Reflection Time...

Wow! What can I say? I cannot believe that this course has finished already. I saw the course titled "Digital Learning" and thought to myself...what does that even mean? I figured it had to do with technology and thought I need some serious assistance in that area. After sitting through the first class I remember thinking, I made the right choice! I need this class. I need to be able to say I'm a digital learner at least for the sake of my future students.

As each week passed I learned more and more, practiced, played in the sandbox and now that it is all over I can definitely say I walked away as an expert in at least a few web tools, which is way more than I could have said when I began. It was a long, eventful and productive couple weeks. Many times I thought this is so hard, this is nearly impossible, but when i sat there and did it my mind changed. I had a great professor; patient, understanding and encouraging. She helped me whenever I needed and many times sat there walking me through lessons on her own time.

This course has changed my outlook on technology. At first, I never used it much at all, only to type out papers. I resorted to note taking with pens and paper. I had no idea how important is was for teachers to be digitally savvy as it enhances the learning abilities in a classroom. Growing up we hardly used technology, we went to the computer lab once a week, so my mentality was stuck in the past and I figured I didn't need to know how to navigate through the web or how to incorporate it into my classroom. Boy was I wrong... Technology is increasing drastically and it is crucial that teachers and students keep up! Technology is not everything but it is a huge part of our lives and not knowing basic technological aspects is a pretty big setback. 

In this course we looked and explored many, many web tools. These web tools make teaching so much more easier and time-efficient. Not to mention, fun, enjoyable and simple to understand. We explored tools like Bitstrips for schools, Animoto, Lino-it, Mindomo, Cacoo and the list goes on. These web tools allow teachers and students to have an active learning atmosphere. Most of the tools require students to work together which is such an important skill to have. Team work is beneficial for reasons such as: brainstorming together enhances learning skills, students learn a lot from one another because they all have different experiences and perspectives, a lot of information is retained through discussion and visuals, and so on. Using technology and web tools encourages collaboration, interactive behavior, higher levels of education are met, differentiation between learning styles are explored and observed, alternative learning environments and needs of all students are met, extended learning as work can be assigned and regulated outside of the classroom (in tools such as cacoo or google docs where students work together online even if they are in different locations) and lifelong learning skills are exercised! Students build on their problem solving skills and independent learning abilities. They learn lifelong skills that they can apply to the real world. If more parents and teachers were aware of the benefits of digital learning they would want in incorporated within each and every classroom.

One main reason many people are against the use of technology in classrooms is for the safety and privacy reasons. After taking this course I have learned that most of  these tools are safe and classroom friendly. Teachers really understand and analyze tools before presenting them to the class, they choose safer ways of incorporation. For instance, the use of avatars. Avatars in voki or Bitstrips allow students to not only exercise their creativity skills but to have a digital representation of themselves without actually using real pictures, names or voices. They can be anyone or anything they like. & are able to post their avatars anywhere online as themselves; like I posted my avatar on this blog instead of a real picture of myself. Mediasmarts is a really useful site for teachers and parents to read more about online safety for their students or children.

I highly suggest that all teachers take a course like the one I did or at least familiarize themselves with a few, key web tools which they could choose from this blog site itself. I am proud of my accomplishments over the past couple months because I know myself and I have come a pretty long way. Couple months ago I had never pictured myself ever blogging or even knowing how to...& today, I have my very own blog site and it's pretty impressive!

I can finally say I am a digital learner and I have my very own Digital Self Portrait! & I cannot wait to start my teaching career and incorporate all these new tools within my classroom. With that being said, I know I still have a lot more to learn and will continue to keep my DSP updated but it's a start.

Here is an interesting read about 20 digital skills every teacher today should have. I know I had none of them before my digital journey. Check it out here and if your answer is no, then maybe you should join me on my learning experiences.

I found my Inner Blog...Have you?

My Animoto Video!

                       

Here is a Holiday video I made that shows some of the traditions my family and I do each and every year.  I made this video using Animoto. It was so easy to understand and navigate through. I quickly made a free account and the site walked me through how to make my very own video. I was able to choose the theme, the background music and my choice of embedded pictures or videos to share.

