Five Things I Know For Sure

Throughout this course, I have learned a lot about digital learning and teaching. Here is a trading card I made about the digital skills I have acquired throughout my digital learning course.

When we talk about school, many of us think reading and writing because that is what we are used to. In this century, technology is incorporated into our education in both teaching and learning. As things are changing in the education system, it could be confusing for some, especially the older generations as they are not used to this. Things are changing in our society everyday and we slowly adapt to these changes.

In The Backwards Brain Bicycle video, we can see that this person has made changes to his bike. Just like how changes are made in our society. As he practices, he slowly adapts himself to this altered bike. This shows how we can adapt to changes, but it just takes time. He introduces the altered bike to his son and he quickly adapts to it, demonstrating that children learn much faster than adults. This can be related to our education. As a prospective teacher, I believe in teaching students future changes like the adaptation of technology into our education. As students learn things much quicker at a younger age, it is beneficial for them. Even if they may not be using these knowledge and techniques right now, it would be much quicker for them to pick it up later when they need it. Just like how I will not forget how to blog. Just like how you will not forget how to ride a bike if you already learned it before.

I think it is very important to review and reflect on the paths once taken or paths not taken. I think I have made a transformation from being a novice blogger to being an expert blogger. As education incorporates more and more digital technologies, I will continue to expand my knowledge on digital learning and teaching with exploring and trying new tools and websites. I am glad I took this course to challenge myself in a field I was unfamiliar with. I have learned so much from this course and I think these techniques will be very beneficial for me as a prospective teacher.

Curation

It is important for sources to be curated as there is so much in the Internet world. Many resources can be useful for education and can be found online.

I use a website called LinkedIn. It is similar to Facebook but more professional. This tool is often used for work so colleagues can be connected through a more professional form of social media. You can make connections with colleagues, people in the same work field as you, companies, educators, education institutes, etc. LinkedIn allows you to make connections with others and view their links and connections with others. This allows you to broaden your own learning and learn from others. Sources on LinkedIn are often more curated and professional. At the same time, you should still be cautious of different types of sources you find on LinkedIn.

Peer Review

I have experienced peer reviews before and I find it a very effective way to give and get feedback. In today's class I did a peer review with Rachel and Marissa to go over our inquiry project and our blogs. I learned a little about what their inquiry projects were on, which was very interesting. Through peer review, we got to take a look at each other's blogs and gave feedback to each other. The process was informal and it was a fun way to give feedback. I will make an effort to explore more opportunities to develop my understanding and learning, improving my blog. I will review with my future students because I think it is important to get feedback and comments. I will even suggest peer reviewing for older students for them to interact with each other.

Communities

"Communities of practice are formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavour" (Wenger)

"Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly" (Wenger)

An 'affinity space' is where individuals gather together for a time, enter and leave as they will, and leave a range of contributions to the space (James Paul Gee). In our Digital Learning & Teaching class we made an 'affinity space' about social media landscapes relating it to both teaching and learning.

Check out the rest of our 'affinity space' on GoogleDocs!

The importance of being a connected educator and how a PLN can help you

What is PLN?
PLN stands for Personal Learning Network. It is a way to describe your connections for learning.

Why is it important to be a connected educator?
It is important to be a connected educator because you can learn from other educators by sharing ideas. Being connected with other educators keeps you updated with what is being used in teaching and learning. Connections keeps information always easily accessible.

How can PLN help you with being a connected educator?
A PLN is very open and free. You choose what is in your PLN, where your PLN is and when you want to be connected. As it is important to be a connected education, a PLN lets you make connections with others that are anywhere in the world. You may not even know other educators in person, but you are connected through similar interests, which could potentially lead to collaborations. Educators can share their interests and ideas and further develop in learning and teaching. This keeps learning easily accessible.

Do you encourage digital devices in an art classroom?

Google Forms are very useful in education. They allow you to create free surveys that help collect data. I made a Google Form about "do you encourage digital devices in an art classroom," which is related to what I did for my inquiry project. As I expressed my thoughts on digital devices in an art classroom, I am interested in what others think.

How do you inspire students' learning?

I think inspiring students to learn is very important because no students want to be in a boring class and no teachers want to teach a class that is not interested. I am inspired by David Thornburg on his video on Evolving Classroom. He talks about the layout of the classroom, which I think is important because it affects how students engage in the class. He mentioned that students remember 70% of what they learn and 90% of what they do. Doing something that students are interested in will inspire them to learn, which is the goal of education. Thornburg also mentions the importance of being active in a classroom. Being active in the class allows students to have a better understanding.

Motivation is also a big part of inspiring students' learning. The RSA, presented The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, which expresses that rewards motivates students while punishment does not. The video also mentions that rewards is more effective for rudimentary skills and not so effective for cognitive skills. Higher incentives also led to worse performance. This could be something teachers could keep in mind when attempting to inspire students' learning.