April 13, 2023
With EdTech coming to an end, I wanted to close the semester by reflecting on some of the biggest things I learned throughout the course. Technology is evolving rapidly, and children are becoming more and more knowledgeable about it. It is important that we incorporate technology into the classroom in order to enhance learning.
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If you take the time to learn what kind of things technology can do, it becomes much easier to create effective learning for not only students, but teachers too!
-Technology in the TQS
The Teaching Quality Standard highlights the educator's role in the classroom to maximize student learning.
Click on the images to be taken directly to the entire TQS page!
As educators, it is important that we incorporate things that are relevant to students. Technology is a great tool to use to create a lesson that is both effective and engaging for students. The first step in properly using technology in the classroom is to understand the different things it can really do and treating it as a tool, rather than an after thought. Doing this provides guidance for the lesson, and ensures that the task will be done properly; because the teacher understands how to use the technology.
-Digital Learning Plans
EdTech has opened my eyes to the importance of digital learning plans, and how they can support learning in the classroom. Creating a digital learning plan can provide an easier
experience for student's, but also for educators as well.
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A digital learning plan normally includes more than one day of lesson. It includes an agenda, and embedded links to create an easier experience. A great digital learning plan is engaging, functional, aesthetic, organized and supportive of student learning. In order to support learning, it should include varied levels of Bloom's taxonomy and higher order learning. Instruction should be clear for students AND teachers. It is important to include teacher notes for other educators, or for your future self!
Credit: Semantic Scholar
This is a picture of the agenda page of my first digital learning plan! If you click on the image, you can view the entire lesson!
-My Favourite Activity
I had a lot of fun throughout this course! Each assignment we did provided me with great knowledge on different technological tools, but they also were a lot of fun to create! The part that I enjoyed the most about putting these assignments together was creating the submission slide decks! It was a great and easy way to demonstrate all of the things I had been working on, and being able to do it creatively!
The assignment that I had the most fun with was the "Video in the Classroom" assignment!
This is the splash page of the submission slide deck I created for this assignment, If you click on the image you can view my entire submission!
This assignment was my favourite to do because it was collaborative, and exciting!
A few of my classmates and I worked together to create a music video to "The Boys are Back" from High School Musical. We collaborated to create a storyline and costumes, and went to a number of locations to record the clips.
The filming process was extremely fun, especially the clips that we filmed in public spaces. It brought each of us out of our comfort zones to be dressed up as males running around the city, but overall we had a lot of fun! The editing process was difficult, having to learn how to cut and combine clips to match the song was a struggle! As we started to become more comfortable with the app, it became easier to use.
Our professor told us that if we wanted to have a group of four, we had to "up the antics" to prove that it was worth it, and we were extremely proud of how it turned out! Click on the image to watch the video!
-Areas of Growth
The area where I struggled the most was worksheets. The idea of a worksheet seemed pretty straight forward, but I came to find out that there is a lot that goes into building an effective worksheet!
It was difficult for me to grasp the idea of "formatting light" when creating a worksheet. To format lightly, you want to reduce the amount of spaces, or tabs you use. Instead, using the tools within Microsoft Word or Google Docs makes it much easier to create a worksheet that is effective.
-The Future of Technology in Classrooms
With technology becoming more and more advanced, I believe that eventually classrooms will rely almost entirely on technology.
Especially since the Covid-19 pandemic, students bringing personal computers into the school is becoming more common. It is important to adapt the ways that we produce content to students in order to align with the advancement of technology.
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-Closure
I am extremely sad to see this semester come to an end already! I have had so much fun creating and sharing my projects! I am extremely thankful for all of the information I have gained throughout this course, and am excited to see how I can incorporate these skills into my last two years of classes!
Thank you for following along my journey, I will attempt to keep my social media profiles updated as I gain more experience!
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