professional learning

Twitter

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Twitter is a very popular social media platform used to interact with others via messages called “tweets”. It was created by Jack Dorsey in 2006 and fastly gained popularity among young adults. It has now become popular for a wide variety of people to communicate about news, important issues, and their daily lives.

If you create a twitter account you have a “handle” which is your username. You create your own username and it can be whatever you want to make it. This is how other members search for you by searching @ and then your handle. You can customize your profile as much or as little as you would like. You have the choice to add in a profile picture and a bio or to leave it blank. You also have the option to make your profile public or private depending on the level of privacy you wish. If you have a private profile, people have to request to follow you and you have the choice to accept or decline. If you have a public account, then other users can see your profile and tweets without requesting to follow you.

A tweet is a 140-word message that is sent out to one’s followers. If you hashtag (#) something on your tweet and you do not have a private account others who are searching up that hashtag can see your message. If you do not want people being able to see your message then you can make your account private. When you have a private account only those who you have allowed to follow you can view your tweets. If your account is public then anyone can view your tweets and they also have the option to retweet your post, favorite/like it, or reply to it and create a conversation.

The hashtag that I briefly touched on earlier is a way of finding something that interests you or a way for you to start a conversation. You can search up a topic you want to see what other people have been saying about it by searching for example #dailynews. Another way to use the hashtag is on your own tweet. You can add hashtags to start a conversation and for other people to find your tweet. If people want to reply to your tweet they can also hashtag the same thing and add to the discussion. Hashtags are also used to create twitter chats. Twitter chats are conversations on a certain topic (a hashtag). They are a good way to connect people who have similar interests, questions, and/or beliefs. Many people participate in Twitter chats including educators.

Many educators are on twitter to get new teaching ideas, to see what other teachers are doing, and to stay connected with fellow co-workers. It is a great way to start a discussion with other educators and to see their opinions on certain topics such as technology in the classroom. It can also be used by teachers for their students to see what is happening in class, when things are due, and other important notes. Since technology is becoming more and more prevalent in classrooms, twitter is a good resource for teachers to use to stay connected and to learn more about education.

All in all, Twitter has many great features and allows people to share their interests and to keep up to date with what is going on. It is a useful tool for businesses, educators, and individuals looking to stay connected with others and share their opinions. It is good to know the privacy settings of Twitter before creating an account and posting tweets.

Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry School Visit

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In my Technology Education class, we went on a school visit to observe Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry. It is a newer high school in Victoria, that offers a personalized education. This school has been operating for six years and has 85 students attending. It is a private school, but the tuition is more affordable than most private schools. PSI does not want to create more schools, but wants to be a model to other schools and hopefully show them that they can do it too.

At this school, they focus on inquiry-based learning, where students are told they can ask anything. Their inquiry process is to find an initial question then do some research and from that research create a better inquiry question. These inquiries can be anywhere from a week long to a year long. The staff recommends doing three inquiry projects at one time, so students stay engaged and always have something to do. The inquiry process is a lot of build, make, try and experiment, not just research. The students have the opportunity to go work with the community and get hands-on experience. For example, one year a student wanted to learn about boat building, so they worked with a boat builder for one year. I think this is a really cool idea and allows the students to get a good hands-on experience, which is valuable to find your interests.

The learning design is much different than most high schools. They do not test at this school, they put learning in the student’s hands and their success is based on their engagement. The learning environment is meant for the students to succeed, they want there to be a joy in learning for the students. The students build there own daily schedules to be what they want to be working on and can include breaks to go get some exercise etc. A tablet is used to sign in and out that says where they are going and when they will be back. This allows students the freedom to leave when they want to better their learning process. They still have report cards, as it is needed to go onto university or college, so the teachers meet three times a year to put students inquiries into courses – subjects are integrated within each other and their inquiry questions. IMG_9597

I personally have never been to a school like this. It was a very cool experience to get to go observe it and it gave me, as an aspiring teacher, a different way of looking at learning. I really like how PSI puts learning in the student’s hands and allows them to research topics they want to know more about. I think this ensures the student’s engagement into school and is of value to them in their future. I am happy I got to experience this school as it gave me a lot of ideas that I could implement in my classroom to create an effective and engaging learning environment.

