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.