In ETEC 540, we were asked to visit our colleagues’ web pages or sites we had to choose 6 items from 6 different sites that link, in some way, to your experience. We had to take these links in a separate “page” on your own site complete with a summary and reason (reflection) for the link. Here is my linking assignment.
Borgan’s blog
Task 9
Choose your Own Adventure Game
https://broganpratt.com/new-blog/how-to-make-a-choose-your-own-adventure-story-with-google-slides
I selected this activity because it reminded me of how adaptable this activity can be for teachers. The way that Brogan was able to create this assignment through Google Slides instead of Twinery was quite insightful. Brogan was able to illustrate the effectiveness of the Choose your Own Adventure in a format that is easily accessible for our students. Students usually work with the apps that they are comfortable using on their device. Brogan illustrated that we as teachers must be flexible and not force our students into following one program. This is a philosophical approach that I often follow in my own practice. Our district technology team has an agreement with Microsoft and wants our students to exclusively use Office 365. However, many of our students prefer using Goggle Docs. As a teacher, am I going to hinder their learning in terms of preference to push an app that they prefer not to use?
For me, this activity made me realize that the choose your own adventure game can be adaptable in many ways and for many subjects. It is as idea that I would easily share and promote with my colleagues. However, the activity also made me realize that we must still be flexible with the apps that students might use to complete their own game. We do not want to stymie creativity because our end goal is ensuring that students learn and can demonstrate their learning in multiple forms of technology.
Charmine Collinge’s blog
Task 8
https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540collinge/task-6/#comment-8
I selected this emoji story because of its simplicity. Just from title, I knew right away which movie was being described in this emoji story. What I gather from this emoji story was that at times the best way to convey an idea is keeping it simple. As a teacher, when I am reflecting on my own practice, I am often asking myself, what is the best way to articular this particular idea or concept. I often find that when concepts are simplified, the more learners understand. Charmine’s story reminds us that we must always remember how to convey a story that effectively communicates the message. We often complicate our stories without truly understanding that not everyone will share the same cultural or historical perspectives or references. With language, even when I am teaching, I must always remind to simple the concepts to ensure that all the language learners in my class can understand the concepts that I am trying to teach in my classes.
David’s blog
Task 4
https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540dl/2019/09/23/task-4-manual-scripts/
David’s written sample reminded me why I prefer typing today. When David said, “Even so, editing with the goal of producing a composition for others to read seems much easier in a word processor environment than manual writing.” His comment reminded me of why students prefer to type. With students introduced to typing on a computer from such an early age, they have not practiced the art of writing by hand as often as other past generations. The times we do ask them to write by hand, the bank of words that they rely on is limited. The page that Dave showed is a typical example of what some of my student’s pages look like if I asked them to hand in a handwritten assignment. Students do not try to showcase their sophistication with their writing and rely on a limited set of words. At least in a computer form, students are more willing to take risks with their writing. As an English teacher, arrows drive me crazy because it signifies how someone is rushing to complete their write instead of thinking about the ideas that they want to convey.
As an English teacher, I want to see my students think thoughtfully about the question that they are responding to rather than rushing to answer the questions. Being in a school that promotes all students having a device, we have moved away from writing on paper. Students write majority of their assignments on the computer. Even though I know assignment that we still need to promote the benefits of handwriting, it has been difficult at times to integrate it into my practice with essays, tests, projects and assignments all done on the computer. I recognize that students still need this skill because it is an effective way to think as an individual. We have to understand that handwriting is needed when taking notes and that many individuals are not going to walk around with a laptop or tablet. Kids have to be verse in this skill because it will help them communicate and think in the future and I have to find a way to incorporate it more into my practice.
Elizabeth Kim
Task 11
https://blogs.ubc.ca/ekimetec540/2019/11/17/task-11-algorithms-of-predicative-text/
Elizabeth’s predictive text highlighted my own thoughts on the ethical questions surrounding algorithms. The idea that every time you type in a word, algorithms on social media are already trying to divert content that might interest you as a consumer. The data mining that is evident on Facebook, Instagram and other sites can be overwhelming. The dangers of this data mining can significantly impact other segments of our society. Education and politics are just a few of the institutions that are vulnerable if we do not regulate these algorithms. The level of manipulation can influence our lives in a significant way, and we need to educate ourselves on the impact of these algorithms on our daily lives.
Elizabeth relied on the video to showcase the difficulties with predictive text. She illustrated in a visual way how the predictive text is unable to truly capture the thoughts of an individual. It illustrates how the algorithm is not thinking but merely looking for tendencies in writing. It was clear that this way of showcasing the predictive text was an effective way of illustrating the fallacies in our overreliance on this format.
I had not considered videoing my assignment. This was an eye-opening way of showcasing how predictive text is not effective. In real time we were able to see the assumptions and mistakes that predictive text makes when it is trying to predict what words that one is trying to write. Video has a way of capturing the moment and visually making one think about what they are watching. A photo is effective, but it was not as powerful as Elizabeth’s video. The image does not show the assumptions that predictive text was making when it was trying to predict what Elizabeth was trying to type. This assignment by Elizabeth made me realize why videos are such a powerful tool to for teachers in the classroom.
Yi’s Lu’s blog
Task 7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6hJOCTLrYM&feature=youtu.be
https://blogs.ubc.ca/yilu/2019/10/20/task-7-mode-bending/
Yi was able to showcase her bag in an interactive way. Using voice text and sound effects made it seem like Yi was opening and describing her bag in real time. She was able to make her bag seem like the most interesting thing that for the three minutes that I watched and listened to her video. She was able to showcase her bag and made it far more engaging because as a listener. Yi has embraced using multi forms of language and communication to illustrate her point. This is important because it reminds me of the effectiveness of the voice and visual. The voice was able to motivate me to listen.
I also decided that adding a voice to my video would make it far more engaging for the listener. We both seem to feel that this was a way to bring in multiple forms of language into the mode bending. The original assignment was primarily written but both Yi and I felt that videos with voice would highlight why communication on multiple levels can be just as effective as reading only.
However, one cautionary sign that came up while listening to Yi’s video is that some voices are not best for this format. Some individuals have voices that are meant for listening while others are not. We have to be mindful of the effectiveness of the voice because that is what compels individuals to listen. I reflect on my own family and my daughter generally prefers me to my wife when it comes to reading. She loves listening to stories, but she has already developed a liking to my voice over my wife. We all feel that we have a presentable voice, but some voices would best in certain forms of media.
KDewald’s site
When curating the information from the Golden Curation, I liked that she tried to figure out the common tendencies amongst the individuals that she was grouped with based on the responses. It was interesting to see that she hypothesized what the connection would be between the group. Based on emotional responses, she felt that this was the link between her and Chris. It was interesting because I too a more holistic approach. I did not try to figure out what specific connections were similar between the individuals in my group. But it was still difficult for the both of us to predict the links and merely speculate what the results show.
What I also found interesting about this post was the idea the comment, “We seem to be ever more attaching people to groups and making judgements about each based on one’s membership in a group.” To me, as an English teacher, I try to use literature and language as a tool to open my students’ eyes and minds to various ideas. I do agree with this idea because we are seeing more individuals clinging to groups and not being open to other forms of language or information. This hinders our ability to effective communicate with each other. We continually have to try to teach our future generations how to be receptive to new ideas and to consider all sides of the arguments.