Category: Weekly Reflections

When I first thought of what gaming in education looks like, I immediately thought of video games. But one thing I overlooked is that gaming can include physical and board games as well. For our class today, we looked at how different types of games can be effective tools for teaching in the classroom and also what cautions we should consider when using them.

I think that for learning games to be effective, there has to be an engaging gameplay factor that challenges players; a task that focuses more on the “play” rather than the learning. What I mean by that is not to completely disregard or exclude any learning elements, but rather let students learn through their play. In my own experience, I’ve learned a great deal through gaming where learning was not even the intent of the game. But the game included subtleties and lessons that I got to experience simply through playing. For example, the Interland game that we played in class today had fun and engaging gameplay, but it contained lessons and concepts about internet safety that were sprinkled throughout. I think that games like this are especially great tools for teaching because it keeps the childrens’ attention.

Now, how would we ensure that students are not just playing for fun and actually taking away information from their gaming experience? Teachers could include a follow-up assessment to make sure that their students are absorbing all of the key takeaways from the game. This could be something as simple as a worksheet or study guide that will help students retain the knowledge that the game helped them to learn.

Of course, gaming is not always accessible because technological or budget constraints exist. But Whenever possible, I believe that teachers can use gaming as a great way to teach fun lessons to their students, while having a little bit of fun themselves.

Our class had a great opportunity today to listen to a presentation from Jesse Miller about safe technology use and social media. The topic of technology use and social media has grown exponentially in recent years as technological advances continue to grow. With an increase of conversations around this topic, so comes an increase in the controversy surrounding it. To put it simply, we can ask ourselves the question: Is social media and technology bad or good? The short answer is that it depends, so let’s take a closer look at both sides of the argument.

Miller’s presentation gave a great outline of the dangers of using social media. I definitely agree with him that people need to be weary of what they post online. Whatever we post on the internet creates our digital footprint that can be accessed by virtually anyone. He provided examples of employees running the risk of losing jobs because of irresponsible internet behaviour. I think that these are all valid points, and that the internet and technology can be a dangerous liability if not used correctly. I also feel like it does take away from some of the other joys of life, such as playing outside and enjoying nature. I often talk with my peers about how when we were children, we would be biking to each other’s houses or running around the neighborhood being active. Now I see many kids at that age in front of iPads, smartphones and computer screens.

But even though there are a lot of things to be careful around when using technology, I can agree with Miller that it is something that has greatly benefitted the way we live our lives. Many utilities have been condensed into a single, palm-sized device with abilities to make phone calls, keep time, send instant messages, conduct internet searches, and much more. Technology also provides us with platforms to share our works and instantly connect with one another. It offers the convenience that we just didn’t used to have.

Now, where it gets tricky is who should be using technology and social media. I definitely do not think that it is for everyone, at least some aspects of it. There is a reason age restrictions on apps and websites exist, but children can easily lie about their age and gain access to platforms that they probably shouldn’t be using. This can lead to them becoming vulnerable on the internet, and we’ve already heard so many stories of children developing internet “relationships” that quickly spiral into much more grave issues. I think as educators it is our responsibility to guide students and youths on how to safely navigate their time on the internet.

Personally, I believe smartphones should not be given to children under a certain age, but that is something I do not control; their parents do. Something I can do, however is teach them how to smartly use their devices and help them move away from that addiction. I really liked the 20-20-20 rule that Miller talked about in his presentation, and it might be something that I will consider using in my future classroom. This model uses 20 minutes of education with short 3 or 4 minute breaks in between for students to have free time to go on their devices if they wish. This can act as a collective class privilege that can be effective in deterring students from using their phones during class time.

So, at the end of the day, I wouldn’t say I am either for or against technology, but I can definitely say that I want to make it my goal to ensure that the people around me know of all of its great possibilities and dangers.

When people hear the word coding, they usually think of the guy that’s sitting behind the computer screen typing in letters and numbers that look like the matrix. But what is coding actually? In our class this week, we looked at coding from an educational standpoint and what it could look like within the classroom.

