Category Archives: A. Auto e-graphy

First Online Class Science 10

When I was in high school, I took my very first online learning class in 2004 (at the time I didn’t know it was optional). Our teacher was piloting a Science 10 course online which was a first in the Surrey School District at that time. Even though we had a teacher (who played a facilitator role), we were given laptops to use and were using WebCT as our platform. I remember thinking how odd this was as I was used to traditional teaching and online learning was rare at that time. The course was mostly self-directed and we worked through modules and experiments with our desk groups. It was a great learning experience. I used how to use WebCT, we learned how to post on the discussion board and work through modules. Our class loved using the email system through WebCT which we realized after the course our teacher could read all our messages! The funniest moment for us was when our teacher thanked us for being part of this pilot project and for not choosing to leave (we didn’t even know this was an option, we thought this was how the class was) as he was one of the main developers for Surrey Connect at that time. I was very thankful I had this learning experience as when I got to UBC for my undergrad, many of the courses used WebCT so I was very familiar and comfortable with the platform.

Programmable mBots for Geometry

When I taught 3rd grade in Korea, we used MakeBlock mBots and their respective app on the iPad for teaching geometry (angles, turns, and geometric shapes), and it was an awesome experience. The students were excited not only about the curriculum content for math, but additionally programming and coding skills. For one activity, they were divided into in small groups and worked collaboratively to program their bots to create shapes in the path that their bots took.

This experience taught me that the ability to integrate technology amplified their understanding beyond just maths content. We could have used flash cards, or done an infinite amount of worksheets to name shapes and angles, but the ability to embed (pardon the pun) and use coding in their lessons helped create invaluable ties between their math lessons and their procedural writing in literacy (which we were focusing on at the time). The connection was seamless and relevant, and helped us all think in terms of our ‘central idea’ (unifying topic), as opposed to sectioning the curriculum into subjects.

I was working at a very ‘well-to-do’ and affluential school, which allowed us the privilege of using whatever toys we wanted with respect to technology integration. This begs the question for me: what about less affluent schools? What about access to these tools that clearly transform the learning experience, that not all can afford?

Computer science in 1988

Being at high school (around 1988/89), I had my first computer science class. In the first semester, around 40 students participated. After one semester, the number dropped to around 10. Why? Our teacher really taught as the basic of algorithms and programming (already back in 1988!), and not just “how to use a computer” – and this was not what many had expected. I like it!

For the final assignment, we had to programme a small piece of software – anything we liked. So together with a friend, we transferred a board game called “Cybernetics” to a computer game. This was a lot of fun, and a cool experience, as we really managed to present our computer game at the end.

I find this to be great pedagogy – activating, participatory, constructive, self-regulated, and meaningful.

Elske

Info Pro 12.0

When I was in Grade 12, I took my first computer course – Information Processing. In this course, we as students were expected to learn how to use various Microsoft programs such as MS Word and Exel. Our assignments were quite remedial and consisted of tasks such as:
1. Type the following passage into Word.
2. Underline the title.
3. Bold the first word in each sentence.
4. Use Word Art for your name.

Looking back on the objectives for this course I find it a bit shocking that this is how computers were being integrated into schools in 2003. As a student, I thought the course was great because it was effortless. I was able to go to class, finish the tasks in a few minutes and then spend the rest of the time socialising. Reflecting back on it as an adult, however, I know that it was not a meaningful course that taught me anything I used once I left grade school.

In the past fifteen years, it is fascinating how the teaching profession has evolved, and that many teachers all over the globe have changed how they view and teach with technology. It is no longer a set of skills that we teach; it is used to enhance and redefine student learning by integrating it in such a way that both teaches skills and allows students to personalize their learning.

Physics and the Internet – Weber Auto e-graphy

When I was junior in high school, I remember having my first experience with using the internet to learn Science. I was taking a physics course and a part of our grade each week came through the completion of a set of online problems through a university (The University of Texas? My memory fails at this point). The problems were a mixture of things we had studied and things we hadn’t yet reached. Each problem awarded top points for a correct answer on the first try, or decreasing points for each attempt at the right answer. Every student got the same problems, but the numbers would be changed in each problem so that answers couldn’t be shared. We would all sit together in study halls and try to figure out the problems together, reveling in the process and each taking turns to try answers so that no one person took all the hits on their points. It was a challenge both to figure out the answers as well as to know when to quit so that you wouldn’t lose too many points.

The biggest triumph that I remember, though, comes from when I was stuck on a problem about computing the distance of a planet from the sun, so I searched the actual answer and then set up a proportion to the numbers given in the question. I got the right answer (and was the only one in the class that did!), yet still had NO idea how to actually solve the problem. The teacher sniffed me out in an instant. He praised me for thinking out of the box and then showed us all the missing step that we needed.