EDCI 336 Blog

This week my task was to explore
Glitch: A web page design toolkit that shows learners how webpages are created. 

I needed to explore the app and use these sources

• Build a webpage using the Glitch editor 
• Check Common Sense Education Review 
• Capture coding projects, screenshots, notes, and reviews of app

We ran out of time so I didn’t get to explore this tool as much as I would like. However, I would like to learn more about it. Therefore, Im leaving these resources here for my own personal reflection. I did like how I didn’t need to create an account to use the web page.

As a class, I discovered how to authentically code a webpage and creates a mock one that students can save into a file. You can adjust the fonts and add javascript. Can change headings and photos. It breaks down what goes on behind webpages. As a teacher, you would really need to invest time to understand this process before teaching it to children.

Introducing OLDI (Open Learning Design Intervention): How to Expand Learning in High Schools Using OEP

• How do we sustain a developmental ecosystem?
• Digital literacies are  interactions, collaborations, and connections.
• OLDI stages:
  1. Building Relationships
  2. Co-Designing Learning Pathways
  3. Building and Sharing Knowledge
  4. Building Personal Learning Networks (PLNs)
• Learning is Learning

Unfortunately due to technical errors we could not continue the rest of the presentation.

Today my group presented our technological inquiry which was “What is digital literacy and how do we teach it in the classroom”. Our group of three covered a lot of areas: information literacy, ethical use of digital resources, understanding digital footprints, protecting ourselves online, digital communication, and cyberbullying. I focused mostly on the pros, cons, and risks of digital literacy. I feel as though I didn’t speak as much as some of my other group mates. However, I still feel confident with the amount of work I did outside of the final presentation. We discusses crash course media series, and explained tips such as the importance of choice, voice, creation, multi modalities, collaboration, accessibility, crowd-accelerated learning, social learning, and core competencies. We explained how to talk to parents about digital literacy and then explored the topic of sex education and how to use digital literacy as a helpful tool to teach it in a professional and healthy way. I’m really happy with how invested the class was with our presentation and I’m excited with what we discovered.

My group of three, including myself chose to explore Digital Literacy for our edtech inquiry. One member made a trello board where we all posted questions, thoughts, ideas, and resources we had. Weeks before our presentation we met to figure out what we wanted to discuss in our project. I created google slides and I put in titles for the areas required and other main points we wanted to explore. We talked about what we generally wanted from each point and we each worked on a different slide. We worked together, meeting twice in the learning commons where we could collaborate and communicate while working individually. I feel confident after our meetings and the topics I have decided to expand on. I learned through this experience that we covered the technological competency of collaboration by working together, communicating, and sharing ideas that we would implement into our presentation. We also used collaborative digital tools such as our personal blogs, trello, and google slides. We messaged each other online to arrange meet up times and were motivated when working as a group. I feel more confident about the topic of digital literacy and I’m excited to see how our presentation goes next week!

Today as a class we had the opportunity to be taught by a group of grade eight students and their teacher how to use mine craft. I have never played this game before but I do have some experience with other first person video games and other computer games. We began with a tutorial where we had to problem solve, build, dig, climb, and work with others. I was impressed how quick I picked it up and was one of the first people to make it to the end. I’m a very competitive person so I was happy with myself and how quickly I learned. Until we were able to make it a free for all, then I had no idea how to create objects, plant trees, or craft materials. I ended up getting confused and lost. I believe with more practice and time I will become more comfortable with it. The teacher explained how she uses Minecraft in class for science, math, social studies, and team building. It increases community and communication in the classroom. The students explained how they learned from having Minecraft in class and how much fun it makes learning. It was interesting to be taught by students but I loved listening to their advice and lessons. As a future teacher, I would love to implement this tool into my classroom. I’m curious how young this tool would be  acceptable to introduce to. As a teacher, I want to do more research and become more comfortable first.

Unfortunately, I was unable to make it on the field trip to George Jay elementary school. However, I did have the opportunity to review the slides and videos provided. Through this media, I remembered the instructor talked about the importance of relationships and engaged in those interactions during my practicum. She explains that all children are curious, its just our job to help them get them exploring their curiosity. We need to be aware that children aren’t ready to share and speak and we need to give them time. I found this quote that she shared to be inspirational,

” The most powerful shift you can make in adopting is to begin learning with a question” -Trevor Mackenzie.