I recommend this site for teachers as it takes very little time, easy to work with and the result is amazing! There are videos for all types of holidays, special days or just casual, everyday occasions. I would use this tool to create videos to present to the class because sometimes adding video presentations and other visuals enhances the learning abilities of the students as each classroom needs to incorporate variation in teaching styles!

Using Mindomo to understand my PLN?!

What does PLN even stand for?

PLN stands for Personal Learning Network. It is essentially the people you know, meet or work with virtually. Each person has more PLNs than they realize; these could be social media sites, work sites, and much more. Each digital app and web tool has its own community; facebook, twitter, pinterest, etc. Basically, any person you connect with online becomes part of your learning network; whether that's a quick facebook like on someone's post or a visit to someone's blog site to gather information.

Here are some ways that educators are using their PLNs:
–    Professional development – learn from content-area specialists
–    Locate resources for your classroom, such as free websites and software
–    Get lesson plan ideas from master teachers
–    Learn about new technology and how to integrate it into your teaching
–    Find collaborative solutions
–    Find interesting links to education news

Being a part of various digital communities and expanding your PLN is a great and effective way to enhance your learning abilities as well as your students. It is so simple to learn using online sites because with just a click of a button you could view teaching strategies from someone across the world! Online learning is expanding the horizons of many each minute. People work together, share ideas and thoughts, post about their interests and get comments and feedback within minutes. Having a PLN is very useful for teachers especially (as you've read above). It does take time to build your network and participate online but once you do, you have a great knowledge base and a large community for each web tool you choose to explore. These communities help you build on your very own skills and reciprocate such learning to your students around you!

Here is a picture of my little personal learning environment. As I have repeatedly said, I am new to the digital learning world so as you can see my PLN is quite small. Nevertheless, it is expanding gradually and it is better than not having a PLN at all. I used a really cool web tool called Mindomo to create my PLN map. Mindomo is a fun and fairly simple web tool to operate. It is a great way for teachers to introduce the idea of PLNs to their students and have them visually map out their own networks. I recommend visiting the site and creating your very own PLN!

Check out another great online tool that encourages collaboration within a classroom. This tool is called Lino-It. It is a virtual online sticky note app that allows users to choose from a variety of sticky notes and text fonts, colours and sizes. In our class we constantly utilized this web tool when were asked to brainstorm ideas or gather our thoughts. Lino-it is a great and easy way for teachers to get students to jot their ideas down and be able to analyze who says what. This web tool allows you to share sticky notes, videos, pictures and other files virtually. I would definitely be using this app constantly in my classroom, it is easily accessible and very simple to navigate through!
Here is a picture of a collaborate Lino-it sheet my class and I put together! Each of us tagged our post with out initials so out teacher could identify the publisher of each post. It was a cool and effective way for each of us to present our thoughts and learn from one another.

My Wiki Experience...

Wikispaces is a neat educational tool which encourages and allows its users to exercise their collaboration skills. Teachers assign wikis to classrooms because students can publish their ideas and thoughts all onto one digital notebook. It is an easy way for students to learn from one another and present their ideas accordingly. Using wikis is another great way to create an active learning atmosphere as students not only enjoy and have fun using the tool but come together in getting involved and participating with one another.
There are multiple ways teachers can incorporate a wikispace within their lessonplans:

• Creating presentations
• Reader's guides
• Glossaries
• Peer editing
• Virtual field trips
• Feedback
• Participation activities
• Project activites
• Classroom policies
• Collecting information

And the list could go on forever!

Here is my very own contribution to a wikispace my class and I did together. We were each asked to write a brief explanation about the web 2.0 tool we explored; I wrote about Bitstrips. By the end of the activity, we had a whole page about various web tools. The experience was great! Wikispaces are so easy to access, join and navigate through. I got into the site and was quickly able to start reading posts my peers were publishing as well as contributing my own thoughts as well.

I was able to add my initials to my post for my teacher as well as classmates to know who the post belonged to. As you could see, the layout is like a virtual notebook which is pretty cool! We all took part in filling the page; emphasizes the idea of working as a team! I think this tool is a such an amazing way to have your class work together and learn from one another. It helps students build on prior knowledge and learn from each other. Teaching them that it is okay and completely possible to learn from your surroundings and those around you!

