Category: Weekly Reflections

Can computation thinking help learners become better problem solvers?

This week in class we watched a funny video that demonstrated computational thinking.

The kids in this video are challenged to write very detailed and clear instruction for how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It proves to be quite a challenge! This challenge models computational thinking because the kids must use decomposition to break down the task into smaller tasks, focus on what details are necessary to include and organize the steps into easy to follow instructions. Through this challenge the kids learned how their instructions could be misinterpreted with out very specific detail.

I think that computational thinking can help students become better problem solvers because it teaches them to analyze problems and find efficient solutions. In following the 4 steps of computational thinking (decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction and algorithmic thinking) students develop a mindset that is not intimidated by problems they aren’t sure how to solve. They are able to breakdown problems into manageable steps. This skill not only applies to coding and math but can be applied in any context.

Learning Code

This week we also learned some very basic coding.

We used the website code. org to learn. It is a really awesome website that has tons of resources for teaching and learning code in fun and engaging ways. I chose to code the game flappy bird. It was really fun to be able to customize the game and play it immediately. The instructions were really clear and easy to understand, I was worried it would be confusing and frustrating.

I would love to use this for myself and students in the future. I know absolutely nothing about coding or computers but I know that it will likely be a very important skill that my future students will need to know. I have also felt like I want understand how my technology works in order to be a smarter consumer but it has felt very intimidating to start. This was so fun and easy!

This week we learned how to edit video clips through IMovie. I had some prior knowledge of how to do some basic editing but it was interesting to learn to use green screen videos!

What was the most interesting thing you found when you googled yourself?

Googling myself leads to many interesting articles and posts, many of which are actually related to me. It’s probably because of the unique spelling of my name and how uncommon my last name is. I was able to find old local news articles written about my softball teams, which brought up some great memories I had forgotten about. Others things I found included links to my Facebook, Linkedin and Instagram profiles also showed up in the search. An article written on my great-great grandmother was also found. Before her passing, she was at one point the oldest living person in Canada! It’s interesting to see what comes up in searches, and how far back information can be found about someone with one quick google search.

How can we help our learners manage their digital footprints?

After googling myself, I was able to find things that were so old about me, I had forgotten they even happened. I grew up and was in school at a time where social media and the sharing of personal information was still quite new, so seeing how much actually showed up about me was a bit surprising. I can only imagine how in this day and age, with the popularity of social media, just how much you can find about a student today. I think ways in which we can protect and inform students about managing their digital footprints are very important. The things they share online are there forever, even if you think it’s deleted. As an educator, bringing in other professionals to talk about these sorts of things with our students can be very beneficial. When I was in school I remember having assemblies based around internet safety and digital footprints. They were informative and I still remember them to this day, so I think those sorts of things are good ways to teach students about these topics. This sort of discussion and activities can start from a young age, when students begin to use the internet more regularly. Obviously depending on the age the content will be made appropriate, but having these discussions throughout their educational experience is an important one.

Could video creation be effective learning resource and/or class activity at the grade level I hope to teach (with learners creating their own videos)

During my time in the classroom, I’ve been able to notice just how much videos and online components of lessons and activities captivate students. I think if I were to teach an upper elementary or middle school age, video creation and editing would be a great skill to teach and would allow students the chance to express themselves creatively in a medium they may not always get the chance to do. For younger students, which is the grade level I’d like to teach, I’ve been able to see just how good they are at working things such as Ipads and computers. This is a generation now of students who have had access to these sorts of things their entire lives, so integrating them into lessons and activities has never been easier. I think video creation, of varying complexities can be used within a wide range of grade levels, with appropriate introduction and scaffolding.

Assessing New Technologies

This week we discussed intentionality in technology enabled learning. We looked at 2 frameworks that help us evaluate the potential benefits and drawbacks of implementing a new technology in the classroom. The first framework is S.A.M.R (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition). The infographic below explains the model quite well.

The other framework we looked at is called the SECTIONS model, which stands for Students, Ease of use, Costs, Teaching functions (including the affordances of different media), Interaction, Organizational issues, Networking, Security and privacy. The image below offers more detail on what each of those words mean in the context of technology enabled education.

The SAMR model helps to evaluate if the technology you are introducing will increase student engagement by looking at whether or not a task is enhanced or transformed by the technology ex. using google docs to write out a story allows for features such as spellcheck and peers or teachers can provide inline feedback.

