Category: EdTech Page 1 of 2

I completed an hour of code! It was a fun program where you created snowflakes with Anna and Elsa from frozen. It took you through a series of steps that increasingly got harder. Through this process, you get to see how code is built and how there are short cuts in coding. For example, you start by making a square, then it shows you how you can repeat it with a turn to make it into a snowflake. It also shows how you can manipulate which parts are repeated and in which order.

In the end, it allows you to use all of your skills to make whatever kind of snowflake you want. This allows for a moment of student choice and creativity while displaying what they learned through the process.

I had a great time building my coding knowledge and making snowflakes. I would do this with my students! You can also choose many other themes so that all students feel interested. This is something important to keep in mind when inviting engagement.

Zoom is an experience for sure! Overall I think it was easy to use. With the link given by our prof, we all signed in easily onto the group video chat.

The different chat features were good so that you can personalize how you wish to communicate as a class. Talking or using the chat feature allows for a silent or interactive experience that is a great option to personalize it to your class. Also, being able to mute your mic or not helps with the noise reduction of the class.

The screen share feature is amazing to show lecture slides and student presentations, as shown in today’s class.

Overall, the app is extremely useful for an online class and I can see myself using it in the future if  I ever ended up in a situation like we are currently in.

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Twine is a fun and interactive way to create a “choose your own adventure” story. It was a bit hard to figure out at first, but after the first few minutes of growing pains, it was quite easy and fun. This is a cool alternative to written stories on paper or a traditional document.  With the use of technology and the visual aspect of building the story, students may be more engaged and motivated to create an intricate story.

Today we learned about using Minecraft as an educational tool. She along with a few students came to walk us through how to play Minecraft EDU and how it differs from the standard version.

We learned how the game modes are different and the various features that each includes.

Some of the students gave anecdotes on how they found inspiration for future careers and their current artwork in the game.

I found it most inspirational when the teacher spoke about how they studied different civilization types in the game. I really see the application for this.

Overall, I see some pros for using Minecraft but overall it is more screen time and a videogame at that. I am still undecided if I would use it.

I downloaded Screencast and made a simple provocation for giraffes! This could be used to be a starting point for an inquiry with any age children.

Ways to expand this would be to have students do this in partners. They could follow the provocation process together. They could then go through a simple research process to find what they wish to know”  and gain detail on “what they know”. This would be the first lesson of many to learn about giraffes.  This research would look different from different ages and the level of scaffold would change.

The Screencast app was easy to download and use. I can see the many different educational applications for it. I would personally use it for….

1. provocations
2. tutorials
3. concept explanations
4. simple lectures

Rebecca Bathurst is a Kindergarten teacher at George Jay Elementary School. Our class had the pleasure of visiting her classroom and hearing about how she is using an inquiry-based learning style in her classroom. Before this experience,  I honestly had no idea how inquiry-based learning could be done with such young children, but I now feel like it is a very natural way for young children to learn.

First off, her classroom was beautiful! Everything was very natural and organic, with many handmade toys and trinkets. But beyond that, when looking deeper, there were so many play areas that allowed for the guided discovery of their inquiry topic of dinosaurs. Each area had a piece of the topic woven into it for the students to discover.

Secondly, Rebecca structured her curriculum around the idea of inquiry. She mentioned that she noticed many of her students were interested in dinosaurs, thus she chose it for the inquiry topic. She then used a provocation, which is an activity that will spark students’ interest and learning. She askes students what they see, what they know, and what they wish to know during the provocation. After this, there is a very scaffolded inquiry style where students cover curricular competencies under the topic umbrella of their inquiry (dinosaurs).

This way of learning truly plays into the young students’ natural curiosity process that exists at that age. Rebecca’s speech really made me see that. I see the true possibilities of leading an inquiry-based classroom in the elementary classroom now. I think it is a really exciting way to teach that I will try to incorporate into my future classroom.

IMovie!

Here is the video I created on Imovie. I was exploring how to create a slow-motion video. With following the instructions and using my prior Imovie knowledge I found it quite easy. I think Imovie is a great tool for education and can be used as an alternative way to display learning. Educating yourself as the teacher about how to use all of the tools on Imovie allows you to help students utilize all that Imovie has to offer.

Lecture by Jesse Miller:  Online Privacy & Safety Expert: Citizenship Online, including Privacy, Safety, Bullying, Consent

Notes:

• Generational attitudes and understanding of technology 
• Research in sports and why technology is not a distraction there
• Mediated reality= company 
  • Social media and mobile technology 
  • Professional responsibilities. Personal meets public
  • @mediatedreality
  • “Part of the guidance role in the 21st century isn’t preparing kids for a reality of the past. It is to help children make sense of their on-demand media and online experiences, teaching, guiding how to uphold enduring values and empowering their communications expectations in the reality they live in, not one we grew up in.”
• 2020- time to focus on networked citizenship
  • Digital identity
  • Digital rights
  • Digital literacy
  • Use of communication networks- social, professional, personal
  • Safety- networked connections
  • Security of self
• Some articles aren’t completely correct→ only correlation between social media and the variable being measured
  • Headlines can be misleading
• Tools help shape our society (technology) 

Analysis:

Jesse Miller gave an incredible lecture to our class today. The way he spoke was very engaging and insightful. His thoughts on social media and the research behind it are very thought-provoking. I value his ability to admit that he is from a generation that will not know what it is truly like to grow up with the level of technology that my generation grew up with.

