The end has finally come. This is my last post giving you all a summary of my learning throughout EDTC 300. I just want to say thank you to everyone who was involved in my learning journey.
Please enjoy the video of my recap of what I learned.
I hope to see many as coworkers in the future. Wishing you all the best!
Until me meet again!
Zach
Well, it looks like our time together is coming to an end. I enjoyed being apart of this community that Katia has built for all of us. The way we all came together and helped each other out with our learning journeys and technological topics was truly inspiring. I hope I can create a community like this in my future classroom.
Throughout the semester, I tried my best to contribute as much as I could in my classmates’ learning journey. However, to be honest, I found it quite difficult. Majority of the topics I explored I knew nothing about. In cases like this, I would comment words of encouragement to my classmates. While this doesn’t directly improve their skill on the task at hand, positive reinforcement still goes a long way in self confidence. I noticed other classmates have the same issue when commenting on each other’s posts. This was evident as I say Kelsey say something similar and I responded with,
“Hey Kelsey,
I can connect with what you are say in many ways. As I was trying my best with keeping up in posting comments, I felt like in many cases I didn’t have much to offer other than encouragement as I had no experience with many topics. However, I strongly believe that positive reinforcement and encouragement is just as valuable as tips on a specific skill. So, keep it up!!
Zach”
For the few topics I did have some knowledge on, I tried my best to offer advice where I could. One student in particular, chose to do bathroom renovation as their learning journey. Before coming to university in pursuit of becoming a teacher, I went to school for four years to become an electrician. I attended Sask Poly Technic and worked as an electrician for five years. This resulted in me have some knowledge in renovations, specifically the electrical aspect. I commented on Madison’s post offering guidance if she needed,
“Hi Madison,
What a great skill to learn. Shocking how much you can learn from TikTok! The reno is looking amazing. I am excited to see the final project at the end of the semester. Keep up the hard work. I don’t know how much new information I can give you but if you have any electrical questions throughout your renovation feel free to reach out and ask! I have an electrical background!
Good luck with everything.
Zach”
I did share the same learning journey with one classmate. We both decided to learn Spanish. While I had some background knowledge on the subject, my classmate did not, causing us to have different starting points. I would express to my classmate what worked and what didn’t work throughout my learning journey. I hoped that this will help her in her future learnings on the subject.
“Hi Kelsey,
It was nice hearing about your learning journey of the Spanish language. Learning a second language is so difficult, so good for you on taking on the challenge. I also chose Spanish for my learning journey. However, I had a decent amount of background knowledge going into it as I spent 5 months in South America a few years ago.
Reading your recap, I used many of the same online resources that you did. I think my biggest advice for you moving forward is that all these apps have different strengths and weaknesses. So, in my opinion, I think it is very valuable to use a combination all the apps you explored. All of them have something to offer. Now, if I had to choose one resource, I think I would go with YouTube. It is so diverse in what you can focus on.
Anyway, I hope you continue your journey in learning Spanish after the semester and maybe one day we’ll run into each other and be able to speak in Spanish!!
Good luck in the future.
Zach”
I hope that I was able to assist a few classmates’ learning journeys throughout this semester. A full list of my comments is on this Google Doc.
Thanks for everyone who commented on my posts as well!
Ciao!
Zach
Without a doubt Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the new hot thing in town. However, it is raising much concern in the field of education. Should students be able to use AI tools such as ChatGPT? Should teachers be able to use ChatGPT? Should educators be teaching students on using ChatGPT?
Before I dive too deep into this controversial topic, I do want to tell you about my personal experience about using AI. Last spring, the University of Regina began to really crack down on students using AI. There were many emails sent out reiterating the details of academic integrity. Many professors, at least in my experience, flat out told students if they were caught using sites like ChatGPT, it could result in being kicked out of university for an extended period of time. While this was happening, my ENGL 110 professor was literally teaching us how to write academic papers using AI. You can see how contradicting this was. He taught us how to properly prompt and navigate the app, putting great emphasis on the fact that the material produced is still our thoughts and ideas. He just expressed how much more efficient the app truly is, also highlighting the pros and cons of using it.