PSI’s Website: http://learningstorm.org/

Social Media Concerns/ Usage as an Aspiring Teacher

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Social-Media-e1518208936600.pngWith an increase in technology use over the past few years, social media has become more and more popular. Sites such as Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, and Snapchat are all being used for creating and sharing ideas/content and for communication. With the popularity of these websites come many safety and privacy concerns, which many people are unaware of.

In our Technology Innovation class, we had guest speaker Jesse Miller come in to talk to us about the concerns of social media with kids, social media and the workplace, and the best practices for privacy online.

A few current concerns of social media with kids is how it is continuing to get younger and younger, it makes them feel special, and there is increased affirmations. There has been an increase in the presence of primary aged students on social media platforms. Without proper knowledge of privacy and safety online this can be a huge issue for kids. Another concern is how it makes them feel special, this makes them want to keep using it and keep adding friends etc. Lastly, children see a lot of the positives of social media such as there favorite Youtube stars making tons of money from creating these videos and they think “I can do that too”, which has its pros and cons but it could lead to a decrease in their academic involvement.

Social media use is also related to the workplace. Social media can be used to search up future employers. This is why your privacy and what you post on social media is a big issue. It is important to balance your personal life with your professional expectations. Especially being a teacher, many students will be searching you up so you want to be cautious of what they will find.

One major focus of social media privacy is digital rights. Before posting pictures, videos, etc. you need the consent of anyone who is featured in that photo. As a teacher, it is important to note that if you are taking a picture of your class you need three levels of consent: the students, the parents, and the school. If a student does not want to be featured in the photo you can use image editing to, for example, put an emoji over their face to keep their privacy respected. To keep your own privacy you should be making sure to read the privacy statements of the platforms you are reading so you know what you are signing into and be aware of how you can make your account more private. You need to have an understanding of what the consequences of using these platforms are.

One topic that Jesse talked a bit about was gaming and the world around that. I did not know a lot about gaming as I am not a gamer myself so this was very informative for me. We learned about a streaming service called Twitch where there are live videos of people playing video games that others can join into and watch. I also learned that there are tons of gaming tournaments that go on around the world where the winner can make up to millions of dollars. This is relevant for me as a teacher candidate as elementary children love video games and gaming is very prevalent in their lives.

Overall social media has a very large presence in many peoples lives and needs to be used with caution and understanding. We should be open about these platforms and have open dialogues with employees, co-workers, friends, and family.

 

 

Tech Tool Review – Google Apps for Education (GAFE)

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Google Apps for Education (GAFE) also called G Suite is a tool available for teachers and schools for free. It allows people to collaborate and communicate with their peers, teachers, and colleagues. These apps include Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs and Sites.

Some ways that Google apps are being used in schools are to easily manage your classroom by creating classes, distributing assignments or quizzes, giving feedback to students and having everything organized in one place. It is simple to operate and you can manage it with confidence. Students and teachers can collaborate anywhere and anytime by co-editing documents and presentations.  Another way it can be used is to compose to-do lists, set task reminders, and to organize your schedule. Google apps enables you to communicate in many different ways, such as email, chat, video conference or you can even create your own website. The reasons why educators choose to use GAFE is because it is easy, affordable, versatile and impactful. The only downside to using Google apps is that it is absolutely necessary to have access to a device, which often some kids don’t.

The tool website is: https://edu.google.com/intl/en_ca/k-12-solutions/g-suite/?modal_active=none

We already use numerous Google apps, therefore we would both consider using it in our classrooms.

GAFE is widely tweeted about and discussed on almost every social media platform.

Below are some helpful video tutorials and resources:

 

~ Elissa and Eliza