Final Week!

For our final week we created a video to summarize and reflect on our learning throughout this course. I teamed up with Cecile to do a short interview style video highlighting what we will take away most from the course, and where we sit on the continuum of technology in the classroom.

Enjoy!
 

TT #10

Classroom Blogs!

For this tech task I explored Ms. Cassidy’s Classroom Blog. It is easy to follow and really well formatted. I enjoy how the links to the students’ blogs are called their “learning”.  I went through and found some math postings from Sage’s Learning, looks like they’re having fun creating videos. 

 

I really like this idea of having a class blog, especially in math. Students can take a picture of the problem they are working on, and get help from other students, all outside of the class. Pretty cool.

TT #12

The Future!

 

 

I think the future of education is bright! Change is underway; I like the trends towards inquiry based learning, essential questions, 1:1 initiatives, and opened ended assessment. This drive towards a deeper understanding of the concepts and a more hands on approach has become evident in my past two years studying education. The K-12 Horizon Report touched on a lot of things that have been brought to the forefront in this class. Things that stood out to me in the report were: 

• The shift to deep learning approaches - “There is a new emphasis in the classroom on more challenge based, active learning”

• Integrating Personalized Learning

• BYOD & Cloud Computing

• Wearable Technology – “tracks sleep, movement, location, social media, etc.”

-   How weird would it be to have all students walking around the halls with Google’s glasses on!

 

TT #11

Show and Tell!

Desmos is a cool graphing calculator app I was introduced to at a PD last year. It is tons of fun to play around in and very easy to use - no head ache inducing tutorial necessary. You could use it at all levels of graphing. Simply playing around and creating a picture using as many equations you can think of is a fun spin on the usual graphing tasks, and a review!

https://www.desmos.com/calculator 

TT #9

Using Online Video in the Classroom

I think using video in the classroom is a great teaching tool. I think information should be presented in as many different ways as possible in order to reach as many students as possible and video is a great way to add some visual to a lesson.  Also, students still seem to associate video with taking a break from the lecture, when really they can still be learning while watching. Here is a video I found that I would show Pre-Calc and Calc students to address the “what use is this” and “when will we ever use this?” questions in a different way from “well you’ll need it in university if you want to be an engineer..” etc. I think math can be fun and beautiful in it’s own way, and this video shines a little bit of light on this aspect of the subject.

After Bryce’s presentation and examples of work his student’s had created, I am excited to have students make videos to show their learning. I think it opens up so much room for creativity, especially in a math classroom where it is usually test after test. I am on the fence for having the students post their videos on YouTube. I would defiantly like them to post them on a class site or blog so classmates can use them as resources. It would be cool if they shared them outside the classroom too, I could see a student gaining a lot of confidence from another student around the world learning and benefiting from their work. I also see the dangers of this however. It would be ideal if there were a world wide sharing platform for educational purposes.  

TT #8

Podcasts!

When driving I love listening to Stuff You Should Know. And on a recent trip to B.C. I was introduced to the Serial Podcast. This took us from Whistler to Vancouver and then all the way on the long drive home. The podcast goes back and explores an old murder case to determine if a man that has been imprisoned for 15 years is really guilty or not. Our entire car was captivated. We were discussing forensics and the science behind it with the two doctors in the car (my brother and his wife). Some really in depth questions came up and suddenly we were madly Googling to prove each other wrong and trying to recall organic chem 2. Though this is not necessarily and education podcast, when presented with this tech task, it immediately came to mind because it was so engaging. It got me thinking of making or having students make podcasts that slowly drop more and more information while you try to figure out the puzzle. This could easily be done with a math unit – combining all the concepts and dropping more and more information each episode. It could defiantly be used in any science class as well. And could be used as is in a forensic science class. 

As for the Stuff you should know podcast, you could search and find an episode pertaining specifically to what your class is learning. But I also like the thought of playing it to wind up a class, or when a break is needed from the usual. I think having a wide base of knowledge on many different subjects is a very cool thing to have. 

TT #7

Infographics!

