Category: EdTech Reflections

We were given a short story to read this week called “The Fun They Had” by Isaac Asimov. To summarize the story, it takes place in the future, in the year 2155. It details the story of Margie, a student that has a strong distaste for school. But in her defense, who wouldn’t hate school if you had a mechanical teacher???

Margie learns about how schools used to be run by reading a “real” book her brother Tommy found. The book was made of paper and talked about how schools were run centuries ago. Margie was in disbelief and was incredibly curious about how the schools were run in comparison to her school.

We were prompted in class to think about what schools might look like 50-100 years from now and it got me thinking about what PHE will specifically look like. I wonder if there will still be PHE classes? I know that many schools value their STEM courses the most, whereas courses that are considered as electives or non-essential, will be discarded. I wonder if schools, especially the secondary levels and higher, will be moved to online classrooms as the main mode of delivery?

My hope is that things go in the opposite direction. I am hopeful for a greater emphasis on taking courses outside of the core subjects, for a greater student interest and passion for PHE related courses, and for teachers to be leading the charge in developing new generations of students who will continue to better their world.

This week we got to participate in another EdTech Camp activity. The last time we participated, we all brainstormed topics, wrote them down on paper, and voted using stickers to select the top discussion topics. This time around, our instructor provided us with multiple topics relating to the theme of technology and education. Rather than using the same voting method as last time, we got introduced to an incredible online tool called Mural. Using this software, we were able to also vote and decide on 3 “wildcard” topics to discuss.

I have inserted an image of the Mural platform that shows the various topics we discussed.

The topics that were outlined include:

1. Gamified Learning
2. Coding in the Classroom
3. Knowledge Curation Tools
4. Simulations
5. Wildcard #1: Should students rely on programs like Grammarly? Why or why not?
6. Wildcard #2: Should we have homework?
7. Wildcard #3: Virtual art studio/sketchbooks- can you move studio classes online?

This resource could be utilized within a classroom for similar group activities where students are answering questions in groups and asked to summarize their main ideas. Some of the features that I think make it a useful tool include anonymity and how the voting system removes the element of peer pressure. In many of my own experiences as a student, I often felt the pressure to go along with my peers or friends when answering questions or giving opinions. Using Mural to vote, students would be able to vote without external pressures, thus limiting the amount of sway the students experience.

A few potential challenges that I could see with using Mural within my future classroom include:

• efficiency (when first starting/learning to use it)
• cost (free with limitations)
• access to technology for students

In our last class we were joined over Zoom by Tracy Humphreys, the founder of BCEd Access. I had not previously heard of this organization so I was extremely excited to learn more. Tracy explained that BCEd Access is an organization that runs within British Columbia that supports the families of students’ with disabilities and complex learners. She explained that through their work with families they have identified the major challenges that students are facing within their education experience.

1. Denial of technology: children are being denied access to using tech in classrooms that would support them in their education.
2. Outdated practices and technology (i.e. older generations of technology, such as an iPad and devices that no longer support the students in the ways they need).
3. Accessibility is still a problem: getting technology and funding is super challenging for the school
4. Knowledge keeping: there hasn’t been an expert in this area in different school districts that is the go-to person.
5. NO training support: in terms of families, they need to know how to use different devices and support their kids in their education.

Another area of Tracy’s discussion was focussed around ableism and its presence within our education system. Within students’ processes of being assessed and receiving or not receiving a formal designation, there is an unsettling question that underlies the process, that being, “is my child disabled enough to receive support and funding?”. How incredibly invalidating! Additionally, she explains that there is an underlying goal of disability support in that it will be used to develop independence or resiliency to stop using it. This idea completely fails to acknowledge that some students’ will require the technology support forever.

I found Tracy’s discussion with our class very interesting and it reminded me of the importance of the role being an educator. We are being gifted the opportunity to support children and guide their learning. Within this role we must constantly be aware of who our students are, their needs, and any gaps within their experience that we can lessen.

