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A3: Classroom 4.0+
16 responses to “A3: Classroom 4.0+”
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Danya, what a fantastic idea! I appreciate that by partnerships with other countries, we also have an opportunity to create relationships and learn about each other’s educational strategies. Communicating with Indigenous cultures can also open our minds to alternative ways of knowing and move the West towards decolonizing Eurocentric educational power structures and legitimizing alternative educational philosophies. The educational technology you describe affords a range of uses. Your humble approach in your search for a more inclusive classroom is commendable.
Hi Tamaka, thank you for your kind and thoughtful comment. I definitely was looking more at an international lens, but your comment has reminded me to also search within our own surrounding areas. Being more connected with Indigenous classrooms and learning from one another will definitely allow for a powerful experience that could give way to some pretty important changes. It’s also a reminder that, although we sometimes search for cultures in faraway places, we have rich diversity to explore in our own countries. Even where I am, the small country of Switzerland, we can interact with Italian-speaking, German-speaking, French-speaking, and maybe even Romansch-speaking classrooms.
Hi Danya, I enjoyed reading your presentation. Thank you for telling us about who you are and how you landed on the project. I believe your international education and teaching background really give you rich experiences in working with culturally diverse groups. Perhaps that’s why you intend to explore more about providing culturally inclusive education to your students. I am intrigued by your proposal of utilizing hologram and Augmented Reality. I had seen hologram applied in the entertainment industry, but I haven’t considered it as an educational tool until you brought up this great idea. I LOVE it! I could almost see collaboration in Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and hologram. Students can take part in experiential learning through an immersive experience in VR, AR and hologram. One possible example of experiential learning is a virtual field trip, where students can be taken to various historical sites in history class. Teachers can bring textbooks to life with holographic AR technology. I can’t wait to see this kind of experience happening in the classroom, where kids can actively engage with the learning subject. Your presentation makes me excited about holographic AR technology in classroom settings. Having hope is great, but we do need to face the existing technological challenges. The Holographic Science Innovation Center acknowledged only a few companies or institutions are working on AR pedagogical practices. The majority of high-tech companies or related institutions’ research on AR in education remains at the theoretical level today. I’m hoping to see more applications of AR in education in the near future, hopefully soon.
Hi Xiong, I love your enthusiasm, thank you for your comment! You’re so right about the technological challenges we still face, but when I look back to the kind of innovative technologies that not only exist today, but that we have access to in our day-to-day lives makes me incredibly hopeful that in the not-too-distant future we may be able to interact in holographic/AR/VR worlds! It’s funny because, in a way, it seems kind of impossible, but in another I feel like we’re just one the cusp of it.
Hi Danya. Classroom 4.0+ sounds like something from a sci-fi movie. From a teacher’s point of view, I find collaboration and working with others is a valuable but limited opportunity for many educators. We only have so many select collaborative days, and physical spaces as well as schedules restrict chances of these meetings in general. With your proposed technology, it would bridge many more gaps. I can see this working well with classes such as Career Life Education and other classes. The more informed opinions they can have from others, the more valuable the course may be for students. I wonder how peer to peer interaction would work with holograms? Would the audio work well? Would the physical space not be reconciled? Thanks for sharing!
Hi Jackson, thanks for sharing your thoughts! You bring up some interesting challenges I did not think about – physical space and audio. I must admit, I looked at this from a pretty optimistic lens thinking that the future holds all the solutions to technological problems. when looking at how internet access has grown, I am optimistic that we will be able to reach more teachers and students, but I am not as familiar with reliable internet and the level of connectivity, etc. When thinking about it like I would a sci-fi movie, I think of an environment with no limits when it comes to holograms and VR, but I see that this would definitely be an issue, especially in the beginning stages. As every class will have varying sizes, shapes, and space, perhaps it would have to start off with a marked off area. Maybe even a very small area for social interactions between students, or teachers, or students and teachers. Maybe a bigger square area for a bigger interactive space.
I loved the visual and auditory presentation of Classroom 4.0. This is definitely a fantastic idea, especially for language learners. I always make an effort to present a culturally immersive environment when it comes to language learning, this would allow my students to interact with people from other cultures and build friendships to ease language learning through communication. I believe we have the same perspective on teaching different cultures in different countries and I would definitely appreciate Classroom 4.0 in my professional life. Observing other teachers is significant in reflection as you mentioned, I spent the first two years of my career as a teacher observing others and taking notes. However, do you think that it is somewhat uncomfortable when others observe and perhaps judge your teaching methods? Nevertheless, I find Classroom 4.0 remarkable and I would certainly benefit from it immensely.
Hi Maria, thanks for your comment! I did have a lot of fun imagining the kinds of experiences that could be possible, especially when it comes to interacting with classrooms around the world. I do see your point about how some teachers might not be comfortable having other teachers observe them. I know that I still feel a little bit nervous when I know someone is going to come watch me teach my students. I know we all have our own concerns for different reasons, but mine comes from my own insecurities about not having all that many years of experience. We had a mentorship programme at my last school where teachers were put in pairs and then, several times a year, they were able to go observe each other teach. It was optional and many did not participate because they didn’t want others observing them or to have to take time away from their students when they went to observe. Those who did do the mentorship programme absolutely loved it. I think that we can easily get carried away with certain programmes and feel like it’s best to make them ‘compulsory,’ but, ultimately, there will be some interest, and if it’s successful, it will only grow. So, for teachers who don’t feel comfortable with being observed, perhaps we can come up with another solution. For example, rather than being paired with one classroom, you can put in your selection for an observation lesson (age group, subject, language, focus) and then you could observe through VR, AR, holograms, or simply video/audio a lesson by a teacher who is happy to be filmed and observed by any teacher wanting to observe.
