Debate #3: AI technologies will revolutionize education for the better

Both teams did a fantastic job putting together their videos and arguing their reasonings if AI technologies will/will not revolutionize education for the better. This is a hot topic right now and I have very little background information about AI. 

Since I was not able to attend the live Zoom session on Monday, I am a little late to post this blog. If I were able to pre-vote where I stand on this topic, I would have selected “disagree” before the debate took place. After watching the recorded debate online last night and reviewing the articles/videos from each group, I have learned more about this topic and feel more confident adopting AI into education. Therefore, I would have chose “agree” as my post-vote. As many of you said in the debate, AI is here to stay whether we like it or not. The agree side posted an excellent video on how AI will revolutionize education by 2025 and used these points in their debate video and rebuttal:

  1. Personalized learning experiences – AI analyzes how students learn best and it keeps changing with the person (their style, their pace and their interests).
  2. Intelligent tutoring systems – AI guides learners, gives feedback to them, and helps each student on they learning journey, resulting in enhanced performance on assessments.
  3. Streamlined administrative tasks – Saves time on tasks that usually takes up hours of people’s time and energy. 
  4. Predictive analytics for students success – AI will foresee academic struggles of students and step in advance to help before they fall behind. AI can enhance student retention rates and unlocking a students full potential.
  5. Adapting curriculum to market demands – AI will reshape curriculum to align with the advancing job market.
  6. From English to my language – AI creates a more inclusive environment by breaking down language barriers.

I believe it is going to take time figuring out what this will look like in the classroom when I return to work in February. I have not used AI in my previous lessons or assessment practices; however, I am open to the idea. Knowing that I can save time and energy on lesson planning, creating assignments/rubrics and finding new ways to assess my students is encouraging. Our profession continues to get busier and busier, so using AI on streamlining admin tasks and integrating AI tutoring systems to assist students in math classes may be a helpful tool for my students and I. 

I didn’t forget about the disagree side of this argument. I am 100% on board that AI dehumanizes education. The future of AI scares me and I fear that students are becoming reliant on technology, and misusing ChatGPT in their learning resulting in less creativity in their own work. I hear about some of the struggles our Humanities teachers are dealing with regarding their students using ChatGPT to complete school work and I am waiting for our school division to implement an AI policy. Academic integrity is a topic that our students need to understand, and there is a fine line where AI can easily cross. 

After reading Savannah’s post the other night, it is apparent that many teachers get to know their students quickly and can identify words or writing styles that do not match that specific kid. Having those difficult conversations about plagiarism is important and can be helpful to teach students the importance of using AI to stimulate ideas for a writing assignment, but not relying on a robot to complete the work for you. 

And lastly, a comment that stuck with me from the disagree side in the debate was the fear that AI will replace teachers. If AI is replacing other workers in different fields, how will it not replace us? Especially if it offers so many benefits to the learners and their families…

I think it is fair to say that students need human connection and teachers to guide them through their learning process. Teachers have a responsibility to teach their students HOW to use these advancing technologies efficiently and responsibly. We need to guide them in a positive direction and show them the amazing opportunities AI serves. We also need to have the important conversations about developing our own critical thinking skills and completing assignments on our own (without relying on technology). Teachers, once again, have another big learning curve ahead on the proper implementation of AI in the classroom and educating their students how to properly use it. 

 

Posted in Uncategorized

Summary of Learning

This is my last blog post for EC&I 834 and I am happy to share my Summary of Learning video with you.

I am grateful to have taken this class and learn new content related to technology in education. Thank you to Katia for instructing this class and for everyone in our course who shared content and experiences with me. I appreciate learning from all of you and I wish everyone the best in your masters program.

Posted in Uncategorized

Final Course Prototype

As I write my final blog post tonight, a quote from an old professor comes to my mind:

 

Start small, start smart, but at least start.” – Nick Forsberg

 

Well Nick, I will tell you that I DID NOT start small on this project. I should start by saying I had good intentions on developing multiple online courses for all the disciplines I teach (Math 9, Math 10WA and PE). If you know me, you know that I like to jump in with both feet. I tend to have big ideas and (sometimes) an unrealistic timeline for myself. What I didn’t know was that building an online course takes time, patience, and many hours of planning. Even though I am handing in my course prototype tonight with 5 out of 7 modules “under construction,” I still have plans on finishing these before I return to work next year. 

