Final Networked Learning Post

Contributing to the learning of others was a huge part of this class! I’ve contributed to the learning of my classmates in a few different ways— Discord, commenting, encouragement, feedback… you name it! Below I have attached a few screenshots of my contributions. (I may have missed a few, but I tried to find a pretty solid amount to show.)

As you can see from the screenshots below, some of my comments are longer than others. It was really easy to engage with my classmates and everyone’s work looked incredible! Some days I was very engaged, other days I felt as if I was leaving “generic comments”— positive, short, and sweet. But that’s not always a bad thing! Sometimes all it takes is a little bit of encouragement to brighten up someone’s day. Read More

Learning Project Wrap-up

I swear– every year my spring and summer classes fly by so quickly! This is my last post about my learning project. We made it, folks! As part of EDTC300, I was required to learn a skill using online sources and blog about it each week. I chose to bake something different each week– gathering recipes from online tools and sources (DishGen, Pinterest, Youtube).

I chose this topic because baking is a lifelong skill (that I took up already) and wanted to expand my knowledge– and gradually challenge myself as the weeks went on. Was this project a refreshing change from the usual homework? Most of the time, yes, haha. Some days I was excited to be in the kitchen, other days I absolutely did not want to be cooking for hours. Overall, my learning project was a lot of fun. My learning project may be finished, and yet I’m still browsing for more random recipes to try.

Here’s a little recap of my learning project… Read More

Experimenting with ChatGPT

Generative AI technology has become a huge stressor in the classroom. I hadn’t heard much about AI technology until my high school years. When I was in elementary school, the worst academic fraud that you would hear of would probably be paying someone else to do your homework (don’t get any ideas now). I never had an issue with that sort of thing throughout my academic career due to the fear tactic (and a very big conscience).

We would hear horror stories about students who were caught committing academic fraud (detention, expulsion, mark on your academic record). So I never dared to pull a fast one– a goody-two-shoes through and through, haha.

When I saw that we were going to be discussing AI technology, I knew it was time to rip the band-aid off and dip my toes in the water. Everybody’s been talking about ChatGPT, so I took a look at it. ChatGPT is a virtual chatbox assistant that is focused on language. Read More

Hour of Code

I decided to go with option 2 of the assigned blog posts for this week. In class we discussed coding. Before taking this course, I’m not sure if I’ve had any experience with coding. Also known as scripting or programming, coding is becoming an important skill to have these days. It is simply the method of communicating with a computer— programming languages that give the software instruction to perform a specific function.

A huge amount of the the population are making a living by computer programming on various platforms (iOS and Android, etc).

Outside of the professional world, coding provides children (and/or students) with some very important skills— as well as a way of looking at the world. They can learn problem solving and critical thinking skills, discover future job opportunities, and even broaden their imagination. Read More

Last but not Least… Macarons

As I mentioned in my last learning project post, this week I attempted to make macarons for the first time! I have to say, I knew making these was going to be tedious— but I didn’t realize HOW tedious.

I asked my cousin what she thought might be a good idea for my next blog posts, and she recommended macarons for me. She explained that she had a video for me to watch (one that she used the week before– it worked out well for her). I had very strict instructions: watch the video all the way through at least once before starting, and then follow the steps as you go. I’m glad that I listened and watched it first because chances are– if I didn’t, I would have gotten way too ahead of myself. Read More

More on the Super Silly Cyber Storm —

This last week, we had been talking about things like cyber-vigilantism, cyber-shaming, digital footprints, and the right to have elements of our digital footprint be forgotten— among others.

I would like to make note of the Ted Talk, The price of shame video featuring Monica Lewinsky. She made some very good points throughout the video. Lewinsky opened with a question, asking the audience if anyone in the room had made a mistake when they were young. That’s a pretty open ended question, hey? Everyone who’s been on this planet has made at least one ill-advised decision in their lifetime. Whether that be forgetting to take out the trash, saying something dumb to impress friends, or even dating the wrong person for you. Read More

Caution: FAKE NEWS!!!

Increasing our collective digital literacy appears to be the best way to combat fake news– as well as the dangers that come with it. There are endless variations of ways that one could teach about digital literacy and fake news.

What about the age range in particular that I will be teaching in the future? An example would be to incorporate the goals of the NCTE framework. For those who may not know, my goal is to be teaching secondary students one day. I’m taking summer classes this year to catch up and finish my second year of classes and move onto my third. Specifically, I will be teaching my students English and Drama courses (my major and minor). Read More

Worms, Dirt, and the Pursuit of Stars

This week for my learning project I decided to have a little bit of fun! Amongst my many hours of scrolling Instagram, I came across a video from a recent trend (on Instagram and TikTok). Some may recognize this one– the split birthday cake from the animated TV series, Max and Ruby. It seemed to me that anyone participating in the trend had baked any kind of cake they had liked, so I settled on chocolate because I already had the ingredients in the house. Read More