I began this class with very little knowledge when it comes to using technology for the classroom, very little experience participating in online communities, and not a lot of skills with even basic applications that a lot of folks use daily.
Skills & Experience Development
STARTING EXPERIENCE
END OF COURSE
Very comfortable with google work space (less with google slides)
Some experience with Instagram
Some experience with Facebook
Some experience with Edsby
Very little experience with graphic design programs
Little to no experience with work/school applications, add-ons, and AI
Building comfort with GIMP, VideoScribe, and PowToon
Have created a blog and know the basics of posting and maintaining my ePortfolio
Hands on experience with numerous other applications that can be used in the classroom
Some experience with AI applications
Big increase in practical exposure to general tech skills involving audio, video, and image files
Also, my tool kit and vocabulary has exploded!!!
It was slow going at the start. It took a lot of time. A LOT. And I would get frustrated by how cumbersome my process of learning was. But in the past couple weeks I’ve realized that I move through trying new applications and navigating them just a little bit more easily. And what is exciting about this is that my brain isn’t just fighting to understand how to use these tools, decode the language of them. I have the mental space to start seeing the possibilities in what they offer as learning tools. I’m excited to work with them, try things out, explore the possibilities.
I can’ t emphasize enough what massive growth I’ve experience over the past 7 weeks!
THANK YOU
Below I’m sharing my Summary of Learning through a whiteboard animation created with PowToon. To make this video, I had to draw on a lot of skills that I still didn’t really have (working with audio files and learning this new web-based animation platform). And yes, it still took me a lot of time.
But, I took this learning in stride. I felt more able to intuitively decode or find the answers I needed. I felt more nimble in my brains ability to navigate these digital forms and tools.
I’m wrapping up this course feeling far more confident (and not quite as old) as when I started.
Seven weeksago I chose to begin exploring how to create digital animation. With almost no experience, I wanted to get a feel for what applications I might use and dip my toes into the ocean of digital design.
I achieved some solid goals that I’d made and I’ve started to get a sense of the applications and tools out there that one can use for digital drawing and animation. Most importantly though – I’ve pushed through that uncomfortable, awkward, and cumbersome process of penetrating the language barrier that had kept me separate from this creative form.
What I’ve learned is that with each slow and challenging step towards understanding this digital terrain, it’s opened up a perspective on what the landscape of applications, tools, and creative possibilities exist.
The first few weeks were HARD. Everything I did felt like it took forever and I spent a lot of time in that frustrating place where you don’t know what to do so you keep doing the same thing (and continue to fail and feel frustrated). There is a re-wiring of the brain that has to happen when you learn to work within a new form like this (and my aging brain is clearly not as agile as it once was).
But through the uphill of the learning curve, I eventually built either some skills or maybe it was just endurance, and by the end of this seven weeks I was feeling more at ease.
Here’s a breakdown of what these past seven weeks have looked like:
I began by researching what applications could provide me with the design and animation abilities that I was looking to accomplish. I asked these questions:
What beginner-friendly programs exist.
What do they offer?
Will it align with the technology I currently have access to?
What is the cost involved?
I used video reviews to introduce me to tools like Adobe Animate which led me to doing further research into how these applications work and which would be most accessible to me.
Accomplishment: Getting the lay of the land.
Week 2 – Talking the Talk
I set some goals around what I wanted to be able to create in order to help direct which application I would choose. These goals were:
Collage separate digital images into one image
Draw and save a digital drawing at a resolution to be used for projection.
Learn how to use basic ‘tweening’ to animate from a few drawings (if I get time).
As I tried to do research about the applications from the first week, I quickly realized that part of my learning involved building language skills before building any digital studio skills. (What is a vector file vs a raster file? How many ppi do I need for the job I’m doing?)
Long hours trying to get my bearings, watching videos and doing a lot of googling of terms, and I just wanted to get learning. I felt stuck because of my own ignorance around the topic. So I decided to choose a GIMP because my partner had it on our computer and he knew the program, so I could defer to him if I needed in-person support along the way.
Accomplishment:I’ve settled on the digital editing application that is right for me (at this moment).
Which led me to ….
Week 2.5 – Tech Support
Learning the basics of GIMP. I watched several videos, which got me started but none of the videos I watched was giving enough detail for my beginner level skill set.
My big learning for week 2 was that it can take more time searching for learning videos that will offer you what you need to know, than it takes to actually do the learning itself.
I had to call in my in-house tech support for a half hour consult, which helped explain some of the problems I was facing and fill the gaps that the videos had skimmed over.
