Are you ‘Open’ to Open Education? What is Open Education? Education should be something that is accessible to everyone. This shouldn’t be dependent on wealth, race, health, location, etc. It should be available for everyone. This week in class we learned more about Open Education. I have to admit that I knew very little of what it was and that what I had thought was only partially correct.

For those that do not know or have questions about  Open Education I have linked an article from BCcampus OpenEd.

I watched a video that was shared with my ECI831 class called Why Open Education Matters. I was once again struck by the fact that here in Canada we take for granted that we are able to get an education and until Post Secondary this is of very little cost. If we were to live in another country this could cost us a lot more and the resources that we are using and being taught from could be out of date as it cost money to be able to purchase new ones. (I feel a bit of this teaching in a rural community when events are taking place in large centers and we are invited to join if we can afford the transportation to get there)

If we believe that everyone deserves to be educated than we should ensure that the resources are readily available for this to happen. Using resources that are digital helps in ensuring that the content is current as it can be updated on a more regular basis and you do not need to wait for new copies to be printed and distributed.

Photo by mary1826 on Pixabay

Professionally using Open Education resources is beneficial as it helps me to not recreate work that has already been created. As an educator I spend time and money creating and purchasing resources that I might only need a small part of. If we were able and willing to share our resources and allow others to make the changes to it that they need to make it work in their teaching environment this would help in cutting down the time teachers put into this work after hours as well as the cost. Pros & Cons of Open Education. Although there are benefits to using Open Education resources there are also downfalls such as the quality of the product and not knowing if it will be compatible with the technology that is used at your school. Where to find OER materials?

Other Places to find OER materials:

https://resourcebank.ca/

Agriculture in the Classroom 

Saskatchewan First Nations Dashboard

Teach To Love Learning

As an educator I appreciate when other educators share the materials that they have created and do not charging for them. I know that on my staff we share our resources but with us being a small school they do not always work for others and this becomes difficult if the teacher that students get next uses your resources as students often complain about already doing that activity.

My division also uses Grade alike groupings and has teachers put their resources there to be shared at that grade level. When we started during COVID this was a great space to get resources but since then it is not accessed or added to often. I think many teachers either forget it is there or do not know about it as they are new to the division.

Personally as a Master’s students I appreciate when a Professor uses OER items as this helps in saving me money and making my educational experience more affordable. I know that content is always changing and new editions are being created of textbooks. By using an OER model the changes can be made and students are able to access them without an added price due to the new edition.

I know that I need to do my part both professionally and personally to help in making Open Education a reality for all. This means sharing what I have learned with others as well as sharing resources that I have created so others are able to access them.

Before this class I was neither open or closed to Open Education I was unaware of what it was totally. Now that I am aware I see its importance and want to figure out how I can help to make it more well known and used. I see the benefits of accessing OER materials and in sharing. I think that everyone should have the opportunity to receive an education and that we as educators need to help in ensuring that this happens.

Now that you know more are you ‘Open’ to Open Education? What might you do to use OER in your classroom?

I came into this class and was very unaware of how prominent social media activism is. I needed to look more into this to help me to better understand what it is and how it works. I found an article that gives tips on how to go beyond the hashtag.  This article breaks it down into 10 easy-to-follow steps and then breaks these steps down, even more, to help the reader understand what is meant by the step.

Now that I had a better understanding of what social activism was and how to go beyond the hashtag I needed to look into a variety of different social issues that have been promoted through a social media platform. Here is an article that is a guide to activism in the digital world. It starts by sharing a number of different social justice issues and how they were promoted through social media. It then outlines how social media can promote social justice issues and finally talks about social media strategies for nonprofit.

Originally I had thought and felt that there is a time and a place to be an activist and that maybe on social media is not the best place as your digital footprint follows you and what if you were misinformed, accidentally said something wrong, etc. now this is there for ever. I went to school at a time when we were told that you keep your private life private and that you need to be careful of what you share.

I convocated in 2006. To say that things in the tech world have change is an understatement. I have a better understanding of technology than my husband but my two boys are leaps and bounds ahead of me. I try to learn from them and am always open to learning new things as long as I can use them. Last weekend when my oldest and I were away for ball my cousin came to watch. (She is older and wiser than I am). She wanted to send a location pin to her husband so he would know exactly where we were. I had no idea how to do this and neither did she. We looked at her 12 year old son and he shook his head and said, “I already sent him one.” We then asked him to show us how to do this. (I love when the next generation gets to share their knowledge with me)

This week at school I had the privilege of having our Knowledge Keeper Lyndon Linklater come and set up a tipi with all the students in my school. The division that I work for purchased a tipi to be used between all of the schools in our division. (Holy Trinity Catholic School Division) This was not something that was done on Social Media (although we did share pictures after) but he taught our students about his culture and how although we have many similarities we are different and we need to celebrate our differences. This was an example of how the activism needed to be in person rather than over social media as it would not have been as impactful if we had our students watch a video. Six of our students were chosen to help set-up and take down the tipi. Part of a pole was given to each school in the division and all students that help with setting up the tipi will get to write their name on it. This is something that each of these students will remember for a long time. We had many members of the community asking questions about what was going on and in the future we plan on opening this up to the high school, care home and the daycare.

