Category: Competencies

Today in class, we had Rich McCue visit for the second time this term and he helped us to learn more about coding. He gave a brief presentation at the start and then let us go ahead and start trying it out. I started by using Scratch. I started by following along with his instructions and creating a character and script for the cat. I thought Scratch was really cool. It allowed for students to be creative and choose what their character looks like and what they do, as well as to add other characters and backgrounds. Next, I checked out the Grasshopper coding program. I really enjoyed this program as it taught you how to do the coding as you went and gave you specific goals along the way. Overall, I enjoyed this class and would like to look further into coding in the future.

Competency covered: coding.

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Today in EDCI 336 we talked about multimodality in learning. In order to make learning accessible for everyone, there needs to be various forms of lecture styles or course formats. If everyone feels that they have the ability to be engaged and included in the classroom then they are more willing to participate. Using only one method of instruction can cause social justice issues in terms of accessibility. If schools cannot accommodate each type of learner then they will lose funding and population, which can decrease their school rank and credibility.

Competency covered: communication (video conferencing).

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Today in class we covered two topics, Minecraft and EdCamp. We started off with a few guests from Colquitz Middle School, Heidi James and her team of four students. They taught us about Minecraft and how it can be used in the classroom. They showed us the Edu version of the game, which I did not know existed. Minecraft is an interesting tool to help students learn and create in a safe environment. I am not sure if Minecraft is something that I would utilize in my class as a requirement for an assignment, but I would be very open to letting the student use this as a self-chosen medium for an assignment,

For the last part of the class, we discussed EdCamp. EdCamp is an event hosted where a variety of people can come and share their knowledge about different topics and learn about topics that interest them. There are topics posted and the participants vote on the topics that they would like to sit in on. Participants are allowed to go from topic to topic whenever they please and it is not seen as rude. In class today we did a mini-EdCamp. It was quite interesting to listen to my peer’s views on topics, so I can only imagine what it would be like to hear other people’s thoughts that are from all over and have an even wider variety of experiences and insights.

Competencies covered: distributed learning, learning design, gaming.

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Today in class we talked about anecdotal reporting. Anecdotal reporting is when the teacher puts written feedback on the report card as opposed to a letter/number grade (except for the final term, when it is mandatory to write a letter/number grade). Anecdotal reporting is something that I had not really heard of as I was always given grades each term as early as they started implementing letter grades into our report cards. Parents have the option to receive anecdotal or traditional report cards. These report cards are implemented at PSII and we were shown an example of a real report card that a student/parent received. This form of reporting is becoming more common in the elementary grades, as students/parents see constructive criticism and proper feedback as to where their child is at a lot less daunting than just a letter grade defining everything. Overall, anecdotal report cards show where a student is at in their learning and how much they have improved and a traditional report card jus gives a letter grade with no context as to why the student is at that place in their education.

Competency covered: assessment.

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Today we went on a field trip to the Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry in downtown Victoria. We met with Jeff Hopkins, who explained to us how this private high school works and allowed us to look around at how it operates. Right now this school is a private school (the students pay tuition), but Jeff is hoping to one day make it more accessible and affordable for everyone. Everything the students do is inquiry based. They complete all of their BC Curriculum graduation credits by looking into topics that they enjoy or are interested to learn more about. In this school, there are a few classrooms, a quiet area, a sensory room, a couple conference rooms and plenty of tables and areas for students to work at their own pace. The grading system as PSII is unlike most other schools. There are no grades given throughout the year, just the end of the year. The teachers track the progress of students using Trello and give a level of proficiency so the students know where they are at. This school is an amazing resource for students who cannot function properly in the generic public school system. However, this school may not be for everyone. After visiting PSII, I believe that inquiry needs to be incorporated into the BC Curriculum more even if that does not mean having all inquiry based schools and just having the ability to inquiry be a competency in the curriculum.

Competency covered: assessment.

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Today in EDCI 336, we had Jesse Miller come in as a guest speaker. Jesse started his career by talking about internet safety, but as since moved on from this and is now talking about how people can use technology for educational purposes. Some interesting facts and big ideas that I took away  from Jesse today were:

• Big brand companies can pay Snapchat to access all their data to see how many users are using their product(s) in any given area at any specific time.
• Teachers need to encourage parents to connect and engage in digital activities with their children to properly understand how it can be used and how their children are using it specifically, both at home and in the classroom.
• Your devices listen to you and then choose appropriate advertisements (Google tracks your patience level and tracks how long you watch ads or wait until you can skip them).
• On any network, IT members can see everything that you have and are doing.
• As a teacher, I will be held to a higher standard than a lot of other professions, in terms of my virtual footprint.
• A good virtual footprint is better than no footprint at all.

I feel that I have a good virtual footprint, which is something that I am proud of. It is scary to think that something I posted as a child or someone else posted of me could ruin my career, but I know that there is nothing there to do this so that is reassuring.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this lecture and he helped me to remember that I need to always be very conscious of what I post on social media and what other people post of me. I learned that there is a lot more going on behind the scenes of my screens than I had originally thought. Jesse talked to us about how to be safe on the internet, but more about how to use technology for educational purposes in the classroom. Teachers need to understand how to use various types of technology in order to implement it in their classrooms. He emphasized that technology can be great when used safely and in the right ways⁄amounts.

Competencies covered: tech tools.

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Today in EDCI 336, we had guest speaker Rich McCue come into our class. In this class, we talked about video editing, audio editing, image editing, and screen capturing. We first created a short video using iMovie. We started with a base video that he provided and we then added transitions/titles, trimmed clips, and even included sound effects. After we created our videos, Rich showed us how to screen capture and add audio.

Competencies covered: video editing, audio editing and screen capture.

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I would like to share what I have learned in the first couple of weeks of EDCI 336.

One large topic we have talked about is FIPPA. FIPPA stands for the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. This act is about getting the consent and approval of others to use their photos or information for your own purposes. We also watched the film Most Likely to Succeed for homework. This film was about the importance of incorporating inquiry into schools and talked about a specific school that has designed their entire classroom structure based on inquiry projects. Throughout the past couple of weeks, we have created an individual openED account, learned how to use twitter/make a professional account, created a Trello account, and found a free inquiry topic.

Competencies covered: privacy & safety, open pedagogy, collaboration (Trello), and social media (twitter and blogging).

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