As the semester comes to an end, it is now time to write my final blog post. I can say that I have learned a plethora of information, and have created connections with my peers. To signify the end of the semester, I have created a video of my Summary of Learning (Assignment Three), where I discuss my experiences in the EDTC 300 course and how it helped get a better grasp and understanding of educational technology, tools, and media.
My Script:
Introduction
My name is Shan, and this is my Summary of Learning video.
I will be discussing my experiences in the EDTC 300 course. I was already familiar with the topics discussed in class. So, the information I have absorbed only affirmed the perspectives I initially have about educational technology and how it can help us, both in our classrooms and life in general.
Building a Community
One of the major ideas for this class was building a sense of community, and there were two ways that we used to integrate it into our learning. The first way was through a Discord server.
In this class, we mainly used it for two things. In our server, we had a channel specifically for questions about the course content. For example, I posted a question on how to resize a video that I was planning to embed in one of my blog posts. Minutes after posting that question, other members of the Discord server quickly replied with different ways that I could try to successfully resize the video embedded in my blog post. Unfortunately, I was not successful in my attempt to resize the video, even with the help. Ultimately, it worked out in the end. I just had to change the theme of my blog, and the videos just fit in perfectly.
We also had a resources channel in our server. I feel like this is pretty self-explanatory, so I won’t be talking about this for long. Long story short, this channel is used to post resources for many things. For example, in high school, I learned about YouTube’s audio library where we can download audio, such as sound effects and background music, for free and without being copyrighted. I thought, since we were also making some sort of video or audio for our Summary of Learning, this resource was appropriate enough to share with everybody.
We also used blogging to create a sense of community between the students in the EDTC 300 course. There were different parts in our blogging experience. For our Networked Professional Learning assignment, we were provided one or two prompts every week, and we were to write a blog post that talks about that prompt. On the other hand, for our Learning Project, we were to use a new tech tool every week and discuss it on a blog post. In addition, we were also needed to say how that tech tool did or did not help further our learning for our topic of choice, which, for me, was American Sign Language (ASL). These blogs are all collected into one hub, where we can see our peers’ posts. Every week, we also had to comment on the blogs of three to five different people, which is what helped build that foundation for a sense of community.
Blogging
Blogging was a major part of this class. Out of the many blogs we have completed, my favourite would be the Coding blog post. From the options we were provided with, I found a coding game that is farming themed. In this game, using coding, I helped a robot farmer plant several crops, collect different fruits, and reach the target. This is my favourite blog post to do because it is very engaging. One coding game, from Hour of Code, takes about an hour to do. Along with learning about how coding works and how it is integrated in agriculture, I also had lots of fun playing the game. Like I said, I was very interested and engaged with the contents of the game.
Digital Literacy
One of the things we discussed in our lectures was digital literacy. As technology becomes more prevalent in our daily lives, resources and information will become more easily accessible. With that in mind, we have to remember that not all pieces of information that we watch or read on the internet is factual. There are a lot of people on the internet who purposefully trick people through disinformation and misinformation, which has a high chance of causing harm. Digital literacy comes with responsibility since, as people who are growing up around the internet and the media, people should have the ability to decipher whether the information that we consume is false. By knowing how to fact-check information, we are less susceptible to harmful information that might come our way.
Cyber Vigilantism and Cyber Shaming
In one of my blog posts, I talked about the correlation between cyber vigilantism and cyber shaming. When people post videos, images, or articles on the internet, that content goes into their digital footprint, which are content that will be associated with them forever. That is why I use “Cancel Culture” as one of my examples. With cyber vigilantism, it is important to call out those who have made mistakes, big or not. Cancel culture provides the public that opportunity to call out people who have a platform with their wrongdoings online with the hopes that they will acknowledge it to become a better person. Some victims of cancel culture was due to a tweet they have made ten years ago, so it is important to be aware of what we post online. Cyber shaming only comes into the picture if calling out someone through cyber vigilantism crosses a line to bullying someone. It is vital to be aware of the differences between the two.
Tech Tools in the Classroom
Especially with the rise of AI tools, teachers should utilize the available tech tools that can be found online to make teaching more efficient, and help students learn better. Besides, that is what technology is for. It exists to make everyone’s life easier. Especially with math. Math is not for everyone, so as a future high school math teacher, I plan to make math as engaging as possible. With tech tools, there are many ways to keep students interested in the topic of the day. Better engagement and maintaining interest are great ways for them learn better since, like in my coding blog post, you are having fun while learning. I have also learned that teachers do not just teach their students different subjects. Teachers also have the responsibility of teaching students about having an online presence and how to be safe online.
Overall Thoughts
From digital literacy to AI tools, I have learned a great deal of information from this EDTC 300 course. I was already planning to integrate tech tools in my future classroom, and this class only confirmed that this is the right path to take. Students, in today’s society, are constantly surrounded by technology, so it is only fitting to utilize it in the classroom, as well. Through this course, I have discovered a large list of tech tools that I may use one day. This just shows that new pieces of technology are being made every day, and they are there to make our lives easier. To end the video, I just want to say thank you to everyone for making this a great and calm semester! I wish everybody good luck on their future teaching endeavors!
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