Whereas the SECTIONS model helps to assess the appropriateness of a particular technology & identify possible barriers to integrating a new technology. ex. concerns with data security.

Personally, I think the SECTIONS model is more useful because it addresses more practical issues around introducing new technology and has the element of assessing engagement included.

The H5P videos we created previously is a good example of a new technology that could be integrated into a class. We can analyze this technology using the SECTIONS model. Creating H5P videos can be a good way to support various student needs as the video format allows for close captions, adjustment of speed of the video, louder and clearer audio if using headphones and the ability to pause and rewind. All are elements not possible with a standard in person presentation. H5P was very easy to use after watching a short tutorial, it is free but does require access to a computer with adequate microphone and sound which can be costly. It also takes time to create, which is also a cost to the teacher. As a method of teaching it is a good tool because the interactivity allows for more engagement with content and an assessment of student understanding. With many different interactive elements available the tool provides good interactivity between learner and learning material. I don’t see any issues an institution could have with this tool but that would be something to consider. The tool doesn’t provide networking outside the course, though sharing an H5P video on a blog or social media site could provide that opportunity. Finally, H5P videos seem like a relatively safe tool. There may be some risk of teacher privacy just in the fact of having to use an email and create a password to make an account but there should be no risk to students.

Sketchnotes and Infographics

This week we also learned about sketchnoting and infographics. I enjoyed learning to sketchnote however I am not sure it would be a super effective strategy for me because I get to focused on the details of my drawings and making everything look neat and aesthetically pleasing. If I ever shake my perfectionist tendencies maybe I’ll be able to use it. I like infographics as well, Canva is such a great tool that I have used a lot. In my undergrad I had a prof who used infographics as the primary assignments throughout the course. I think this was a great method of assessment because in order to make an effective infographic you have to really know the material to get across all the necessary information in a concise way. Furthermore, the prof asked permission to use the best infographics for a website so they can be used as an educational tool.

Below are my skatchnotes and infographic I made this week 🙂

This Week we discussed Multimedia learning. This method of instruction involves using visuals such as pictures and video or audio instead of or in addition to text. We viewed this video by Dr. Ray Pastore.

Dr. Pastore explains that using multimedia learning helps improve student’s retention of the material learned. However, there are some specific ways multimedia learning should be implemented in order for it to be effective. For example, text is accompanied by an image it can be difficult for people to go back and forth between the two and absorb and retain all the details. You would get better retention with an image accompanied by an audio description. One thing the surprised me from this video was that adding extra visuals that aren’t necessarily related to the content to be learned can actually hinder learning. Throughout my education I have always been told to make presentation visually interesting to attract the attention of the audience (example below). Though I understand Dr. Pastore’s point that extra visuals are distracting from the content, maybe there is a happy medium?

I think that overall multimedia learning is a good strategy for teachers to implement especially when we consider all the different learners we are trying to accommodate in our classrooms. However, an over reliance on things like video and presentations is, in my opinion, equally as boring as lecture methods of instruction. The multimedia method also relies to an extent on the resources of the school and may not be accessible to all teachers or students.

We also learned about the flipped classroom. A flipped classroom is the idea that making interactive instructional videos allows students to gain the content knowledge before coming to class which allows for class time to be dedicated to hands on activities. I think this is a good practice for older students, maybe grade 4 and up but it might be difficult to get younger students to really engage with the content especially longer form content. Furthermore, the method requires that each student has access to a computer and reliable internet connection. If you get to know your students and their families and know that they do all have access I could see this being a good strategy to use. But again, I wouldn’t only resort to that method of instruction because of accessibility and it could be difficult to do formative assessments of student understanding of content if they just do it at home.

We got the opportunity to practice making an interactive video this week. Since I couldn’t think of any kind of tutorial I could demonstrate online that has to do with my inquiry I decided to just do a fun game I played a lot as a kid! I made an interactive tutorial of how to complete the first mission as a secret agent on Club Penguin! it was fun to make as I haven’t played in a long time. The screen casting was pretty simple for me as I have used the screen record function on my Mac before. I found adding the interactive pieces to be a little trickier. I couldn’t get my video to upload to the WordPress H5P content tab because the file was too large. Once I condensed it and played around with the different interactive elements I was able to figure it out. I was impressed with how many different interactive options there were! I could definitely see myself using it again in the future.