Category: EDTC300 (Page 1 of 2)

Prezi Link

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Here is a definition of digital literacy:

“the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills.”

American Library Association’s Digital Literacy Task Force

More digital literacy explanations:

What is digital literacy and why does it matter?

What is Digital Literacy?

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

This week’s blog post assignment was to cybersleuth another person in our class that we paired up with to see what we could discover about them, and then share about our experience.

As a precursor to this blog post, I feel it is important to share that the person I was paired up with is my friend on Facebook, which may have allowed me to be provided with a larger variety of information than if I had not been Facebook friends with them. However, aside from Facebook and Twitter (our EDTC accounts), I am not connected personally to my partner through any other form of social media.

When I googled my partners name (first and last name), the first thing that pops up is their personal Instagram profile. The next link is to their Edusites website blog. As I kept scrolling, their Facebook profile appears and their personal Twitter account shows up. Next, a link to what I assume to be connected to her job shows up, an obituary containing her name appears, her Pinterest account comes up, and lastly her contribution to two different sports events/competitions appear, as well as a prezi assignment. I feel like I was able to find a lot of different sources of information for my partner, which all looked to be positive.

I also decided to check on what images appeared when googling my partner’s name. There are about 9 pictures that appear to be from her personal Twitter account, one picture from her EDTC Twitter account, two pictures from her Edusites blog, and a few pictures related to her place of work.

This kind of activity is both fun, but also important in how it can show you how much information people could find about you from a simple google search. It is crucial to be aware of what someone could find if they had a goal of trying to bring you down in someway. It is important to note, that what you post and what people have access to seeing about you online can more greatly affect the way that people think about you, even if you present yourself in the best way face to face.

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This TED talk by Jon Ronson called How one Tweet can ruin your life contains some very powerful statements that I think accurately depict what is currently going on digitally in society.

“Our desire to be seen as to be compassionate is what led us to commit this profoundly un-compassionate act”

Jon Ronson (TED Talk) – How one tweet can ruin your life

I often see that when people are trying to correct or, maybe more accurately, condemn another person for their actions, some people will respectfully do it, but others will be just as equally “bad” or “mean” as the person they are targeting. Yet, those that are making equally if not worse actions than the one being targeted, don’t tend to get blamed or condemned for their own actions.  

Another quote he shares is,

Maybe there’s two types of people in the world: those people who favor “humans over ideology, and those people who favor ideology over humans. Right now the idealogues are winning, and they’re creating a stage for constant artificial high drama where everybody’s either a magnificent hero or a sickening villain, even though we know that’s not true about our fellow humans. What’s true is that we are clever and stupid; what’s true is that we’re grey areas.”

Jon Ronson (Ted talk) – how one tweet can ruin your life

We are humans. No one is perfect and we all make mistakes. However, everything that is done now is put under a microscope so that even mistakes that were made in the past when an individual was less healthy or less mature can be taken and used against them. There also seems to be little room for individuals to be able to explain themselves. There are of course things that are obviously wrong to be done, however, there are many situations that aren’t as black and white. It’s unfortunately all very complicated.

Lastly, I really like the quote he ended his TED talk with.

“The great thing about social media was how it gave a voice to voiceless people, but now we’re creating a surveillance society, where the smartest way to survive is to go back to being voiceless.”

Jon Ronson (ted talk) – HOw one tweet can ruin your life

This TED talk was made back in 2015. I think of all of the big events that have taken place more recently where there has been large division in opinions and perspectives. Cancel culture and a new public hatred for people with differing views has become a lot more prevalent. It is no wonder that people are becoming more fearful of speaking out and sharing about their beliefs. Unfortunately this also makes it so that people aren’t being educated about different perspectives and aren’t having the chance to expand upon their own understanding of different issues.

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Split Image – Kate Fagan – May 7, 2015

This article presents the dangers of the false reality that social media can often present about individuals. You can’t always assume that the person you are seeing on social media is who they are at face value. Check on your people. It is not your responsibility to prevent someone from ending their own life, however, if you have any sense that someone you know is struggling, talk to them. Don’t give up on them.

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Overall, digital identities are important. In this day and age, it is very difficult to not have a digital footprint that exists, so it is crucial that you do what you can to have a positive digital identity. In light of the TED talk and news article, it is also important to be aware of what you say and do on social media, as well as take note of the people that you know who are posting on social media.

When taking a glance at the different outcomes across a few subjects, the closest connection to anything online that I can see is in Health Education, although there are not very many specific topics or discussion ideas specifically related to the idea of digital citizenship or having an online presence. However, there are topics that are discussed that could be seen to be at a similar level or have linking elements to digital citizenship.

For example, in the grade 2 Health Education curriculum, the outcome USC2.4: examine social and personal meanings of “respect” and establish ways to show respect for self, persons, living things, possession, and the environment has students learning what “respect” is and the different forms that it can look in different situations and contexts, as well as with different people. This outcome can be connected to the fourth element of digital citizenship, described by Mike Ribble (2017) as Digital Etiquette, which “refers to electronic standards of conduct or procedures and has to do with the process of thinking about others when using digital devices.” Having respect for another person’s opinion is important online and offline. Teaching students how to respect other people is a steppingstone in being able to have them know how to respect other people online.

In grade 4, the outcome USC4.3 examine healthy interpersonal skills and determine strategies to effectively develop new relationships and/or negotiate disagreements in relationships could also be looked at as skills needed for Digital Etiquette, as well as Digital Fluency which focuses on the process of understanding technology and its use, such as supporting others instead of making negative comments (Ribble, 2017). It could also be linked to the element Digital Communication and Collaboration which focuses on the electronic exchange of information which is an important part of conversing with other people. Many of USC4.3’s indicators talk about healthy ways to talk with people, respecting other points of view, practicing how to disagree healthily, and other similar topics.

Another grade 4 outcome, USC4.4 determine basic personal responsibility for safety and protection in various environments/situations, can be linked to the element Digital Health and Welfare which refers to the physical and psychological well-being in a digital world as well as Digital Rights and Responsibilities which focus on the requirements and freedoms extended to everyone in a digital world (Ribble, 2017). USC4.4 has two specific indicators that correlate with understanding safety and the risks that are involved with digital citizenship; d) examine cyber safety etiquette and related safety risks and strategies, and j) examine one’s responsibility to use electronic networks in an ethical and safe manner.

Overall, I feel that there is a limited number of outcomes/indicators directly linked to digital citizenship and online safety, but there are multiple outcomes and indicators that focus on learning different skills that would help to pave the way towards teaching about it. Health education seems to be the main subject that allows ways to directly speak about digital citizenship and online safety, but there could be opportunities to speak about it through other subjects depending on the topic or even if a certain situation arises in the classroom where it would be a beneficial time to talk about it. For example, if students are tasked with researching or with creating an online presentation, it would be important to share about the potential risks involved with googling information or with providing personal information in making online accounts.

As a teacher, I would want to make it a priority to have general discussions and rules consistently around digital citizenship and online safety, especially if I am placed into a middle year’s classroom where technology use is a bit more prevalent inside and outside of the classroom. I want to make it clear to my students my stance on technology and the importance I hold in keeping them safe while also holding them accountable in keeping themselves safe online and when using different kinds of technology. There also shouldn’t be a requirement for a certain subject to be taught in order to bring up digital citizenship or online safety. It is a topic that can be and should be brought up in every subject if there is ever natural place to input it. Even if it is unnatural to bring it up or might not seem to fit perfectly with the topic at hand, it needs to be brought up enough that students are aware of their roles and responsibility with technology. Part of a teacher’s role is protecting their students and teaching their students how to take protect themselves.