EDTC BLOG |
EDTC 300 has been a great experience and I am happy to share my final summary of learning!
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This week marks the end of the journey with EDTC 300. I had fun every week and got to experience so much growth and learning. This course was online, and sometimes I find online learning difficult, but I felt as though I connected with the course and my peers. Through this connection I was able to contribute to others learning and also learn from others. SLACK I had never used Slack in my entire life until this class. I had never even heard of it before. I feel like this app has really good potential and can be used within a classroom. I could communicate with my classmates within certain sections and ask any questions I had about the course content. This app was only used slightly throughout the course and was not nearly as active as Twitter. TWITTER I have used Twitter in the past. I have a private account for my everyday life and I also have my school account to share and interact with others. I followed all my classmates and began my journey of interaction. Throughout the course I tweeted 118 times, and often retweeted and responded to other classmates' tweets. I shared resources and helpful links that I had found on Feedly or just scrolling through Twitter. I also participated in the #saskedchat, which was an entire learning experience alone. It helped me connect with other teachers from all over and learn new approaches, ideas and experiences. From this course I have created a Twitter PLN and will continue to share and use it. It may not be as often but I will make it my goal to use it as a great learning experience. BLOG COMMENTS Every week I was assigned to commenting on 3-5 blog posts, along with also writing two of my own posts on what we learned in class and from resources, along with how our learning project was going. Some weeks I thought that this was far too much for me to complete along with all my other classes but I made an effort to complete the tasks as needed. I used the blog comments to praise my classmates' work, telling them my experiences and how I can relate to their content. It was really enjoyable to see how everyone succeeded in their project, along with how everyone interpreted the weekly class resources and discussions. Being confident in what we do can come from our support as classmates, and I wanted others to feel understood and confident in their learning as well. I have always been frightened by coding, I have friends who are computer science majors and even they are afraid of coding sometimes. I always see coding but I have no idea what any of it means, all I see is some letters, dashes, arrows and numbers. But today I went onto Scratch and I coded a flying car. It was really simple with the tutorials they gave you and it helped ease the stress of not knowing what was going on when it comes to coding. It explored around the website as well before I began my final piece in Scratch and had fun making a cartoon as well. Scratch is really easy to maneuver and it makes it easy for students to understand - making it more fun to learn. If it was difficult, students would most likely dread the idea of having to code and never look twice at it, just like I initially did. We were never taught how to code in school and now with the use of online resources this made it fun for me to learn. The website offers multiple tutorials on how to do things differently, whether that's to make a car fly or change background or change noise, they give you tutorials for everything. This was a life saver when I was creating my code as I was so lost with what all the buttons did on the side. For me, coding is not important. I have no use for it and I never used it in my life till this class. Could this be beneficial to students? Most likely. It could help them learn more about online and technology. As technology is growing, so is the need for understanding and learning. Maybe this activity even helped me learn more about my technology and how I use it. As the world is rapidly changing, before we know it everything will be computer based and humans won’t even be needed to control the technology we have. Everyday is a battle with fake news and online dangers. We are at a time in the world that fake news is everywhere and people often believe everything they read.
“Fake News is a type of hoax or deliberate spread of misinformation with the intent to mislead in order to gain financially or politically. Fake News is related to propaganda whose purpose is to spread information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view. Fake news is not a new phenomenon. But what makes it important now? It is primarily because fake news is easy to create, spreads rapidly and is easily consumed in our 24/7 news cycle.” - Why do People fall for Fake News It’s so simple to fake anything on the internet to this day, lately many issues of fake news are coming in regarding COVID-19. Fake doctors trying to say that COVID-19 is just a flu and how masks don’t work and even as far as to say the government is trying to control our lives. Along with COVID-19 news, many people have access to your personal information. This is a great danger to anyone but more so children and students. “Part of the problem with trying to find accurate news on social media is that we are often trapped in a filter bubble of information – meaning that we only read, like, and share things that align with our own belief system. It is important to challenge those beliefs and be more critical of the media we consume and share. Information and media literacy is not just a problem of or a cure for the right or left. It is an essential skill for all of us no matter where we lie on the political spectrum.” - Lindsay Matts-Benson To keep yourself safe and teach your students the importance of safety online you can teach them the following tools:
