It seems like just yesterday we were starting our first EDTC class. The semester went by so fast, and I am so thankful I got to be apart of this class. I am sad that it is ending, but guess what… You have not seen the last of me ED Tech! I am so excited to be taking EDTC 400 next semester and I can’t wait to see what it has in store for me!
For my summary of learning I decided to team up with the friends I have made through class. Paige Hamann, Brandon Rumford, and I tried out yet another website that we thought brought our presentation to life! It would also be cool for students when making presentations. You can check it out here! We met through Google meets, and used Audacity and DaVinci Resolve to edit our audio and videos.
Without further adieu, please enjoy our Summary of Learning for EDTC 300!
This week my classmate, Brandon, and I shared our knowledge of ASL. We also agreed for our last post we will include some sample conversations that we would be able to say in ASL. We are in the process of putting together all of our learned signs and making a script of conversations.
Sadly we will not be able to get together due to Covid-19, so we decided that we would zoom call and record our conversations using one of the tools given to us in class. It will be a little bit more of a challenge, but we will try to make the best of it! It has been so fun collaborating with eachother so far. It was cool to see the different approaches we both took to learning ASL.
Although our approaches were similar, we definitely did not learn in the same order!
At the beginning of the semester, we were asked to keep track of your contributions to other’s learning. I was not sure why were asked to do this, but throughout my time in EDTC 300, I came to understand the importance of collaboration and supporting your peers and coworkers.
I wanted to share some of my contributions to the learning of my classmates.
To start off, I want to talk about my twitter. I have been fairly active of twitter, sharing many articles that I found helpful, from teaching resources to study hacks for my fellow university students. I even found some resources for a fellow classmate’s learning project that I thought might be helpful. I also like, retweet and comment on other tweets to either save content other’s have found, and show my support for them.
I also participated in the #saskedchat, where I contributed my ideas and thoughts about the questions asked. I chatted with other teachers and was hopefully able to contribute ideas not only to my classmates but to educators as well.
Next I would like to share my contribution to our slack community. Although our slack community was not super active, I was able to help out classmates when the need arose. 3 instances include helping with using tools from class like CC Search or Feedly, as well as trying my best to answer general questions.
Helping with CC Search
Trying me best to help with a Feedly issue
Answering general questions to the best of my ability
I have also commented on several of my classmates blogs, showing support, sharing advice, and offering collaboration. I had a lot of fun reading my classmates blog posts and seeing their progress throughout the learning projects and EDTC 300. Here are some examples of the comments I have left. One thing I wish I did was take screenshots of my comments because there were ones I remember making at the beginning of the semester that I have to dig through to find them back.
The last show of my contribution would be my behind the scenes contributions. I know a few of my classmates from outside of class. We tend to go to each other for help when we need it. I have helped by sharing videos of how to work WordPress, reminded classmates of blog posts and learning project posts, as well as sharing resources for learning.
I really hope all my contributions helped out my classmates and made them feel supported in all of their work. I also want to thank all of my classmates for jumping at the chance to support me and give me advice. It helps us all grow and learn together which is so important in education.
My hour of code experience was super fun. I have previously had a just a little bit of experience with Java script coding on my own time as well as block coding in high school. I wanted to try another sort of typing coding because I found the block coding less challenging. So, I searched through and found a tutorial that involved a dog, and of course I clicked on it. I really like how it has teacher notes, which makes this perfect for incorporating into lesson plans.
This one had the option to do block coding or using java script. I chose to use java script. I think it so much fun to code like this. I could move Karel and make him drop or grab tennis balls. The only thing that I did not like was that he could only turn left, so turning right meant I had to code 3 lines! In the beginning, It was relatively easy and I went through it quickly, having a little experience beforehand. I really had a lot of fun relearned some java commands.
level 1
level 3
One thing I really liked was it shows where you made a mistake if make one. It also shows you why it was wrong and how to correct it. This is really helpful in learning the coding language as well as how to start problem solving when something does go wrong (as seen below).
Problem solving when there is an error.
At the very end, the last task was to create your own design. I took this as a challenge to make something much more complicated then the previous tasks. I decided to create a paw print outline. I thought how long could it really take me. Trust me it took a while. I changed my mind a few times in between, and tried to make slight adjustments. I then had to go through and problem solve to make sure the rest of my code still worked correctly.
Finally, after over 350 lines of code, I finished my pawprint! Take a look at the code running in the video below.
