Final Week

In my final week of the Internet for Educators class I'll present my final project, a video showcasing my growth as a tech-savvy educator. The video was created to show my learning in the class in relation to technology, and how it will impact me as a teacher. I highlighted my previous tech knowledge, and demonstrated some of my new understandings. 

Press play and enjoy!

Week 8

This week will be dedicated to finishing the final presentation for the Internet for Educators class. This presentation will be in the form of a video, complete with visuals and narration. It will highlight my personal journey with technology and education in the past few years, specifically in the education program. I had created a Prezi for the presentation. However after some miscommunication, I will be changing the format into a video using Windows Movie Maker. When it's a finished product, you will be able to press play and enjoy!

Week 7

 

This week we did not have Internet for Educators class because some of my classmates went to WestCAST. At this point in the semester, I really appreciated the few extra hours to get work done! I have finished assignments, completed units and started on next week's presentations. I don't think I'm the only one who needed the extra hours in the day. It was perfect timing, especially with my trip quickly approaching. During the stressful and chaotic last few weeks of classes, I'm sending positive vibes to the Brandon University Ed students! Particularly the second years, the end is near.. keep going!

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Unit Planning

This week my focus has been on unit planning for my upcoming trip to Kuwait. I will be teaching Grade 8 Social Studies, units on Exploration, Slavery and Revolutions. I couldn't be more nervous and excited to teach social studies for the second time! In my unit planning, I decided I would switch it up and use Prezi as opposed to the usual PowerPoint. As of right now, I have about 2 weeks of presentations done and I am a HUGE fan of Prezi! It's a great way to use creativity and interaction in the classroom. I'm using Prezi as a guide to the unit. The template I am using is a colorful world map, our presentation takes us "all over the world". I find Prezi to be much more exciting and engaging than PowerPoint, also much easier to use. Without much effort, I am plugging in information and assignments into a fantastic template. The movement in the presentation is a great way to get student's attention. I can't wait to finish the unit and see what the final product looks like!

1:1

Last Wednesday we had Martin Ingenmey and Bryce Ridgen from Minnedosa Collegiate present to our class. They discussed a 1:1 school system, meaning each student has their own device. This is something that I previous didn't know much about. I knew about the idea, but not how it would be implemented into a school. Martin and Bryce's presentation was fantastic. They gave us ideas on how to use devices properly and appropriately in a classroom. This is, in my opinion, the best presentation we have had yet. They gave us tools to use in the classroom that I can actually see myself using. I find that with some tech presentations, we get information on tools that I wouldn't use because you have to sign-up for them, etc. Some of the ones shown to use by Bryce and Martin were ChatterBox, Schoolology, Mazilla, Padlet, Thinglink. These are tools that are great for students to use to present their learning. I definitely enjoyed their presentation and would love to experience for myself a 1:1 school.    

Maple & Blackboard

Last week we had a few more presenters come to the classroom. Two visitors from Manitoba Education came to share information about resources available to teachers in Manitoba. They discussed two main resources, one being Maple (an online social networking site for Manitoba Teachers), the other was Blackboard (a site that lets you take a look at online courses). Maple was a very useful tool to stay up-to-date with what's going on in the education community in Manitoba. It's great to maintain connection and support from fellow educators. Blackboard was something unlike anything I'd ever heard of. It shows you online courses in almost all of the high school subjects. I'm still unsure about how I feel about online courses, I've heard both good and bad things about them. This is something I'd like to look into more in the future and see how it could be integrated productively into a classroom or school community. 

Digital Footprint

A Digital Footprint is the traces of what you've done on-line. Search histories, websites you've visited, etc. The information of what we do on-line creates our mark in the digital world. 

My digital footprint is pretty basic. I use the Internet for school-related research, information and assignments. I also go on-line to use social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube. Like almost everyone, I use email on a daily basis. I use on-line searches to look up recipes and information about fitness. Lately I have searched a lot on travel, flight information, hotels and hostels, and trail tickets. I think using on-line services appropriately is important to protect your digital identity and ensure that it represents who you are. 

As I stated in my previous post about digital identity and digital dualism, I think the ideal scenario is to have your digital identity reflect your everyday personality. (Feel free to check out that post for a more in-depth discussion!)

I think it's very important to teach students about digital footprints so they understand how it can affect their lives. Students need to know how to protect themselves so they don't suffer repercussions later on. The best way to teach this is to use real-life examples of digital footprints gone wrong. I really like the idea that was brought up in class about a teacher searching their students on-line and reading information in class. It shows students how easy it is for information to stick to their name, and how extremely hard (sometimes impossible) it is to get rid of.    

https://prezi.com/_5gmx9d1lwo-/your-digital-footprint/