Simply put, writing code is essentially creating the input commands that will run a program, be it a short animation, video game, or other form of media. In our class we looked at block coding, which is a simplified version in which we did not need to type out any script. I decided to try my hand at block coding using a Minecraft Underwater Adventure from the website Hour of Code. With block coding, pre-written commands are packaged into different blocks that are labelled with different functions, for example, the one I did had blocks that made the sprite (character on screen) move and perform specific actions. The blocks can be dragged and put into an order and the sprite will carry out those commands in that order. Sometimes there were modifiers that made the character repeat tasks or change their actions if certain conditions were met. Overall, it was pretty simple to follow and I felt pretty proud of the work I did which can be seen in the video below. I even got a certificate once I completed the project!

Now, how useful will this be in the classroom? That depends. The program I was using was very simple to use and understand, but I would not recommend coding exercises for students under the grade 2 level as coding requires a lot of patience. Secondly, the technology that is available can be limiting to the possibilities of including coding activities in the classroom. But let’s say that all the conditions are met. I think that coding can be a useful and engaging educational tool in the classroom. Introducing it to young children might spark some passions in them or even just give them a better understanding of how the games they play function. Coding can also be cross curricular in a way that students can create stories, art pieces and even do puzzle problem solving. I see it as a valuable tool that can be used, and the best part is that it’s free!

Visuals that accompany information are always a great tool and have been proven to improve information recall rates in both children and adults. This week in class, we learned how to incorporate this in a classroom through the use of sketchnoting and Canva.

Sketchnoting is a note-taking strategy that includes information and visuals to help learners retain information better. They can often be seen as flowcharts, mind-maps, picture drawings, or other visual elements. Here is an example of a sketchnote I did.

In the elementary classroom setting, I think that sketchnoting is such a great skill for students to learn. For this, I want to focus on how it will benefit students at a higher grade level. For one, it makes the note taking process multitudes more fun as students can add all sorts of creative flair to their notes. And according to what we learned in class, the use of visuals vastly increased the retention rate of information among students. This would be exceptionally useful if students are taking a test or other form of assessment and need to quickly recall information. They could do so simply by remembering a picture or visual that they drew and what information was associated with that image. Sketchnoting would have definitely helped me throughout my schooling years, so I hope to pass that tool on to my future students.

The last point I want to briefly talk about today is the SAMR (substitution, augmentation, modification, redefinition) model. This model is used to evaluate technology within classrooms by determining how exactly that technology impacts learning. I think that consulting this when implementing new technology in the classroom is a must. By understanding the model, teachers can determine at what level the technology they want to implement falls on. From there, they can decide whether it is appropriate to do so or if the investment will be purposeful.

That’s everything for this week and I look forward to what technologies we will be exploring next!

Web accessibility is something that is often times overlooked when working with digital media, so today we had the opportunity to incorporate some accessibility elements into our own Word Press websites. We first went over what accessibility means, and it can vary among different types of people. But in general, making things more accessible is adding or adjusting elements so that people with disabilities (hearing, sight, movement, learning, etc.) can still use and enjoy them.

When specifically talking about web accessibility, one of the disabilities that comes to mind is visual impairments. We learned that people who are visually impaired can still access websites through web-readers, which are text-to-speech software that narrate the words from the screen to the user. Web-readers can also describe pictures, but only if alt-text is available for said pictures. I learned that it is important to have concise and descriptive alt-text, otherwise it adds no context to the image. See the picture I have below.

Another element of web accessibility that helps people who are hearing impaired is closed captions or subtitles for videos. I’ve included the screen cast video that I posted last week below, but this time it has closed captions to make it more accessible.

The closed captions in the above video were auto-generated on YouTube, however they were not 100% accurate in its initial generation, so I had to make some manual edits. Regardless, I think that having A.I. generate closed captions for videos immensely helps with accessibility and is something that I often see is overlooked. I am a person who prefers to have subtitles when watching videos, so I notice whether they are there or not. I have often times found myself watching a video either in class or on my own and there will be no option to even have closed captions. This case is becoming increasingly rare as many YouTube videos have the auto generated captions, but is still something that can be improved upon, especially in the department of foreign languages. Schools are becoming increasingly diverse and language barriers do exist. I’ve often seen students who do not speak English struggle, not because they are not intelligent, but because they cannot communicate and receive ideas as well as other students who are native English speakers. I think that including closed captions of multiple languages can benefit those students and help them to take in learning content better.