ISTE Standards & My Connections

The ISTE is the International Society for Technology in Education. There are a set of standards for both teachers and students. For Teachers: Effective teachers model and apply these standards to their students in hopes of engaging students and improving their learning skills. Here are some text-to-text, text-to-self and text-to-world connections and how I believe being a digital learning teacher is doing just that...

1. Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity- The web tools introduced throughout my blog were a few of many examples of tools teachers could familiarize themselves with and introduce to their classrooms. These tools inspire their young minds to learn and exercise their imaginative and creative skills. Tools such as bitstrips for schools is a great demonstration as the entire classroom is represented digitally; first hand representation of teachers modeling lessons to students as both teachers and students experience the tool together. Students are able to build on their prior knowledge as well; generating new ideas while incorporating original works as a means of personal expression.
2. Design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments- Teachers incorporate a tool such as cacoo to encourage the use of concept maps. Students exercise their teamwork skills as well as brainstorming skills as they bounce ideas off of one another and are visually able to see their ideas come together as one. Later being able to present their findings to the class. These digital tools increase the learning skills of the entire classroom!
3. Model digital age work and learning- Using tools such as google docs allows teachers to not only exhibit their knowledge and skills but to work on processes and share great ideas within the digital world. They can share ideas and work together with other teachers within the school itself or even across the world. That's the magic of the internet! Students observe such behavior and adapt to groupwork and teamwork more easily. They interact, collaborate, communicate information and develop a united, cultural understanding of concepts and ideas.
4. Promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility- This point is crucial. Teachers understand local and global societal issues and responsibilities in an evolving culture and exhibit legal and ethical behavior to their students. Teachers ensure that not only do they model great behavior to their students but to also be familiar with the privacy and safety features of all web tools. Teachers familiarize themselves with each web tool beforehand, making sure it is a safe and reliable tool for each student. They use tools that respect privacy and encourage digital representations rather than the use of real, personal information. Tools such as voki, bitstrips, and much more.
5. Engage in professional growth and leadership-Teachers begin introducing technological practices and digital tools and software within their classrooms to encourage students to learn and adapt to the fast-paced world around them. Technology has become such an important part of the daily lives of many and by teaching students about the safe and effective use at young ages, teachers are successfully preparing their classes for the real world; for issues such as troubleshooting systems, use of applications and understanding technological systems. Students reciprocate that same positive attitude towards being a digital learner and practice safe, responsible use of information and technology!

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Active Learning within the Classroom

 

Here is a picture a classmate and myself drew. We were asked to create a picture which we thought represented active learning within a classroom. Our picture demonstrates a teacher using a technological device to teach the class. It incorporates active learning as students are able to listen to the teacher as well as read or visually see what's on the screen. The picture also shows that students have time to brainstorm and discuss ideas. This is active learning as ideas are being bounced around by each other, enabling students to learn more efficiently. Strategies of active learning are think, pair and share and the use of concept maps. Interesting fact! Listening and reading only allows students to retain 30% of information combined. That goes to show how important it is for teachers to ensure their classrooms are active learning environments!

Exploring Voki

Meet Snowy!!

This is snowy. He is my Voki character. Voki is an online tool that enables students and teachers to create all kinds of characters such as historical figures, holiday figures, cartoons, politicians, animals or even yourself! You can adjust the size, height, facial features and so on. You are also able to give your character a background of your choice ranging from different countries to different seasons. But that's not the coolest part...voki enables its users to give their character a voice. You can choose an automated voice or even speak on behalf of your character. You literally watch your character come to life!

Voki is a great tool to use in school. It is free and accessible on most digital devices. It is one of the many tools that encourage students to use the internet safely! Students are able to create digital representations of themselves as well as apply their voice to it; the characters represent them without actually having them post personal pictures or videos. Voki is also a great option for those who do not feel comfortable using their own voices or hearing their own voices. Voki allows students and teachers to share and publish their work; emailing it, posting it on social sites or even presenting them to one another.