This week I got to cyber sleuth! I partnered up with Jesse D, and with his approval for posting I found: Name: Jesse Ducharme Education: Currently enrolled in the education program at the University of Regina with a math major and physical education minor. Hobbies: Loves travelling and his dream travel location is anywhere in Germany. He loves animals, but favourite animal is a dog, which he has 2 of. Their names are Finn and Diesel. Also has 3 cats, named Salem, Randy, and Holly. Likes Live streaming on Twitch. In a dance class for school, Has a PC gaming setup. Enjoys video games Relationships: Has a girlfriend, friend named Bailey Employment: Laid off :( Appearance: Wears glasses, long beard, brown hair, likes to wear a hat backwards. This was honestly all I could find on Jesse, this was even difficult to find. I enjoyed the experience, it was challenging and I spent a lot of time trying to find the right information on the right person. There were many google pages scrolled through and many dead ends. There were accounts that looked almost like him but appeared to be from California. Was this him with some fake location? Who knows! As for my digital identity, I already know that I am very easy to find information on and a lot of that is based off of my PLN network and my ePortfolio that I have been building for two years. I usually share a lot and that may be a downside but I don’t mind it as I am cautious with what it is I am sharing and who all has access to this information. I often post on instagram, sharing with the world what I believe is important. I do it for the soul purpose of showing people who I am. Although I post often and most times it's a happy picture taken days or months ago posted during a rough time. Most people who know me often tell me they wish to be me, thinking my life is perfect. I have a perfect family, my own car, an amazing boyfriend and I have been living alone since I was 18 years old. But all that isn’t true, there's deeper darker things that happen in life. In Split Image by Kate Fagan. “Instagram is passed off as real life. Yes, people filter their photos to make them prettier. People are also often encouraged to put filters on their sadness, to brighten their reality so as not to "drag down" those around them. The myth still exists that happiness is a choice, which perpetuates the notion of depression as weakness. Life must be Instagrammed -- in more ways than one.” - Kate Fagan And that's exactly how it is. Everyone wants to show off themselves as put together and happy 24/7, but in reality we aren’t living breathing social media platforms and not everything is perfect. There are lots of new pages on Instagram that show their true selves, showing us the dark sides of living life and it is pages like that that save others from thinking they are alone in this dark world. Technology today is nothing like it used to be 5, 10, 20 years ago. Students are relying more heavily on technology and teachers need to also prepare for this reliance. Teachers can begin by reaching out to Dr. Mike Ribble’s 9 Elements of Digital Citizenship. These elements are outlined and of drastic importance in the Saskatchewan K-12 Policy Guide. The following are ways I would incorporate 3 of Dr. Mike Ribble’s Elements into my classroom: Digital Etiquette: Digital Etiquette refers to electronic standards of conduct or procedures and has to do with the process of thinking about others when using digital devices. Teachers can include Digital Etiquette as part of the classroom rules or academic goals. Whether in the classroom or online, being aware of others is an important idea for everyone. Grade: 6 Subject: Health Education Outcomes: USC6.6 Develop and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and personal standards necessary for establishing and supporting safe practices and environments related to various community activities. Teaching students how to develop an understanding and skills towards proper online etiquette could be explored in early middle school health class. Taking the first step to teach students how to display themselves on social media and show the risks of having a digital presence could save them from a problem in the future. Digital Health and Welfare: Digital Health and Welfare refers to the physical and psychological well-being in a digital world. Technology provides many opportunities and enjoyment, but knowing how to segment use with the needs of ourselves and others is key to a healthy, balanced life. Educators, especially in 1:1 schools or classrooms need to ask the question of how much screen time is appropriate for students. Grade: 6 Subject: Health Education Outcomes: USC6.1 Analyze the factors that influence the development of personal standards and identity, and determine the impact on healthy decision making (including cultural norms, societal norms, family values, peer pressures, mass media, traditional knowledge, white privilege, legacy of colonization, and heterosexual privilege). Analyzing how students can be affected by using social media, whether that's controlling the amount of screen time in the classroom or teaching students that their at home life shouldn’t solely be based off of their online presence. Social media presents pressures and social norms that can affect a student drastically, teaching students of these harmful effects could prevent issues in the future. Digital Privacy and Security: Digital Rights and Responsibility are those requirements and freedoms extended to everyone in a digital world. This area of Digital Citizenship is about helping students understand that when they are provided opportunities, such as the access to the Internet and use of online products, they need to be diligent in helping others as well, such as informing adults of potential problems. Educators must help students understand that protecting others both online and in the real world are essential skills to have. Grade: 6 Subject: Health Education Outcomes: USC6.4 Assess and demonstrate strategies used to identify and make healthy decisions in stressful situations. Students connected to online, means risks of cyberbullying or exposure is present. By teaching students that there are consequences to their negative actions online could prevent students from bullying others. Along with teaching students the impact of hurting others, teachers can show students that instead of retaliation or being a bystander that they can always reach out for help to an adult. It’s important to not react to anger or fear and to learn how to make healthy decisions even when emotions are high. As teachers we can always try to protect students from facing hardships in their lives and futures. Whether that's just providing safe spaces or teaching students how to be safe online. Everyday technology is being updated and created. This for some can be scary but also exhilarating. Growing up I had access to online material, whether that was a computer, iPod, phone, tablet, etc. In elementary school we had a computer lab that was shared amongst the school with one computer in each room for students to share but were often not used. Some classes had access to SmartBoards but at the time not all rooms had them and if you were in the class with one you were amazed by it. Getting into high school we had multiple computer rooms, a google chrome cart, a library with computers, some iPads, and every classroom had a SmartBoard. I had gotten my first laptop before I even got a phone, and I loved playing around on it, often on Youtube watching funny videos. In Grade 5, I was able to get my own cell phone and was so ecstatic, but the types of phones back then had very little access to online and social media.