This week in Technology class we learned how to screencast and add interactive popups to videos. I had an extremely fun time during our in-class activities as I already had a little bit of experience in screen recording using Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) Studio. I spent the time exploring different tools and editing software to learn new skills and refine my media abilities. Below is just a quick sample video, showcasing this very website, that I screencasted, voiced-over, and added interactions (which will be addressed later).

The H5P interactivity portion of the video was a little bit complicated at first glance as there were lots of tools and buttons that made it a little bit overwhelming. But after Rich’s tutorial and some playing around, it became pretty straightforward to use.

As seen in the above video, I was able to insert a few interactive popups. I think that this can be a great tool in the classroom and help greatly with students’ understanding. For one, good interactive videos that follow the multimedia approach to learning promotes the retention of information within students. This is done by having visuals and audio that work together to compliment each other rather than against each other. I believe that adding the interactive portion goes one step further to help reinforce students’ learning. Not only will they have the audio and visual support, but they would also be able to check their own understanding themselves, be it multiple choice questions or thought prompts. It would also make studying much more enjoyable as students could use the interactive questions almost as a game-like practice quiz. And one of the best parts is that students have the ability to replay videos as many times over as they like to fully understand the concepts.

There are so many benefits to using multimedia videos as a teaching aid. It helps touch on more senses of students, making learning more accessible, and is a fun and engaging teaching method, if done correctly. Multimedia is going to be the future of learning and something that I believe can enhance any classroom.

This week, we had the opportunity to view a documentary film titled “Most Likely to Succeed” which was about a non-traditional school called High-Tech High. In this school, students are not assessed with tests or quizzes, and teachers do not have to follow a set curriculum, but rather choose to teach what they believe will best benefit their students. From viewing the film, one can ponder the question: Do we need to re-imagine education? I feel like the current education system could definitely use some adjustments. The film is on the right track with allowing students to facilitate their own learning, however, I still do believe that structure needs to be in place. Especially in the public school system, the chances of every student being so keen as to engage in learning and exploration on their own is slim. But what we teach should not be limited to just the content; it should encourage more problem solving and critical and reflective thinking. So in that sense, I can agree with the structures of High-Tech High and want to use a similar approach in my own future classroom that creates active thinkers and problem-solvers, and not just vessels to deposit information into.

The second aspect of this class that completely intrigued me was the discussion about artificial intelligence (AI) and its capabilities. The documentary touched a little bit about AI and how it has the capacity to replicate human thinking, providing examples of a computer beating a chess world champion and winning a game of Jeopardy. Today I discovered the chatbot AI called ChatGPT from OpenAI. I was blown away. With programming that can create a comprehensible piece of text of about almost anything using only simple prompts, the possibilities are just about endless. Now, what does this look like from an educational standpoint? ChatGPT can be a great tool for generating information, starting ideas or planning lessons. But it carries some risks as well. Students who know of it should be taught to use the site responsibly and only after they have already built up their proficiency and fluency in writing. Since the program is free and accessible, nothing is stopping students from having an AI write their assignments for them other than their sense of honesty. For example, I prompted the AI to write a summary of chapter one of Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” and it gave me a thorough comprehensible piece of writing. However, there are some limitations with the program as it does not give citations. There are also ways to prevent students from using ChatGPT by making certain assignment requirements that ask for more personal touches, as that is something the AI still lacks.

Another concern of mine is how this AI is just the beginning. Throughout the past century, machines have slowly been replacing humans in the work force. Will ChatGPT do the same? Perhaps, yes, but I still think it is a long way until the AI fully emulates human thinking. The one advantage we have over it is the fact that we are human. We can be irrational and personal, and I think that is something that we will always have over the machines.