Category: EdTech Reflections

Tracy Humphreys, founder and chair of the BCEd Access Society – a parent-run volunteer group that supports children and youth who have disabilities and who are complex learners – talked with us about the challenges students with diverse abilities face in the public school system. One main battle is communicating with the schools about needs for children with invisible disabilities, such as autism and ADHD. There is a lack of education assistants, alternative programming, such as an online-based school, and communication from schools about supports in the classroom. I worked alongside an education assistant for a short time. They are absolutely crucial in a school, and it is unfortunate there aren’t more EAs in the classroom. Hearing Humphreys’s challenges and concerns for students with diverse abilities has made me more aware of the situation. As a student teacher, this will be a guest speaker I will not forget. I hope to familiarize myself with all the learning supports offered in any school I work at, communicate with parents on those supports, and inform my future colleagues about the struggles these families and students face in the classroom.

When thinking about the classroom of 2040, just shy of 20 years from now, how might the classroom be the same? How might it be completely different? I found these questions a bit hard to answer because I really don’t know. I feel some of it will be the same – teachers that are people (no simulations or AI), designated locations for learning (schools), and students grouped together by age. However, I can see a shift into more co-taught classes, where two teachers work together. Research has shown that co-teaching can be very beneficial to students and teachers. I think schools will be more individualized or specialized. Even now, we are seeing specialized schools becoming more popular, such as the High Tech High and the Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry. I think students will be taught in a broader age group (for example, grades 1, 2, and 3 in the same class). I also think we will be seeing more outdoor education. Montessori schools already function in this way, and I feel public schools will follow suit. The redesigned B.C. curriculum has already started to shift to a more Montessori approach focusing on core competencies instead of content. I also hope schools will be more inclusive in the classroom, as there is more to inclusion than having additional support for children with special educational needs. Whatever the future may hold, I am excited to see the direction education is heading.

Guess speaker Trevor MacKenzie uses an inquiry approach in his classroom, which he finds to be very beneficial with his students. By adopting an inquiry approach in the classroom and allowing students to explore a topic they are passionate about, Mackenzie discovered that students are more engaged, attendance and work ethic improves, skills are acquired, and students collaborate with increased energy. The key to inquiry-based learning and teaching is not to throw students (and teachers) into the deep end to start. The types of student inquiry is a scaffolded approach to inquiry, meaning start small and work your way up. Gradually increase student agency while providing them with the necessary tools to succeed with their own inquiry. MacKenzie emphasized that inquiry is most successful when you begin in a structured inquiry model, transition into a controlled inquiry, then into a guided inquiry, and finally into a free inquiry. I think this too is the best approach, as it gives the time for students and teachers to learn the process. Studies show that inquiry-based learning leads to long-term retention, improved critical thinking skills, and higher academic achievement. It is the future of learning, and I am very excited to be entering into the field at this pivotal moment in education.

This week in EdTech, we were introduced to ‘MURAL Board,’ and my group discussed the topic of simulations used in the classroom. We all agreed that simulations could be useful to help learners see things that would be difficult to see in person. Particularly in science, simulations can be used to see how the aspects of the body work, such as how blood flows through the body. Simulations could also be used for Earth Sciences, seeing how the inside of the Earth uses convection to move plates, how ridges and mountains are formed, and how volcanoes erupt and earthquakes occur. Rick also had the idea that simulations could also be used in applied theatre. The issue with simulations is making sure you find one that is accurate. There are misconceptions around science, and I have come across simulations that were not exactly correct and supported those misconceptions. If I could find the link to that simulation, I would have posted it with the blog, but unfortunately (or I guess it’s for the best), that simulation is no longer available. So, to wrap up our discussion on simulations being used in the classroom, we agree they can be beneficial and a great way to see and engage with the “unseeable.” However, you have to be careful about what simulations you use and make sure they are accurate representations of what you want your students to learn. Below is a link to a bunch of simulations. Some are older, and therefore do not work, but there are a lot to go through in many science and math topics.

https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations/filter?type=html&sort=alpha&view=grid

