Well, our course has finally come to a close and, with it, our deep and critical examination of educational technology. Of course, with the expanded horizons comes the frustrating realities as well. My YouTube summary seems to work well when I preview but vanishes once I’ve published. I have also had my pictures vanish mysteriously off of some of my blog posts…grrrr! This is a good lesson on the frustration your students may feel and they have MUCH less emotional…
Ahh, the final debate. As this was also my own debate, I was surprised to discover how stronly I believe we need to stop teaching skills that technology can do with ease. Initially, I was not convinced. I was aware that, as teachers, our time in the classroom is limited, and it’s wasteful to devote hours to mastering cursive writing, memorizing multiplication tables, or drilling spelling when technology performs these tasks faster and more accurately. But, as my colleagues would…
Although educational technology promises innovation and inclusion, without deliberate design and support, it often widens existing inequities and creates what is not so fondly referred to as the digital divide. While I was vaguely familiar with this term and realized from my own experience rural and more isolated communities were directly affected by this gap in access to modern technology and communications, my own research brought some further and unexpected learning. Following a thorough debate, this post explores how digital…
As a life-long gamer that began in the arcades as a youth, it took me years to acknowledge that addictive behaviour and I now need to regulate my own use of technology stringently to ensure I do not get absorbed for hours and hours or even days in a game. Even when I was in university I would regulate my ‘rewards’ for finishing assignments or exams with strictly limited screen time. However, that was prior to the Age of the…
As I am a noob in the fascinating and rapidly progressive world of AI, this was an interesting debate for me to witness and participate. However, prior to the debate, like all the debated topics, I was beginning to see a trend in the concept that all of these technological advances are already here, we must learn to live with them, and everything in moderation. Was this the consensus with the AI in the classroom debate? Are we living a…
Is social media as safe option for our students? Is it even safe for adults? Let’s jump into the age-old debate of social media – cannot live with it or cannot live without it. Yes, the addiction is legit! As Mike and Kaela indicated, social media is robbing children of their childhood. It is forcing them to grow up too quickly and, I would argue, it is creating a distorted sense of belonging. Instead of growing that comfort and support…
Is technology going to be the downfall of education as we know it as the ultimate distraction or will it save us precious time and prepare students for real world experiences? This is currently a topic of much heated debate in the institution of education and this was no exception within our EC&I 830 class. We were saved from the evil technology monster or is it swallowing us whole? Dustin valiantly argued that technology was having a negative impact on…
Hello all you digital wanderers and welcome to my blog! Who am I you ask? Let me paint a mental picture to satiate your obvious curiosity; however, be forewarned, we all know what curiosity did to the poor innocent fuzzball kitty in the end. So curious adventurers beware! My life has been a veritable roller coaster of experiences. From being born at home and growing up on a commune to having a private audience with his holiness the Dalai Lama…
My workday begins as any other day, my iPhone sleep app gently wakes me up with soft and yet surprisingly annoying meditative music. Said ‘music’, if you can call it that, becomes progressively louder until I can no longer handle the overtly aggressive undertones of my simple phone. Then I do my usual routine of showering, feeding my dog, and then creating the ambrosia of the gods – my morning espresso because we all know and understand strong espresso is…