This PowerPoint presentation gives insight into my perceptual changes, personal experiences, and the benefits of using three tools we explored in class throughout the course. The presentations’ contents were beyond enlightening and I appreciated the information shared by all. I have seen tremendous growth in my approach towards integrating and embracing technological tools.
Artificial Intelligence is defined as; technology that enables computers and machines to simulate human learning, comprehension, problem-solving, decision-making, creativity, and autonomy. This week’s presentation was a game-changer as my entire perspective on AI has changed positively. Truthfully, most of the ways AI is used by classmates were completely new to me. I have used ChatGPT for lesson planning, writing letters, and creating meal plans. I have also noticed in my Google searches, that there have been AI-generated suggestions for multiple websites which I have grown to appreciate. Additionally, I use an AI-generated weather system on my phone to keep me abreast of the ever-changing climate. In my home country, the coldest temperature was 29 degrees Celsius, so there was never a need to check the weather until now.
When used in education, AI can be used to enhance the learning experience of students through personalized learning, streamline administrative processes and support teachers.
In a class, the teacher-student ratio is usually 1:25 or more. Using AI technologies can personalize students learning by adapting the content and pace to their individual needs. Given the ratio, this enables students diverse learning style, and learning level to be adequately and fairly catered for without the teacher burning out.
While all task required of teachers are relevant, there are some that are repetitive and can be effectively done using an AI autogenerated response. This will advertently result in additional time for teachers to complete tasks such as personalized feedback, contacting parents, and providing more insight into students’ performance. Additionally, since AI is a data driven approach, it allows for more informed decision-making and tailored support for students.
Has AI evolves, its use and benefit is becoming more acceptable in education. Undeniably, AI has the ability to transform education and students’ learning experience, however there are also some disadvantages that become quite alarming if not managed. Few of those disadvantages are; data privacy concerns, being dependent on the technology, access, dehumanizing learning experience, and the most common one, cheating. Cheating is most frequently disadvantage as students tend to use AI to do their assignment, instead of using it merely support them. To combat this, it is imperative that the teacher educate their students on the ethical use of AI instead of prohibiting them from using it. Additionally, the teacher highlight the consequences of using AI in an ethical way.
The video below gives example and non-examples of how AI can be used in an ethical way.
In conclusion, as AI continues to evolve, it possess the ability to enhance learning experiences significantly. I am now excited as to what the future of AI holds, but presently I think AI can be beneficial to all when it used in an effective and ethical way.
This week’s presentation on makerspace was the first time I was introduced to the activity. Makerspace as defined by the Lakehead University Library, is a collaborative work space inside a school, library, or a separate public/private facility for making, learning, exploring, and sharing that uses high tech to no tech tools.
A common limitation among most of the tech tools discussed or presented thus far is accessibility. On the contrary, Makerspace increases accessibility. It is a common place where resources can be shared, and the tools may support students of all ages. It promotes creativity, self-regulation, critical thinking, independence, perseverance, student-centered, and experimental learning. The space as the name suggests, is what you make it. The tools may or may not be digital, but, if the tools are digital, it can be quite expensive to create that makerspace. None the less advantages are:
Since it is not imperative to use digital technology or high tech gadgets in a makerspace, it can be taught be any educator and not necessarily a tech one. The educator, however needs to be aware of the needs of the students and ensure that the tool being used is age appropriate.
Below is a video that illustrates as an example of problem solving and growth mindset can be developed through a makerspace.
Assistive technology refers to the devices and services that are used to increase, maintain, or improve the capabilities of individuals with a disability (Dell, Newton, & Petroff, 2012). A disability is a condition that makes it more difficult for a person to engage in certain activities and interact with the world around them. Some examples of disabilities mentioned by Kateryna in her presentation were; dyscalculia, dyslexia, and dysgraphia. However, the disability that I would like to make personal reference to is; nearsightedness.
Image by Linkedin
Nearsightedness is a vision condition where close-up objects are visible, but, at a distance, they appear blurry. I have had this condition for as long as I can remember but refused to wear glasses as a child because I felt different. I had no knowledge of Assistive Technology, nor was it integrated into any of my classes. This affected my self-esteem, and my performance in school, and gradually my sight got worse. If only I knew then, what I know now. Presently, with the aid of assistive technology I am able to tailor my accessibility settings on all my devices to cater to my visual needs. Inverting colors, magnifiers, text-to-speech and speech-to-text, has been life savers, as they enable to me to use my devices with less strains on my eyes, thus having less migraines.
Voice control (speech-to-text): this can be really frustrating as your accent, pronunciation, tone and pitch impacts what is written in text.
Lack of competency among teachers: teachers are trained given the basic knowledge of using AT, but, they are not extensively on how to integrate it within the classroom. If the students are not competent in using the tool, it will not be used effectively.