 

An Overview of My Course Prototype

Every year when I teach Math 10WA, I have students fail the course because they are unable to keep up with classroom content, or have been removed from class as a result of violating the school’s attendance policy, or students have quit coming to class due to personal reasons. I believe students who have failed this course should be given another opportunity to try again; whether that is enrolling in another face-to-face Math 10WA class with a teacher, or completing the required modules online (asynchronously). This class serves as an opportunity for students to “try again” and work with a Student Support Teacher (SST) to attain a Math 10 credit while meeting their personal needs (for example: learning in a different environment).

 

After countless hours of planning my course, creating content, editing videos, and organizing my materials, I am very excited to share my final course prototype with everyone! This link includes my course profile detailing the purpose, target audience, learning objectives, lesson plans, and more.

 

An Overview of the Creating Process

If I had a superpower, I would be perfect every minute of the day and wouldn’t need to re-do anything. In reality, I am far from perfect; however, I expect perfection in the work I produce. Creating this online course generated some frustration for me as I would change my plans often, and re-record my instructional videos because I found a “small” mistake in them. I quickly realized that I was never going to be 100% satisfied with my work, and I needed to find balance with my time.

 

During our Zoom meeting with Katia on March 13th, we discussed accessibility and equity online. I reflected on my prototype and wondered if I needed to make some changes to my course. I ended up adapting many of my google documents and hyperlinks to ensure my content was accessible for all my learners. I also appreciated the week when we peer-reviewed our colleagues’ prototypes. It was refreshing to get new perspectives on my LMS, course content, and assignments. The peers who reviewed my course provided excellent feedback for me to consider, which inspired me to make some positive changes to my prototype. 

 

Overall, I am proud of the work I have done to complete my Math 10WA Recovery Credit Course, and I am excited to try it next year with my students! I am sure I will modify assignments/activities in the future to continue improving my course.

 

Video Walkthrough

Here is a link to my course walkthrough so you can see how it is set up! 

I hope you enjoy 🙂

Posted in Uncategorized

AI in Teaching and Learning

About a year ago, my friend’s husband wrote a beautiful post for her birthday. I texted her about how sweet it was and she quickly replied with an eye roll emoji saying he used ChatGTP to create his write-up. Little did I know, people all around me were using this tool and I (living under a rock) didn’t know much about it! 

 

AI in Teaching and Learning

If you were to ask me to write a blog post about AI in teaching and learning before watching Alec Curous presentation, my reply would have been somewhat negative. I had the mindset that people were using AI to find answers or complete assignments because they were too lazy to complete the work themselves. I guess you could say I was biased thinking that students were using this tool as a shortcut for their homework. After the video, I reflected on how I use AI Every. Single. Day. I use AI to look up recipes, create multiple choice quizzes, ask questions via Google, and write emails/papers with the help of “autocomplete” on Google Documents and gmail (which is brilliant). What I didn’t realize was that ChatGTP can be used for a variety of things in life. For example, taking a picture of the SIN# to fix your fridge ice machine, or create flashcards for a science class test on cell anatomy, or get ideas to redecorate a living space in your house. I am still mind blown with all this information and new perspective towards AI. Alec Curous provided a number of different examples for us to see how AI can be used to enhance both our teaching and learning experiences

 

AI as a Teacher

I think the biggest takeaway from using AI as a teacher would be saving time finding appropriate resources for your students. For example, creating quizzes, discovering new activities for your students, planning lessons, grading assessments, and finding other valuable materials for our learners. AI allows us to complete these time consuming tasks quickly and efficiently with a voice, image, and/or text command. 

 

AI as a Student

Just as students continue to learn how to respectfully and responsibly use their personal mobile devices, I believe students need to learn the proper etiquette regarding AI in education. Educators, teachers, and other mentors need to have conversations with their students/children about the:

1) importance of learning without the use of technology, and 

2) the benefits and opportunities technology can provide to their educational experiences. 