These are neat tools! I’ve seen them around before but didn't know they had a name. Infographics are simply a graphic visual representation of information, data or knowledge, with the intent to present complex information quickly ad clearly. I really like how they place all the most relevant information on one page with as many visuals as possible. It’s so much more pleasing and less intimidating than an informational text, such as a textbook. Even in subject areas I enjoy, a textbook seems like a chore and can put you to sleep. Infographics are an all in one spot to look to to master a concept. I think these can be extremely useful in the classroom. They bring together text and visuals to represent the concept to the student. Already they have more differentiation than a textbook. In a math classroom I can see them being up on the wall that students can quickly look to when stuck on a problem. 

Here's an infograh I made on Completing the Square using http://piktochart.com/ 

 

TT #4

Kim Cofino – Always Learning

http://kimcofino.com/blog/ 

She is an international technology and learning coach and has been teaching around the world since 2000. She developed and implemented integrated technology programs, as well as infused the curriculum with multimedia tools at various International Schools. Currently she is about to head from Japan back to Bangkok.

Her blog is her place to reflect on her teaching and learning as a technology and learning coach in international schools. A great reflection on her organizations and life experiences on her travels around the world.

I found this blog on a list of 50 best education blogs while looking for a math oriented one. I decided to follow this one however because it was so adventurous. Not just the traveling parts but her development and implementation of technology at the schools she has been at. She seems very motivated, striving to continually better her practice and face change head on.

In this blog there is a ton to derive about the international school experience as well as lots to learn from her endeavors with the implementation of technology. 

TT #5

Digital Footprint/Identity

My digital footprint is hard to find! I had to go a few Google search pages deep to find anything that actually pertained to me. That’s the bonus and draw back of having a common name I guess. And what complicates things more is that I go by my middle name, but use my first name on all “official” documents. So universities and my resume have Kirsten on them, but all of my social media presence is under Alex. This makes for a bit of a mixed digital presence. This is why I made the about me page, so that employers aren’t trying to find me and maybe thinking I’m someone I’m not.  I think your digital footprint is increasingly important since a digital presence is not just social anymore but a mix of social and professional and employers are being made increasingly aware of this. I hope the digital presence I have created reflects my identity and not someone I'm not. I feel that digital dualism is easy to get mixed up in as it is easy to be more open and social and even mean online since you are not face to face with the person. I think we should remind our students there is an actual person with thoughts and feelings reading their comments and posts. As future teachers we need to model as well as teach our students these skills.

Week 8

No bog post for week 7 last week, we had the week off! This week we had a great presentation from an organization I hadn’t heard of before, EverFi. EverFi is a free resource of online courses sponsored and brought to schools and colleges for free. They partner with companies and organizations to bring education technology to communities at scale - so far they have reached 9 million students on their platform. Through this presentation I was introduced to the concept of STEM, which they provide courses on/related to in partnership with the NHL. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) is a more applied push to the four, to encourage students to get interested in them. For example, connecting the math and science used in hockey. It encompasses the idea that one teacher should be the “master” of all these 4 things, instead of the math specialist, physics specialist, etc. I find this interesting, it makes sense to me expect for the technology part. It’s such a vast, ever-changing, and diverse area. I can’t imagine being a specialist in math, science, and engineering and also be able to keep up with technology as well. Since our presenter had worked in New York before coming to Canada, we got to hear an interesting take on the American education system from someone who has actually worked there. With the wake up call that we are trending toward this system, its good to know its failures and successes. It’s hard to imagine the NY school division encompassing ~1700 schools and 1.1 million students. Of these students 800,000 of them are low income and need meals provided for them. And since the schools are graded (based on what? I wondered…), parents can choose which to send students to based on these grades. This school choice makes for an unimaginable complex busing system that is second largest to the London public transport system. Crazy. Coming from the Manitoba school system, all of this is hard to imagine. That schools are rating and competing against each other seems like a major downfall to me. Talk about taking the emphasis away from learning. I really hope we catch ourselves before we trend more towards the U.S. system and aim for our students to learn with deeper understandings and have an enjoyable experience doing so. 