To this day, I use ChatGPT an enormous amount. In my opinion, ChatGPT is just a much more efficient search engine than things like Google, which in my opinion is a form of AI anyways. Finishing up my pre-internship a couple of weeks ago, I can honestly say I used ChatGPT almost everyday. It can produce material such as unit/lesson plans, worksheets, quizzes, exit slip, etc. in seconds, saving me hours planning on my own time. In addition, it assisted me with talking points, asking essential questions, and even possible responses that children that age are likely to respond with. This was especially useful for when talking about touchy/sensitive topics. I find that AI is almost how the internet was viewed when it first came out. Many people thought the internet was going to break the education system. But, as we can see now, the internet is an efficient and import tool that we use everyday in our classrooms. I believe that is what we will see AI being for us in a few years.
So, if teachers are allowed to use it to improve their practices, should we be allowing and/or encouraging students to do the same? Like my English professor taught me, if we do teach our students about the app, we must make sure we are teaching them how to use it properly, not losing their critical thinking strategies. This means we need to be showing them how to keep their main ideology on a topic while using AI. We must remember, AI is a tool to ASSIST one with a task, NOT to do it for them.
One issue I do see arising in the near future is the potential for copyright infringements. Because AI grabs things from all over the internet, it will be tough to know if the app is plagiarizing sections from published articles. This could lead to huge liability problems.
What do you all think about AI? Should we allow students to use it? Should you be able to use it as a teacher? Let me know below!
Zach
Welcome back to the blog my friends!
Today’s topic is an interesting one. To continue our conversation about the everlasting affects of our digital footprints. Is it a good thing to be having our identity online for everyone to have access to? Should our digital footprint be erased and started over when we turn 18? Should people have the same consequences for their online activity as their in-person activity? So many questions arise when we open this up. So, let’s dive right into it!
To start, during class when we were tasked to see what we could find out about ourselves just from a simple Google search, how did you feel? What first came to mind? Anxious? Scared? Embarrassed? I felt all the above. I really had no idea what was going come up. Luckily, nothing came up that I was surprised about, nor did I have anything to feel embarrassed about. I have never had a Facebook or X (Twitter) account, and although my Instagram is private, I’m not overly active on posting material. So, with that regard, I was okay. Other than that, I had a few different sport related items come up. This was a relief to me as I really had no idea what was going to come up when searching my name. I hope most of you all had similar results!
Now comes to the controversial part… should things we find online about people follow them around forever? Should we be publicly shaming people for things they have like, said, or done online? Should we be firing people from their day jobs for their digital footprint? Should politicians and celebrities be held to another standard than teachers and nurses? Well in my humble opinion, for the most part, I do NOT think what we do or say as children/teenagers should follow us into our adult lives. I promise you I am a much different person than I was when I was 16 years old. Now saying that, if you do or say something online as an adult, then yes, I believe there should be consequences. For example, for the lady who tweeted racial comments and worked in PR as we saw in class, then yes, I believe that her getting fired from her job was a accurate consequence. However, I do not believe she should have gone viral, with the whole world hating on her. This can lead to so many serious issues. Two negatives do not make a positive (unless we are multiplying integers). I believe some of comments she received was just as bad as her initial comment and yet those people, from my knowledge, did not receive and backlash. So, where do we draw the line?
Much to think about when it comes to our digital footprint. Let me know what you all think about some of these topics!
Zach
With everyone having access to throw whatever they would like up onto the internet, we must step back and ask ourselves “What is real and what is fake?” While some people put this false information up for clicks, views, and clout, some are just doing it to troll victims online. Despite their reasoning of why, it is happening everyday, and it is our responsibility filter through all the nonsense.
As we’ve entered the age of artificial intelligence (AI), this just adds to the problem of what is real and what is not. This is demonstrated in the article Break the Fake as the quiz shows a hawk grabbing a drone as prey. This photo is 100% AI generated, yet from the untrained eye, one cannot tell the difference. This doesn’t just stop in photography. AI can also create extremely vivid videos. As talked about in class a few weeks ago, this can also lead into fake videos such as pornography involving you or a loved one. Scary, I know! On top of this, we also must cipher through a vast number of new articles to find out if the information we are reading is reliable or not. As seen in Can You Spot the Fake News Headlines? This just shows that we need to be educating not only our students, but ourselves as well on how to identify if these news articles are legit or not.
