory perspective, these kinds of expectations have become burdening pressures: if you’re a young person, you should know how to use this stuff, and if you don’t know, then you must be some sort of social pariah. 

In the English language, there are several different words for “hello”, but there are millions of ways to greet someone with a hello. Instead of limiting the pool of correct answers on how to use and what to do with our software and technology to the one-word “heys” and “his”, we should be much more open to accepting different styles and answers, whether it be another way to phrase it, like “good morning” or “how’s it going”, or another way to do it, like the handshake or high-five.  We need to let students come up with different ways to do the same thing, and not throttle the correct answers to a predetermined answer-key. While these concepts can be applied across the teaching spectrum, it is especially important to apply it to classroom uses of technology. Everyone should be on the same page, and no one should be left behind. With choice comes creativity, and limiting the former completely snuffs out the latter.

Oct 01 2019
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Creating a generation of Thinkers and Tinkers.

For my digital artifact I decided to make a Twitter essay, inspired by the main themes in Ashley Hinck’s article “Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom”.  In her article, Hinck says that “…all [her students] know of digital making are the template/shortcut platforms that have enabled them to participate in digital culture up until this point.” (Hinck) She continues to explain how these platforms not only effect how her students see technology, but school as well. They have become programmed to follow a set of tasks or steps that will inevitably bring them to the right answer.  

The problem with this mentality, Hinck continues is that it can “ limit openness and creativity.” (Hinck) She then gives the readers some solutions for breaking away from these rigid parameters and encourage their students to use loose technological platforms such as Scratch or Raspberry Pi to encourage them to explore a more CREATIVE PROCESS.  

This exploration of creativity through technology is the theme I focused on in my Twitter essay.  I wanted to explore the idea of using technology as a form of expression rather than a place to drag and drop ideas into a template that’s already been used by thousands of people.  Through this exploration, I decided to take Hinck’s advice, and I explored the loose technological platform called Scratch. 

A couple hours later, and with the help of the Scratch tutorials, I came up with this animation of my name.

Turns out Scratch has endless possibilities, I could have tinkered and explored with that program for hours.  Another great aspect I enjoyed about Scratch, was once our animation is uploaded there is an option for explaining my work in the “Notes”, and a “Comment” section for my peers or other Scratch users to give feedback.  What a great tool for exploring reflection in the classroom. Every student could have their own accounts, watch their final products and give feedback to their peers. 

In conclusion, Hinck’s article has sparked a desire in me to continue to explore other technological platforms, and to find more creative platforms for expressing my ideas and those of my future students.  Moving forward, if students are encouraged to use technology to their artistic advantages, I think we are looking at a very dynamic and promising future of students who are with thinkers and tinkers.

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Oct 01 2019
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Digital GhostBusting: The Future of Education

I read the article, “Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom”, written by Ashley Hinck. The article delves into how, in today’s classroom, with modern digital technology the different programs, applications, and software we have available to our students have the potential to actually limit student creativity. The article really changed my perspective on how technology shapes the minds of our students. It is pretty clear that our modern technology has opened numerous doors to prosper the learning of students. However, Hinck makes an interesting argument that the structure of simplicity that comes with using much of these digital technologies creates a certain mindset in students, that there is either a correct or incorrect method of approaching a task. The technologies are great, the implications on the mindset of students, not so great. This article has really opened my eyes as an educator to shy away from using step-by-step approaches in both my own teaching, as well as in student evaluations. Students should be encouraged to ride their own wave and think outside of the box when completing school-related tasks. Hopefully, this mindset will translate into their everyday lives as they grow into life-long learners!

Ride your own wave with your creative abilities.


Personally, my experience with using digital technology in the classroom has definitely been haunted by the “ghosts” which Hinck discusses. I can recall working through various assignments throughout both high school and university where I felt that there was only one correct way to complete a task. At times I struggled to figure out what was supposed to be done. In retrospect, some of these assignments were more about completing the task in a unique, creative fashion than completing it correctly. As a future educator, I think it is important to understand and implement ways to abolish these digital ghosts. As future educators, we are digital ghostbusters. Working with modern technology is not about discovering new means of allowing creativity to flow, instead, it is about using the technologies we do have to their fullest potential and flourishing creativity in that sense. In closing, while completing the current assignment I definitely felt some of the pressure of trying to do things “the right way”. I felt there was a strict process I should be following in order to complete the assignment. However, after contemplating the contents of the article, I realized that I was facing the exact digital ghosts that Hinck discussed. The assignment was designed for us to discover a new technology, tinker around with using it, and then find a creative way to portray our ideas about the article. With that said, here’s my twitter essay about the digital ghosts we face in the modern classroom. https://twitter.com/MrDiCarloTeach/status/1178853959831830528?s=20

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Oct 01 2019
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Think Outside of the Box! Inspire Students with a New Way of Learning!

