Category: EC&I 831 – Networked Learning

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?

In Everything is a Remix, Kirby Ferguson did an excellent job demonstrating how different information is reused from previous knowledge. Showcasing the products drove his points in a digestible way.

If an artist is said to be “influenced” by another artist, what does this mean? Something about the 2 pieces makes them comparable; they share similar elements. After watching Ferguson’s documentary, it is easy to understand how one’s lived experience goes into the products of their creativity. Understanding this on a superficial level is easy, but understanding how this is using previous art and incorporating it into one’s own, or Remixing, takes its a step further and may be harder to accept, either protecting one’s creativity as the original creator or the “re-mixer”.

Can we accept that there are no new ideas? I would like to believe that Ferguson is brushing everyone with the same paintbrush. His statements are broad and make a point, however, the romantic in me would like to believe that some creators, despite shared experiences with millions of people, can create something original.

How does remixing apply to education?

Educators are deeply creative. Their art form isn’t something physical, like music or poetry, but rather it is experienced through the learning journey they create for their students

Continue reading “Curate 2 ReCreate”

note: Title generated by AI

How educators can, or should, approach the issue of social media (and the dangers/concerns associate with it) in the classroom?

While our learning projects are highlighting a positive side to social media, online connections and the internet, the recommended videos for this week each underscore the dark side of social media

The suggested videos covered the topics of TikTok’s influence on our youth, how social media is designed to get us addicted, sextortion – in particular Amanda Todd’s story, and content marketing.  I watched each video and reflected on the question: what do they have in common? One word popped into my mind right away, manipulation.

Social Media Apps

In The Social Dilemma we heard the adage “If you are not paying for the product – you are the product”.  Jaron Lanier zoomed in and described how he believes this to be true. What he believes is “it’s the gradual, slight, imperceptible, change in your own behaviour and perception that is the product.”

Mirriam-Webster defines manipulate as “to control or play upon by artful, unfair, or insidious means especially to one’s own advantage”.

What Jaron Lanier described is manipulation.

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“it’s the gradual, slight, imperceptible, change in your own behaviour and perception that is the product.”

Jaron Lanier, The Social Dilemma

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These social media apps are designed to keep us scrolling and modify our behaviour through manipulation. A stunning example is Lauren from the Four Corners expose TikTok: Eating disorders, racism, censorship and distorted realities. She actually relapsed back to her eating disorder due to the targeted content she was being fed on TikTok.

This brings me back to The Social Dilemma where Tristan Harris, former design ethicist at Google, asked a great question:

“Is this normal or have we all fallen under some kind of spell?”

Sextortion and cyber bullying

• TELUS | Dark Cloud: the high cost of cyberbullying
• Sextortion of Amanda Todd
• Stalking Amanda Todd: The Man in the Shadows

The tragic case of Amanda Todd brings to light the realities of online grooming and manipulation of children. The predators are able to make their victims engage in behaviours that they wouldn’t otherwise, which results in private images captured. Once these images are released over the internet via social media, the victim is vulnerable to blackmail and cyber bullying. Amanda Todd’s mom has worked hard to educate others on these dangers and raise awareness about the risks. Her efforts also helped capture Amanda’s predator.

Public Safety Canada’s Online Child and sexual exploitation website has this video to raise awareness. It is OK; I think they could do better. It seems to say all the right things, however the tone is too casual to emphasize its import.

Content Marketing

The external influence and manipulation tactics that we are bombarded with everyday are not exclusive to social media apps. The Story of Content: Rise of the New Marketing  highlights the fascinating shift in marketing strategies due to popularity of content creation. It shows that traditional marketing approaches are no longer providing the best returns. Instead, it is the creation and its dissemination of engaging content that pulls in the people and thus the profits. Marketing has long applied the psychology of human behavior to its methods. Content marketing however seems more insidious as it is able to build long-term relationships with its customers establishing a sense of trust through manipulation.

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My 12 year old asked me the other day – Everyone keeps telling me that the internet is getting my data. What is that data? What are they doing with it?

I thought it was a great question, and I actually had a difficult time answering it beyond some vague response about big data and predicting people behaviours. OK, so what?

After rewatching it this past week, I think my new simple answer would be that these apps are able to learn the patterns, likes and values of people based on who they are and where they live. If they want to they can control what information people are given on their feeds. The big realization now is that “we can now affect real world behaviour and emotions”.

This is a scary thought! What about our autonomy and right to self-determination? The truth is that we think we are autonomous beings, but we are vulnerable to manipulation and suggestion. Social media capitalizes on this to modify our emotions, beliefs and values, and for what? Profit. So the rich get richer. As The Social Dilemma pointed out this is an existential problem.

I hang onto this quote from Tristan Harris:

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“It’s not about the technology being the existential threat. It’s the technology’s ability to bring out the worst in society. And the worst in society being the existential threat.”

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This is poignant as it hints to the fact that we can take control.

This is the bottom line to the answer to the question “Can we or should we approach the issue of social media in the classroom?”. Yes, we can and we should. We have to.

If we educate ourselves and the next generations about how to protect ourselves from manipulation and be less vulnerable users of these apps, then we remove the power of manipulation from social media. Many of these concepts are in the SK school curriculum. Pulling a few from the SK documents:

• • • Digital reputation
    • how to combat the spread of negative postings
    • legal and social impacts of sexting
    • potential mental health problems with technology

These are a great start. And the Digital Citizenship Education in Saskatchewan Schools planning guide is an excellent companion to the curriculum. I wonder though, is it enough? How are we teaching the kids to be aware of the intentional targeted manipulation? We must connect certain protective skills, not just concepts, to our technology to reduce the childrens’ risk of falling victim to manipulation. I have no doubt that all teachers want to foster critical thinking. But it must be taught in these specific waters that are very difficult to tread to help students become more discerning, critical users of these platforms.

The children must acknowledge and believe in their own autonomy and encouraged to exercise their right to self determination.

How do we do this in the era of the cell phone “banned wagon”?

Participatory culture influences our understanding of pedagogy in education resulting in a transformational change of how we understand what information and knowledge is as well as the theory and practice of teaching. Instruction methods have shifted away from the teacher centred traditional approach, involving lectures, textbooks, and memorization. Students were tested on the material, and move on to the next topic. Traditional assessment tools fail to capture critical thinking and creativity.

Within participatory culture, this model is no longer relevant; how has participatory culture changed teaching methods that have been used for generations?

Continue reading “Participatory Culture in Education”

My perspective on this debate: The cell phone ban does not affect my professional life; however, I do have children in the K-12 system, so this cell phone ban bandwagon is of interest to me personally.

Cell phone “bannedwagon”.

Cell phone bans in schools are trending at the moment. Seven provinces implemented a cell phone policy in 2024, with Manitoba strengthening its existing policy. Most of the policies have a form of educational purposes as an exception, but from what I am hearing from teachers in these classrooms, this exception is not yet being used. The common rationale from the provinces for the ban is to decrease distraction and increase focus in the classroom. From what I can source, other support for these bans comes from the idea that cell phones in schools affect academic performance, are linked to mental health issues, increase disruptive classroom behaviours, and increase the digital divide. Empirical evidence from cell phone bans in France and the UK points to improved classroom behaviour, academic outcomes, and greater social interaction in schools.

These arguments appear to make sense and the results seem promising. If simply removing the offender from the situation improves all of the above, how easy it is to simply remove it from the equation? Let’s call this Side A.

Continue reading “Cell Phone BannedWagon”