Category: Education Technology Page 1 of 2

What did I learn?   Podcasts are another great way to develop professionally and expand our professional network.

Why is that important?  As professional teachers, we need to be constantly reflecting and learning so we can be effective teachers for our learners.  Podcasts provide access to innovative thinkers and leaders in the profession.

Where do I go from here?  I will be listening to more Teachers on Fire podcasts as well as other education podcasts to learn more about the innovation that is happening in the field of education.

Karen Lirenman began her presentation to us by stating that there are three main ways that she uses Education Technology in her practice: as an access point for every learner, a way for learners to show their learning in different ways and as a way for her learners to connect to the world around them.  The first two ways she discussed resonated with me as they were ideas that were being echoed by many of the other presenters we have heard from this semester.  The new idea that came from listening to Karen and that I had not considered was whether we are using technology for consumption or creation.  Karen encouraged us to try to use technology with our students for creative purposes.  She elaborated by saying that research is showing that many of these consumption apps have little to no benefit for the student and that they are simply glorified worksheets.  I tend to agree with Karen and think that our student would benefit more from interacting with their peers and experiential learning.

The other idea I had not considered before was using technology, specifically social media, to connect with the world around us.  I have been developing my professional network (PN) this semester on twitter and can see the benefits of being connected to other educators on that platform but had not considered how my students could benefit from connecting to my PN or other professionals.  Karen suggested starting a twitter account for one’s class and then asking questions to the twitter universe.  The class could connect with academics, scientists, politicians, authors to ask them questions and help them realize that there is a whole world of learning beyond the books they read and the walls of their classroom.  They can also connect with other classes and learners from around the world to collaborate and share their learning.  This is such an amazing opportunity for students that I could not have dreamed of when I was a child.

Twitter is such an amazing powerful tool that I am excited to keep exploring.  I will be setting up a class account when I have my own class.

This was a presentation I was very much looking forward to and nervous for.  First, growing up on the lower mainland, Science World holds a very special place in my memory.  I remember school trips, trips with my parents and even a sleepover in Science World.  There were so many exhibits at Science World that blew my mind as a child and there was also, of course, the Omnimax theatre that never disappointed.  I was nervous though because whenever I see the word “coding” I feel frustrated because I have never considered myself to have a computationally inclined brain.  I grew up in a time when students were good at some things but not others and I never considered myself to have the logic to be able to figure out computational problems.  I always loved math, but I often struggled to apply it to other aspects of life which is essentially what Applied Design, Skills and Technology (ADST) is all about.

What I loved about Carrie’s presentation were the activities.  Both the Tour Guide and Knights Tour activities broke through my fixed mindset and showed me that I can think computationally.  I think that these activities would be so important to introduce to students to show them the same thing, that anyone can think that way and with a little practice, one can become quite good and coding without computers.  I am excited to delve further into the resources that Carrie has provided us and I hope to be able to do an ADST lesson with my students in my next practicums.

Fresh Grade was an application that I had heard mentioned by some teachers, parents and students but until today, I had not fully understood its power and capabilities.  One of the first things Cliff said was that it works like and e-portfolio, which is exactly what my impression was.  However, Cliff went on to say that Fresh Grade is not intended to be that.  I believe that its biggest advantages are its communication possibilities as well as the transparency it provides when it comes to assessment.  Fresh Grade allows for communication between teachers and parents as well as between students and teachers.  Cliff mentioned that frequent teacher and parent involvement in student learning will result in a higher student engagement.  Fresh Grade provides the platform for parents and teachers to engage and communicate with students when it comes to student progress and learning outcomes.

The one thing that is a little daunting about the application is how much planning and organizing goes into initially setting up assessment and assignments.  I think that if I could get organized and put the time in initially, that Fresh Grade could be a very powerful tool in my classroom.  I really appreciated how the learning standards for the BC curriculum were already loaded into the program and I liked how easy it was to set up a grade book.  I want to try this in my own practice, when the time comes.