After watching Trevor Mackenzie’s recorded seminar all I can say is WOW! He had an incredible energy and passion that was intensely captivating. I would love to see what he is like within his classroom and observe all it all firsthand. What really resonated with me during his conversation with our class was when he spoke about learner identity and the impact that teachers have, whether they know it or not. In his experience, he shared that his experience in math was impacted by the narrative his teacher placed on him, and still remembers how that teacher made him feel to this day. This was devastating to here, and even more so to know that students everywhere are having similar experiences. Words are so powerful and listening to Trevor further instilled the notion that we must always be aware of who we are talking to and what we are saying. In my perspective, as educators our role is first and foremost to support. And in this supporting role, we must empower our students with our words and through the relationships we create with them to build them up.

            Something that I found really thought provoking from his talk was being aware of our personal biases as we enter the world of teaching. To paraphrase Trevor, he stated that within our teaching experiences we are susceptible to trying to recreate our experiences as students where we found success and enjoyment, especially in our methods of assessment. So, as teacher candidates we must ask ourselves, what are my biases? Because what I experienced as a student that was fulfilling does not necessarily align with what my future students will want or need.

Trevor proposed a question along the lines of “How can we adjust our assessment methods to adaptable and agile in a system that is rigid and dehumanizing at its core?”. That is such a crucial thing to consider because like what Trevor discussed, the dynamic between teacher and students is sometimes more important than the course content. How do we create relationships with our students a more consistent practice amongst all teachers? How do we ensure our students feel seen, and that their learning is valued and genuinely cared about? And ultimately, how do we demonstrate humanity in our teaching?

            The last point I want to speak to is the concept of student agency. Trevor spent a significant amount of time addressing inquiry-based learning and creating accountable students, and it got me thinking about what that looks like in Physical and Health Education (PHE). In my experience within PE, our course was highly centralized around the sport education model, and typically the sports that our teachers felt comfortable teaching. An inquiry-based model in PHE might look like more student choice. Something I have discussed in my PHE methods course is the idea of giving students surveys where they can select from an extensive list of sports, active living activities, and games. This gives the students more choice in what they get to learn and explore within their PHE course. Another awesome inquiry-based learning opportunity that I have witnessed at my Wednesday practicum day was in a Community Recreation course. Within this class the students were assigned a group project where they had to create a new game to teach the class. They were given certain parameters for the game as well as the teaching process but were given total agency over developing their activity.  They had complete access to the PHE equipment and spaces (main gym, small gym, fields, track, etc.). I go to witness the planning phase as well as the final lessons which was an incredibly powerful thing to observe. Overall, the students displayed passion and a genuine interest in creating their own games and how they wanted to teach their peers. I would love to do a project like this within my future teaching practice, I think it would be an incredible way to incorporate guided inquiry and more student agency within the realm of PHE.

Hello, it’s been way too long since my last entry! I was away last class due to a family commitment, however, I did manage to read through the Week 8: Distributed Learning slide deck to make sure I was up to date. Since I wasn’t in class to participate in the discussions, I took some time to answer a few of the questions from the slides. 

Starting with the Pros and Cons of Learning Online Discussion…

I took the opportunity to generate a cool 3D graphic on PowerPoint that illustrates my experience with online learning during my undergraduate program.

My last year at MRU was all online learning with a mixture of synchronous and asynchronous courses. I personally found that the synchronous classes were my preferred method of online learning because they mimicked the experience of in-person learning. The consistent class times that were mandatory made it feel more normal and helped me to be accountable to my learning. The classes that were asynchronous, while allowing significant flexibility for learning content on our own preferred schedules, also challenged me to stay on schedule with the course. I felt that without the regular meeting times and engaging in conversations over Zoom with my instructors, I fell behind in those classes and generally enjoyed them less. 

I also watched the Digital Learning Environments video from Research Shorts. It was a really quick and easy watch to learn about learning management systems and the four foundational elements that need to be considered when designing a digital learning environment.

The first component is the organizational structure. This refers to how an online environment is set-up to allow users to interact with each other, the  ways in which it can be used to teach, and how learning can happen. According to this video, there are three ways that digital learning environments are organized: 

1. Groups: formal and hierarchical entities, hosted by learning management systems (i.e. online university course).
2. Networks: fluid structures with minimal boundaries (i.e. LinkedIn page)
3. Communities: people show mutual interest, commitment, coherence and continuity.

The second component is design, and how to build an effective learning experience. Digital learning environments should be learner focussed so that everything that is done in this learning space is geared towards creating a meaningful learning opportunity for the student/individual.  