Accomplishment: I’ve finally got some very basic skills that will allow me to work on my first goal of collaging separate digital images together.
BONUS
During this same week, we were asked to try out a new-to-me application. I chose videoscribe. This app was a great confidence boost for my learning project because it offered a very accessible way to create digital whiteboard animations. It still took time to walk through the how-tos, but it felt much easier than what I’d been trying to do with my learning project. I animated a whiteboard video and felt I could fall back on this in the future if I needed to slot it into my learning project process.
I finally got to begin creating a digital image. Again, I mostly relied on video tutorials so I could walk through the process step by step alongside the videos.
I found that I’d watch some videos several times for just one action, as I jumped back and forth between the video and the task I was trying to learn. This was really useful.
Along the way I’d use other sites or google to help build my vocabulary around the digital tools within the application.
Accomplishment: I finally was able to upload my scanned drawings and add text and collaged images into them. It looked like a small step, but considering all the time that had gone into getting me here – it felt HUGE!
Week 4 – Animation
After watching a few videos, it looked like creating a GIF was the right option for the application I was using. This wasn’t too hard, but included both video tutorials and some personal trial and error. But I was able to create a simple GIF. I just used text to keep the process simple and focused on the skill, not the creative component (which can become more time consuming).
Accomplishment:A short GIF! (which I couldn’t make work when I downloaded it…but that came next week).
Week 5 – Animation onward
This week required another call in to my personal tech support, which helped explain how to activate the GIF I’d downloaded by bringing it into my browser.
I then moved on to watching videos on onionskinning and created a very simple animation of rain. At this point I’ve become aware of just how much time the smallest, shortest animations take me…but also how involved the process can be.
I also FINALLY found a really good video tutorial for GIMP that was so thorough I wished I’d found it earlier.
Accomplishment:Creating a simple animation that is the correct resolution for sharing through projection!
Riffel High School, That’s Possible (credit: Amaya Ander, 2025)
Additionally, I then went on to create a powerpoint of images and a couple GIFs that were used for a theatre project with Riffel Highschool’s Integrated Theatre Program.
Week 6 – Moving On
I wanted to know what else I could do outside of the limits of GIMP. So this week I sought out other ‘quick’ animation tools based on recommendations from ChatGPT.
Screenshot, Flipanim, 2025
I used FlipAnim , which was an accessible, easy web-based tool for creating simple animations. I loved it! And it was the first tool I’d found that students could easily use within the classroom.
Accomplishment: Another tool in my toolbox!
Week 7 – AI
One thing I didn’t get to in my learning journey was using an application that did ‘tweening’. But this week I was introduced to using AI to generate videos by trying out Sora.
I’m really curious to explore what I could do with AI to generate stories and videos. I tried out Animated Drawings with my kids and quickly dabbled with Sora’s Vidfly.
Videos like this one offer as a guide to creating full animated videos step by step: through story generation, image generation, animation from images, and voice over tools. I’m keen to dig deeper into exploring this potential.
So where did I get? Well, maybe I haven’t created a more complex animation over this short project, but I feel I have a grasp of some foundational knowledge that has me curious to learn more.
Accomplishment: Most importantly, after these past 7 weeks of learning I have developed the comfort to expand on my learning in this area. And really, that is the beginning…
Can AI be used in the classroom to motivate, engage, and inspire creativity?
There’s lot of conversation around how AI can help teachers in building lesson plans, generating creative approaches to learning, and assisting with differentiation.
I’m keen to dig into these bigger topics and better understand how they’ll impact my own role as a teacher and how I can use AI in support of teaching and learning.
But after our class on AI and the presentation by Alec Couros, I was particularly excited to consider the ways AI can support creative practices and generative learning models.
How can AI support creative potential and divergent thinking in young people?
First, I needed to try my hand at using AI tools…something new to me. I began to playfully experiment with Suno, getting a sense of how to create a song and edit/remix it. (making a little tribute song for my dance teacher)
It was so quick and I had four options to choose from.
Could Suno be used as a creative tool to support memory and learning? Music has numerous benefits for learning. Suno offers students or teachers the ability to integrate curriculum into songs. Songs could offer as a demonstration of learning, for example: writing lyrics about science or health outcomes, or creating first person narratives from the perspective of a novel character. To give this a shot, I dropped Gr 4 Science Outcome/Indicators into ChatGPT and asked it to write me a poem. From there I dropped the poem into Suno. A few tweaks in each application to adjust tone, and within under 10 minutes….I had a song. (Its not a great song granted, but if I’d put a little time into finessing the lyrics or getting AI to tighten it up ….maybe?)