 

Week #6

This week we had Kelli Boklaschuk from Brandon School Division BSD Communications & IT in as a guest speaker. I haven’t had a placement in BSD since my first one so I didn’t have as many qualms with their IT terms as some of my fellow students. My quickly approaching next and final placement is in BSD however so this was a well timed presentation. No gmail access in the school? Ack! But a lot of their reasons to go with Microsoft as their platform do make sense.  I thought it was interesting that BSD had an end goal of 1:1 computing when so many of my fellow student teachers have been hitting technological road blocks in their bsd placements. Kelli’s point that the end goal should not be 1:1 computing but personalized learning made sense as a broader blanket goal that I think should come before 1:1 computing. The most useful thing I saw in the presentation was the social media project proposal. At first glance it seemed tedious, but once explained it seemed a lot more user friendly. I have already been thinking of a number of projects I could do in my placement that might include social media, so that I would need to fill out this form well in advance is good to know. After the previous weeks 1:1 presentation that had me thinking about giving the students so much choice in the media they present their knowledge, I am interested to see how this would work with the forms. If I tell students they can use what they want to present their knowledge, then I wonder how can I foresee so far in advance what social media I need to propose.

TT #6

My PLN and the Connected Student

Below is my PLN. It might be a little bare compared to others as I prefer to have a few apps and such that I use for many purposes as oppose to trying to keep track of a zillion different ones. I have however been inspired by this class to branch out and try new tech tools. Not for personal purposes, but I can see their importance in the professional world for sharing and connecting with other professionals in and out of your field.

And here is a PLN for a typical 21st Century Student:

I made the green arrows to draw the connection to the sites, apps, tools, and devices that apply to both the personal and school categories. I noticed when I was making this that there is less difference between the personal tech world and the school tech world for today's student. They are asked to make educational blogs, twitter accounts, and use their smart phone in class. I think this recent merge of the two worlds will only grow as more and more schools integrate technology into their practices, especially when if they are going to 1:1 route.

TT #3

This is my first time on the twitter train, I hadn't used it or seen much of it before this course. It was very easy to get and didn't require much effort to set up an account, which was a huge plus for me. As I suspected, I don't think I will use it much for social purposes, but I see it's advantages in a professional context. It seems to be a great networking tool to share and connect with others in your field. The subject focused twitter chats Bryce Ridgen told us about last Wednesday sound great for both teachers and students. I think the students having their own for school twitter account where they follow and connect with experts in their field is such a great idea. What a neat way to inspire and ignite interest in subject areas. Every math teacher has heard "When will we ever use this??", if students followed some professionals in math related careers (Engineers, Chris Hadfield, computer game designers, etc.) they might actually find an answer to their question.

https://twitter.com/TheBellCurve8 

TT #2

When I think of curation I think of a museum curator choosing and organizing artwork. So I looked up digital curation; it is "the selection, preservation, maintenance, collection and archiving of digital assets". For this tech task I created an about.me page to organize my online presence. 

http://about.me/AlexBell 

I think curation is an important skill in today's online world. There are so many social media apps and sites, having one place that allows someone access and provides direction in their getting to know you and your online presence. We also need a way to organize all the news, professional, and recreational sites that we use in our day to day lives. There are so many it is often overwhelming. I generally like an organized bookmarking system, but also like the RSS feed and feedly has been super helpful for keeping track of all the class blogs. I would pass these sites on to my students. If we had a class blog, feedly would be a huge help. The about.me page would also be a great place for them to keep everything, and be able to access a twitter question or youtube math tutorial that a student made that they found useful. It would benefit them going forward after high school and into the working world as well.

Week #5

This week we had a presentation from Martin Ingenmey and Bryce Ridgen from Minnedosa Collegiate regarding their 1:1 computing initiative. I’ve heard of schools in Winnipeg doing this but haven’t been to one or heard first hand of what it’s like. It seems to be going really well for them and I’m glad that some math perspectives were shared as well. These students came up with some super creative assignments and will most likely remember doing them for a long time! I am inspired to give such open assessment, I especially liked the idea of the discussions he had with his students where he was open with what he wanted them to exhibit knowledge on, and they could do whatever they wanted to show this. No guessing as to what the teacher wants. If the students know exactly what outcomes they need to hit with the assignment, why not use whatever media and method they want to portray this knowledge. I really liked the math ideas of a Twitter wall, having the students connect with math/science experts in their fields. And the math tutorial video, having the student explaining the concept, showing as much or more than a test would, and then its there for others to learn from too. I thought the SAMR model that lined up with Blooms taxonomy was pretty neat. A lot of the time I feel like I am just trying to fit technology into the class for the sake of fitting it in. But his was a different way of looking at it; using technology but with the goal of it having the students achieve that higher level of understanding.