I had so much fun going through this coding. I think it teaches and makes you practice many important skills, like problem solving, comprehension, creativity, and mathematics. I think students will enjoy programs like this especially because there are programs geared towards having fun while coding. For examples, some of them are like games and you code to finish the game. It makes the learning fun for the students.
Today, fake news fills up so much of the internet. The world is full of it. A lot of people see something and share it, thinking it is true. Many times I have been sent something into a group chat about some sort of news. I remember a time during high school when my friend sent an article that popped up on Instagram. The headline read “Bill Nye Arrested”. This was something that shocked us all and immediately I knew something wasn’t right. So, I fact checked it, and turns out he was never arrested. I hated to burst everyone’s bubble and stop the conversation but I told them it was not true. The point is, everyone at some point will deal with some wort of fake news, and it is becoming more and more common.
But, how do we combat all of this fake news? For one, we need to teach and use digital literacy techniques. Teaching digital literacy means teaching kids to understand what the digital world is, how to navigate it safely, and how to avoid misinformation and fake news.
A good way to introduce this topic would be by playing a game like “Can you spot the fake news headline“. Then, follow up by playing them this Ted Talk about fake news. It theory behind fake news and how it spreads. This can be a general introduction to the idea of fake news and how it connects to understanding our digital world.
Digital literacy is becoming more and more important in the recent years. In today’s world, we are bombarded with information overload. There are so many places were we can find information, so teaching students how to identify trustworthy sources and how to find the true from the false is very important. It is especially important now to sift out fake news during this pandemic. Updates are of huge importance to everyone in the world right now, so there is a need to find good information and not spread fake news.
As I prepare for my final presentation of my learning of sign language I am focusing on tuning the signs I know and fully memorizing them. I have taken up learning a few other signs of random words that I find myself using every day. Words like car, drive, groceries, class, and some names of classes. As well I tried to find some terms related to Covid-19 and the pandemic, such as self-isolating or getting tested. These are all terms that would be useful, especially given the situation we are in. If there is any other terms that are related to everyday or the pandemic that you think I should learn, leave a comment to help me out!
Covid-19 Pandemic signs.
For me, I found that learning through YouTube to be the most beneficial. Tik Tok was also pretty beneficial, but if you miss something you have to play the video over again completely. Which I mean in a sense made you review it a lot. These were the 2 sources in which I used for the past weeks.
Trust me conversing in a new language is much harder than it looks. This week I wanted to test my knowledge and what I have learned. I looked at conversation videos between two people in ASL on YouTube. From there I would see how much I could make out in the conversation. Some of the videos I used had subtitles, but were still helpful in the review process.
This video was one of the first ones I used to review. They go over basic conversation signs and it helped me with the review. I learned these signs near the beginning of my semester so it was really nice to review them.
In addition to review I am working more on the basic conversation aspect of my goal. I want to be able to communicate, and as of right now I am having a lot of trouble with remembering the signs.
Review is easy to do through YouTube and through my notes, but what I am having trouble with is getting that practice in. How can I practice ASL if nobody arounds me uses it? Well, I have reached out to a fellow classmate in hopes of setting up zoom calls so we can practice. Hopefully we can both benefit from it.
How much of your life do you think is public knowledge? It is probably more than you realize. This week I participated in a cyber sleuthing activity. One of my classmates and I partnered up and googled and researched each other. The goal was to discover as much as we could about the other person through online sources. This was a really interesting experience, and I learned a lot about my fellow classmates.
This exercise helped us discover what our online identity reveals about ourselves. Some of the information about us comes from us. It is information that stems from our involvement online, our online profiles, and our social media. Other information about ourselves can be found by what others post about us. I also googled myself and a lot of the information I see is articles in the newspaper about my involvement in sports, interviews I’ve had for a variety of things, and information from other people who know me. I also see how I portray myself online as well. It is important to understand that our online identity is not made up of only what you put out there, but what others put out there about you.
This quote from the article “Split Image” shows exactly what I mean. We try to present ourselves as the best parts of our life. We do not usually see the ugly or hard parts of our life. We show our ideal selves. We want people to see the best parts about ourselves, and that is exactly what we put online.
Our digital identity shows a lot about ourselves. It shows how we portray ourselves, but it also has stuff that we did not post, but others did. I suggest this cyber sleuthing exercise to help students and yourself understand what your digital identity says about you. I do not think we realize how much of our lives is online, and this exercise is a great way to learn about your online identity.