…then pair the song with a video created using Sona?
Encourage Critical Thinking and Creativity:
The ability to quickly remix and edit within AI tools is where I believe the opportunity for creativity lies. Because results are generated so quickly, it offers kids a responsive generative space to push ideas and easily build off of their imaginations. This responsive zone is similar to where play happens with young children, a place of trial and error and invention.
It was fun and they were eager to experiment with it. I can imagine that this tool could be used in art or science to think about anatomy and creatively explore how form translates into movement.
But what I also loved about how my kids engaged with this tools is how quickly they moved from the ‘rules’ of engagement for making the animations work as expected, to messing around with the system to see what kind of results they’d get. I can imagine that the creative potential of this simple tool is one that could provide a playground for divergent thinking.
At the top of our class on Digital Identity, we were asked to quickly google ourselves and see if what we found aligned with what we want others to see or know about us.
s.dunn, screenshot google search, 2025
The idea that we all leave a digital footprint as we navigate the web (sharing, liking, and posting) is something I’d only slightly considered. I do not spend a lot of time putting things on social media for this particular reason.
pixabay, 2025
But what I’ve learned is that absence of a digital footprint can have a downside as well. An online presence is an opportunity to showcase your skills, engage in social justice, and have an active hand in building positive and generative online spaces/communities.
When it comes to digital identity, and how as educators we can support student’s awareness and online agency, there are a few key considerations I’m taking away with me about curating an online identity:
Students need to be aware of their digital footprint. Educators need to support them in understanding how the choices they make online are captured long-term. This includes education around how companies like Snapchat have ownership of the images they post, that every digital action is etched into the online archive, and that what one shares online can have larger personal implications. Resource (middleschool) : Digital Footprint: How to Build a Positive Online Identity
Offering students resources that promote both a critical and authentic approach to online engagement. Consider the spectrum of how social media use can impact one’s life. The range includes posting inappropriate content that can have significant repercussions on one’s non-digital life, to posting such an idealized version of your life that it causes dissonance within one’s actual lived experiences. The story of Madison Holleran demonstrates an example of how this idealized version of lives online are so dominant that they trump the actual message that friends or family share with us – distorting our perception of ourselves and of others. Stories like Madison’s are important to share with students, so that they can recognize these dangers from the outside.
By offering students tools and activities that engage them in building a positive online presence, we can help nurture healthy digital citizenship. This can be done by creating ePortfolios, being active in community and social justice work online, and creating new models for healthy online identity and community. Resource (K-Gr 3): MediaSmarts Lesson Plan: Representing Ourselves Online)
As I reflected on Digital Identity, my thoughts went to my own children and what would surface if I searched them online.
Neither has a social media account – but I became aware of my responsibility as a parent and the digital identity I’m creating for them without their input. Most of what came up when I searched them were new articles about events or projects they’ve been at or contributed to. My one daughter had a Gr 4 teacher that would get the students to submit critical comments to articles on CBC kids news (Good Stuff!). Everything I’ve found is pretty positive, healthy, and safe. But I keep thinking about the number of images I’ve posted of them when they were little. What online identity have I already established for them….
After reading Grace Kelln’s post about using AI as a tool to learn crochet, I realized that AI might be able to help me on my journey to creating animations. Here’s my journey into using AI to help me source a new option :
I first asked ChatGPT for suggestions on beginner friendly animation apps.
What I liked about using ChatGPT is that it didn’t just make suggestions, it offered details about what I could do with each without having to read through the websites or do more googling.
(Why didn’t I start with ChatGPT for my research in the first place?!)
I furthered my search by asking which ones were free, specifying that I was using a laptop with only a track pad, that I wanted an app that would tween for me, and that I wanted the option to import my own drawings. And the winner was: (Drum Roll)……CANVA
However….the definition of ‘animate’ on Canva was more about adding movement features (like flip, slide, and bounce), rather than drawing animations.
I tried Animaker out, and it wasn’t an animation program like I’d hoped. I tried it out by generating an “AI” a video birthday card using some text and an uploaded image. It was basically a slide show with a robot voice that read the text I’d put in.
FlipAnim is set up as a kid-friendly, simple, ‘flip book style’ animation tool.
It is not fancy, but it does give you the ability to create onion skin (frame-by-frame) animations. It wasn’t easy to do on my laptop with a trackpad..but I gave it a shot.