We had guest speaker Jeff Hopkins talk about his school, High Tech High, and how he uses personal learning plans for students to attain competency in math, science, history, etc. The theory is that students will become engaged in these subject areas by their own inquiry. The focus is project-based learning, where students pursue their passions through projects, often incorporating inquiry across multiple disciplines. It is an intriguing method that I can see as beneficial since I believe students learn better when motivated. I did a quick google search on High Tech High to see its rating. Although I couldn’t find anything on Victoria’s High Tech High, there were a lot of reviews from the original San Diego-based High Tech High. The website greatschools.org rated the school an average of 6/10, with test scores average (6/10), college readiness above average (8/10), and equity below average (4/10). The score that strikes me the most is college readiness. I find myself torn between the idea that college is content-focused as well as project-based. Some courses were strictly midterms and exams, so I wonder how students who did high school through a project-based lens would be ready for a course where evaluation came from exams. Although our academic world seems to be shifting away from standardized tests and focusing more on inquiry and projects, we still see the old way of teaching and evaluating present. Therefore, I think it is important for high school students to know how to be successful when it comes to tests and exams. I think a blended model is a right fit at the moment, as we are still on the cusp of traditional and inquiry-based learning.

In our TechEd class, a small group of us discussed the PDP and how it might be revamped to improve the program. We discussed what needs to be improved and what we thought was great in the program. Our list was much longer on what needed to be improved, including topics such as:

• Admittance shouldn’t be focused on GPA
• Observation day is great, but seminars after seem useless – not much, if anything, is learned.
• More even distribution in teachable subject areas
• Co-op vs. Practicum – why does the student pay for their practicum? 
• Would be nice to rotate through the schools that observations are being done in.
• Administration could try to accommodate students who make reasonable requests, such as requesting the observational school that was close to their home. 
• More instruction on the nuts and bolts of teaching. 

What we thought was good about the program include:

• Observation days are great
• Program is taught by teachers
• Good connections to the schools
• Great professors

I think it is important and necessary to have conversations like these. Knowing that your fellow students have the same concerns is comforting. And being able to bring these concerns to the chair is also important. The program leads and admin aren’t present in the courses, so they may not know where the program needs improvement. Nothing is perfect, and nothing is set in stone. If the students this year can help the students next year, I think it should be done. After all, at the end of this, we will be teachers, so we are all in this together. Although we are not sure if we were really ‘heard’ by the department chair, we, at least, got the opportunity to address our issues.

I know apple software and products have always been very user-friendly, which is exactly my experience using iMovie. Almost everything is a drag-and-drop scenario. You add photos and videos to your “My Media” (by drag and drop by selecting it on your hard drive). You then drag and drop the media you want below where you see the progression of your movie. Audio media works the same way. Add your audio to “My Media” and drag and drop it to the audio section (denoted by a music note). Editing your movie is also very intuitive. To make a clip longer or shorter, you just stretch or shrink it. There are also add-ins and transitions you can incorporate, again, by dragging and dropping. The intuitive nature of this program alleviated any frustration I might have had making a movie with some other software. And that is what will have me coming back to make another movie. I can see how this can be a tool for teachers. It is relatively quick and can be used in lessons, assignments, introductory videos, and I’m sure many other settings. If you haven’t tried it, give it a try, it’s not scary.

I watched Jesse Miller’s TedX “Revaluate, rethink, release” from 2014, which was about how we, and in particular, our children, engage and connect with technology and social media. I completely agree that children are often pacified with technology. I often see children in restaurants staring at a screen, not engaged with the family, just quietly watching colorful and bright things. And it is true, what Miller said, that that is not an example of a well-behaved kid. That is an example of a kid pacified with technology. That child is not learning how to behave while out in a public place. Or how to interact and converse with his family. It teaches him that it’s proper to be on your device while having a meal with your family. And with today’s youth feeling the need (or maybe even responsibility) to document and post their lives online for countless followers and likes, shouldn’t we do what we can as parents (and educators) to teach our kids when to put the phone down? Kids today are in a negative use of social media. They post anything and everything without the fear of any repercussions. And we, as adults, expect our youth to have the skills to have appropriate dialogue and content sharing, but that is often not the case. And often, something that shouldn’t have been shared is shared, and the damage is done. So, we need to teach our youth appropriate social media sharing. We have a multiliteracies course, and we have discussed the importance of being multiliterate, especially in today’s culture. I liked how Miller described that becoming media literate is more than turning the mobile device towards you and sharing a photo to social media. Media literacy means the device is turned outwards, and we capture the events around the world. Knowing when to record an event and when to put the phone down. And this is what we need to be teaching our youth.