 

Students need to know the difference between the two. They also need to understand the purpose of developing deep cognitive thinking, problem solving skills, and independent learning with and without the use of technology. 

 

Cheating and Academic Misconduct

To be honest, it scares me to think that students could be cheating in my classes, especially this online course I am developing. Without constant supervision, it is impossible to monitor. In my opinion, taking information from any source that doesn’t belong to you, without proper citation, is cheating. Also, in my opinion, using online tools to solve problems and complete homework assignments is academic misconduct. As Alec Curous mentioned in his video, AI is becoming more advanced and it is becoming more difficult to redflag academic dishonesty. As an educator, I am interested in how AI will continue to expand in schools, and wonder if this is going to become another big issue. 

 

Can I safeguard against the misuse of AI in my course? Probably not. I tested out ChatGTP myself and students will be able to find their answers quickly and efficiently online without much effort. This may cause some issues for their online communication tasks; but at some point, I have to give the students credit for finding their questions online. Even if they choose to use AI to complete this task, they are still actively learning by explaining their mathematical problem solving skills. All my students will be completing their mini-exams and unit exams in-person via traditional pencil and paper with an adult supervisor present during school hours. Students will need to show their understanding by showing their work (step-by-step) for full marks. I am hopeful that my students will put in the necessary effort to learn the material and test well so they can attain their credit in my course. 

 

Using AI in Productive Ways

I agree with Alec that we need to have those conversations with our students regarding why it is important to learn these concepts and be able to do the work ourselves. By motivating students about the purpose of learning and connecting them with the concepts being taught to real life can be helpful. 

 

I found an article online that discusses 7 principles that educators, policymakers and education leaders can follow when creating guidelines regarding AI in education. These principles are:

 

  1. Define the purpose – supporting and enriching the educational goals
  2. Complying with existing policies, student safety and data security
  3. Teaching students about AI literacy so they can gain proper knowledge
  4. Understanding the benefits of AI and the risks (finding balance)
  5. Following academic integrity 
  6. Maintain human decision-making 
  7. Continuously assess the impact of AI

 

With the proper guidelines, I believe AI can be successfully integrated into teaching and learning. AI has the potential to help students find answers faster and easier, explore more without waiting for an educator, and boost creation and innovation in education. 

Posted in Uncategorized

Feedback, Accessibility & Equity

Feedback

First off, thank you to my reviewers for spending time going through my first module and providing feedback. It helps to have more eyes reviewing my course and different perspectives regarding what they liked about it and what could be improved.

 

Things that worked well Things that could be improved
#1) All content and activities were organized into one google document (with hyperlinks) making it easy to navigate

#2) Created multiple Lumi videos (7) that were interactive, informative, and aligned with course outcomes

#3) Course appeared professional and each lesson/activity included hyperlinks to answer keys, formative quizzes and videos making it convenient for students to access everything they needed

#4) Videos were welcoming and appropriate for age of learners

#1) Student agenda could be improved by renaming the document to something simpler and color-coating specific daily tasks 

#2) Could begin introductions to new content with a story to show students how this will look in the real world

#3) Making the important hyperlinks more prominent for students to find

#4) Including more real-life questions rather than the typical word problems

 

I appreciate all the feedback from my reviewers and I am going to do my best to respond to all of it. 

 

Feedback #1) I renamed my “Student Agenda” to “Daily Tasks” and redesigned the document to make it more colorful and less wordy. One of my reviewers had a great idea to have students connect on Discord by answering a Question of the Day to initiate conversation. This is brilliant because I do this in my in-person classes and can easily send a message first thing every morning to my online students. 

 

Feedback #2) Due to time limitations, I will not be redoing my lesson videos on Lumi to include a story; however, I found a few great videos on YouTube that fit within my unit. I can show how the pythagorean theorem is used in football, and how trigonometry is applied in different situations, such as analyzing blood spatter in a crime scene and in architecture. I can easily add these YouTube videos at the beginning of my lessons for students to view without spending too much extra time editing my existing videos. 