What I really liked about this tool is that it was self explanatory. I didn’t actually need to do any training, find an online video, or even read instructions. The layout of the tool was visually intuitive.
That said… I did end up watching this very short video that shared how to use the app and download your file to a GIF. (aannnnddd…ya, I probably wouldn’t have figured this out on my own). I loved how short the video was and how quickly a kid could learn how to use this animation app.
And here’s what I created:
The process of creating a short animation was by far the easiest I’ve encountered. Maybe I’m slightly more literate in using these tools since I began six weeks ago?
SO – does this count towards my learning how to do animation? At this point, I feel like the learning is sometimes in the process of finding the tool that offers you what you need. If I wasn’t going to create more professional or high resolution animations this tool might do the job.
And..I’m keen about this new app. It could be a great tool for the classroom. Kids could easily use this to generate a moving picture as a demonstration of learning.
I’m behind on posting my progress because after Week Four I was deeply immersed in the Artist in Schools Project with Riffel HighSchool.
Working with this Integrated Theatre Program was part of my motivation for learning some basic animation skills, with the goal of incorporating some animated elements into the projection-based set design.
One of the key scenes I wanted to include animation in was set in a rainstorm. The aesthetic of the whole show is centred around a ‘hand drawn’ (middle-schooler) comic /doodle style.
(Here’s the GIF I create – see the end of the post for a final production shot)
After learning how to create a GIF in week four, I decided that a GIF was the easiest way to pull off the rainstorm animation. I learned the basics of frame-by-frame in my week four exercises, but for that I’d just used text to keep it really simple…and focus on the technical foundations of frame-by-frame.
This week I’d need to use an onion skinning technique to reproduce my drawn image and shift it slightly in each frame. The goal was to draw a rainstorm, then shift the same drawing slightly from frame to frame in order to make it appear to be moving.
I used this new video tutorial to further understand how to do this using the onion skin technique I’d see in the week four video.
This video was one of the best I’ve watched so far.
It went through every step, including ones I’d missed in past videos. She clarified questions I’d had about setting up a new document size, and she moved through each choice with a bit more context and detail than past videos I’d watched. She also gave very specific tools and techniques for more involved animation that I needed. But I’d definitely use this video over the others for future learning.
So, what makes a good video tutorial?
I asked myself why this video tutorial seemed better than others I’d watched? These are things I noticed:
She had a webcam embedded into her tutorial (does seeing her speak help understand the content…it felt like it did?)
She moved slowlywith her cursor when demonstrating how to use the tools in Gimp.
She gave context and reasons for all her choices (made no assumptions about prior knowledge).
She offered specificity within her process (each frame was labelled so I could grasp every change that was being made , she articulated the details of each tool as she used them, even if they were basic tools like colour fill).
I think in the end, it was the specificity that really helped.
This is something I’ll carry forward when I’m thinking about teaching and learning – and if I ever create my own videos for students.
But I’m still sitting with the idea that by seeing her face in the webcam somehow made her lesson easier to understand. I don’t know why? What are your thoughts about whether a webcam narration helps the learning process? I’m curious to know if others have had similar experiences during their online learning journey!
Here are some final images from the use of the rainstorm GIF within the That’s Possible production of Diary of a Wimpy Kid!
Riffel High School, That’s Possible (credit: Amaya Ander, 2025)
Riffel High School, That’s Possible (credit: Amaya Ander, 2025)
In even the youngest grade levels, students are using the internet to gather images and ideas for projects. If kids are going to be navigating online content as young as 6 or 7, it makes sense that as educators we’d be incorporating digital literacy into our lessons as soon as kids begin school.
In Finland, digital media literacy is taught across all subjects and begins at an early age. In the following video, they discuss how Finland’s government policy on media literacy grew out of Cold War distrust of neighbouring Soviet Union’s disinformation within the media. It became crucial to teach citizens from a young age how to gauge the accuracy of what they read in the news and online.
Fast forward to today, and we are experiencing a similar caution around misinformation and disinformation (coming from our Southern neighbour but also globally).
Media literacy, when embedded within all subject areas, can build students capacity for critical thinking and deeper engagement with the content they consume.
What does this look like? Educator Peter Pappas and his students offer examples of how we can teach critical thinking and online engagement through science, writing, and math lessons in this ebook Lessons In Critical Thinking. It also means explicitly teaching kids about bias in the news and giving them the tools to identify misinformation, AI generated content, and ‘fake news’. This Bias in the News worksheet identifies where to look for bias within the elements of mediated information.
