I guess that is a wrap!! What a journey it’s been!

Here is my final video! Thanks everyone for a great semester!

It’s the final week of of our EDTC 300 class! What a journey it has been! I wanted to thank all my classmates who took the time to follow along my posts and shares! At the start of the year we were asked to keep track of how we contributed to others in the class! Here’s my thoughts on how I contributed to my peers!

DISCORD

I have to be honest here, I signed up for discord and without notifications turned on I wasn’t able to support much of my other classmates. Now I did check it a few times but usually if there were questions, someone had already responded!

BLOGS

Here are some screenshots of how I contributed to others by responding to what they shared on their blogs!

OTHER WAYS TO CONTRIBUTE

Although I lacked in discord, I thought there were some other subtle important ways I contributed to others. One thing I tried to do was have a strong online presence during class time. This meant having my camera on for most of class, engage in questions and conversations, and doing this in a thoughtful and respectful manner!

FINAL THOUGHTS

I am very thankful for the support that I got from my fellow classmates! As someone who wasn’t familiar with blogging and sharing, the positive and encouraging feedback I got made me feel comfortable when sharing my journey and thoughts! Although my presence in discord wasn’t much, I truly feel there were other ways I contributed to the learning of others!

LOOKING INTO SUNO: MUSIC AI

A big part of the reason why I took this class, was to get a better understanding of technology in the classroom and finding ways to engage students. I was excited to see SUNO music in the list of options to look at for AI. I have not heard of or used SUNO before so I was excited to see what it was all about!

WHAT IS SUNO?

SUNO is a AI music generator that allows users to create songs by filling in some prompts like lyrics, genre, and instruments. At first I wanted just to make a random song but then I thought about considering making something that I could use in my future classroom!

MY TURN TO CREATE

I wanted to see how well SUNO would work. So I put it to the test! I created a short song for early year students to practice their ABC’s in a fun song! The nice thing about SUNO is it always gives you a couple different versions to work with! I noticed I tried about 3 or 4 different ones before I found one I liked! Here is a short sample of what I made!

TOOL TO ENHANCE LEARNING

Here is how I think SUNO can be used to enhance learning for students and teachers!

• Engaging- Turning lessons into songs can be a unique and fun way to engage students by using differentiation strategy
• Personal Learning- Songs can be created to fit a students certain subject focus, allowing to practice different topics and subjects. 
• Going above and beyond- As future educators, it’s our responsibility to not only challenge our students but ourselves! Finding the best tools to help our students become successful learners!

SUPPORTING LEARNING STYLES

1. Auditory learners-SUNO supports auditory learners by turning regular content into unique and fun songs. Reinforced learning with repetition in a creative way!
2. Critical Thinking and Creativity-Students can create their own music allowing for them to navigate on their own when using SUNO which will naturally have them to think critically and problem solve when creating their song
3. Assessment-Creating lyrics can also be a way for students to demonstrate their understanding of related topics.

CHALLENGES

1. Copyright and Ownership- AI ownership on content has been questioned
2. Access/Availability- Not everyone has access to these types of resources and tools.
3. AI dependent- The risk of students depending on AI with everything they do, can be a risk to how they learn and understand concepts

AI IS HERE IN EDUCATION

I believe AI, when used carefully, can help both teachers and students in education. Tools like SUNO bring joy and creativity to the classroom! This can allow from simple concepts to difficult concepts easier to understand. Although AI is alive and well, one thing it can’t replace is empathy and heart! I see AI being a big part of what is ahead in education as long as it is used in the right ways! As someone who was against the use of technology, I have grown to see the upside it brings into our education!

I’ve always had a passion for music, so when I was checking both options for coding I saw hour of code and it had an option called Music Lab: Jam Session. Right away I wanted to make and create a song! It had a list of song you could use so I went with one of my favourite songs “Wake Me Up” by Aloe Blac

Easy Right?

Nope! It took me probably 30 minutes of clicking and moving things around as I didn’t have any step by step instruction! It popped up a new project and left me to figure it out on my own! After taking some time and once things started to progress, I started to reflect on how and why I think coding is important and hands down should be used in school if students take interest in things like coding! Here’s my 3 reasons based on my experience:

1.) Problem Solving- I had to figure out based on trial and error how to navigate what I was doing and what was working.

2.) Creativity- I was able to make something very unique and my creative skills were out to work.

3.) Developing Skills- I made progress throughout my time spent coding and after an hour and a half, I had something that I thought was good!

Before & After

You can check out the song I made through the QR Code below!

Based on some of my field experience, I find students especially in the earlier grades are growing at a rapid rate of how well they can use and navigate things like phones, iPads, computers, and gaming consoles. Which can be looked at in good and bad ways. So I’m left with the question, how do I plan how teaching my students about digital literacy? Here’s what I think and what I learned from some research.

Photo by StockSnap on Pixabay

My thoughts:

• Being in the early years, I think it is important to understand your goal as a educator is to build the foundation of thoughtful and safe digital habits for students. I think at this age and even sometimes earlier, students are just beginning to explore internet and technology.

Learning from the readings:

• “Fake news is a type of hoax or deliberate spread of misinformation with the intent to mislead”
• “Prioritize helping students develop investigative techniques”

Connecting to the curriculum and NCTE Framework:

• CR1.2 Mentions looking at multimedia texts and being able to identify and locate key information
• CR1.4 Specifically talks about being able to distinguish fiction and non-fiction
• Engage and explore is something mentioned lots in the Saskatchewan Curriculum and is also mentioned in the NCTE Framework.