She explains the difference between structured inquiry, controlled inquiry, guided inquiry, and free inquiry and how we model and structure information and how we can implement it personally and in a classroom.

We use provocations to help students without experience or previous knowledge in a subject by using three questions: what do you see, what do you know and what do you wonder. We practice by making connections.

I made use to the technological competency “social media” by being active on twitter and using that application to follow and be updated by her.

Today we explored different graphic tools. We looked into powerpoint and how to make it more fun and attractive. I already feel very confident with this tool and how to customize it. I learned how to create logos by combining different shapes and similar colours. We talked about how if we save it as a .png file it will save the exact shape, not the whole picture with the white backdrop which is something I have been trying to figure out for a while. Smart art can be used as a quick inspiration or customized and brought out of powerpoint to be used elsewhere. We can incorporate a photo and block out words that can be removed to be an interactive piece.
We were challenged to:

• create a header image for our porfolio
• create graphics for our porfolio
• experiment with images from power point, combine graphics, and smartart
• experiment with other tools such as pixels or vector

during this time I played around with some shapes, colours, and formats to create a logo for my porfolio that could be used for a signature or header:

Today I had the opportunity to create a Trello page. I find this website helpful for a busy student such as myself because I’m trying to balance many things. Its helpful to organize my life with lists such as things to do, doing, and done. I also like that I’m able to separate them into categories such as personal, educational, and work. For my personal page I posted what family dinner dates, upcoming events or concerts, if I have to go grocery shopping, etc. In my educational page I posted what assignments I have to do, working on, and when they’re do. I have dates written for my classes and when I’m meeting with groups for group projects. I also have the readings I need to complete as well as helpful tips and resources. In my work section, I have the days I need to work at the restaurant. For my promoting job, I have the people I have to meet with and times, the sales I’ve sold, and what I need to complete for social media. Generally, I’m a fan of troll being a helpful tool, I just think I need to explore it more.

• “More people less paper”
• No class sizes that hold 30 people, research says no
• Inquiry based school- taught how to generate questions and that becomes the foundation for their curriculum
• Co-construction: teachers work with students
• Very emergent
• Everyone has a completely different day plan
• Uses Trello
• No special testing needed
• Students are prepared and successful in University and in the world.
• No homework is assigned unless driven by themselves
• Tuition is 7200 per student a year (charged because they aren’t in the public system or receive public funding) includes laptop, gym membership, and other outside resources
• Portfolios are used to for students to hand in their work (“artifacts of their learning”)
• Kathleen Gregory explains scaffold marking and focus’ on the mark of the finished product
• I noticed they don’t call them “students” but instead “learners”
• All learners will get the opportunity to visit a university class at some point before they graduate

  

  Entrance to the school

  

  Class seminar

  

  Daily plan

  
  

This week we did a brief 10 minute meeting with our teacher to discuss our progress and ask questions. I was concerned about how many inquiry posts should me made. He assured me that it should be around one a week but an estimate of 10-12. I also learned the the technology inquiry project I’m doing on digital literacy doesn’t need weekly updates, but we can post them if we want. It’s more focusing on the final presentation and what we leave behind. We talked about how my group is using a troll board which he confirmed as a helpful source. I also discovered that the weekly reflections are based more on our class discussions than our readings so I realized that I need to stay on top of whats happening in class so I don’t forget anything. He complimented my skills in video editing and helped me realize what an essential tool film can be as a teacher. I need to remember to go back into my reflections to post the actual videos because right now the website is just showing the youtube videos I’ve posted as links. Lastly we talked about twitter and how it can be used as a professional tool. This week I also came to the realization of what is professional on social media and what is personal. I spent the week going through the different webpages im a part of and making them private or deleting them. Considering I have been active on the internet since I was 12 years old, theres some content I probably wouldn’t want my students seeing. After having my conversation with Micheal, he assured me that I can burry that content with new, professional content and make most of my personal accounts private which makes me feel more comfortable with my digital blueprint as a professional practitioner.