Office 365 is a program I have been using for several years through my music studio business.  I use Word mostly and occasionally dabble in Excel to make budgets and show financial statements.  I have used PowerPoint for one or two presentations for the education program and I use Outlook on my phone and computer to deal with my emails.   I considered myself well versed in Office 365, but I was surprised today to learn that Office 365 has a lot more to offer, especially in terms of Ed Tech.  I think the biggest takeaway from Sally’s presentation was the collaborative nature of Office 356.  It functions similarly to Google Docs in terms of collaborating.  We can be sharing documents with our students, with parents, or with administration.  Students can also be collaborating with their peers for group work and projects.  I find Office products to be a lot lets clunky than Google Docs, so I am looking forward to trying the collaborative features of Office 356 with some of my peers for upcoming assignments and presentations.

The other application that I had not considered that Sally mentioned was Sway.  I had a chance to check out its features a little, but I did not have a chance to really delve into its capabilities.  I am excited to try using this application as it seems very sleek and to have more features and options than PowerPoint when it comes to presenting a project.  I think it could have great potential in the classroom for students when they are presenting inquiry projects or other work.  Just another tool to put in the toolbox.

Listening and learning from Sandra McAulay and Valerie Irvine really opened my eyes to what Ed tech can mean for the learners in my classroom.  The theme that really resonated for me in both presentations was accessibility.  I had never thought of technology as a tool for accessibility for learners but after participating in both lectures, it became clear to me that technology is essential to provide options for learners in terms of not only participating in the learning but assessing the learning.  Sandra McAulay showed us a variety of ways and apps that we can be using with our student to enhance their experience in the classroom.  The two that stood out for me were Epic! as well as Pic Collage.  Epic is a fantastic app where learners can access books and have them read aloud through the app.  This is great way for some learners to access literature even if they are not strong readers.  There are studies that show that being read to is just as effective as reading and this app provides a much-needed learning opportunity for many of our learners. I really enjoyed playing around with Pic Collage and can see how this would be a great way for some learners to show their learning.  For those that have difficulty expressing themselves in written form, this app provides an opportunity for them to type or use pictures to show their learning.

Victoria talked about ed tech and accessibility in a slightly different way.  She discussed the ways in which technology can help learners to access course content in a personalized way.  Some learners prefer face to face, but other learners may face barriers in getting to class.  These barriers could be anxiety or a physical disability.  It is our responsibility as educators to be providing a personalized experience to every one of our students and we should be open to different modes of delivering that education.  Some of these modes could be platforms like BlueJeans where a student can video conference into the learning.  The lesson could also be recorded so the student could view it at a time that is more convenient for them.  The technology that really blew my mind were the robots that allowed a student to video conference into a learning environment but also move around the space, which would allow them to participate in small group discussions or interact with individuals in the class as if they were actually there.  I am so excited to see where this technology can take education for learners that historically have not been able to participate in traditional classroom settings because of barriers like disabilities or their geographic location.

Everyone deserves access to education and whether it be access to instruction through different modalities or access to technological tools that help students express themselves or access information, I hope to be able to incorporate some of this technology into my learning environments to improve my students access to a great education.

Today we were introduced to tiny little robots called Ozobots.  These little robots help young students to learn the basics about coding.  This experience was an absolute riot and I was super engaged for the entire time I was trying to make my little Ozobot perform the task I had asked it to do.  Through a series or combination of the colours red, black, green or blue, I was able to make my Ozobot move forwards, turn left or right, spin around or go turbo speed.  This kind of technology is a great way to introduce learners to coding and help them make the connection that by giving a computer a set of “codes” they can make the computer perform certain operations.  There is a plethora of activities students could engage in while using their Ozobots.  I love the idea of creating story boards and using their Ozobots to help tell the story.  I also love the idea of giving students mazes and having them navigate their Ozobot through the maze.  This is a fun, highly engaging piece of education technology that I hope to be able to integrate into my class some day.