Excessive Use: Users may rely too much on the technology and not try to address their disabilities independently. For example, word prediction has made me so lazy and I can honestly say my spelling skill has certainly decreased.
Costly: Some AT tools are costly and therefore in accessible to some that might need it most. Tools such as braille displays, interactive keyboards, wheelchairs, infrared system and many more.
There is a lot of negativity that surrounds the use of digital tools for assessment and some of these reasons are warranted such as, it is distracting. There is absolutely no perfect solution or quick fix with regards to the teaching, learning or assessment process. However, it is imperative to explore different ways of doing such. There are numerous assessment tools with their pros and cons in using them. In doing this presentation, I have to appreciate how accommodating and adapting these tools can really be if I invest the needed time to understand them.
The article Ten Facts About Online Assessment Tools, highlighted ten factual ways in which online assessment can be used. It gave some interesting insights to alternate ways in which assessment can be given using these tools, and their benefits in doing so. He pointed out that “with the right assessment tool, you can create any type of exam paper using a variety of question types and in-house resource”. Even so, in order to select the right assessment tool and maximize on the potential of it, one has to understand how the tool functions. This will enable the user, both teachers and students to use the tool effectively and personalizing learning at any level.
Secondly, identify the needs of your students and utilize a digital assessment tool that cater to those needs. We might be super comfortable using a particular tool, but that may not necessarily work effectively for your students. After identifying their needs, determine what structure of assessment would suit them best. Investigate if that tool can provide tailored feedback and if it enhances critical thinking skills. Ask your self, how is the analysis of the assessment reflected? Am I readily able to identify the strength, weaknesses and learning gaps of individual students? These are just some of the questions I will be reflecting on when choosing my assessment tools in my future practice.
Having clear objectives, not only guide educators in selecting the right tools, but it also guarantee that the tool will be used effectively and optimally, based on the learning needs of each learner.
This week’s presentation gave fundamental and impactful insights to Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. I personally have never heard either term before this class, but I was able to connect to the contents of both and brought it to the context of today. The examples from the presentation brought back memories, such as; the dial up internet, the browsers that were used then (internet explorer), to its transition into the social web (google) that I am interacting with today. The documentary on Netflix entitled The Social Dilemma was recommendation to us, which involves several technological engineers that were once employed to major social media companies, sharing their insights and concerns about the impact these social tools have on humanity at large.
Tristan Harris, the former Design Ethicist at Google and now the a co-founder of Center For Humane Technology is an advocate of aiding tech industry in ethically shaping their humane and spiritually potential. One can appreciate Web 2.0 vs Web 1.0 for its interactivity and collaboration such as Wikipedia and social network sites. It also enhances communication, facilitates knowledge sharing and learning and enables marketing and business opportunities.
The irony however is, these benefits of Web 2.0, when misused as we are experiencing now, breeds all the limitations and catastrophic impacts it is having on society and education presently.
Tristant asked the question, if all of what we are engaging in online is free to us, but these giant tech companies are generating billions, whats the product? The answer blew my mind. The product is our attention. These tools are designed to persuade us by gradually changing what we do, how we think and in general who we are. In my home country, us as educators felt so hopeless as we observed how rapidly the students interest in academics declined and the trend was to become an influencer. There were actual influencers flaunting money and imprinting the idea of school being a waste of time. The life of luxury is being sold to our children that usually involves unethical, sometimes illegal practices, along with the trend of designer bodies. Morals are slowly becoming a thing of the past, while our young ladies mental health issues sky rocket due to the illusion of the bodies they see on social media that they compare themselves to. These are the Gen z who will be leading us 15 years from now and its a scary thought.
This week’s presentation was focused on online and distant learning tools and how these tools can be applied in a blended or online setting. The information presented was quite astonishing to me because it was the first tine hearing of some of these tools. The video entitled10 Learning Distance Tool in under 10 minutes, shared by group, wet my appetite in a short demonstration of 10 of these tools that can be utilized in distant learning. The members of the group also linked the impacts of social learning and interaction among ones peers and teachers through online learning, to the social cognitivist learning theory. These DL teaching and learning methodologies were developed for years but were somewhat ignored. However, a considerably great appreciation was established during and post-pandemic.
I taught online teaching for one year and partake in blended learning for another. Truthfully it was experimental learning for the teachers as it was for the students. At that time I utilized Zoom, Google Forms, Kahoot, Google Classroom and Google meet. Google Classroom was the platform that was mostly encouraged by the school, however I was allowed to be flexible with which other tools I deem suitable for my students. Having being introduce to these tools, I would definitely use Flipgrid and Padlet.