 

Feedback #3) Since I received my feedback, I adapted my worksheets for this module to add a video icon that links learners to my instructional videos, and a text box (in red) that directs students to check their answers and complete the formative quiz at the end of their lessons. This will make my worksheets more visually appealing and help catch my student’s eyes. 

 

Feedback #4) I plan on updating my word problems in the near future. Right now, I feel there are more pertinent tasks that I need to spend my time working on. Having all my worksheets online makes it easy to modernize questions/assignment details at any time… so for now, I will continue working on Module 2 and keep this feedback in mind.

 

A question my reviewers had related to my course timeline and how students who require additional time completing assignments will be successful in my course. To answer this question, most of my students taking this course will be working closely with a student support teacher (SST) in our school. This provides additional class time (during the school day) to complete their coursework. However, if the student, SST, and I (the instructor)  meet up at the beginning of the semester and feel the student will need an extension, we can make that work. Depending on how many modules this specific student needs to complete to attain their recovery credit, we can extend their module timeline to suit their needs. I do believe that students need deadlines, so I would feel comfortable providing a couple extra weeks to complete the course, but if we drag the modules too long, they may lose interest or motivation to finish. 

 

Accessibility & Equity

After our class on Wednesday night, I spent time reflecting on my course and wondered if my future students will have difficulties accessing their materials online. Since our Zoom meeting, I have changed all my hyperlinks in my google documents to match the words describing the link. For example, instead of attaching the link to the words “click here” to get to the answer key, I combined the attachment with the words “check your answers for assignment 1.” This will make it more accessible for ALL diverse learners, and was a simple task for me! I have also researched different APPS for mathematics that assist students with visual impairments. Some of these apps include: 

  1. Seeing AI: This is an artificial intelligence app that uses the camera to identify people and objects and audibly describes these objects for people. 
  2. Talking Scientific Calculator: This app includes a colorful calculator with large buttons for learners who have some vision, and the option to speak for commands in large numbers and formulas (compared to pronouncing a single number at a time).

 

Since I do not have a lot of experience working with students with diverse learning needs, I plan on reaching out to professionals, including my Principal, for more guidance. 

 

As of right now, I feel my course is accessible to the students in my school presently. All students will have the option to receive a printed copy of each module prior to beginning the course. They will also have the opportunity to use the school chromebooks, desktops in the library (these are available throughout the day, including lunch hours) and computers in the Student Support Teacher’s classroom. My students also have access to calculators, protractors, compasses, rulers and other necessary materials from the school throughout the course.

Posted in Uncategorized

Module 1 in Lumi

The Before

I created my online course to help students attain a recovery credit in Math 10WA. Module 1 focuses on Trigonometry which can be a difficult unit for grade 10 students. To view my course prototype, click here.

 

The Now

Over the past 10 days, I have spent countless hours creating a “shell” for my first module. To say the least, I underestimated the amount of time it would take setting up an asynchronous course online. I found myself asking the same question “how will this actually work?” My head was spinning thinking of all the things I still needed to create (syllabus, rubrics, instructional videos, assessments, etc.), and I quickly became overwhelmed. I tried visualizing how my students would access all their materials without getting confused or missing important information. With a few extra cups of coffee this past week, I figured out a solution I “think” will work.

 

I ended up creating a “daily agenda” for my students to follow. Everything is in one document; including links to all their instructional videos, assignments, assessments, course syllabus, intro videos, extra assignments, practice tests, and more. I made the document into a checklist so they can mark off their completed tasks and stay on schedule. The students just have to click the links! Should be easy peasy (I hope). To view my course agenda, click here. **NOTE: This took a very very very long time! 