Reliable sources and social media research:

I don’t really question an article that I read about social media and the correlating factor that the author is measuring, but after his points, I am going to go back into life, and specifically my inquiry, and really question the source and look at if it is causation or just a correlation being measured.

Online privacy and teacher action:

As he transitioned into online privacy and what our future teachers are putting on the internet, the class took a turn. I have thought about this and for the most part filter what I find to be unprofessional on my various social media outlets. But after finding out that there are ways to find what you thought is private, I think I will move forward even more consciously. It is better to be safe than sorry. You have to be able to defend anything that is found about you on the internet and I think it is better to remain with nothing that calls for defence.

Tools for Students with Anxiety

Meditation Apps:

• Stop, Breathe & Think → Free: A mindfulness app designed for students with anxiety disorders that uses meditation and other breathing techniques to regulate their emotions.
• Pacifica → Ranked as one of Apple’s “Best Mental Health Apps”. This app allows you to track how you are feeling. It also has a unique audio playlist that you can use when feeling anxious. 
  • Cons: Free but also has a paid option of $3.00 a month
• Headspace → A meditation app for teachers to use in the classroom. Has a series of 10-minute voice-guided meditation exercises that students can follow.
• Dreamy Kid → an app that offers meditation “guided visualizations and affirmations” to help kids and teens to work towards a happier and more mindful life. 
• Happify → games that are designed to conquer stress and make you happier. These games are tailored to your specific needs based on an entrance quiz. 
  • Cons: Free but Happify + costs $11.65 a month

Analysis → These apps allow students and teachers to have a guided form for students to combat their anxiety. This is an excellent tool for teachers as often they cannot always support a student who may suffer from anxiety, and using apps allows students to self-regulate their emotions. However, we did notice that many of the apps require payment for additional materials and students are unable to do so. Also, additional investigation is necessary as we would have to ensure the security of the student and their privacy. 

Other Apps:

• • Recolour → a digital colouring app that allows you to select from a variety of photos and colour in using the colour palette you enjoy.
  • Super Stretch Yoga → a fun educational tool to teach yoga and the importance of physical activity and mindful breathing.

• Positive Penguins → an interactive and simple tool that helps students understand why they are feeling certain feelings and how they can move forward and feel better. It helps to change the way children process certain experiences and emotions so that they can cope with them in a positive way. https://www.educationalappstore.com/app/positive-penguins-hd

Analysis → These apps are a way to help students cope with anxiety and negative thoughts. They can be a way to re-centre a student, a way to distract them, or a way to teach physical activities that will help them cope with these negative feelings. These are good things to offer in a centre time or free play to allow students to explore coping mechanisms or just have fun while having the benefits of the app.

Videos:

• CosmicKidsYoga

• • • This youtube channel describes this video and others in the same series as a way to “find your centre to help ease worries and anxiety.” 
    • This could be displayed on a smartboard and the class performs the yoga in front of the screen. If an individual student needs time to calm down, they could bring a computer or iPad into a quiet room and perform some of the yoga.

• GoNoodle Flow

• • https://family.gonoodle.com/channels/flow
  • Positive thinking and relaxation exercises
  • This could be displayed in the same way as CosmicKidsYoga

Analysis→ These videos are a great way for students who experience anxiety to still feel included in the classroom because they teach skills that are important for all students to learn such as mindfulness, self-regulation, and managing self-draining emotions. They are presented to the entire class at the same time and promote connectedness and belonging within the classroom community. 

Non-Technological Tools We Have Seen In Practice In Schools:

• Squeeze balls, squishies, fidget spinners, fidget balls, water-based toys, going for a walk, riding a stationary bike, noise-cancelling headphones, desk shields, tattle phones etc

Photo by Kiran CK on Unsplash

In my visit to the Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry, I was astounded by how much it did not reflect a traditional school. Just the location alone was different. Having a school in the heart of downtown, in what appears to be an office building,  sets the stage for a non-traditional learning environment. Beyond this, the lack of classrooms creates a free-flowing school which allows for the lack of structure and schedule that the school establishes. Walking through the school I didn’t feel like I was in a school, but I definitely felt that learning was taking place. All around our class were students and teachers working on their inquiries while sharing ideas and knowledge. I felt the sense of creativity and growth that the founders of the school chose to foster.