Hello everyone!

I decided to do my first multimedia reflection with Friend & Collier’s Podcast ‘Questioning Learning’.

Questioning Learning

I really related to this podcast because, as a student, I always wanted to be creative when completing and presenting assignments. I love to perform and I would jump at the opportunities where I could ‘bend the rules’ and do something I was so passionate about by incorporating skits, songs, and dances into my presentations. Unfortunately, these opportunities were few and far between in my elementary school. There was little ‘wiggle room’ when it came to math and science, as some of my teachers thought there were specific learning outcomes that could only be learned one way.

As an artist, when you are limited by rigid structures and aren’t allowed to take risks, you feel as though you aren’t able to share who you truly are.
https://pixabay.com/illustrations/awakening-emergence-transcendence-675330/

In high school, I was encouraged to be creative in my arts courses (music & dance) but I found that there were still many limits and rigid rubrics/goals that were in place, preventing me from ‘doing my own thing’. I am so passionate about the performing arts and being creative, as I think everyone has a voice and a story to tell. This podcast allowed me to reflect on my learning process and I have realized that I learn best when I am able to create. My digital artifact is a parody rap of sorts and I find that creating a song or dance or scene helps me learn because I had to organize the information, as well as be artistic. I not only chose what I thought was important, but I had to think about using different words to rhyme, follow a beat, etc. I had fun doing this assignment because I got to use my musical knowledge in a way that I am not super comfortable with yet. I was challenged in both a new concept and in my own field, so I was able to grow as a learner and artist.

As a teacher, I hope to create a nurturing and creative environment, where students can feel comfortable taking risks and expressing themselves. This podcast talks about how classrooms are so diverse and each student is passionate about different things. Our interests and experiences make us who we are so I want my students to be confident in embracing themselves and give them the chance to learn in a way that is exciting and engaging. Questioning and reflecting on my teaching methods will be an ongoing process because I want to continue being creative as a teacher and guide my students in their own personal journeys as they prepare for life in this wild world!

We need to encourage our students to be themselves because they are all awesome and uniqueness is what makes someone great!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/fugitivesavant/16450954528

Oct 01 2019
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Is Technology Stunting Students Creativity?

For our first multimedia assignment I chose to read the article Digital Ghosts in the Classroom by Ashley Hinck. In this article Hinck highlights the fact that templates and digital shortcuts are constantly being used in the classroom (by both students and teachers). I found this article interesting because I never really thought about the strict guidelines in most digital platforms and how limiting they are to creativity. One of the main points she highlighted in this article that really resonated with me was the fact that students are so scared of doing something wrong. This is an ideology that is built into all students brains early on in education, the idea that you either “got it” or “got it wrong”. If I’m being honest, I’m also a victim of this ideology having a fear of failure in the trial and error process and shying away from experimenting with new ideas. Hinck claims the school system is set up to have students shy away from trying new things because of a fear of failure. This shuns students away from taking risks, stunting their creativity and original thoughts leading to a generation of students with a thought process more in tune with robots than humans. This article helped open my eyes on the importance of avoiding limiting digital platforms and learning how to work in more experimental, trial-and-error spaces.

Like most things so far in teachers college, this assignment made me step out of my comfort zone. I decided to create a sketchnote even though I don’t have the most pristine artistic skills, but I believe that this skethnote helped me think more creatively. Looking at a blank canvas is a terrifying endeavour at first, but all this freedom sparked many ideas which then allowed me to follow the creative process to wherever it was going to lead me. I experienced firsthand how limiting digital platforms can be while I was creating my sketch note for this assignment. While formatting the word “creativity” in PowerPoint I found that many of the ideas for how I wanted to design this word were not possible on PowerPoint. Having premade templates is nice when you are trying to make a quick PowerPoint but when you are attempting to implement creative ideas the premade template becomes extremely frustrating.

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