As educators, we can teach students how to be active participantsin what content is being created online, and what content we choose to share and propagate.
We can teach students to mindfully engage with online information,
rather than be passive consumers of content.
We can offer them opportunities to think creatively and critically.
I am currently working on a Grade 8 Health Education Unit on body image, self esteem, and wellness. This is a great example of an opportunity to embed digital literacy within the curriculum.
Lessons offer students space to reflect on how media impacts their self perception. This includes bringing awareness to how social media algorithms can reduce our exposure to diverse and authentic images of beauty and health. Digital literacy offers an opportunity to engage in anti-bias education, by showing students how to expand their mediated lens.
We need to teach kids that online communities and social media can have a negative impact on their self-image, self-esteem, and mental health
OR
they can provide gender-affirming, body-positive, culturally and racially reflective spaces that celebrate individuality and personal identity.
….and that THEY have the power to choose.
That power comes with critical engagement and education.
This great short video series aimed at youth and media shares those messages in clear and inclusive ways:
Creating body-positive authentic spaces using social media
In a recent EDTC 300 class, Dr Katia Hildebrandt spoke about how we shape our digital narrative by stating the things that are important to us. This message, that we can actively curate our online presence, is an important one for young people. It directly connects to the outcomes in the grade 8 Health curriculum.
The National Council of Teachers of English suggests we can teach students how to be ‘active and successful participants in a global society’. As educators we can do this by offering students the skills to critically and respectfully engage with online content, generate content responsibly, and contribute to a global community with ethics and activism
At the start of the year I sit with them and we read through the digital citizen contract the school sends home to be signed. But once they are in class – I get the sense that critical, or at least mindful, engagement on the internet really isn’t being taught.
The tools they use, like Google Classroom, are something they’re just expected to understand. I had to walk my own kid through using Google Drive after realizing she had assignments on there and had no idea how to use the application.
So what approach will I bring to my own future classroom?
I know for certain that I want to approach thoughtful engagement online through doing. I want my students to be participating, contributing, and critically thinking about how they navigate online, accuracy of digital research sources, the opportunities and drawbacks of AI, and how they can use technology to support their learning journey.
I plan to build digital citizenship and Ribble’s Nine Elements of Digital CitizenshipINTO my lessons across the curriculum is key to consistent immersive learning. In our everyday lives, in work and entertainment, digital technologies are embedded in our experience of the world. So building awareness of etiquette, fluency, rights and responsibilities needs to be ingrained in our everyday classroom exchanges and learning.
What does that look like in the classroom?
It may include carefully crafting the use of AI into research assignments or creative writing, providing spaces for critical reflection and conversations about digital responsibility and misinformation (hallucinations) within the lessons. Or, incorporating digital health and safety into Health Ed units that explore identity, body image, ethics and wellbeing.
Sometimes it might be more overt, so that what they are learning can be applied more broadly at home and in the classroom. This CBC article is relevant and references lateral reading techniques, and initiatives like the Teen Fact Checking Network and the digital literacy resource CTRL-F (resources that I’ll be digging into myself to build my own capacity in teaching digital citizenship).
As a community-engaged artist, what I find exciting is considering the possibilities. How can opportunities to practice digital citizenship be merged with material and relational explorations and hands-on learning? How can we teach digital collaboration through lessons that also connect us to communities that broaden kids’ perspectives and world views? How can conversations about AI also draw attention to environmental implications of technology, encouraging sustainable and responsible use of these tools.
A Personal Anecdote
During the pandemic I was the artistic director for a community arts organization. One of our programs was specific to working in long term care facilities. An exciting pandemic adaptation I helped to lead was the integration of school kids into this program. Students were partnered with a senior at the home. Seniors worked with staff to write short stories about their lives and record memories. These stories were shared with the students, who then created miniature ‘diaromas’ representing the senior’s stories. As part of this process, seniors and students met online and students asked questions to get more details for their artworks. These conversations didn’t just teach the students about etiquette or about the history and importance of older members of the community. They also learned about how the technology aided or hindered the seniors’ access. Could those with hearing impairment manage to communicate or did it cause frustration? Did seeing kids from their community support their wellness during isolation? Layers of learning were gained through using this tool as part of the project.
Cultural anthropologist Michael Wesch’s lecture An anthropological introduction to YouTube (2008), speaks to the internet’s potential as a participatory tool, “allowing us to connect in ways we’ve never connected before.” Not only to connect, but to be part of creating new networks that drive and fuel connection.