To keep things consistent, I chose to create all my instructional videos in a similar format. I ended up recording all my lessons through Annotate, then edited each one in iMovie, and finally uploaded the files to YouTube. After this very long process, I copy and pasted my YouTube links into Lumi and added interactions to each one. This was the first time I used Lumi and I really enjoyed the template. The first video took me a while to figure out, but by the time I finished my 8th video, it only took me a few minutes. I integrated True/False statements to check for understanding multiple times throughout my lessons. I used Multiple choice questions for students to check their answers (before) viewing the solutions on the video. *This way they are not watching the video and becoming bored/distracted with other things around them. It forces them to pay attention to the material and practice the example questions “with” me. I added additional links into my lessons to help students navigate their calculator skills (for example: helping students reset their calculator to degrees). I also used the Crossroads feature which allows students to skip to the next question if they are feeling confident with the content. At the end of each instructional video, I added a link to their daily assignments and a link to their ‘check for understanding quiz’ via google forms. Everything they need can be accessed through the instructional video. It’s amazing what technology allows us to do! Overall, I was very pleased with Lumi and I will most likely continue using this platform for future modules.

The first video I created in Lumi was a Calculator Escape Room activity. This is a short activity I like to do on the first day of classes with my students so they feel comfortable navigating different buttons on their calculators before starting course content. Please give it a try (if you want). You will need a calculator, pen and paper! NOTE: It doesn’t work well on your phone screen so I suggest using a computer/laptop. Here is the LINK.

 

The other 7 videos I created in Lumi are my instructional videos for each lesson I teach. These are not as fancy or fun as my first video, but if you want to check them out, here are the links:

Lesson 1 – Pythagorean Theorem

Lesson 2 – Pythagorean Theorem Word Problems

Lesson 3 – Intro to Trigonometry

Lesson 4 – Using Trig to Find Unknown Side Lengths

Lesson 5 – Using Trig to Find Unknown Angles

Lesson 6 – Solving Right Triangles

Lesson 7 – Trigonometry Word Problems

 

My thoughts about assessments…

 

I am trying to think realistically about this course. My time is limited and I need my students to stay engaged and motivated. I have no idea if this will work or not, but some big decisions I made were:

 

  1. Keeping all my formative assessments online. At the end of each lesson, students will complete questions via Google Forms (Quizzes) and receive immediate feedback. All their answers will automatically be sent to me afterwards. Since I am teaching full-time, this seems like the easiest and most convenient way to see how my students are doing.
  2. Keeping all my summative assessments in-person. I want my students to be present during summative assessments and have an adult supervise to support them if they need clarifications on questions and to ensure they are completing their own work. Students will also be encouraged to draw pictures and show their work (step-by-step) to receive full marks (similar to my in-person classes). 
  3. Incorporating an online communication piece to my course breakdown. Having my students check-in daily through Discord will (hopefully) motivate students to complete work in a timely manner and hold them accountable to communicate with others throughout the course. I have created two simple online assignments for the students to complete during the course as well. These took very little time to plan and organize.

 

The Future

In the near future, I plan on creating 6 more modules so I can have all my Math 10WA units online for students to access. I find that high school students do better when they have a set routine and know what to expect. I plan on creating similar videos and following the same template for my other units. I am optimistic that next module will be easier to create and upload, because I have found what works best for me.

Posted in Uncategorized

Module 1 in Lumi

The Before

I created my online course to help students attain a recovery credit in Math 10WA. Module 1 focuses on Trigonometry which can be a difficult unit for grade 10 students. To view my course prototype, click here.

 

The Now

Over the past 10 days, I have spent countless hours creating a “shell” for my first module. To say the least, I underestimated the amount of time it would take setting up an asynchronous course online. I found myself asking the same question “how will this actually work?” My head was spinning thinking of all the things I still needed to create (syllabus, rubrics, instructional videos, assessments, etc.), and I quickly became overwhelmed. I tried visualizing how my students would access all their materials without getting confused or missing important information. With a few extra cups of coffee this past week, I figured out a solution I “think” will work.

 

I ended up creating a “daily agenda” for my students to follow. Everything is in one document; including links to all their instructional videos, assignments, assessments, course syllabus, intro videos, extra assignments, practice tests, and more. I made the document into a checklist so they can mark off their completed tasks and stay on schedule. The students just have to click the links! Should be easy peasy (I hope). To view my course agenda, click here. **NOTE: This took a very very very long time! 

