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Category: Educational Technology Presentation

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Weekly Reflection Week Five: Intentional Integration of Technology in the Classrooms

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On February 14, 2023

In EDCI 336, Educational Technology Presentation

Assessing the Merits of New Tech for Educational Purposes

Close-up photograph of a woman using a VR headset.
Photo by Maxim Hopman

This week we talked about SAMR, a fantastic tool that can be used when assessing if any given new piece of technology will bring worthwhile value to the classroom space. Take a look at the infographic that I created on Canva below for more information on what SAMR is all about:

As established above, technology that functions as a substitution or to augment (and thus to improve upon in some way) another activity or task, has less overt value than technology that offers a greater modification or redefinition that greatly enhances or alters said activity or task. This SAMR model is useful in that, as educators, it is important that we weigh new technology against cost barriers and time barriers (with regards to installation, the learning curve for students and teachers, etc) when integrating new technology into the classroom.

These considerations will definitely help me when I am a teacher myself, and faced with the choice of bringing in new technology or sticking with the technology that is readily available to me. While much of SAMR feels intuitive, I do think there is value in comparing technology against a credible tool, both for my own purposes, and to be able to advocate for the value of new technology to administrators and parents alike.

Technology ≠ Electronics (Not Always, Anyways)

Top-down photograph of a typewriter and an open laptop. The two devices are back-to-back with one another.
Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters

This week we also learned about Sketchnoting, which is a method of note-taking that focuses on using key images and ideas of important subject matter as an alternative (and arguably better) version of the traditional text-heavy note-taking formula. The idea here is that sketched images can help boost the note-taker’s retention of the subject matter at hand, and that when paired with key written information (that may provide necessary context or clarification for the given images), learners have a more engaging, efficient and effective method of taking notes.

A sketchnote detailing various Spanish foods and food related items. Food items are drawn large around the paper, with smaller text vocabulary for each image (in Spanish). Images and words for fork, knife, menu, to drink and to eat are also included.

I made the Sketchnote above in class this previous Friday as a method of documenting some important food-related Spanish words. While the above example is more detailed than I would expect of any of my students, I can absolutely see myself integrating sketch-note projects into various content-heavy subjects where understanding is key (science, math, social studies, etc.). The cross-curricular elements of art and writing appeal to me from a cross-curricular standpoint, but also from an assessment standpoint, as student-made Sketchnotes could be a great way to check for student understanding of a given subject (formative assessment). I appreciate as well that Sketchnotes could be used as reference points for students throughout a unit, and even compiled into their own, year-long Sketchnote portfolios.

What do you think about the role of SAMR for educators, and the integration of Sketchnoting for elementary school students? Drop me a comment to check in!

Week Two Reflection

by

On January 24, 2023

In EDCI 336, Educational Technology Presentation, Weekly Reflections

A black and white photograph of rows of wooden seats behind long desks. The desk formation resembles that of a university lecture hall.
Photo by Pixabay

This week in class we watched a Documentary entitled Most Likely To Succeed, by director Greg Whiteley. This film gave an interesting look into some of the problems with our present-day education system, pointing out that the root of many of these problems lies in that the system itself is outdated. Schools as we know them were designed to create hard-working and well-behaved laborers, and though the workforce needs have shifted greatly in the past few decades, these school structures still look much the same. While this Most Likely To Succeed focused on the US school system, many of the in-film critiques apply to the Canadian school system, too.

Most Likely To Succeed posits that a shift in our education system is necessary, and posits a potential solution in its showcase of High Tech High. High Tech High is a school that shifts away from the focus on standardized tests and rote memorization in most schools, and instead engenders inquiry-based learning, critical thinking, and the development of soft skills.

A small, bronze statue of a man sitting the the "thinker" pose. He is sitting, hunched over, his elbow resting in his lap, his chin resting on his hand.
Photo by Kenny Eliason

Many of the parents in Most Likely To Succeed were shown to be nervous about having enrolled their child in High Tech High. Some parents acknowledged that the current system is no longer working; increasingly more individuals graduating with prestigious degrees are struggling to get jobs out of college. Still, though, these parents grappled with concerns over how attending High Tech High, with its relaxed approach to the curriculum and lack of standardized tests, might impact their children’s post-secondary prospects.

