Author: Brittany Silzer (Page 2 of 2)

When I think back to my initial cyber safety education, it was heavily focused on “scare tactics“. My parents and teachers emphasized the importance of not sharing any information about yourself with strangers online. They insisted that even a single slip in revealing personal details could put your life in danger. This approach was somewhat alarming, but it seemed to come from their attempt to navigate through the then-unfamiliar territory of the internet and to ensure our “safety” as best as they could.

From personal experience, I do not think that scare tactics are an effective way of teaching cyber safety. I believe it is more important to teach responsible online behaviour.  We need to educate students on how to be good digital citizens. Scare tactics can intensify fear and cause panic. Perhaps they were too heavily imposed on me in my youth, as I now harbor a reluctance to post anything online as an adult. I choose to maintain a very private life, which may be somewhat tied to the fear of being known. It may seem irrational, yet it comforts me to know that I don’t share my entire life online for others to observe and track. For me, the scare tactics have led to a little bit of anxiety regarding online activity.

While searching for resources on how to teach cyber safety in the classroom, I came across this video, Teaching Students Internet Saftey (posted below). As I watched it, I asked myself, “Is an informational video more beneficial than one that uses scare tactics?”The answer is yes, an informational video is more beneficial to use as a teaching tool. If I were to use a scare tactic video it would create feelings of fear, anxiety, and worry from learning about potential cosequences of one wrong move. Thus, making a scare tactic video less effective as it does not teach how to be proactive. The Teaching Students Internet Saftey video, left me feeling more informed and knowledagble about what to look for and how to respond in certain cyber situations making it a better approach to use when educating students on cyber saftey.

I would like to hear your opinion, do you think scare tactics are beneficial?

When I think back to my experience with technology in school, the resources available were the computers in the computer lab. It was always an exciting day when we got to go to computer class! On these computers, we learned how to type with a program called, “All The Right Type“.  Is learning to type still taught in school I wonder? We also engaged in a game known as Treasure Mountain (see video below), which presented word problems as challenges. The game incorporated various word problems, including mathematical operations like addition and subtraction, as well as questions on nature, planets, rhymes, comparing, and sequencing. Each time we used these, we were required to load the game from a CD-ROM into the computer to play.

Fast forward to todays technology and many classrooms have easy access to technology in their classes such as IPads, Chromebooks, etc., These types of technology no longer require you to insert a disc as they have “apps” and programs readily availble on them to use. Teachers today utilize more technology to conduct their classes. Reflecting on the current technological integration in classrooms, I realize there is much for me to learn about SMART boards and the various interactive educational platforms in use, such as Kahoot, Flipgrid, Google Classroom, and others.

The video “An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube” by Michael Wesch,  highlighted how the web connected people in unexpected ways through blogs, videos, and tagging. At first, this was an incredible development. However, observing today’s classrooms, it seems that our face-to-face social connections have slightly faded due to the overuse of technology. Students are often observed engaging with their technology devices during recess or break times instead of interacting and conversing with their peers. Thus, we are more connected digitally, and there is a decline in our want or ability to communicate without technological means. The constant availability of technology seems to have created a digital dependency.

Lastly, there’s the shift towards adopting AI tools. Conversations with teachers reveal they find these tools useful for creating lesson and unit plans, and some even use them for reporting comments. Yet, there’s a differing opinion on allowing students to use AI tools for their assignments. It will be interesting to observe how this evolves and whether AI tools will eventually be permitted for all student use in classrooms.

What is CapCut you may be asking? CapCut is a free video editing tool and can be used on many platforms such as iOS, Android, Windows, etc. You may have noticed that CapCut is widely used for TikTok videos.

To start exploring this tool, I first needed to download the free CapCut app onto my phone. Once in the app, you can select premade templates that have music embedded in them.  You will want to select a category at the top of the page that way the app knows what type of templates it should provide you with. Shown below is a screenshot of the various categories to choose from. For this blog post, I will be looking into how we can create videos that are TikTok quality.

I had an idea in my mind that I wanted to create a video of my dogs. So within the template categories, there is a search bar. I typed “dogs” in the search bar and a bunch of templates came up. I selected the one shown below by selecting the blue button on the bottom of the template that says “Use Template”.