To keep things consistent, I chose to create all my instructional videos in a similar format. I ended up recording all my lessons through Annotate, then edited each one in iMovie, and finally uploaded the files to YouTube. After this very long process, I copy and pasted my YouTube links into Lumi and added interactions to each one. This was the first time I used Lumi and I really enjoyed the template. The first video took me a while to figure out, but by the time I finished my 8th video, it only took me a few minutes. I integrated True/False statements to check for understanding multiple times throughout my lessons. I used Multiple choice questions for students to check their answers (before) viewing the solutions on the video. *This way they are not watching the video and becoming bored/distracted with other things around them. It forces them to pay attention to the material and practice the example questions “with” me. I added additional links into my lessons to help students navigate their calculator skills (for example: helping students reset their calculator to degrees). I also used the Crossroads feature which allows students to skip to the next question if they are feeling confident with the content. At the end of each instructional video, I added a link to their daily assignments and a link to their ‘check for understanding quiz’ via google forms. Everything they need can be accessed through the instructional video. It’s amazing what technology allows us to do! Overall, I was very pleased with Lumi and I will most likely continue using this platform for future modules.

The first video I created in Lumi was a Calculator Escape Room activity. This is a short activity I like to do on the first day of classes with my students so they feel comfortable navigating different buttons on their calculators before starting course content. Please give it a try (if you want). You will need a calculator, pen and paper! NOTE: It doesn’t work well on your phone screen so I suggest using a computer/laptop. Here is the LINK.

 

The other 7 videos I created in Lumi are my instructional videos for each lesson I teach. These are not as fancy or fun as my first video, but if you want to check them out, here are the links:

Lesson 1 – Pythagorean Theorem

Lesson 2 – Pythagorean Theorem Word Problems

Lesson 3 – Intro to Trigonometry

Lesson 4 – Using Trig to Find Unknown Side Lengths

Lesson 5 – Using Trig to Find Unknown Angles

Lesson 6 – Solving Right Triangles

Lesson 7 – Trigonometry Word Problems

 

My thoughts about assessments…

 

I am trying to think realistically about this course. My time is limited and I need my students to stay engaged and motivated. I have no idea if this will work or not, but some big decisions I made were:

 

  1. Keeping all my formative assessments online. At the end of each lesson, students will complete questions via Google Forms (Quizzes) and receive immediate feedback. All their answers will automatically be sent to me afterwards. Since I am teaching full-time, this seems like the easiest and most convenient way to see how my students are doing.
  2. Keeping all my summative assessments in-person. I want my students to be present during summative assessments and have an adult supervise to support them if they need clarifications on questions and to ensure they are completing their own work. Students will also be encouraged to draw pictures and show their work (step-by-step) to receive full marks (similar to my in-person classes). 
  3. Incorporating an online communication piece to my course breakdown. Having my students check-in daily through Discord will (hopefully) motivate students to complete work in a timely manner and hold them accountable to communicate with others throughout the course. I have created two simple online assignments for the students to complete during the course as well. These took very little time to plan and organize.

 

The Future

In the near future, I plan on creating 6 more modules so I can have all my Math 10WA units online for students to access. I find that high school students do better when they have a set routine and know what to expect. I plan on creating similar videos and following the same template for my other units. I am optimistic that next module will be easier to create and upload, because I have found what works best for me.

Posted in Uncategorized

Creating a Community in an Online Course

For my prototype, I created a recovery course for students who have previously failed Math 10 Workplace and Apprenticeship. My course design is completely online (except for exams), and students work at their own pace through the modules (asynchronously). You might wonder why I choose to go asynchronously, especially for a math class. Well it wasn’t my first choice…

Originally, I tried to think of how I could “blend” my course because I know it is important to be “present” with my students, whether it is through Zoom or in-person.  However, I had to be realistic regarding my current job and coaching expectations at the school I work at. In my school division, we only get one prep a year and mine is usually in the first semester because I coach fall sports. I am predicting my course will run in the second semester after the first round of Math 10WA students have taken their face-to-face class with an instructor. For those students who fail this course, they will need an opportunity to recover their credit in the second semester (this is where my online course comes in). Since I will be teaching full-time in the second semester, I am only available to meet with students before school, during lunch, and after school (until Track & Field starts up in the spring). Because of my schedule, I chose to create an asynchronous online course.

