The two questions meant for this blog post are:

Can online social media activism be meaningful and worthwhile?

Is it possible to have productive conversations about social justice online?

I will relieve any sense of anticipation and say Yes. 100% yes to both of those questions.  Is it easy, trouble-free and without barriers? No. But it is possible.

The first thing I want to do is clarify my definition of meaningful and worthwhile. This could mean different things to different people, however, in my view, if it results in net positive change, then it is meaningful and worthwhile. The internet is full of articles, blogs, and opinion pieces,  that address these two questions. (Can the internet ever be full?) Choosing a few to use for this blog post was difficult! However, I did look for common threads and found that most of the ones I viewed had common findings: both of those questions can be answered with a yes, but not without risks and downfalls.

I did enjoy this article from the University of Sussex.  It introduces a term I had not heard before called Citizen Journalism. They define this as “the involvement of citizens in the newsgathering and broadcasting process”  This information is published on personal non-journalist platforms such as blogsites and social media accounts, as well as user generated content hosted by journalists.

This allows information that may otherwise be blocked by gate-keepers to make it to the mainstream population. Live streaming, or sharing video content is a relatively recent addition to citizen journalism and I will never get the video of George Floyd out of my memory or heart. That to me is impactful.

I believe that now people can directly interact with the media has changed journalism, it has changed the way activism is organized, mobilized and publicized.

Bypassing the gatekeepers within the dominant society has allowed marginalized voices to be heard and amplified.  Underrepresented groups can speak directly to a world wide audience, sharing their stories and histories. Information is spread quickly, which can allow for quick organization and mobilization of  social activist groups. Increased representation and empowerment can allow for underrepresented groups to take control of their own narrative.

While positive information can be spread, misinformation and negativity can be spread just as quickly. Discourse can break down leading to increased polarization.

Steps to fostering productive conversations include being open to learning and collaboration as well as educating youth about digital literacy and digital citizenship.

I believe as educators we have a responsibility to model active citizenship online.  Role modelling is crucial when shaping young minds and teaching students about how to be engaged online citizens. As Big Frog mentioned in my summary of learning, we need to help students become healthy digital citizens.

 

Rytr is a generative AI writing tool that promises to streamline content creation. The variety of writing templates is impressive, making it an excellent option for all types of writing needs.

Thes screenshot below shows the list of formatting options

Not sure where to start, and wanting to try an option that I wouldn’t usually use, I chose Business Idea Pitch using my son’s goal of coaching younger goaltenders. In the following screenshots you can see the limited amount of information it asks for with drop down menus, such as: Language, Tone (here I chose Candid), the template or formatting required, how many Variants or options it creates, and the level of Creativity. Levels of Creativity range from none to max. When you choose Max it warns you that the message may contain false information, leading one to believe that “none” would only contain factual information. I chose another alternative, Optimal. Finally there is an open text box , max 2500 characters, to provide the messaging information. The text generated by Rytr is in blue.

“Finding the right goaltending training for young players can be tough, especially when most instructors are far removed from the game. That’s where I come in—I’m a 16-year-old AA goaltender, and I’m passionate about teaching kids aged 13 and under the fundamentals of the position. With relatable coaching and tailored drills, I help young goalies develop their skills while having fun. Let’s elevate their game together!”

I tried one more time changing only the tone to Casual and the Creativity to Max. Again, the generative text is

“Hey there! Got a young goalie aiming for the stars? Our goaltending training program is perfect for players 13 and under, led by a talented AA-level instructor who’s just 16 years old. We keep it fun, affordable, and super convenient by coming to your ice! Plus, we include structured video tutorials and drills that make learning easy and exciting. Let’s help them level up their game!”

I would agree that the tone is casual (Hey there!) with wider creative boundaries (the program is perfect for players….). The response rate was seconds, and that may be exaggerating. Let’s say one second.

The second template I tried was the Brand Name to find one for my son’s business venture. Rytr’s suggestions are included in the Poll below:

Not super great. Perhaps I need to work on the prompt, which was “goaltending lessons for youth led by an experienced goalie named Max. Max is a 16 year old entrepreneur”

I continued to play around with Rytr, and it was actually fun!  (To clarify, it is grad class homework type fun). Super easy to use and quite responsive to changes in prompts.

While experimenting, I was mindful to look at it through the lens of an adult educator and well as K-12 (as much as I can, not being one).  I do think there is a myriad of ways Rydr could be used where students would be required to use their creativity while creating prompts.

