For this blog, I am required to speak about how I use technology in my day to day life. I realized that technology UNFORTUNATELY takes up most of my day. I tend to have alot of free time nowadays due to less course load this semester. As a result, my desire to go on social media takes over. I spend alot of my time on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. I would say that I spent 0% of productive time on TikTok. What I mean my productive time is time allocated to academic pursuits or financial pursuits. All my time on TikTok goes to leisure and mindless scrolling. Furthermore, Instagram is a source I mostly spend on leisure however perhaps 20% of my time goes into productivity. Sometimes I would follow pages which would help me academically such as essay writing techniques and/or math equations. Instagram reels play an important role in this regard.  When it comes to YouTube, I would say that I spend the least amount of time on YouTube. The interesting fact is that I spend 80% of my time on YouTube in productivity. I would watch “how to” videos when dealing with academic concepts. I would watch financial advice videos to help me become more of a responsible adult. Essentially, all of these apps cause me to mostly spend in leisure time rather than productivity.

In terms of websites, I would have to say that Google is the website I use on a regular basis. I use google 100% for productivity. I can not even recall of a time where I used google for leisure. That being said, there are many apps linked to google which enables me to be organized and productive. I utilized Gmail as my main source of email communication and Google calendar to plan events/coursework. I find that using Google calendar is a great way to manage my time as it keeps on giving me reminders. As a forgetful person, this is crucial for me as it keeps popping up on my phone notifications.

As mentioned earlier, TikTok and Instagram are apps that I use the most and tend to take away my productivity. There aren’t many strategies I have been able to produce as I lack alot of self-discipline and self control. It is even possible that I have a phone addiction and so I am really hurting in this regard. In the rarity, when I do get some inspiration to  refrain from social media, I try to get more hobbies in my life. Currently, I am focusing on exercising regularly. Time spend exercising means less time on social media.

Finally, the way where I am most able to strike a balance from productive screen time and unproductive screen time is through the use of a laptop. When I use my phone, I loose control and waste time. When I use my laptop, it is always used for productive pursuits. Hence, the tools for using technology serves best for me in this regard.

Hello,

My name is Hanzalah and I am from Toronto. I was born and raised in Toronto in a small Borough known as York, Toronto. I am currently in my final Year of the BEd Middle Years program. Teaching has always been my passion and a sense of purpose throughout my life. During my high school years, I found myself serving as an educational assistant for cooperative education credits. I worked alongside teachers to support deaf and hard of hearing students by engaging in playful learning to meet curricular outcomes. After this experience, I began my university journey and occupied myself in coursework to fulfill my BEd degree. In January 2024, I was given the opportunity to take part in the teaching internship (Co-op) as part of my BEd degree requirements. In this instance, I got my first taste of what it is like to be a teacher. I developed lesson plans, utilized various instructional strategies and forms of student assessment. Classroom management played an integral role in ensuring structure in my classroom. In summer 2024 I landed a substitute teaching position for a summer camp program where I was able to further amplify my teaching skills. 

As far as my experience with educational technology goes, it is in the beginning stages. I think I have never found myself working in educational technology and I believe this is the first time I am taking a course relating to this.

Blogging is something I have never done in my life as well and this will be the first time I will be regularly blogging. As a result, I will most likely be a shy blogger and hesitant in sharing. I look forward to this course as it will really open up a lot of things about me and my identity.

(Masjid-El-Noor, where I worked as a substitute teacher)