First day of school!

I must say, I was very excited to come to campus today.  Although I had a challenging class this year and could have used a few more days rest, I am ready to be on the student side of the classroom.  Armed with a new water bottle, a clipboard full of paper, and a charged laptop, I was ready!  I am looking forward to having some time to explore digital technologies for the next three weeks.

Now for the work part….

Module 1 Questionnaire

1. What policies govern your uses of ICT in your school setting?

• Our school has an internet use policy for students, but no formal policy for teachers.  In general, students are not encouraged to bring their own devices; the expectation is that if students have cell phones at school, they are not to be used during school hours.  We are more constrained by the technology available and the bandwidth of our wifi, than a school or district policy.

2. What digital technological resources do you have available for teaching and learning in your school setting?

• My school is in the process of upgrading its technology.  Our large, slow desktop computers in the library/lab are scheduled to be replaced next year.  The PAC purchased a cart of 15 laptops this year, and we also have 4 school iPads for general student use (a couple students with special needs have their own from SetBC).  We have wireless internet in the building, but it can be slow and it is not functional in our three portables.

3. Please provide an example of an exemplary use of digital technologies for teaching and learning that you have observed or experienced personally.

•  I did a project this year combining art, science, and technology with a Grade 3 class.  Students found an image of a plant on flickr’s Creative Commons (they were learning about plants in science), and they learned how to save it to their own documents folder.  I taught them about attribution, and the importance of giving credit to the artist who created a work/photo, and the students recorded the photographers name and address of the site in a template.  Then we used SumoPaint to apply a kaleidoscope effect (we had learned about radial symmetry in art) and saved the resulting image.  They put the kaleidoscope image into the template with the artist’s name and we displayed them for our student-led conferences.

4. Please provide an example of a problematic use of digital technologies for teaching and learning that you have observed or experienced personally.

•  I had a challenge with the project I described above.  After students had learned how to navigate SumoPaint, but before finding their plant images, SumoPaint updated its website, and I discovered it no longer worked on our computers at school.  I spent a long time finding another site that would do something similar, and finding a work-around for how they could link to their pictures, since the new site used a link instead of an uploaded file.  After spending several hours devising this new way to complete the project, I saw the little Chrome icon on one of the library computer toolbars.  “Wait! What? We have Chrome?  Why didn’t I think to try it there?”  Although SumoPaint wasn’t loading in Internet Explorer, it worked in Chrome.  I had wasted all that time coming up with a work-around, when I should have just tried another browser!

5. Please provide a brief history of how you learned to use digital technologies (personally and professionally).

•  We had a Commodore 64 computer when I was quite young, but things really took off for me when my family got our first Macintosh Performa in 1996.  I got a Hotmail account when I was in Grade 7, and used a computer throughout high school and university.  In my Bachelor of Education program I remember participating in a technology program called SEEDS, but I didn’t really use technology in my teaching practice until starting this diploma program.  I feel that I have grown quite a bit in this area in the past year.  I have taught units that incorporate technology, and am building a personal learning network online.

6. How would you rate your digital technological proficiency? 0 = low level of proficiency -> 10 = high level of proficiency? Why did you give yourself this rating?

•  I would rate my technology proficiency as an 8, I am comfortable with most technology and not afraid to troubleshoot when technology is not working, although I am not always successful.  I am becoming more comfortable using technology in the classroom, but I know I can still do more to develop my skills in this area.  Although I try things on my own, I still often turn to my “tech support” for guidance (my husband is a web developer).

7. What do you hope to accomplish in this course?

• I really hope that this course will allow me to investigate some of the online tools I have heard and read about, but haven’t had time to explore.  I would like to spend some time with ThingLink, VoiceThread, Dipity, and especially Wideo.