After watching the videos and reading the articles/blogs from this weeks tasks, I am inspired to find ways to encourage students to engage with one another and build a sense of community in an online learning environment. As Michael Wesch suggests in the second video, you should try to “humanize your online class” and “build relationships” with your students. He does this by videoing  positive shout-outs to students in his courses, getting on camera so his students see that he is human while creating memorable (and unique) learning experiences for them to view (cycling and giving a lecture). Kudos to him… I’m not sure if I can do that while teaching math, but I’m willing to try and be more creative! His suggestions challenged me to think of ways I can be more “present” for my students asynchronously.

To build community in an online course, I need to figure out a way my students can communicate.

1 – DISCORD

Similar to our course (EC&I), I will have students join Discord. This app is free, easily accessible to any device, and is user-friendly.  Students can take pictures of their work and send directly to the instructor (me), or share in a group chat with other students in the class to verify their work has been done correctly. Depending on how many students I have in my course (which is unknown at the time), I can set up discussion channels and prompt my students to engage with one another. If I only have 1 student in my course, this app still provides them an opportunity to ask me questions when they need some additional instruction.

2 – MEETING IN-PERSON IN THE LIBRARY 1x/week

The videos and articles from this week highly suggest meeting in real-time with your students. This will be tricky for me if I am teaching 5 classes during the day. Instead of finding a time to meet during the school hours, I will encourage students to meet me in the library Wednesdays at lunch for 15-20 minutes during math tutorial. This way, they will have an opportunity to meet me in-person and ask me questions for clarity/guidance, or just to visit! And everyone needs to eat, so I can bring my lunch upstairs with me and be available to my online learners. Note: this will be completely optional for the students.

3 – FLIPGRID

To establish social pressure, I will use FlipGrid to connect with my students (on video). This forces me to get on camera more often and humanize my online learning environment. I’m sure the students will appreciate videos of me explaining certain assignments or providing additional instructions for a specific question I want them to work on.

I love FlipGrid and used it a lot when I taught grade 8. The students don’t always enjoy videoing themselves (they mentioned this to me a lot when we used this app), but they can always adjust their camera angle and video themselves working through a question on paper instead. It will still create a personal touch to hear their voices and/or watch them problem-solve. FlipGrid is an appropriate tool to use for my online class because I can pre-record video(s) on my own schedule and have students share their replies asynchronously as well.

What guidelines or assessment practices will I adopt to ensure that interactions are meaningful, supportive, engaging, and relevant?

This is a great question… I am not sure how many people will be registered for my online class until it starts up. I could have 6 students, or I could be stuck with 1 student who failed the course semester 1. If I only have one student, well then… they are stuck to watching videos of me and texting/sending pictures to me on the Discord app. I am not the most interesting person in the world, but I will do my best to give that one student as much support as I can! If I only had one student in my course, I could still create an online assignment component (for marks) in my course breakdown. This would be for x% (haven’t decided yet) of their overall marks in my course.

The online assignment component would include: sending assignments through FlipGrid, Google Classroom (our main LMS) and/or Discord throughout the course. Students would be prompted each week (similar to our class right now) with a simple task. It could be as simple as sending a picture of their work on Discord to view or sharing a video through FlipGrid of different questions from the workbook. This would keep my student(s) motivated to stay up-to-date with coursework and prepared to share their learning with me (instructor) or with others (if I have 2+ students). By sending out different prompts, it would give my learners an opportunity to touch base each week and see how things are going.

All my ideas sound good in writing, but how will they actually work in real-time? I’m not exactly sure.

The problem I foresee with my class design is that students may be working on modules at different paces. Note: I hope to have all 7 modules for my Math 10WA course up and running by next year. I’m not sure how to change my class structure without adding pressure for students to complete modules at the same pace.

Any ideas or suggestions are welcome!

Posted in Uncategorized

Online Course for Math 10WA

Over the past 2 weeks I have been chasing my tail trying to decide what course I will design for this assignment. I currently have three ADDIE templates open on my google documents and I am determined to design online courses for my Wellness 10 and Math 9 classes (in the near future). Remind you – I am on maternity leave and have some extra time! Due to deadlines in this class (EC&I 834), I need more time to design these courses and figure out HOW learning will occur and WHAT assessments will be used to support student learning in the most appropriate way. 