An image with glowing white neon letters, spelling out "Think about things differently." The background is black, making the neon words stand out, and the word differently is spelled upside down.
Photo by Ivan Bertolazzi

I agree that our education systems require change, and that moving away from standardized testing and rote memorization is a step in the right direction. I also believe, however, that in order to create meaningful change on a larger, systemic level, educators and policymakers need to re-visit what a successful education looks like. College acceptance or making 6 figures are not the only ways one can be successful. Passions, talents, and individual capabilities deserved to be accounted for and supported, too.

Of course, stating change is easier to imagine than it is to take action on. Even if many agree that change is necessary, educators and policymakers alike might have very different ideas of what that change looks like, and how to action it. There are various processes, democratic and autocratic alike, that must occur first —and these things take time.

A photograph of a robot and human hand reaching out to touch one another, only inches away. Reminiscent of the "The Creation of Adam" art in the Sistine chapel in Rome.
Photo by Tara Winstead

One of the hotter subjects of discussion in our class this week was the AI program, ChatGTP. For those that don’t know, ChatGTP is a rather impressive AI technology that can, with the help of digital data it is trained on, answer almost any written prompt it is given. Unlike previous AI of its kind (cleverbot, anyone?), ChatGTP is rather sophisticated in both its breadth of knowledge and its delivery of said information.

For a little peak at what ChatGTP is capable of, take a look at this Shakespearean Sonnet it wrote me about the vegetarian pizza I forgot in my fridge:

An screenshot of my ChaptGPT prompt and response. The prompt reads: Write a Shakespearean Sonnet about the vegetarian pizza I forgot in my fridge. ChatGPT's response: Upon my fridge's shelf, a sight to see A lonely pizza, cold and vegetarian, Forgotten 'midst the cheese and pepperoni, Its toppings crisp, its crust now hard and mean. Once in my oven's warmth it did reside, A tasty treat for me to savor true, But now, alas, it's fate is to abide In solitude, till garbage day is due. Oh, how I curse my absent-minded ways, That caused this cheesy tragedy to be, For now my taste buds must forgo its praise, And hunger pangs will torment me constantly. But though its gone, my love for it remains, A tasty memory that still sustains.

While the poem above is rather silly in subject matter, the fact is that ChatGPT took my prompt and wrote a functioning sonnet that does, I think, a rather good attempt at fulfilling the prompt. The fact that it follows proper sonnet conventions (down to the rhyming scheme) and pulls out old English where possible is enough to make me and my creative writing degree more than a little nervous.

So what does it mean that an AI has this sort of capability? Well, it means that we are on the cusp of a new era of technology, and that we are going to have to reframe the way we think of writing moving forward. ChatGPT is already capable of generating entire essays on any number of subjects, and all within a minute or so. On one hand, the possibilities borne from such technology are incredible, yet on the other hand, what does this mean for critical thought or plagiarism?

Essays written by ChatGPT are not great. They lack references (which only adds to the plagiarism issue) and as such, they lack real credibility. A real critical mind (and plenty of fact-checking) would necessary before such writing could be used at all. There is also the fact these essays are written by an AI, and that submitting them as one’s own work and original thoughts is a glaring plagiarism issue in and of itself.

A photograph of a hand, curled up as if in pain. Frayed wires, in four colours, emerge from the wrist of the hand, implying that the person has wires for veins.
Photo by cottonbro studio

These will be the dilemmas that educators, workplaces, and individuals will need to debate over for some time. Already, however, AI-generated writing and art are being used in academic and workplace settings alike. What does it mean that technology is being released and used at a rate faster than we are able to fully grasp its scope?

I’m not sure what the answer is to that question, but I’m very much curious about what you might think. Shoot me a comment down below to let me know what you think, and feel free to check out ChatGPT yourself to get a better understanding of what this AI can do.

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