I know that I have fallen ‘victim’ in the past to thinking that I was doing something important that was helping a cause that I believed in on Social Media by doing this, that or the other but I didn’t do my research and in the aftermath have realized that sometimes what I had done was actually counterproductive. Since starting this course I am more aware of my presence on Social Media and what it can say about me.

Teaching the younger grades I find incorporating technology to be a bit of a challenge. I have found on my own and through my #eci831 classmates some good resources to use but know that I need to find a common ground and good balance for using these in my class. I am looking at ways to teach my students how to be good citizens and on technology use. This can be tricky as some parents don’t let their young ones on technology without them present.

I struggle with how to teach ‘Social Media Literacy’ within the classroom when I am teaching K-1. I think that I will start with these six ways and see if incorporating them in my class makes a difference. I believe that sometimes it is how we as the educators view Social Media and how comfortable we are with it.

Well, I signed up for Twitter (reluctantly I might say). I have had co-workers encourage me to get it before and I have kindly declined. I didn’t like the idea of trying to figure out who to follow and how to get followers. I felt very overwhelmed at first.

Photo by geralt on Pixabay

After I took the time to watch Dr. Katia’s video explaining the basics of Twitter I was a little more at ease. I will not lie I was still nervous and unsure but figured I signed up for this class and that it is better to jump in with both feet rather than just dip your toes in the water. So, I am going to jump in feet first into the Twitter world and see where it might take me. I am not going to say that I will stay for a long time but I will give it this class and if at the end I am feeling comfortable you might be seeing more Tweets from me.

Photo by geralt on Pixabay

I have been reluctant to get onto Twitter as I saw it as one more thing to do. I wasn’t aware of how helpful it could be if you had an understanding of how it works and of how to find the useful, relevant information you were looking for.

This week I have been diving in and tweeting and retweeting. I feel that I am getting the hang of it and am feeling more confident doing it. I actually am excited at the end of the day to take a look and read all of my #eci831 classmates Tweets and to make some of my own. I am still trying to get the hang of making a catchy Tweet but I think that will come. I was happy to discover that you could use Twitter from your computer as I found it easier to navigate. I even figured out how to add Tweets with TikTok videos. I am a little proud of myself as I normally shy away from technology.

Teaching Early Years I can see myself using the information that I find on Twitter in my class but it isn’t a platform that I would use in my class.

Moving forward I think that I will continue to use Twitter but might not be as active on. I like Social Media that I can use to get ideas from but not that I need to interact a lot with. I have yet to be brave enough to join a chat. I might need to look at my Thursday and see if I can join in. I know that it is like anything the first step is the hardest.

This class was way out of my comfort zone but I see the importance in it as the world is ever changing. As an educator it is hard to sometimes stay current. I am grateful that my eyes have been opened to Twitter and the fact that it isn’t all that scary or intimidating.

I feel confident that I could help someone get onto Twitter, like a Tweet, make a Tweet, follow some people and groups and feel comfortable navigating around a bit.

I started using BeReal on May 22, 2023. I have kept my streak alive of posting each day and have only been late with my post a few times. I went from zero friends to now having three friends. I am still not sure if I will continue using BeReal or I will stop. I am still figuring it all out. I think that it has a variety of positive aspects as well as negative aspects.

BeReal is a French social media app that was launched in 2020 by Alexis Barreyat and Kévin Perreau. It has a daily notification in which users are encouraged to take a photo in their surroundings in which they are given a random 2 minute time frame. You are given the chance to post one picture per day and recently if you post within your 2 minute time frame you are able to post 2 additional pictures. Here is a Beginners Guide to using BeReal.

I have asked myself since starting if this is just a new Social Media craze or if it is changing of bad habits that we have formed using Social Media platforms and the use of filters and altering our bodies. I found an article on linkedin.com that helped me to make a few decisions on my own. This article highlights pros, cons and mixed feelings about BeReal. The article brought up many feelings I was already having about this platform. Some of these are as follows:

1. the use of both the front and back camera. (Very hard to tell what the one camera is taking a picture of.)
2. there is no privacy.
3. the public shaming. (When posting late all your friends are given a notification letting you know they posted late.)
4. they claim they want people to be real and spend less time with their phone but yet with the random time notification to take a picture it makes people want to be more attached to their phone.
5. It is having people want to ensure that they are constantly doing things that others would maybe want to see as who wants to post a boring picture?
6. How is the company making their money?

The Terms of Service were fairly easy to read even though they were lengthy. They helped me to understand a bit better where the developers were coming from with their Social Media platform. I did appreciate that at the end there was a space where they gave you a way in which to contact them. It says that your content is for your friends unless you agree to have it shared globally.

At the end of this trial with BeReal I am leaning more towards getting rid of the app as I feel the pressure to post so that I am not being shamed for being late or not posting. I find that as soon as I hear that ding I feel that I need to quickly take a picture so that I can keep up my ‘Streak’ so to speak.