How can we use the expansive community that the internet offers as an education opportunity for our learning environments? I think the answer is: as generative participants rather than passive consumers.
As a parent, I see my own children (grades 4 and 6) using the internet in the classroom as a source of research and knowledge gathering.
But what about the potential to be gathering knowledge through participatory models that allow students, globally, to be learning with and from each other?
Instead of reading a wikipedia definition of the climate in Greece, why not interview another student who lives there? What happens when students are able to exchange personal experiences and knowledge, sharing real cultural and geopolitical perspectives.
Online global pen pal applications are an example of this. You can find a few examples in this article.
Better yet, media scholar Henry Jenkins’ identifies in this 2013 interview, how students can critically engage in the systems of knowledge that they are accessing on the internet. Jenkins’ talks about having students make changes to Wikipedia entries, engaging in the process of defending those entries, and the value of contributing to a permanent record in that way.
Digital engagement in the classroom should not just be passive, consumptive learning.
It is through the process of generative participation, in creation of online content and community, that educational potential exists in the digital realm.
For Wesch, the word Media refers to “mediating human relationships. And as media changes – human relationships change.” And it’s no coincidence that he regularly uses the word celebrate when talking about this form of mediated engagement with each other. He is drawing our attention to the joyous possibility within digital creative networks. And this is something that is important to hold onto as we think about media in learning environments.
TikTok has become the top social media platform among teenagers. So, what does the application offer young people, in terms of generative engagement and community, that we can apply to our models of learning and teaching? I don’t know the answer to this. I do know that rather than dismissing social platforms, we need to at least begin with this question.
As an older adult and parent, my instincts continue to observe caution when it comes to social media, mindful of the impacts on young people’s mental wellness. But I am becoming aware of the need to embrace the possibility and benefits of digital networking.
My major takeaway from this course, and Wesch’s lecture, is that as teachers, we need to be continuously building our own literacy and expertise in digital pedagogy.
GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a free cross-platform image editor. After all my searches for a cost-free application, I ended up choosing the one that I already had on my laptop. I didn’t choose GIMP to begin with because I was looking for an app that could also offer digital animation opportunities. But for the purposes of this first learning goal – GIMP meets the requirements.
This said, GIMP is a raster based editor, and in my last post I noted that I needed to work with vectors. Some IRL chats have me thinking I might be OK using raster files for the purposes of my project. So, I’m going ahead with GIMP and I’ll learn by doing!
I began with this How To Use Gimp (Beginners Guide) video.
I’m going to be working on collaging a few different images together.
These are the images I’m starting with:
I found that the video got me started in creating my project, setting a background, adding layers, and uploading images I wanted to use.
But that was as far as this video got me. It didn’t offer the steps needed to edit my images in the way I wanted.
I watched a few more videos. But they only provided simple overviews OR went way over my head.
I had questions and searching through videos was taking too long.
Here is where learning a new skill online can be frustrating and time consuming. Searching for the learning tool that is going to help you with the specific path or trouble shooting issue can take a lot longer than just being in the same room as someone to answer direct questions and show you things in real life.
I asked my partner to sit with me and answer a few questions. In half an hourI was able to get quick and direct instruction on some specific actions I wanted to know how to do, including:
Transforming an image
Creating transparency and fill options
Specifics around how to work with the layers
How to use a layer I create for other slides I’m building
Saving my work in progress and specific finished slides
Here’s what I created with the help of someone sitting beside me while I learned.
It was the fasted part of this whole learning process so far.
Is it because I’m such a beginner at this that searching for the learning tools involves a layer of learning in itself?
Is it that online learning lacks the ability for immediate and direct questions to be answered along the way?
What have you found in your online learning experiences?
What does this tell us about the role of teachers in the classroom and where/how we embed technology in our students’ learning journey?
And then there are the things I’m learning BY DOING. Like, the importance of saving your work along the way….which I learned the hard way as I was trying to save my final image and GIMP stalled out. But that also reminded me how much we learn through repetition…and when I had to redo everything I’d just been taught – I realized there were a lot of things I’d already forgotten. Another good take away as an educator! Learning by doing….and then doing AGAIN!
Anyways, I now have some specific questions that even my IRL tech support couldn’t answer – but I have a framework of understanding and some basic tools. I feel I can now search online for answers to some of the specific questions with a bit more ease!
But that also reminded me how much we learn through repetition…and when I had to redo everything I’d just been taught – I realized there were a lot of things I’d already forgotten. Another good take away as an educator! Learning by doing….and then doing AGAIN!