I am going to assume that many of you all are also semi-addicted to their phones like I am. More specifically, addicted to your any social media accounts. Unfortunately, this type of trolling that we are seeing doesn’t just stop depending on what website you are on, it is flooded on our social media feeds as well as seen in Spot the Troll. This becomes extremely concerning as this is where most of the students we teach get their “news” from.
Moving into a teaching role, I think there is many things we can do to educate our students on how to become more away of identifying the fake news/trolls out there. First off, I think it is essential to go over what a secured site looks like in oppose to one that is not. As these children are moving into their teenage and young adult years, they must know when a site is secure or not when giving banking information out. In addition, as classrooms are moving more towards the “Genius Hour” activities, this would be a great way to introduce the topic and have students explore the issue.
What other activities/lessons could we do in the classroom to raise concern on the issue?
Let me know down below.
Zach
Hi everyone.
I graduated high school in 2010. While internet and social media were present, it was nowhere near as big as it is now. However, I do recall talking about cyber safety in our schools. Much like sex, drugs, and alcohol, the teachers would often use the “fear” tactic while teaching the topic. We learned what NOT to do on the internet but never what TO do. While these videos did teach us what could happen in a worst-case scenario, I don’t believe this was not the most effective way to teach.
Moving into my internship, I am planning to approach this topic using a different strategy. Looking at the 9 elements of digital citizenship, I plan on starting with digital communication. To navigate the big world of the internet, I believe that proper communication encourages students to treat others with respect even when one might disagree with someone else’s viewpoint or opinion. I believe this is not only a strong skill to have in the digital world, but also in real life. Teaching about proper communication, I do believe will have a positive affects on digital etiquette, digital rights and responsibilities, and digital health and wellness as well.
Another aspect of the 9 elements of digital citizenship I want to focus on is digital literacy. With so much false information out there, it is important for educators to explain what can and cannot be trusted. This is a skill that everyone needs to understand as we become more and more dependent as time goes on. With people posting false information for clout or views, many young people are falling victim in what they are saying. This can potentially lead to major problems. We must become proactive on the fact rather than reactive.
What do you all thing is the most important element of the 9 elements of digital citizenship? Let me know in the comments!
Zach
Learning about The SAMR for Technology Integration has really made me ponder on the idea on how I can enhance my teaching practices through technology. I decided to focus on the resources Canva to capture my progress through this semester. More specifically, I decided to create a timeline to show my progress in my quest in learning Spanish.
While this may seem elementary to some, I have never used Canva to create anything. I thought this would be a good way to visually show you all my progress of what I have been learning. After watching a few short YouTube videos, I learned the basics of using Canva. To my surprise, this was much easier than what I was thinking. This was such a user-friendly application for people of all skill levels and has many premade templates to choose from.
Canva within the classroom is a great way to introduce the SAMR Technology Integration. The options for this application are endless. While I decided to create a timeline, students can show their learning in a variety of ways. Students can create videos, brochures, pictures, posters, infographics, and much more. For students who prefer to not write essay to portray their learnings, Canva can redefine how students express what they have learned.
For all the people who struggle using technology, try it out and tell me what you think!
Take a look my the timeline I created using Canva.
Zach
As we move forward in the rapidly changing world of technology, as educators, we must ask ourselves; should we utilize the new tool of technology with our students? Or is technology dumbing down our students?
Going through elementary in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, in some form I heard these famous words from every teacher I had, “You need to know your multiplication facts! You’re not going to walk around with a calculator in your pocket all day now are you!?”
Oh, the irony that statement holds today. It’s just that, we have a whole computer with access to anything we could ever think of that fits into our pockets. So, what is the perfect balance with or without technology?
