It’s hard to believe that the semester is coming to an end. As I am posting my “Summary of Learning” to my blog, I am excited to see where my tech journey will take me in the future! I went a little out of my comfort zone with my final project and I researched something new that I have wanted to try out for years now. I figured now is the time to go for it when I was feeling inspired to create. For my final project in EC & I 833, I decided to create my own virtual classroom! I can’t tell you how many tutorials I watched to…

When I think back to my first experiences with the concept of Virtual Reality as a child, the “View Master” camera comes to mind where we could “[bring] our favourite movie scenes to life [or we could be transported] to some of the best scenic landmarks in the world with the push of a button” (Retro Dodo). It was one of the toys I enjoyed the most and I was constantly bugging my parents to purchase new slides for me to use with this camera. There was something very appealing as preschooler to be able to see different scenes through a camera and have a scenery up so close that…

I will not lie that when I saw that this week we were going to be looking at the topic of coding and makerspaces, I started having flashbacks to my high school computer science classes where I always seemed to be lost amongst all the codes we were expected to use to create Excel Spreadsheets or Websites. I expected to be lost throughout the whole presentation and may have even panicked – just for a second – when I saw we were going to be trying out coding firsthand during class. Imagine my surprise, when I started trying out the coding program and not only understood the process but also…

As the World Health Organization mentions, assistive technology “enables and promotes inclusion and participation, especially of persons with disability, aging populations, and people with non-communicable diseases. The primary purpose of assistive products is to maintain or improve an individual’s functioning and independence, thereby promoting their well-being. They [also] enable people to live healthy, productive, independent, and dignified lives, and to participate in education, the labour market and civic life”. When we refer to assistive technology in education it is considered to be “the use of devices and software to improve the experience of learning or going about daily life. Assistive technology can range from Braille displays and books to text-to-speech software…

This week we looked at assessment technology in class and we were asked to choose one assessment tool that we wanted to try out with our kiddos. I was impressed with all the different assessment technology that has become available in recent years. For example, Quizizz and Pear Deck were new tools that I had never heard about until recently this year. When having to choose an assessment technology tool to use with my Grade 2 students, I considered many different aspects that would ensure my students had a positive experience using the assessment tool I picked for them as well as select an assessment technology that would be able…

To be raised in a digital era surrounded by an abundant amount of Social Media applications sounds like a wonderful opportunity to open doors to endless possibilities. Social Media is such a complex topic to grasp and it is difficult to understand all the positives as well as negatives linked to this technology. It seems for every positive we can identify related to Social Media, there is most definitely a negative associated with this technology (if not more…). The documentary entitled “The Social Dilemma” features different interviews with different individuals who pioneered various social media platforms (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, Google, etc.) and explains how something that was meant to be…

Reflecting on my experience it is quite evident that technology is heavily engrained in my work life as well as my student life. I use technology daily at work and now that a good chunk of my graduate courses is delivered online, I also rely on technology immensely to complete my assignments for my graduate courses. From the moment I arrive at school, I rely on technology to accomplish all the administrative tasks linked to my work, to help me engage my students, and to help me stay connected with staff and families. I walk into my classroom and from the moment I sit down at my desk and start…

As I was watching the video assigned for our blog post this week, I will admit that I had various “tabs” open in my mind and I kept thinking about my “to-do list”. Ever since I entered the workforce, it was ingrained in me that multi-tasking was one of the most desirable traits an employee could hold. Multi-tasking has always been mentioned as a desirable quality in all my revised versions of my CV and I never saw it as a negative factor that could possibly affect my productivity. As James Hamblin started mentioning how he could not remember the last time he did something without trying to do something…

Hey team!   This week we were asked to consider Neil Postman’s quote about Sesame Street where he mentions: “We now know that “Sesame Street” encourages children to love school only if school is like “Sesame Street.” Which is to say, we now know that “Sesame Street” undermines what the traditional idea of schooling represents.” My response back to this quote would be – “Is that such a bad thing???” Is it wrong to evolve from an outdated approach to education and move forward to a teaching approach that is more inclusive and student-centered that speaks to our current reality in the classroom?   As a child born in the…

Over the past decade, my teaching philosophy has shifted from theoretical concepts reviewed throughout my undergraduate career to teaching beliefs founded on firsthand experiences within the classroom. To prove this point, I will share a story regarding my classroom setup that took place my first year of teaching that explains how quickly we can adapt our teaching ideologies to fit the needs within our classroom.   I remember that when I first convocated from the Faculty of Education and started my first teaching job, my teaching beliefs were centered around a socio-constructivist perspective where it is more of a learner centred approach to teaching that focusses more on the students…