Rytr has an intuitive way of storing previous interactions which it calls Documents. It provides a history of previous prompts, as well as a traditional AI Chat space. The tone of the chat is also customizable with the same options as writing space. These spaces are presented in familiar style tabs to make navigating the site very simple.

Rytr has an additional feature called MyVoice to create profile settings to create content that sounds like the writer. More details in the screenshot below.

I do like that it provides more than one response at once, as well as how easy and quick it is to change the tone and creativity level. I could see this leading to assignments that compare and contrast different generated responses.

Rytr could be used to demonstrate the different writing styles that we use in our culture based on the type of messaging, ie blog post vs short story.

As teachers, I can see the variety of templates available can be used not only for creating assignments, but also help with administrative tasks.

This content generator marketed as a writing assistant has the usual challenges as other generative AI platforms, which would be true for any type of learner. These include quality (biases, hallucinations, exaggerations), academic integrity issues as well as over reliance on AI and thus losing writing and critical thinking skills. I didn’t experiment with the MyVoice feature, and if it works well, this could contribute to the academic integrity issue. The last point, over reliance on AI,  seems more likely to happen with this platform as it provides an impressive amount of available formats, or templates. If one uses ChatGPT for the same task, some of this creativity would have to be included in the prompt.

As we have discussed as a class, AI tools like Rytr hold a lot of promise for enhancing education, however, it is important to integrate them thoughtfully. AI can level the playing field by providing personal support for students struggling with writing, which is important to close the learning gaps. It could also be used for challenging high-achieving students to enhance their critical thinking skills. Finding the right balance between using AI and fostering skill development is the key. Students still need to learn how to think, analyze, and write independently. Educators will play a crucial role in teaching students how to use AI responsibly and ethically, making sure it complements rather than replaces their learning experience.  If AI can help lessen the administrative workload on teachers, it could theoretically allow them to focus more on engaging with students, perhaps those that require more guidance. I know some of the teachers here are already using AI for this purpose. Do you think it has increased your time available for individual students?

Open Educational Resources: OER Repositories from University of Arkansas

Title courtesy of the 5 R – Framework

Before I started  I wanted to do some research into what makes an OER high quality. I found an OER called Open Science that caught my full attention right away. The authors believe that “Openness is a central principle in science and research” and their goal is:

“to make multilingual scientific knowledge openly available, accessible and reusable for everyone, to increase scientific collaborations and sharing of information for the benefits of science and society, and to open the processes of scientific knowledge creation, evaluation and communication to societal actors beyond the traditional scientific community”

After our discussions with Katia on Tuesday, I realize the import and relevance of this lofty goal. I am a sharer, I believe the team at our school is much stronger when we share information; reading the FAQ of the whys and hows of Open Science really created a sense of excitement. And this was just the beginning! But what really drew me to this resource is the How to Account for the Quality of OER? page. It listed 5 main criteria for evaluating OER:

• Content. The content of high-quality open educational resources is reliable.
• Learning and teaching methods. High-quality open educational resources enable the use of diverse ways to learn and teach.
• Usability and accessibility. High-quality open educational resources are as easy to use as possible for everyone and in any situation.
• Findability and sharing. High-quality open educational resources are easy to find, and the users know under which terms and conditions they can share them.
• Lifecycle and adaptability. High-quality open educational resources are maintained and updated on a regular basis. In addition, other open resources and co-development practices are used in the production of the materials.

Each criteria had a list of elements that must be present for it to pass. I.e. to be reliable the content had to be evidence based and (what I was looking for specifically) peer reviewed.

OER Evaluation

When we were in our discussion groups on Tuesday, I mentioned that I rarely find any OERs that I can use as my area is so niche. One of the group members asked if I would use it for professional development. It was the perfect question as that had not occurred to me, I have no idea why.  Yes! I certainly would use it for that in my role as an educator and now administrator.
It was with this mindset, I chose OER Commons as the OER repository to explore.

Below is my assessment based on the criteria from Open Science.

Content: It is advertised as High Quality, as seen in this screenshot, below; however, I had to do quite a bit of digging to find any support for that claim. What I finally found was that it does not have a peer-review system. Digging and searching deep into the site, I did come across some “Resource Quality Guidelines” that put the onus on the contributor to make sure the information is up to date and accurate. The site also direct contributors to quality rubric published by Achieve.org as well as a Evaluation Tool from the same publisher. OER Commons also has learning modules available for participants which includes OER Quality Evaluation. While it seems that the site does not act as a gatekeeper, it provides many helpful resources for creating or evaluating OER quality.