Connecting to Reflect:

Even in the early years it is our responsibility to help guide and navigate our students with digital literacy. It might not be about fact checking but understanding safe behaviour, to ask questions, and to think critically with everything they are learning so that they can build their skills, navigate the real and digital world with confidence and care.

In class we have talked about some very powerful and unsettling topics around things like Cyber-shaming and digital footprints. After watching some class videos and discussions with peers, it has opened my thoughts on the importance of teaching how to navigate through the online world and the dangers that can be out there.

For many years, the internet has been this amazing tool with endless information. What we forget about, is the danger behind the internet and those who use it for the wrong reasons. I think it is important to educate yourself and others about the harm that can be out there. This is also why I try to distance myself from the internet, I feel we are disconnected from the real world because everything you need to know can be right at your finger tips. Don’t get me wrong!! I get it, find answers to those questions you have been wondering about, or the best stuffed chicken recipe, how about the workout routine that what’s his name shared on how to get buff quick. Where would we be, if we were left in wonder? What if you didn’t need to know the answer to that question? or maybe making that chicken how you see fit. Or what about just working out to stay healthy? I have seen many different trends, I wonder if there will be a trend to “disconnect”?

HERE’S THE THING!! As future educators, we need to adapt all the time, and as much as I want to have my class not depend on technology, I understand we live in a digital world and it is my responsibility to teach and guide my students how to navigate the online world. Which starts with me, I need to have  an open mind, educate myself, and challenge myself to grow with the digital world! I can only hope the dark side of the internet changes over time, but for now, I plan to teach how to navigate through the good and bad of the digital world.

So I’m sitting outside reflecting on some of the articles, thinking about digital citizenship and how I might approach it in my future classroom. I started thinking what grade should we be introducing these 9 elements of digital citizenship. When I was in school, I never learned about anything related to the 9 elements. Now there was restrictions but we as students were never really educated on the digital world. The digital world is such a big of our lives now, we need to educate our students about the digital world throughout their educational journey.

The main question from the one article “Character Education for the Digital Age” by Jason Ohler is “should we teach our kids to have two lives or one?” This is a question I had to sit on for awhile. I am someone who struggles with the amount of technology kids are using today. What I am coming to understand, is that it is better to educate our students throughout their educational journey with digital citizenship to help them properly utilize the tool of the digital world. If I want to answer the question of two lives or one, I am going to lean towards one. For my future classroom, I envision the “one life” approach where mixing their digital experiences with their learning and understanding of community, values, and responsibility.

To break it down, I believe it is important to teach digital citizenship. If we are teaching our students about right and wrong in our classrooms, we need to teach the right and wrongs of the online world.

RAPID RISE NUMBERS DONT LIE

Technology has for many years now been on a rapid rise with the amount of users being connected online. It’s more common to see young kids connected online outside and inside the classroom. I was blown away while reading some of the stats of how much teens are using social media and what this could mean for me as a future educator.

INCLUDING WESCH

For myself, I have more recently declined my use of social media. I was getting a feeling of being overwhelmed and almost controlled by social media. Although, after watching Michael Wesch and the video “An anthropological introduction to YouTube” I started to see the good again and the true reason why we can access this tool. It was understanding that technology isn’t just about consuming but actively participating and building things like community, expression, and identity. I am trying to shift into a celebration mindset of the new wave of empowerment and the unimaginable possibilities using technology, allowing for us to connect in ways we have never connected before.

STUDENT CENTERED GUIDING

When I think of technology in the classroom the first thing that came to mind was student centered learning, which focuses on meeting the needs of each student, including their interests, and adapting towards different learning styles. The reason why I think this is important because if our students are interested in various technology apps, games, etc..we can utilize that interest to spark engagement with our students. For example, I was teaching a lesson on environment and pollution, where students would draw a healthy environment and a polluted environment. I had one student who came to me and said their not good a drawing. We ended up being able to use an Ipad app that allowed for him to create the environment. My point being we need to set up our students for success and that can mean making adjustments to learning styles, incorporating technology and most importantly finding those interests. As educators, we can use the tools and resources we have to help guide our students learning.

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Screen time, distractions, and misinformation are all things that could potentially be challenges you faces with technology in the classroom if not approached diligently. That being said there are some amazing opportunities where students can connect with others, share their voices, and have an meaningful learning experience! I hope I can find a balance when bringing in technology into my classroom and help guide students. I want to embrace the potential it has to create critical thinking and meaningful learning experiences.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The digital world isn’t going away anytime soon, rather then me resisting it, I need to re-think how I plan on teaching with it and how my students can learn from it. I think with technology our classrooms can become a place of creativity, connection, and have a meaningful impact with students.

CHECK THIS OUT!

Here is an interesting take by Maylin Zhu on Finding Balance In A World Saturated With Screens.

Have you always wanted to create cartoons for a school assignment? what if your cartoon could help learn and create amazing things?? Look no further then Puppet Pals 2! This resource is fun and engaging for students!

With Puppet Pals 2, students can allow their imagination to come to life by creating their very own cartoons! Where characters are picked from standard curriculum which allows for students to learn valuable lesson without even knowing. Puppet Pals allows for students to engage in curriculum through a unique and fun app!

How can this be used in the classroom?

Puppet Pals 2 is a great tool to include in your classrooms because of the many different things you can use it for such as:

• Instructional videos
• Retelling historic events
• Story telling
• Book reports
• Brainstorming
• Assist ESL learners with language and fluency

This is a tool I would definitely consider bringing into my classroom because its a fun and unique way to include technology into my students learning! The two things I really like about this app is the story telling option and the ability for it to assist with ESL learners. This is another great tool that can be used as a learning strategy!