Distributed Learning

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Distributed learning: an instructional model that allows for students and teachers to be in different places and take part in learning regardless of place or time.

My experiences with distributed learning: I have never taken an online course. However, I know people who have and they have all said the same thing: that the online courses were much easier than the in class courses. Many people at my high school who took online courses did so in order to take the “easy way out”. I think that it was considered the easy way out because the system, SIDES, was not as sophisticated as I think it could be. Often, using this system, content was not focused on in as much depth as in the classroom. With all of the new technology there is today, we have the tools to make distributed learning more meaningful and accessible to all students. New technology coming out recently can help educators enhance their students learning experience regardless of where and when it takes place.

Open Inquiry Post #9

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I fell off the wagon. I haven’t been on Duolingo for a couple of weeks now. After I lost my streak, I lost the habit of doing it every day. My experience has shown me that consistency is absolutely vital when learning a new skill, including language acquisition. Today I am going to start my Duolingo again and hopefully keep going until my trip in May. I am sure that I will learn a lot while I am there, but I would like to come armed with a few useful phrases.

Day 1 of my Duolingo comeback went really well! I expected to be a little rusty, but I actually caught on again right away. I think that my prolonged break actually caused me to be more focused on the lesson. When I was in the routine of doing it every day, sometimes I would find myself on “autopilot”–not even paying attention to what I was supposed to be learning.

Sketchnoting & Twine

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Today in EDCI 336 we had the opportunity to explore Sketchnoting. Sketchnoting is the practice of taking notes that include words and visuals. It has been proven to improve memory and help concentration. Verbal to Visual posted a helpful graphic about sketchnoting:


Rich McCue took the class through a helpful workshop on how to effectively sketchnote. This workshop included practicing drawing shapes, different types of lettering, and common doodles. Sketchnoting is quite similiar to the trend of bullet journalling. Here is a picture of two pages in my colleague Maeve‘s bullet journal:

We also explored Twine in our class today. Twine allows users to creative interactive adventure stories (like the Black Mirror Episode “Bandersnatch”). I would love to use this tool in the classroom. First, I would ask my students to write stories. Then, I would ask them to put their stories into twine. I think that this activity would be exciting, exploratory, and engaging for a middle school class. Twine also allows students to explore coding if they are interested in that. Personally, I do not know anything about coding. However, I know that my future students will likely be knowledgeable about it. I am sure that they will be able to teach me more than I could ever imagine!

Tech #7 Branding and Identity

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This week to further our learning of how we can use graphic design, we watched and learned from this video on Youtube all about branding and design. We found that this video summarized the other videos we have been learning from and brought all the various elements of graphic design together.

Essentially, branding is how others perceive you and your company and your product.

Your visual identity is how your branding looks with your colour, typography, etc. Visual identity can be very persuasive for the consumer. Visual identity sets the tone for your product or brand.

The main elements of Visual Identity are:

  • Logo
  • Colour
  • Typography
  • Images

A logo can include a small image or icon and/ or some text. A good logo is a simple logo. All of the elements of your logo contribute to your brand’s identity and visual identity. Main colours used in the brand should be reflected in the logo. Like with all graphic design, use complementary colours to avoid vibrating and to ensure you don’t go too crazy with colours. Be sure to include a neutral colour in your logo and brand as well. When choosing fonts for the text, choose about three and be sure that they compliment each other and depict your brand well. Avoid overused and ugly fonts like comic sans ms and papyrus. When in doubt, use a timeless font that does not distract from your message. When choosing images for your brand, aim to tie them all together with a common thread such as colour, theme, or graphics. Avoid images that are generic or unauthentic.

Here is a little logo made with Adobe Spark that I use for my own blog:

I kept it very simple as I am drawn to a more simplistic design. I chose to use white as my background colour and a darker green on the white for my text. I used a classic font and then as a graphic I used some leafy plants that go in a circle as a border.