In my opinion, I do believe as educators we need to keep up with technology. Both teachers and students should know how to use technology efficiently. While some may view this as lazy, I believe if taught correctly, this can be very effective. For example, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a hot topic within the education system these days, both in grade school and university. Some look at it as a form of plagiarism while some look at it as another online resource or search engine such as Google. If students learn how to properly utilize this resource in a way to assist in efficiency that stills holds the individual’s own thoughts and voice, then we should be teaching students how to prompt AI correctly to portray their own thoughts, voice, and beliefs.
On the contrary, teaching students the foundations of subject areas are still essential. Students need to still be taught how to critically think for themselves while challenging what they have learned. This is where it gets tricky. With the use of technologies such as AI, this can very easily eliminate that critical thinking aspect that we strive for. So, if a teacher decides to use the tools in their classroom, we need to ensure we are not losing our voices while doing so.
What do you guys think, is using AI a form of cheating? Should we decrease the amount of technology that is being used in the classroom? Interested in hearing what you think!
See you next week!
Zach
As a society, we are becoming more and more depend on technology. It could be from being on our laptops all day for work or from laying in bed until 2am scrolling on TikTok (which I assume is the problem for many). While technology can be a tool for many things, I believe that we are abusing our screen time in a negative way.
Personally, I am on my phone and laptop a little more than I would like to admit. I have a bad habit of just that, laying in bed until the late hours of night looking at meaningless content on social media. I mostly use Instagram and Snapchat. 99% of the time when I use these social media outlets, they are for leisure reasons and social interaction. The odd time I will be looking up informational video retaining on something I am trying to approve on.
In regard to tools to assist with my academics and teaching, I tend to use technology quite a bit. This helps with organization, unit planning, resources for students and much more. I use many Google applications such as Google Drive, Google Classroom, and Google Docs. Theses are all resources that are user friendly for me and the students I teach. I have also recently started using different AI platforms to assist me in lesson and unit planning. When prompted correctly, I feel like this new technology can help teachers become more of an efficient teacher, freeing up more time to focus on individual students.
Overall, I feel like I could improve my screen time usage. I have no problem using technology to become more productive throughout the workday, however I could improve on my leisure time while using it. I don’t need to be staying up late just to be looking at Instagram reels. One way I could improve on this is by placing my phone in a different room than where I sleep. This would decrease the temptation when I am having troubles falling asleep.
Do you have any other suggestions? Let me know!
Until next time.
Zach Nenson
Welcome everyone!
Join me on my adventure as I dive into the world of learning Spanish.
Back in 2016, I spent roughly 5 months travelling through South America. Within that time, I traveled to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. I can honestly say this was the best time of my life. I was captivated by the beautiful culture in these Latin countries. This stemmed from how smooth and romantic the native language is, which is why I chose to learn Spanish through our semester in EDTC 300.
As I did travel to Spanish speaking countries for 5 months, I did not learn as much Spanish as you would think, or that I was hoping for. As a solo traveler, I would often stay at popular hostels to meet other tourists from all around the world. As this was a great way to meet people, the default language we would always speak was English, hindering my learning of the native language. I would say I do know more than the average Joe but not as much as I would like to know. My vocabulary is decent, especially when it comes to a restaurant setting, as I needed to learn this quickly to be able to order food when I went out on my own. I also have a pretty strong understanding on how to conjugate verbs but could definitely improve on that area as well. Where I lack is forming fluent sentences. When I attempted to speak Spanish, most locals had an idea of what I was trying to say because I could piece together a few words, however I was unable to make them flow smoothly into a sentence. I also found that the pronunciation on many worlds could use some work.
Throughout the last couple of years, I have used the app called Duolingo. As I have used this in the past, I don’t think I have ever been overly consistent while using it. Once again, I found this app was great for the vocabulary aspect but not great from sentence structure. Maybe as I get further into the app, this would change. I have also taken one Spanish class here at the University of Regina. Outside of that, I haven’t really explored any other resources to assist me in learning the language. Throughout this semester, I am hoping to not only become a more consistent user on Duolingo but am also eager to find other online resources that can assist in my learning. As of now, I am unsure in what resources I am going to explore but will keep you all posted in the up coming weeks! If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!
Until next week, bye.