This week was midterm week for me, so my ASL learning took a bit of a backseat. I was only able to learn a few phrases but did not get a lot of practice in. Next week I plan on creating either some Tik Toks or a YouTube video for some of my progress.
This week I focused on communication. For the most part, communication in sign language will be with someone who also uses sign language. Most likely, I would be communicating with someone who is fluent in ASL. I know I will have trouble understanding fast sign language or all of the signs someone does.
So, with this in mind, I have decided to spend this week and next learning signs to help with communication. Phrases such as “can you sign that again”, “can you sign that slower”, or “I don’t understand”.
I actually continued learning on Tik Tok. As soon as I started finding ASL videos and following the accounts, more and more ASL videos have been popping up all over my for you page. I found @eleanorgpotter who is also learning ASL and using Tik Tok to document her progress. I really liked her videos and learned from them this week. She is just like me, trying to learn phrases and words that I will be able to use to communicate. I think that is the reason I like learning from Tik Tok so much. There are people on the app who are on the same page as you and are trying to learn just like you.
Today technology is used in our everyday life. The digital world and our real world are not longer separate entities. They are connected. Because of the close connection to the digital world, we need to learn about how to use the digital world in a responsible way. This is better known as digital citizenship.
Saskatchewan digital citizenship curriculum
As technology becomes more and more accessible, children are younger and younger when they begin to have access to the digital world. Some are just 9 or 10 when they have their first social media account and phones. How could someone that young understand how the internet works or that not everyone on the internet is a friend or is who they say they are. It is the responsibility of not only the parents, but also teachers to teach these kids digital citizenship. In Saskatchewan, digital citizenship is actually apart of the curriculum, and it has outcomes for kindergarten to grade 12.
Within digital citizenship, there are 9 elements of citizenship created by Mike Ribble. These elements founded the basis of digital citizenship and the curriculum is based upon them as well. Page 14 of the Saskatchewan digital citizenship curriculum has a brief overview of each of the 9 elements.
I chose 3 of the 9 elements to explore how I could implement the curriculum in my classroom.
DIGITAL ETIQUITTE
Is this an appropriate time and use of technology?
Within this category, I would examine the appropriate and inappropraite times to be connected with the digital world. Examples of this may include the idea of the “funeral selfie” and showing that that is not an appropriate time to be using technology. In addition to understanding the appropriate time, we also have to look at the appropriate things to be posting. With this idea comes the talk about cyberbullying and its real world effects. When discussing this the connection between Amanda Todd and her case would be a great real world example. It not only shows the effects of cyberbullying, but also how something that happens online doesn’t online affect you online, but in real life as well. (bullying in person, depression, etc).
DIGITAL COMMUNICATION
What is the policy on students using their personal devices?
For this it would depend on what the school’s policy is. For myself, I would ask that phones be put away during class in order to allow for students to focus on their work. In addition to focus, one huge advantage of keeping phones away during class is that we learn to self-monitor our usage of our device. We become less addicted to our devices which is great for our health. Now there could be exceptions for this rule. If a student talks to me about their situation, saying they need to be checking their phones (family emergencies, regulating medication) then they would be given permission to use their phones.
Photo from amazon. Holders like this were installed in our classrooms.
In my school, we had about 25-30 students from grades 9-12. Because of the small size we had split grades and the teachers came to our classrooms instead of us moving rooms. We were allowed to have our phones in some of our teachers classes and not in others. The policy was solely up to which teacher was coming in. In my grade 12 year, there was a cyberbullying issue in the grades below and our policy changed. there phone holders were installed at the teachers desk at the front of the room. Phones were to be put in those pockets during school time. we could grab them during breaks and lunch, and we could be given special permission to use them, but it became much more strict. Honestly for a lot of people I think it was a good thing. Sure everyone was mad at first, but we all learned that we didn’t absolutely need our phones all the time.
DIGITAL SAFETY AND SECURITY
What is privacy on the internet and how can we protect our personal information?
In my opinion, this is one of the most important things someone can learn. The importance of understanding how to protect your information needs to be taught. Never sharing passwords, and making sure your passwords are different and complex for each site (especially ones where you have important personal information). It is possible for your accounts to get hacked and your identify stolen, so a complex password is the basic start to protecting yourself. With this also comes with understanding that everything you post will stay on the internet, even if you think it disappears. Topics like these would be discussed in order to help students protect their personal information.