Learning and Teaching Methods: I am actually impressed with the content variety available. Content can be searched by material type. I inserted a screenshot as there are too many to mention and it illustrates the variety available. Interactive activities are also included.

A convenient link leads to definitions of each type of activity.

Usability and Accessibility: I took some time to jump into a few resources and they all meet Open Science’s elements in this criteria. Some of those being accessible off-line, Instructions for use, and adapted for the needs of the target group. This assignment is an example of one that I explored. It contains a convenient link to enable to user to share modification and improvements to the assignment.

Findability and Sharing: I believe that the resources also meet the elements to fulfill this criteria. Examples include a description for what kind of use situations they were originally prepared, the resources and their metadata bear the marking of an open access licence, they describe how they can be linked to existing study modules or curricula. This is illustrated in the picture below. The Share icon is circled in red.

Lifecycle and adaptability: As I mentioned above some of the resources have a convenient link that allows the user to modify the resource, others, like this Salmon Life Cycle, has a Remix link that allows you to well, Remix it!

I did not come across any specific messaging around lifecycle timing, however I am confident it will be mentioned somewhere in the quality content I mentioned above.

Overall, I am extremely impressed with this repository. The Home page has a robust and intuitive search function that allows you to search by key word(s), subject, education level, as well as a selection of American educational standards.  If your objective is to make a contribution to the knowledge, a green Add OER tab is easily located at the top of the page. The home page, and subsequent others, is very well designed making navigation easy. It looks professional with a clean modern design. I would definitely recommend this to others. Two thumbs up!!  👍 👍

First Some Rambling Reflections

I ‘ve been reflecting on our last class, specifically the cross referencing “connections” exercise that @Katiahildebrant provided. Thirty minutes goes by very quickly in a group activity which requires quick organization from the team. Unfortunately, as I am not familiar with the SK Curriculum,  I  wasn’t able to bounce around it very quickly and was not a lot of help to my team in that way. But I could take notes quickly! I am somewhat familiar with the MB curriculum. In my parent role I have looked at it a few times. Although I must admit it is usually to see what they are learning in health class. Hopefully the students learn more than what these folks in Florida know!

In my professional role as an educator in a competency based health program, I have a similar document provided by my professional association. Perhaps K-12 education programs are competency based for practical skills during practicums? I would be very interested to find out.  I’d love a response! The CAMRT Competency Profile for Radiation Therapy outlines the skills the students must attain prior to graduation.

The National Competency Profile for Entry-Level Medical Radiation Technologists (MRTs) in Canada describes the practice requirements of MRTs at entry-to-practice, to provide safe, effective, compassionate and ethical patient care in a variety of work environments.

I am also very familiar with cross referencing the competencies to ensure we are providing our students with the best chance for success.

Our school is about the enter the accreditation process and we are preparing for first submission next May. In my new role, it is my responsibility to ensure we are adequately addressing the entire profile. I have also gained a new document, HSO’s Allied Heath Education Program Standard. This is my guide (bible) to creating evidence of the quality of our program, including integration between didactic and clinical components. What we learn in the classroom is not always what we see in the clinic. Again, I can see how this could be parallel to the education programming. Do K-12 educational programs have the same goal?

Which P?

Katia’s approach creates a sense of classroom within the online environment. While andragogy is different to pedagogy, and adult learners have different motivations for learning, this is still quite difficult to achieve.  The Discord community makes a contribution, but it is also a practical addition to the class. It appears that most of the learners in our classwork within shared divisions,

and certainly share the same curriculum. As such, Discord provides the opportunity to create connection and build upon our Professional Learning Network. Even for those learners that don’t have this in common (such as myself) it provides an opportunity to create connections and build upon our Personal Learning Network.

I hope some of us are able to maintain these connections and expand our PLNs, regardless of its context.

How soon should we PLN?  yes, I turned that into a verb

I now believe that creating a PLN early in life will have benefits. My 16 year old son has firmly decided on what he wants to study in university. But really, how does he know? I can see why he is drawn to it, and he seems to have the right qualities. If he was actively building a PLN (without calling it that of course!) he would have access to much more information to make a more informed decision which could impact his course choices in grades 11 and 12. Thoughtful Learning has a great activity around building a PLN that can be done with older students. I believe it would be appropriate for my son. From this site I was linked to a Prezi that provides a how to on creating a PLN.

This activity would also address a theme that has been running through our conversations – how to we teach digital literacy?