 SAMR Model:

     Higher Order Thinking Skills

    Lower Order Thinking Skills

Week #4

This week we discussed distance and online learning. We had speakers Donald Girouard and Shannon Horne who spoke about the online courses offered here in Manitoba. I was pretty surprised to learn that Manitoba offers 43 courses available online. I also found it interesting that they have found them to work for students of almost all ages (down to grade 5). I noticed how these courses had the curriculum outcomes laid out, basically as the table of contents making these courses very outcome based, there is no guessing what your trying to learn or what you may be tested on. I never took an online course in high school or university but I think I would have liked the set up. I would have enjoyed having all the outcomes laid out so I know where the course is going, and where I am within it, at all times. I like the idea of fitting in the learning when you want to and are feeling the most motivated. Then you can mold your studies around your work schedule, and not the other way around. I also really find that the environment I am in when learning something matters. I would rather be in the comfort of my own home, warm, then in a cold classroom with those hard bench-like seats that never failed to make my butt cramp up. I also benefit from taking my own notes during a lecture or presentation, being able to pause something and go at my own pace would help exponentially.

 

I think it is beneficial to try things out and struggle for a bit yourself before going to the teacher for the answers. When doing a web based course I feel that more students would try questions and do their own research first, or collaborate with other students, before sending an email or text to the instructor.

Week #3

We looked into a couple of interesting topics this week. The first was the concept of PLN's, or personal/professional learning networks. These sound more complicated than they are.. at first I was weary, kind of an "UGGgg what do I need to create now?" sort of attitude. But once I had the chance to look into them on my own I realized they are more of a managing system of all your resources (human and not) needed for life long learning. With all the resources for information, sharing and connecting that are available today, and more will be coming, having a system that keeps it all organized and managed just seems necessary to be able to keep t all straight and actually use it beneficially.

 

 

I also looked at the Media Smarts report on young Canadians lives online. This was filled with lots of interesting statistics from surveys of today's youth on their online habits. Most of these stats weren't a big surprise, although I still find it hard to believe so many elementary students have cell or smart phones, this just seems weird to me. The stats seemed to stress that though our youth is very internet savvy and has more options then ever to connect, they are not using the internet to it's fullest potential. Like the “Ten Reasons to Stop Apologizing for your online life” video I watched last week implied, we need to commit to our online lives and create a presence that reflects our values. The students stated that they felt safe and well informed on how to protect themselves online... which OK sure, maybe they are, but are they informed on how to use it properly and to get the most out of it? Are they portraying a presence that reflects their values? If not, we should be providing them with the knowledge and tools to do so.

Week #2

This week we looked at digital identity, digital dualism, and technological determinism. It got me thinking about my digital identity and online “presence”. Then I watched the Ted Talk video “Ten Reasons to Stop Apologizing for your online life”. She talked about the concept that anything done online isn’t “reality” and we should realize that both our online and offline lives are real, and that they are one world and one reality. Just because we are using a pseudo name or avatar it seems like we are hiding, but in a lot of cases we actually being more authentic than when we are offline. I‘ve seen online communities be very helpful when people are going through something tough. Some things can feel to hard to discuses face to face with friends or family, I’ve seen a friend go through a situation where it was too tough to tell people about, but she found solstice in an online community. So the idea that we need to stop thinking of being online as not in the “real world “resonated with me, and if we are going to treat it the same as our online reality then I also agree that we should commit to what we are doing online, and create an online presence that reflects our values. 

Back at it!

Started out our last semester with two great presentations in the first week! Lots to think about and get our minds in gear for our final sprint to the finish line.

Our first presentation was very suited for this internet for educators class as we did a Google hangout with Shareski. This was quite like Skype with all the voice lags and freezing but still a very cool way to bring someone into the classroom. He could see us and we could not only see him and hear his dogs, but also see the presentation he had prepared for us. I do feel like we are on the cusp of a new era in education and it is very exciting to be a part of it. His notion to rethink content, assessment, community and modeling really did get me thinking. I agree with the idea of needing to engage and fascinate our students in order to achieve that higher order deeper knowledge that memorization of facts lacks.  His idea of an "unintended learning" column in rubrics really resonated with me as well. The lost art of reflection s a skill I want to work on and encourage my students to hone. I mean if I can't do it, how can I be modeling it?

We also got our copyright pants scared off of us. All I can say about that is YIKES.