This blog post is dedicated to sharing a bit about the different ways that I contributed to my own EDTC300 learning, as well as to my classmates’ learning.
I just want to say that each of these platforms allowed me to be able expand upon my own understanding of education and educational technology as well as make more connections with other educators, organizations, and educational professionals. They have been useful in creating spaces for me to contain a variety and multitude of resources, as well as build connections with my classmates who I hope to keep learning from, especially as we all begin to take our own place as educators.
Now back to this blog post. I will be sharing four different ways that I contributed to our EDTC300 class: commenting on my classmates’ blogs, my own blog contribution, Discord contributions, and Twitter contributions.
Commenting on Classmates’ Blogs
I will be honest in saying that these last few weeks have been a bit of a blur both inside and outside of the classroom. I did my best to comment on a minimum of at least three of my peers’ posts each week. Most of my comments were filled with encouragement and support for the progress my classmates’ were making in their learning projects. I also occasionally asked questions about different parts of their progress.
My Personal Blog Posts
We had the opportunity this semester to start our own personal blog. I already had my own website due to prior classes that required it, but I was able to expand upon it this semester through adding personal blog posts about my learning project, as well as on topics related to educational technology and digital literacy. The video below shows my blog contributions.
My Personal EDTC300 Blog Posts
Discord
Prior to this class, I had my own Discord account that I occasionally used when gaming with some of my friends. It felt different to use Discord for the purpose of providing support to peers for educational purposes, but I could see the ease of use and accessibility that it provided. I didn’t use it very much, but I did provide assistance once regarding an assignment due date.
Discord Contribution
Twitter
Before this class, I had a Twitter account for another class that had an assignment similar to this one where you had to post constantly about different topics. It was nice to be able to set up a new Twitter account that I could have which focused primarily on #education and #educationaltechnology. I consistently shared weekly with providing my own technological resources that I found, commenting/liking my classmates’ Tweets, and retweeting posts. This video shows what my Twitter currently looks like.
My Personal Twitter
#SaskEdChat contribution
Tagging outside educators
Including links to my blog
Providing a variety of Tweets
Retweeting education accounts
Responded to classmates’ Tweets
Response from outside Twitter accounts on my Tweet
What a blur these last few weeks have been! It feels like I just started this EDTC300 class, but now we are in the final stretch.
I greatly enjoyed being able to have the opportunity in this class to be able to take on a new skill and be somewhat forced (in a good way) to practice it consistently. I had wanted to learn ASL for awhile, so it was a great opportunity to be able take it on as a challenge for this class.
Over the last few weeks I learned the ASL (American Sign Language) signs for the alphabet, numbers 1-99, colors, animals, family names, and food. It required a lot of practice and memorization, but I feel like if I can keep practicing the signs every once in awhile, it will hopefully stick.
For my last learning project post, I made a second food part video that contains 26 different food types. Here it is below:
ASL: Food – Part 2
During the last few weeks of our EDTC300 classes, I had been watching a show called Sue Thomas: FB Eye. It is a TV series about the true-life story of an FBI agent who is deaf and uses her ability to lip read to help her bring criminals to justice.
I hadn’t even considered the connection of watching this show with the ASL I had been learning. It was really interesting to get even just a slight bit of an understanding of what life can be like for someone who is deaf. Watching this show gave me some opportunities to try and learn some signs for new words and phrases. It was difficult to understand with how fast the signing took place, but I was able to catch a few words that I had already learned the signs to. I definitely recommend watching this show for anyone who is interested in seeing ASL and lip reading put into action, as well as if you enjoy crime shows.
Overall, I found blogging about my learning experience to be a little overwhelming and vulnerable, but I found it to be a simple process to be able to present my learnings in a digital way. I don’t think I would make a blog for myself if weren’t an assignment expectation, but I have enjoyed the process when I am one of many in a class doing the same thing. I also really appreciated the class environment where we could all support and encourage each other.
“the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills.”
We currently live in a world that is hugely influenced by technology. We can contact nearly anyone across the world, we can share information in seconds, and we can create things that years ago we wouldn’t have been able to. With technology comes more efficiency, flexibility, accessibility and simpler communication. However, in the same way that it makes things “easier”, it has also brought on more things that people need to be made aware of.
Not all information is good information. We are in a day and age where there is SOOOO much information being thrown at us through different mediums (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, movies, TV shows, news articles, advertisements) that we now need to learn the skills to be able to sift through what is good and bad to try and make sense of different topics and ideas. This is where taking time to teach students, as well as ourselves about digital literacy is important.
I am in the Bachelor of Education: Middle Years program so the grade range I have been focusing more closely on during my studies and internship is grade six to nine. This is a prime age range for students to be learning about digital literacy if they don’t already know about it. Many teenagers have social media, multiple forms of it even, so they are going to be given a TON of information CONSTANTLY. This is also an age group that can often be targeted through social media through different scams, or by not having the awareness of the impact that can be made through what they themselves post or share on social media. These students NEED to be learning digital literacy skills for the protection of themselves, and the protection of others.
Even aside from social media, this age of students is where they do lots of research for assignments in multiple subjects. They need to have the skills to be able to seek out true information, and to understand when information is misleading, or false.
Dr. Alec Couros and Katie Hildebrant (2018) provide a few strategies of how to teach students to identify fake news.