Although I found it fun for a bit it is not an app that I will let become a part of my repertoire. So, in the end I will decide to not BeReal. It was a good way to try out an app and learn in a brief amount of time the pros and cons of it.

About two weeks ago I was talking with my son and asked him a question about a message he said that he had gotten from a friend. I said was it a Snapchat and he looked at me like I had a horn growing out of my head and said, “Umm no it was on BeReal.” I just smiled and continued on. When this assignment came up I quickly thought of this Social Media platform and how this was a golden opportunity to teach myself about something new and cool!

I signed up for BeReal and thought okay this seems pretty cool and simple. I posted my first picture and it stated under it 5 hours late. I thought okay well I did sign up a little later in the evening. I read that I would get a notification that would give me a 2 minute window to take an unfiltered picture of myself and my surroundings. Fast forward to the next day. I am walking down the hall at school and my phone goes off and I look and see that BeReal is giving me my notification to take a picture. I was on a break so took a quick picture and shared it. I then looked at my two friends one of which is my son and see that he also took his picture when he got the notification. This was during class time. So, with the random notification times students that do not want a mark of shame (with how much they were late posting their picture) are being distracted during class to take a random picture.

BeReal has become very popular as the photos are unfiltered, unedited and show an asterisk if they have been taken more than once. If you chose not to post a picture on a particular day you are unable to look at those pictures in which your friends have taken. Just like Snapchat, Facebook, TikTok and other Social Media you are able to post a reaction to the pictures. If you would like to read more about BeReal I have attached a website for you.

With the little bit that I have played around on BeReal I do like that there aren’t the filters so that what you see is what you get in a sense. I think that too often in today’s society we are putting a filter on every picture we take and so the real us is not being shown/shared with the world.

I am the type of person that has a very competitive nature and so when I hear the notification go off I know that I am going to want to get my picture taken quickly so that I do not get a mark of shame. I think that as yes this helps in keeping things real it also isn’t doing a true portrait of ones life. How often do I give myself a time limit when I am taking a picture? I guess that this is a part of keeping things real but I think it is also adding to some of the stress that we find in our youth today. Kids are dealing with anxiety of fitting in, trying to be perfect, getting good grades, being cool, etc. This app helps in adding to those areas of anxiety by putting a time limit on the picture being taken as well as having the app notifying at random times. It keeps an element of surprise but for anyone that deals with anxiety or likes to be very organized this is a difficult concept to not know when the notification might come. Pros and Cons of BeReal.

BeReal was launched in 2019 in Paris, France. This website has a list of statistics all about the BeReal App.

BeReal US age demographics 2022 (%)

I found it surprising that the percentage of users that is the highest is those between 26-44.

I am only on my fourth day of my BeReal journey. My son tells me that I am not cool. I have a total of three friends as of yesterday and am excited to learn more about this Social Media platform so that I can have an actual meaningful conversation with students if they ask me about it. Is it an app that I think I will leave on my phone forever? I am not sure yet. They say that things take time to become a habit. I am unsure at this time if I want BeReal to become a habit or just another form of Social Media that I use. Only time will tell. For now I am liking the simplicity of the app and the fact that it is raw, unedited, realistic images. I can’t believe that I shared on here one that gave me a double chin but with the second camera you can’t always see what it is taking a picture of so there I am in all of my glory.

For now I will continue on my BeReal journey and I will see if I can find some friends to follow and that want to follow me as well.

I have a love-hate relationship with Social Media. This has been a long time on again off again relationship. I will begin to think that I understand how to use a Social Media platform and then there are changes and I am back to square one. I rarely use Social Media in my classroom as I teach early years and have not found a platform that I am comfortable using in the class. I use a variety of platforms on my own that then I take and incorporate pieces into my classroom. In my personal life I use Social Media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, WhatsApp, and I have Snapchat and TIKTOK but these are more so to have another means of keeping in touch with my oldest child and knowing what types of things he is watching and interacting with.

A negative experience I had with Social media involved me niece that is now 16 and when she first started using Social Media some of the things that she would post scared me. I was seeing the innocence of a child asking a question and the responses that were given that could be very detrimental to the self-confidence and mental health of a young child or anyone. I as an educator reached out wanting to bring this awareness to her parents and was met with hostility. I learnt to watch from the side lines and learn from what I was seeing so that I could be more aware with my own boys. I wanted to protect her from the outside world and how cruel it can be and I was unable to do this.

I have had great experiences with Social Media especially over COVID when it allowed me the opportunity to still talk and do video calls with my Mom and siblings that live in other communities across the country. Even though we were far apart it allowed us the opportunity to feel a bit of connection.

Professionally I appreciate Social Media platforms when they are laid out and explained on how to use them and integrate within my classroom. I do not like when I am given a platform to use and told play around with this and see what you like or don’t like. I do like that since COVID meetings can be done over different Social Media platforms which saves me driving time as I am 2.5 hours away from my Division office.

So, in the end I am still left wondering should I love or should I hate Social Media? I guess I could also decide to make the decision and to learn to just appreciate Social Media for what it is and to take the good the bad and know how to find a happy medium of what is just enough and what amount of Social Media is too much.