As we continue to age and the world continues to grow, we can only see a growth in technology use as well. In my future classroom, I plan to incorporate appropriate technology where necessary. Not heavily using it but enough for students to understand the importance of technology and what it does in our daily lives. In the video by Michael Wesch, he states that everything is connected, not all separated by the website we post on. Information continues to be passed on and spread from network to network. This is called participatory culture, as mentioned in class. We discussed how participatory culture has overtaken networking, spreading around the world with recreations and celebrations. In the video, Michael Wesch talks about how a meme of a song became so big that everyone else around the world began copying, posting their creations, not to mock but to celebrate and show how interconnected the networking world is. I have always grown up around Youtube and the videos people post, whether it's vlogs, gaming videos, Chef Ramsay, car accidents, cooking videos, etc. I have also followed along with the participatory culture of networking although I have not yet posted my recreation of these trends. As Michael Wesch mentioned the Souja Boy dance that took over the world I wouldn’t help but think about how to this day I still do the dance whenever that song comes on. It's amazing what impact technology has on our lives! I have always had a twitter account, when I first got twitter - this was back in middle school - I wasn’t very sure how to use it or what the purpose of it was. I barely went on it and never tweeted anything. About 6 months ago I started to use twitter a lot more, finally understanding and becoming more interested in what it had to offer. For this class I made a new account, ready to start my PLN and show myself as a future educator. I don’t believe I will use twitter in my classroom, not that I don’t enjoy twitter and find it useful, I just don’t believe the students would use the app as needed and it would cause more of a distraction than a tool. Within university classes I could see twitter being useful, as some students are more mature and use it in a more professional way. My experience in Saskedchat was amazing! I loved hearing and seeing what other people thought about different things. It brought me more perspectives, things I probably wouldn’t have thought by myself. This was a professional and fun way to develop ourselves and open up our PLN to others. Without participating in Saskedchat I would not have learned the things I did and I wouldn’t be able to apply it to my future classroom. Although it was extremely fast paced I was still able to keep up with it and monitor others that were posting. Twitter has really challenged my mindset and continues to inspire, provoke new thoughts, and grow with others. I started using Feedly! It’s been great so far and I have subscribed to a bunch of accounts and can’t wait to see more from the website! I found many of the sources and blogs from looking up #edtech, it came up with so many options to follow. It was a really easy process as it gave a little description of each source and what content they shared. So far I have found the source Tech & Learning to be extremely helpful. They have mentioned just about everything about education and using technology within the education system. They post around 6 articles a week, all updated and filled with useful information. It also educates others on the evolution of education, showing us how teaching has changed dramatically. It is constantly evolving and using technology that is up to date is a great start. The next source that I have found is Free Technology for Teachers, providing technology ideas for teachers to use in their classroom. These articles can be extremely important when it comes to a new teacher finding resources, or even a teacher who needs a refresher on adding technology to the classroom. This source posts 16 articles a week, giving you plenty of options to look through and find suited to your needs. These sources are only some of the beneficial resources I have found so far, and I continue to find new and better ones every day! Hello!
My name is Paige Sterzer and I am 21 years old. I was raised in a small town named Kamsack with my 3 other siblings. I am in my 4th year of University but my 2nd year of Education. I am a math major and chemistry minor, pursuing my dream as a child to be a math and science teacher. I love technology! I have always been a technology person since I can remember, always having the most recent software and devices I can get. People in my family also tend to come to me if they need help finding or fixing something on their phones/computers and often I can help, if not a quick google search and I’m back to helping again. I have used all kinds of education technology: Smartboards, Chromebooks, laptops, desktops, iPads, Macbooks, projectors, speakers, phones, etc. I have used also educational websites as well: Weebly, Google, Youtube, Canva, WileyPLUS, Library databases, Google docs/slides/excel, educational gaming sites, etc. I have been blogging my education classes for 2 years now and I often don’t mind the blogging aspect, as long as I can have some fun with what I am posting and it is not all homework and reading reviews. I personally wouldn’t blog in my day to day life as I would rather enjoy the moment than spend it typing all-day, even just taking pictures/videos at that moment is enough to relive it later. Link: CANVA - this website is the best for making worksheets/posters, etc! |