Move beyond traditional information evaluation checklists
Prioritize helping students develop investigative techniques
Teach students to identify bias (use a tool like a media bias chart)
Bring real-world fake news examples that we encounter everyday into the classroom
Using some of the strategies, especially by providing examples for students to see, could be very helpful in expanding their digital literacy. I also feel that these are some skills that adults should also try and practice, especially in a world where big and controversial topics are constantly being publicized.
This video provides some information and an opportunity to practice looking at different headlines and learning how they are considered to be misleading. The main idea shared in terms of health news is that “a headline is used to catch attention, and it is the most effective when it makes a big claim.” Whereas “many scientific studies produce meaningful results when they focus on a narrow, specific question.” (Leek & McGowan, 2019). To better understand a claim that is being made by a headline, it is important to look at the research that was done behind it to see what was being studied and find out what was actually found. This skill is useful for everyone who has social media or who watches/reads the news.
This video is filled with good quotes and really important tips for both young people and adults to consider when reading or watching the news. Here are some of the quotes that stood out to me:
“One of the best ways to get the truth (or something close) is to get the original news unfiltered by middlemen. Instead of articles interpreting a scientific study or a politician’s speech, you can often find the actual material and judge for yourself.”
“But if everyone is a reporter, no one is.”
“Words like think, likely, or probably mean that the outlet is being careful, or worse, taking a guess.”
“Try to verify news before sharing it”
“While social media has enabled the truth to reach us faster, it’s also allowed rumors to spread before they can be verified and falsehoods to survive long after they’ve been refuted.”
This particular video was made in 2014, but the information it provides is very useful especially during this time with huge news spreading around constantly around health (COVID), politicians, climate change, celebrities, education, finances, etc.
Connection to Curriculum
Many outcomes require research and investigation of different topics. There are also other outcomes that requires students to display their own research and understanding of topics. Both of these areas require students having a good understanding of digital literacy. This means that there needs to be opportunities made as a teacher to go over safety rules around using technology, as well as practice with helping students identify when the information they are finding is true, or potentially misleading or false.
Below are some specific outcomes from the grade six curriculum that would require, or at least encourage students to have an understanding of digital literacy.
Language Arts:
CC6.4 Create and present a variety of representations that communicate ideas and information to inform or persuade and to entertain an audience, including illustrations, diagrams, posters, displays, and cartoons.
Students will need to know how to accurately and effectively present information.
CC6.6 Use oral language appropriately to express a range of information and ideas in formal and informal situations including presenting an oral report based on research, a demonstration, and a short dramatization.
Students will need to know how to properly research, as well as present their ideas accurately and effectively.
Health:
USC6.7 Assess how health promotions and advertising (related to but not limited to tobacco, alcohol, diabetes, and HIV) influence personal standards and behaviours and determine how and why certain groups of consumers (e.g., youth as ‘replacement’ smokers) are targeted.
Students will need to know how to judge information they are given and its effectiveness in influencing its targeted audience.
Math:
SP6.1 Extend understanding of data analysis to include:
line graphs
graphs of discrete data
data collection through questionnaires, experiments, databases, and electronic media
interpolation and extrapolation.
Students will need to know how to accurately and effectively represent their data and information found.
Physical Education:
PE6.15 Examine, evaluate, and represent the historical and present impact of our World neighbours on the development of movement activity options as a means of supporting the well-being of self and others.
Students will need to know how to properly research.
Science:
DL6.5 Assess effects of micro-organisms on past and present society, and contributions of science and technology to human understanding of micro-organisms.
Students will need to know how to properly research.
Career education, health, social, and science also have multiple outcomes and assignments that require investigation and research.
The NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) contains a framework for literacy in a digital age. They provide different aspects of digital literacy, as listed below:
Participate effectively and critically in a networked world
Explore and engage critically, thoughtfully, and across a wide variety of inclusive texts and tools/modalities
Consume, curate, and create actively across contexts
Advocate for equitable access to and accessibility of texts, tools, and information
Build intentional global and cross-cultural connections and relationships with others so to pose and solve problems collaboratively and strengthen independent thought
Promote culturally sustaining communication and recognize the bias and privilege present in the interactions
Examine the rights, responsibilities, and ethical implications of the use and creation of information
Determine how and to what extent texts and tools amplify one’s own and others’ narratives as well as counter unproductive narratives
Recognize and honor the multilingual literacy identities and culture experiences individuals bring to learning environments and provide opportunities to promote, amplify, and encourage these differing variations of language (dialect, jargon, register)
In my classroom, I could see myself trying to incorporate a few of these ideas. I will list just a few that I would include.
Participate effectively and critically in a networked world – This is an opportunity for students to find relevant and reliable sources; to take risks trying new things with different technological tools; using a variety of tools, critically analyze a variety of information and ideas from a variety of sources, etc.
Consume, curate, and create actively across contexts – This is an opportunity for students to examine the credibility and relevancy of sources they consume; consider the author, the purpose, and design of information they consume online; evaluate content they find online before sharing with others; communicate information and ideas in a variety of forms and form various purposes, etc.
Build intentional global and cross-cultural connections and relationships with others so to pose and solve problems collaboratively and strengthen independent thought– This is an opportunity for students to collaborate with others whose perspectives and areas of expertise are different from their own; listen in a way that allows them to intentionally build on one another’s thinking to gain new understanding; make intentional moves to learn from and with others, etc.
Overall, I want to try and incorporate teaching digital literacy throughout all subjects where I am able to. I want to make it a constant conversation and have it be a common practice for students to be aware of in my classroom