In our chat with the Principle, I could sense his passion for the school and its structure. The idea of creating a space that allowed students to have autonomy in their own journey to master the curriculum is something that I really agreed within his talk. I liked that they weave the curriculum into the students’ own paths and not base their paths around the curriculum. Furthermore, I like that they have a tie to the university, allowing students that extend beyond the school’s expertise, to have a place to go.

Overall, the Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry is something so different from a traditional school environment that it is hard to imagine what it would be like without experiencing it. From what I learned today, I can see the benefits that could exist in this type of schooling. But I can also see how some students would find this set up to be overwhelming and confusing. I know that I would never want to learn in a school like this. I thrive off the structured environment that school offers. I think that it also teaches a lot of important skills needed later in life, such as study skills, close reading and analysis, meeting deadlines, and adaptability. But in saying this, I do value many of the ideas that this school offer. I would just not go to the extreme of a full inquiry-based school.

Rip! A Remix Manifesto is a documentary that explores copyright laws and how they limit and control the creators of our world. He argues that information should be free to build and evolve as technology and society progresses.

The documentary first focuses on the band Girl Talk who challenges copyright laws as he is creating something new using the work of others before him. His manifesto is that “culture always builds on the past”. Where people have trouble with this statement is when they question if his music is truly his or if it is partially the work of others. With the evolution of music and technology, this question becomes more and more complicated.

Warner Chaple is one of the largest music owners in the game. Until recently they even owned “Happy Birthday”. But before this, everything existed in the public domain, but now these same things are under copyright laws that charge money and hold licences over the work of a particular creator. In 1998 the creation of Napster took place, a music creating and downloading app. Lawsuits ensued because it challenged the balance of copyright laws and music sharing, as well, as the growth of the technology side of the music world.

Lawernce Lessing, a lawyer,  questioned the prosecution of people for music sharing. He is “anti-policy” of copyright laws. He argues for fair use which is a brach of free speech, allowing people to cite their sources but still allowing them to use these past works of others to create the own work, much like a writer would use quotes in an essay.

Disney is one large example of a corporation that owns everything they create. They wanted to protect everything they created. The copyright of “Mickey” is indefinitely protected under copyright law. Ironically before this, Walt Disney was a “mash-up artist” and created these laws to make sure “no one could ever do it again”.

Transitioning into the business side of things, all media companies in the US are owned by the “Recording Industry Association of America” and “Motion Picture Association of America”. All other production companies lie beneath this. AKA 2 companies own all of American Media and decide where and to whom it goes.

Jamie Thomas was one of many American sued by the government for Copyright infringement for downloading songs. She fought the lawsuit and lost to the media companies who now take from her wages and own her home.

Girl Talk now struggles with if he should release an album or if he should give it for free. The challenge to release the music in a way that supports his ideals or to do it in a way that he will not be sued rides over the basic question of if he wants to release music at all.

With the idea of copyright comes the idea of patents. What can be owned and what can’t. The question of international laws vs. national laws in terms of production and consumerism also comes into play in these moral and gray area questions.

Overall the documentary Rip! A Remix Manifesto challenges the validity and purpose of copyright laws by showing how the gray areas of the laws can limit the creativity of music makers, filmmakers, and creators.

If you want to watch the whole video click here.

Open Education

• Copyright allows the use of 10% of source with limitations if it is for educational purposes
• There is a sliding scale from Copyright to the Public Domain
  • in the middle is Creative Commons Licenses
  • Sliding scales in between
•  open educational resources
  • open data
  • open-source software
  • open society
  • open educational resources
  • open science
  • open licenses
  • open-access research
• What makes an Open educational resource?
  • curriculum, materials, and mixed media that is open and free online that is openly licensed that can be legally used by anyone
• The idea of open education is tied to copyright issues as well. Teachers can only use resources that are open access without copyright to avoid the use of other’s property that is published online.

This approach to learning that is outlined in the video ‘Most likely to succeed’ is both extremely intriguing and intimidating. A school that is not only inquiry based for the students, but for the teachers as well, lends itself to endless opportunity, but also chaos.

From a teacher’s perspective, having no guidelines can be a place for creativity and your own exploration. It allows for you to teach a topic that you are passionate about, creating  a class environment that is vivacious and spilling over with creativity. On the other side of the coin, this freedom can allow students to fall through the gaps. There can be a gap in curriculum, but there can also be a lack of interest in the teacher’s chosen topic. This can create a problem as the educator to get all students engaged on the very niche topic chosen.

For students, as mentioned above, this approach can be a moment of freedom and creativity that strays from the traditional way of learning. The lack of st

ructure can be good or bad for students though. Those that are not successful  in a traditional environment will thrive off the lack of structure found in the inquiry driven curriculum. Those that need structure  might run the risk of being lost and feeling out of control in contrast. It is up to the individual learner if they wish to embark on a learning journey that if offered at this school.

Overall, this structure is not for me from a teaching or student perspective. I crave routine and structure in my life, and my educational journey is no different. This is not to say that many other people would find great success in this innovative learning journey.

Link to Video

https://uvic-tugg-com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/full-movies/most-likely-to-succeed