Flipgrid and Padlet both enables the teacher to give the students individualize feedbacks which is crucial for student’s growth and improvement. Padlet fosters creativity through graphic organizers and supports the schema theory by Jean Piaget. This too support my way of learning and I am looking forward to exploring this tool with my students in the near future.
In a meeting one day, a speaker said something that resonated with me to date. He said is a student, will always be a student. Initially it made no sense until he brought it to context saying, irrespective of our age or qualification, the learner is in flight mode waiting for the class to end, distracted by their own thoughts and other environmental factors. If I were incorporate distance learning in my teaching, it would have a ripple effect on my students learning progress for this very same reason. My students were easily distracted, dependent learners and most did not have the support at home to guide them. Accessibility would also pose a challenge for some students as well. To utilize these tools I would choose to do so in person. This way, I could schedule lab time where I could monitor and guide them myself and eliminate the challenge of access.
A immensely informative presentation was done on Productivity Suits and Productivity Tools. A productivity suit is a set of applications that includes apps like a word processor, a presentation, and an app to make spreadsheets- these three apps are typically the mainstays of any productivity suite. I was actively using the Google and Microsoft suit, but it was like second nature without giving much though to the theoretical aspect of it. While Google suit is my favorite, these productivity suits along with their tools has have endless implications (negative and positive) on both students and teachers, some of which will be discussed below.
Productivity suits enables real time collaboration for both students and teachers thus increasing productivity. One can work in real-time collectively without physically being in the same space using google docs. It is student-centered, as well as it fosters group work and shared understanding among learners. It also facilitates creativity and allows individuals to learn and work at their own pace. Feedbacks are a crucial to support students in understanding how to improve their performance and for teachers to improve their teaching practice. Productivity suit facilitates creativity along with instant and continuous feedback from teachers. The mobile version of the productivity suits like Microsoft Office Mobile and Google Docs for mobile devices allowed users to create, edit, and collaborate on documents directly from their smartphones or tablets. This provides a convenient and flexible way for teachers and students to stay productive while on the go.
While I could have listed several other positive implications, I must acknowledge that there are some cons to using productive suits as well. While it is student centered and fosters creativity, it also create disparity in learning opportunities due to lack of access. The reality is, not all students have access to devices. Collaborating in real-time remotely limits face to face interaction and diminishes social skills among individuals. This was most evident post-COVID where it truly felt like a burden having to go to meetings in person and everyone felt like a stranger even though we interreacted weekly online. In addition to that, completing tasks in productive suits can be distracting as notifications, games and social media are one click away. This also have had significant impacts on individuals’ writing skills with the help of predictive text and autocorrect in both google doc and microsoft office. Lastly, both teachers and students can become overwhelmed with trying to operate the applications of each productive suit. As these applications evolve over time, one has to be abreast with the changes in addition to ALL other daily professional task which can become overwhelming.
My evolving philosophy of education is that all students are unique. They all have their own experiences and socio-cultural background that influences their learning styles. I aim to provide an environment that provides enrichment and growth in a holistic way that all students deserve. I believe my role as a teacher is to facilitate, to offer guidance, to promote individuality and creativity through different modes of teaching. Thus providing a safe environment for my students to share their opinions and ask questions. However, the knowledge and learning theories that underpins my philosophy is a combination of all three.
Initially, I utilized a Constructivist Approach where I truly believed learning is the responsibility of the learner. I, the facilitator, will guide students to build on their prior knowledge through inquiry and engagement. As mentioned in class, this way the process of learning takes into consideration the students individuality, uniqueness and own understanding. I however had to deviate from a constructivist approach to a cognitive approach while teaching at a school where the majority of the school’s population were reading way below their grade level. Sadly, the focus was to complete the curriculum despite the students’ learning challenges. So since our focus is narrowed by empirical data, the product rather than the process, the Constructivist approach was not producing the product in a timely manner. A. William (2015) highlighted that the nature of knowledge is constantly changing, unlike decades before, skilled-based jobs require both academic and skill-based requirements. As this technological era evolves, teachers’ instructions too, must align with this era but each faces his/her own unique situation.
Lastly, while Skinner’s theory on Stimuli- Response to Behavior theory has its cons, it has had a positive impact on my students behavior over the years especially my male dominated classes. I use a positive and negative reward system that is unique to each of my classes. For example, a reward as simple as receiving a star on a chart each time required behavior is displayed, and the reverse when the student displayed unacceptable behavior. What was even more interesting was learning that Skinner’s non-traditional learning approach gave birth to the Adaptive approach that is now being encouraged. Both approaches focus on the individuality of each learner, which was the aim of Skinner’s Teaching Machine. Now we have individual assessment and teaching tools that allow students to learn at their own pace and level. This Adaptive approach I too used as a teacher and I am currently utilizing it as a student.
The video below gives insight about some foundational educational theorists, their theories, and how they relate to the classroom.