The third component to consider is guided vs. unguided instruction. This relates to how much an instructor is involved in the learning experience, as well as the opportunities available to use peer support. Overall, this concept addresses self-directed learning and teacher-led learning and making sure to create these online learning experiences as beneficial as possible through the instructional methods chosen. 

The final component to  keep in mind is the neutrality of the technology being used. Some digital learning environments afford opportunities for interaction that others do not. For instance, the video uses the example of students being unable to create discussion threads, their learning experience is impacted. Instructors must therefore select technology that is built for teaching and learning that has specific design features that allow students to interact and generate engagement.

This past class we had the privilege of speaking with Jeff Hopkins, the founder and principal at Pacific School of Inquiry and Innovation. It was really interesting to listen to him share about his background and experience creating the school. I was not very familiar with this type of school, but after his discussion with our class, I was blown away. One of the things that resonated with me was when he spoke about making the students aware that they are members of society at whatever age they are. In my experience as a student it felt as though we had to wait until we graduated before we were allowed to interact within society or explore our role as citizens. Jeff told us about several of the Inquiry projects that are being run by his students, such as the online art collective, web forums, store fronts, etc. It was incredible to hear about the passions of these students, and the support they receive from this school and its teachers. 

My teachable subject area is Physical Health and Education (PHE) , and I spoke with Jeff about how PSII meets the curriculum and provides their students with opportunities for PHE. Although this school seems to have a strong focus on Inquiry relating to the other subject areas (math, science, social studies, art, etc.),  they have a very interesting approach to PHE. He explained that rather than having the students in a typical PHE class, they each create their own PHE plans that are geared towards their personal interests and goals they’ve set for themselves. He said that this personal program that students create places a lot of responsibility on the students to learn different ways to be active and what their preferred type of physical activities are, which is very important for ensuring participation in physical activity later in life. A lot of people struggle to be active once they enter the working world for multiple reasons, including not knowing what or how to be active in a way that makes sense and feels fulfilling for them.

In middle school I remember using PowerPoint frequently for class projects, while in high school my teachers’ stressed to us that PowerPoint was a non-effective resource and boring resource. A few years later during my undergraduate degree, I became familiar with using Google Slides and was reintroduced to Powerpoint- pretty much every instructor I had was using slide decks to deliver their lectures. Flashing forward to this degree, we are being taught how to meaningfully use technologies and resources, like PowerPoint, to support and improve our pedagogy.

This Friday our class took some time to explore and create content using Microsoft PowerPoint. We first discussed the benefits of using visual aids and imagery to learn. Several points were brought up about personalization, diversifying our methods of delivery, and supporting our learners needs in creative ways. What stuck out to me, was the concept of helping our students “see the unseeable”. The example used in class was explaining a bicycle pump, and what images were more effective to use than others. Rather than using a basic image of a bicycle pump, we can select images that support the learning process, and allows students to see processes broken down. This meaningful use of visual aids helps to add a layer to the learning process and gives students a deeper understanding of content.

For the remainder of the class we were given time to explore and create content on PowerPoint. I learned about image editing, including how to add artistic effects, crop images, remove image backgrounds, layer images, and combine shapes, pictures and screenshots. I have attached a short video below of a screen recording that shows the different edits I made on a bee graphic I found on Pinterest. Enjoy!

Our class this past week was an incredible way to finish off my week. We began the class discussing several opportunities that audio and video technology affords schools, as well as some of the ways in which this technology can support our pedagogy.

In my experience playing basketball video technology was a tool used to teach me about proper shooting techniques and skill execution, learning offensive or defensive systems, scouting opponents, and better my understanding of the game. The main video resources my coaches and I used were Coach’s Eye and Synergy. In my undergraduate degree I took several courses learning about the mechanics of movement and teaching fundamental movement skills. I believe that in the world of sports and physical and health education there are some excellent opportunities to implement audio and video technology to improve learning. Specifically, the ability to review, rewatch, slow down and repeat video content is so beneficial for learners, especially the ability to do it on demand.