Hi Danya, first of all, beautiful presentation. I appreciate the podcast combined with the visuals of your site. Your site includes a quote about looking outside of your classroom. This resonates with me as I am a fairly new teacher (four years in) and still love the idea of shadowing my coworkers and seeing their ideas. I think it is extremely valuable to keep your teaching style open to evolve alongside new learning styles and teaching opportunities. I love your review of how you invaluable it is to learn from other teachers/students around the world. I love the idea of having certain aspects you’d be looking for in a partner teacher as collaborating with someone you trust and can resonate with is crucial to a successful classroom. Thank you for introducing this interesting and obtainable idea!
Hi Megan, thank you for your kind comment. As a fairly new teacher myself, I can remember how working with my mentor and observing other teachers and their methods as a new trainee was so incredibly interesting. I noted down instructional ideas, behaviour management strategies, pedagogical tools, etc. that I still use today.
Hi Danya – Classroom 4.0+ really resonated with me because I tried to come up with a similar idea (for ETEC 522), but struggled with the technological implementation and logistics. I definitely see the value in cross-cultural and international learning. Back in the day, we had “pen pals”, but this never seemed to evolve or incorporate the technology we have today (even simply Zoom). I imagined that this would also be particularly useful for language learning (e.g. practicing French with native French-speaking students, and then teaching them English). A platform like this could also increase student collaboration (e.g. an international students’ council) and potentially produce interesting movements or events.
Hi Aaron, thank you for your comment. I enjoy how you found other things Classroom 4.0+ could facilitate in the future. Offering kind of like ‘exchange classrooms’ for ‘immersive’ language learning or being able to attend big assemblies with people around the world without having to pay for a plane ticket are really great ideas.
Hi Danya,
I really enjoyed your presentation and the rationale behind it. It reminded me of my time last year in a mentorship program. As a newer intermediate grade teacher, I had a mentor (my colleague next door) and we participated in monthly meetings with our district, talked about things that I needed help with (I wanted to focus on math instruction), and she was just there for me when I needed to vent. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and it made me feel more confident in my abilities moving on to teach older grades. I also was able to really see my mentor teachers strengths and what she brings to the classroom as well which resonates with the quote you used by Gore in your presentation. AR and VR are some things that are quite new to me and I would be a bit unsure on how to use them but your presentation does a great job of highlighting those concerns for educators. I also do relate to Jennifer’s point when it comes to being vulnerable in front of others. Even now as a fifth year teacher, I find it awkward and a bit intimidating when other educators come in to my classroom even to just ask me a question while I am in front of the room giving a lesson. Another thing I liked about your presentation is how you incorporated our Movable feast discussions into your rationale and next steps. I can also see that you are passionate about this topic and the experience you have in education and teaching in different countries allows you to see this unique perspective!
Hi Sonia, thank you for your comment. You and Jennifer do bring up a great point – as teachers we are expected to be experts in many fields. We can feel vulnerable or even sometimes intimidated when we feel like we aren’t grasping something 100%. Being honest about where we need some support or even just some more time to get comfortable with can be really challenging, especially if you aren’t getting the necessary support from school management and colleagues. I love how you mentioned your mentor. I had a mentor when I was a student teacher and as a new teacher. I’m still in touch with both of my mentors and I love how they can support me when I have questions (even if they feel like ‘silly’ questions). It’s funny how as teachers, we want our students to feel that there are no silly questions, that it’s impossible to know everything, but that curiosity and exploration will bring you places you would never expect – but when it comes to ourselves it’s harder to accept or hear.
Danya, what an interesting concept with Classroom 4.0+. What I really like is that you are filling out an application and having to be honest about what you might need in a partner teacher, or mentor to support your teaching practice. The concerns that you brought up about other teachers not being adept at AR, VR or hologram technology are good. How would Classroom 4.0+ work to support those teachers wanting to join, but lacking the professional development to bring it into their teaching practice. Are there mandatory sessions that every teacher would have to take to bring them up to speed with the technology? Would language be an issue? You mentioned in the podcast portion that teachers would have a multitude of languages, and that it would be part of the pairing. Your presentation vehicle in Sway used some strong images, and well thought out layout. You clearly connected a lot of the pieces and researched your topic well. You were thoughtful in the delivery of your forecast, and I look forward to working with something like this in the future. One final thought, teachers would have to be vulnerable about what they are good at, and not good at, and in a culture where you are supposed to be an expert in everything that may be more difficult for some to be self-critical and find the best match.
Hi Jennifer, thank you for your comment. You do bring up some great points that I did not focus on in my project. Like the support for those who aren’t familiar with these technologies and also the languages it will be available in. It’s interesting because one of the original thoughts was about how, currently, I would like to offer other teachers in my school the opportunity to co-teach, collaborate and observe others to become more familiar in teaching technologies – something many aren’t very comfortable with. Offering ‘training sessions’ would be great, but I guess it would come from Classroom 4.0+ itself which maybe would be tech-based training as well! A whole new path to explore and think on.