 

Right now I had to think about what is needed in my school, and how this course will support students in mathematics.

 

I chose to create an online course for students to recover a grade 10 credit in the workplace and apprenticeship math stream. Every year when I teach this class, I have students fail the course because they are unable to keep up with classroom content, or have been removed from class as a result of violating the school’s attendance policy, or students have quit coming to class due to personal reasons. I believe students who have failed this course should be given another opportunity to try again; whether that is enrolling in another face-to-face Math 10WA class with a teacher, or completing the required modules online (on their own).

 

To view my full course profile and planning template, click here.

Posted in Uncategorized

My Experiences with Blended Learning

As someone who has always preferred reading articles from paper copies and writing notes with pen and paper, I have learned to appreciate using technology in the education field. Don’t get me wrong, looking at a screen for a long period of time is not my favorite. In fact, I find myself experiencing headaches if I am staring at my computer and/or phone for too long. I understand that online learning has many benefits, however, I still enjoy face-to-face traditional classroom teaching without the use of technology. I believe a good balance of online learning and traditional classroom teaching resembles my current teaching-style.

After reading Chapter 10 in our required readings and discussing this topic online, I have learned there are many variations of blended learning that I am currently using in my classroom. Since COVID changed the world of teaching, I continue to use online platforms to share lessons and other educational resources with my students and their families. This has allowed me to stay connected with my students at home if they are away for a period of time, and help keep them on track with daily activities. Educational technology has allowed me to keep my lessons and assignments organized, and provides tools to aid student learning. Technology gives me the opportunity to work from home or other places at my own convenience, share information effortlessly, and provides fun and engaging activities to my lessons. Online platforms such as Google Drive and Google Classroom have been my “go-to” choices allowing me to create, edit, and post classroom resources with ease. 

My experience using blended learning as a high school math teacher, involves preparing all my lesson plans using google slides. When I teach, I upload my presentation on my TV and use my iPad and apple pencil to work through practice problems one-by-one with my students. I can also add additional links with instructional videos and/or webpages to my lesson plans. Lately, I have been pre-recording my lessons and uploading these videos via YouTube so I can share the link quickly with my students. This has helped my students review important concepts taught in class and provides an opportunity to re-watch the lessons from home. I have also been using various online platforms for quick formative check-ins and summative assessments. A few of these platforms I use include: FlipGrid, Quizizz, google forms, and ZipGrade. These platforms have SAVED ME SO MUCH TIME with marking and photocopying, and have been very user-friendly. Teaching math can get very repetitive so I have been incorporating math games into my unit plans. Some online math games that my students enjoy are jeopardy, escape rooms, and kahoots. I am able to reuse these platforms every semester and can quickly add/edit questions that are suitable for my students and the different classes I teach. 

As a newer teacher in mathematics, I am still in the process of developing unit and lesson plans. This has taken a lot of time and effort on my end to ensure my resources are in the correct files and my content is ready to use. Even though the preparation time has been extensive, I feel that once my files are completed, I can continue editing and updating them each semester to improve the quality of my content, and better meet the needs of my students. Along with online platforms, I feel face-to-face instructional strategies are appropriate to use in mathematics. It is necessary for students to work through practice questions on paper or whiteboards. It allows them to work through problems step-by-step and correct their mistakes in the learning process. This is SO IMPORTANT in math!

Using technology in an education setting also comes with some challenges. In the school I work at, we do not have enough computers/chromebooks for each student to use. Therefore, we are limited to using specific pieces of equipment supplied by the school. Some teachers may choose for students to use their personal cell phones; however, that comes with additional challenges. From my own personal experience, I have witnessed many students getting off-task and browsing the web, or sending snapchat messages to their friends. This makes it difficult for teachers to monitor student behavior during class time. Ensuring that the internet, apps and/or websites will work can be another challenge teachers and students face. I can probably speak for most of us when I say technology can be frustrating when it doesn’t work!

Posted in Uncategorized