As soon as I selected this template, the app asked for access to my photos on my phone. You have to allow the app access in order to proceed. Once the app had access, the template prompted me to start selecting photos. As you can see on the photo below, it already had the timing of the photos set up, I just had to  simply click which photos I wanted in the video template. At the bottom of this screenshot you will see the words media, audio, and text. After selecting the photos for the media, you are given the option to add or change the current text within the template. You can also select the audio section and change or edit the default audio that came with the template and replace it with other suggestions that are built into the app. For my video creation, I chose to change out the audio within the template to a more suiting audio track for the video.

Once this step was complete, I hit the export button on the top of the screen. This took me to another screen that asked where I would like to export my video to and gave me a few options. The picture below shows the options that are available to choose from. Since I am not an active member on social media, I had no where to officially post the video so I just saved it to my camera roll which was a neat option too.

In order to share the final product, I uploaded the CapCut video that I had created into YouTube. You can view the video below. This app was very user friendly. It was way easier than I thought it was going to be and now I am left with a feeling of wanting to create more!

My explorations with CapCut were fairly simple as I didnt stray to far from the premade templates. Perhaps that is something I can explore in later posts.

I could see students using this program to create videos of projects or perhaps a visual journal. This app could have students exploring and expressing themselves through digital creativity in a stress free way with all of the built in templates. Teachers could also use this app to highlight student learning, create lesson “hooks”, and create informational videos for lessons.  Different levels of SAMR could be achieved by using this tool, Substitution- Create an educational video for students to watch as a “hook” to a lesson,                        Augmentation- Students can begin their own research and collect photos. These photos can then be used to upload into CapCut. Student will explore using CapCut and its features by looking at the premade templates,          Modification- Students create videos with audio, visual, and text that showcase their learning , and        Redefinition-  Students create a video that captures their overall learning  and then they can collaborate with others and share/publish their work online. Students can then give peer feedback to one another.

When it comes to technology, I spend more time on my phone than I would like to admit.  It is always shocking to receive the weekly screen time report that tells you how much of your time has been used up on technology.

I mostly use my phone for social interaction, Facebook, and quick access to the internet/Google. I find that texts and notifications on my phone are my biggest distraction. After looking at a text and replying, I find myself scrolling Facebook reels while I wait for the person to reply. Long after the conversation is over, I find myself still scrolling and before I know it, I have lost 10-20 minutes of my life that I will never get back.

When doing schoolwork on my computer, I find I can easily get off task if my phone is nearby. One thing that I find helps me stay on task is setting a timer on my phone using the iPhone Clock App.

Here are step-by-step instructions on How to Set a Timer on The iPhone Clock App. When doing schoolwork, I will set a timer for 30 minutes and work for that full 30 minutes. If a text comes in during that 30 minutes or a notification, I will ignore it and open it when my timer goes off. Setting a timer, helps me stay focused and increases my productivity as well since I try and finish my assignment before the timer goes off. I usually take a quick break at 30 minutes and then start another timer to continue my work. Here is an article explaining the benefits of setting a timer for your daily tasks, 6 Ways in Which Setting a Timer Can Boost Your Productivity  

What are some ways that help you stay on task?

Hello, my name is Brittany Silzer and I am currently in my third year of elementary education. Before attending University, I worked for the YMCA of Moose Jaw Childcare Centres. During my time working for the YMCA, I took part-time classes at Saskpolytech and achieved my Diploma with distinctions in Early Childhood Education. After 11 wonderful years of employment, I decided it was time to go back to school and I enrolled in the Early Elementary Bachelor of Education program. I currently still live in Moose Jaw with my spouse, three kids, two dogs, and a cat. Below is a picture of my two dogs that my family and I named after flowers, Lily and Poppy.

My Experience with Educational Technology

When I was in school, our form of educational technology was having a movie day with a giant box television that was on a roller cart. I have posted a picture below of what this looks like in case you went to school with more advanced technology options.

We also had a computer class with big chunky computer screens. I may have just aged myself, but I feel that by sharing this, you can understand that I did not grow up with much technology and so most of these programs that are used in classrooms today are very foreign to me. I am taking this class to learn more about educational technologies as I feel this is an area of consistent growth as technology continues to take over and expand.

My Thoughts on Blogging

When it comes to blogging, I have no clue what I am doing. I have never written a blog before, and I feel nervous about sharing my thoughts and experiences openly. However, I am looking forward to becoming more comfortable as I navigate and learn all about blogging.