For the second part of the class we were very lucky to be joined by Rich McCue, who manages the Digital Scholarship Commons in the University of Victoria Libraries. He spoke to us for a while about his background and what the DSC was, but my favorite part was when he shared his tutorials with us. I am very familiar with iMovie and have used it on several occasions including making video content for coaching basketball, to create a fun travel video from my trips to San Diego, and to make birthday videos for my family members during the pandemic when we weren’t allowed to see each other. There were a few activities that I was able to bypass because I knew the fundamentals of iMovie. However, I completed the slow-motion activity and the green screen activity. It was really cool to discover these new features and to be able to add them to my toolbox for use on my future video projects.

Rich also provided us with several resources that could be of use to us, or to our future students. The resource I downloaded, Storyboarder, is an awesome tool that can be used to draw and design storyboards right on your device (plust it’s free!). I haven’t gotten around to using it and learning all of its tricks, but I fiddled around a little bit during our class.

I feel like this class was extremely useful for us as future teachers, and I look forward to exploring the resources and additional tutorials that the DSC has available to expand my skills for audio and visual technology.

For today’s class we had a wonderful presentation and discussion about privacy, safety and online citizenship with guest speaker, Jesse Miller. Some of the topics he covered included: digital identity, digital literacy, network citizenship, privacy and consent, technologies role in education, and several more.

I really enjoyed Jesse’s presentation to our class because he covered concepts that were extremely applicable and relevant to us as future educators. A topic that specifically resonated with me was the idea of digital footprints, and the content that would come up if someone was to Google my name. While completing my undergraduate program I also played varsity basketball, and within my role of a student-athlete we were tasked with being positive representatives online. This meant being aware of our audiences as well as posting and supporting content that was appropriate and respectful. Now, as I work towards becoming a teacher, these same principles will apply, and at a greater intensity. When Jesse highlighted that our future students and students parents’ would most likely look us up online, it made me grateful for the online awareness that’s been instilled in me as a student-athlete. I never want to be in a situation where my values, character or ability to teach comes in to question because of inappropriate online content that I’m associated with.

As per our To-Do list, I took some time today to explore my digital footprint online to see what I could find. I was happy and relieved to see that most of the content was related to MRU basketball, and my social media accounts are all respectful and appropriate (there are just a few goofy photos of me here and there, but I think that makes me relatable as a teacher…?). It was also interesting to explore Google Images because I came across pictures of my friends and family even if I wasn’t in the photo. There were even a few basketball websites that had my roster information and statistics that I had never seen before that appear to be European Women’s Basketball websites. I find the internet very intimidating for this reason because while I think I have control over the content I am posting, there can be a lot of information out there that gets created and shared that we don’t know about. Overall, Jesse was a great resource for our class and I really appreciated his presentation.

Last week our class was tasked with watching the film Most Likely to Succeed. I thoroughly enjoyed the film and found that it really made me rethink my own perspective on the education system, the education I received, and the type of education experience I want to provide to my future students.

The film addresses the many shortcomings of the traditional education system in North America, specifically the United States. It examines the structure of the traditional model, the traditional role and dynamics within a classroom. It also highlights the inescapable reality that technology is taking over and many traditional careers will be replaced within the next 20 years, leaving generations of 21st century graduates at risk for unemployment. This concept was terrifying to me because it made me think of my parents, friends and family and how their jobs could be at risk in the coming years. Who’s to say that we won’t have robot teachers one day and all of us will be out of a job?!

The film also documents the experience of students at High Tech High, a school in the United States that is founded on providing students with a personalized, authentic, imaginative and collaborative educational experience. We get to watch as groups of 9th grade students complete year-long projects and see their progress as they collaborate with their peers to produce meaningful, innovative and ambitious projects. It was incredible to watch this film and learn about High Tech High because I had no idea that there were schools that are like this. Based on my own experience in the public school system, at a fairly new and progressive school, I figured that most other schools were similar and mirrored my school’s and teacher’s approaches to pedagogy.

It was incredible to watch these students collaborate and learn in a student-led approach, with their teachers as facilitators and guides, rather than in the traditional teacher role. As stated in the film, this education model promotes critical thinking, developing soft skills (collaboration, confidence, leadership, self-efficacy, etc.), which I think are so important for kids to develop early on. I really enjoyed this documentary and it has made me question my beliefs about the role of a teacher, what types of learning environments should we be creating, what a well-rounded education looks like, and so much more.