Minecraft Edu Reflection

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Today in EDCI 336 we had the amazing opportunity to work with Heidi James and her grade 6, 7, and 8 students today. Heidi and her students taught us how to use Minecraft in the classroom. Heidi has used Minecraft as a tool to teach science, social studies, and math. In social studies, Heidi had her class create various components of ancient civilizations. In teams, the students created entire civilizations as a final project. Heidi assessed the students on whether or not they had all necessary components in their civilization and also how well they worked as a team. She had access to all of their work and could check up on their progress along the way. In math, they used Minecraft to learn about coordinates in 3 dimensions (coordinates x, y, and z). All of the students who came to talk to us seemed passionate about Minecraft and excited about using it in the classroom. They were also confident in their abilities enough to teach us, a group of adults, how to use it. As a student, I think it would be empowering to be able to teach others, especially adults, how to do something. Minecraft also promotes collaboration in the classroom. It challenges students to problem solve in order to reach one goal.

I would love to use Minecraft Edu in my classroom one day. There are so many possibilities to incorporate Minecraft into the classroom. There are also countless opportunities for cross curricular connections. Minecraft allows students to explore and inquire about the possibilities of the world that they are in. It gives students endless opportunities to create and be leaders in their own world. I am a little intimidated about the prospect of using Minecraft in my own classroom because my knowledge is limited. There are lots of tutorials and resources for teachers available, so I would not be alone in the learning process. I also keep reminding myself that my learners will be able to help me because they will likely have a wealth of knowledge to share.

Reflection on Jesse Miller’s Presentation

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During Tuesday’s class we had the pleasure of listening to Jesse Miller talk to us about social media, internet safety, and using technology as educators. I have listened to many talks about internet safety that focused on “scaring everyone straight”. It was refreshing to listen to a presenter talk about social media in a positive way, without using scare tactics. Jesse highlighted the fact that lots of kids do amazing things with technology and, as educators, we should encourage this. He also talked about the fact that adults often point fingers at kids and say that they do not use social media appropriately. Jesse countered this by asking, “do adults really use social media appropriately?”. The answer to this, for the most part, is no. Jesse spoke about the importance of using social media appropriately as a teacher. There are many concerns as a teacher using social media: remaining professional, adhering to school rules, and keeping student information private. Another issue that I am glad Jesse made me aware of is the fact that your principal can track your use of the internet when you use the school network. He also talked about the necessary steps to make a class Instagram account. Personally, I am not interested in doing something like that. However, it is good to know in case a colleague ever asks me for help when they are creating one.

Jesse’s Website: https://www.mediatedreality.com/

Jesse’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/MediatedReality?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

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For week six of our graphic design inquiry project we focused on the importance of layout & composition in a project. We watched this video on how to properly organize the different components of graphic design projects & here are the 5 points we learned!

  1. Proximity- using visual space to show relationship
    • make sure related items are grouped together to make work easier to read/understand
  2. White space- helps define & separate different sections
    • don’t be afraid to use it!
    • makes sure your work remains uncluttered
  3. Alignment- how each item in your design lines up
    • inconsistent alignment makes your work look messy
  4. Contrast- difference in text, colour, proximity, size…
    • helps catch the readers eye & emphasizes important items (& make these stand out)
  5. Repetition- every part of a project should have a consistent look & feel
    • Makes your work easier to read because the viewer knows what to expect

Paying attention to details like these is what will make your graphic designs stand out among others! For more videos on graphic design, click here!

In Class Lesson Reflection

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Today in EDCI 306A we collaboratively presented the lessons that we planned on Monday. My group planned a lesson that incorporates learning in Music and Science. It can also be easily adapted to fit into PHE, Art, or Social Studies. Brainstorming ideas for our lesson was easy. There are seven of us in the group and we have no shortage of ideas. The hard part was narrowing down our ideas so that the lesson would not be too complicated or overwhelming for students. We all had to step back and remember that elementary school lessons are only 30-45 mins long. We all worked well together and I found it helpful to have group members who had such a good understanding of the parts of a lesson and the curriculum. In short, the lesson planning was relatively easy. Presenting, however, was challenging. We did not anticipate that we would have to present in front of the class in a formal way, so we were a little unprepared. We did not discuss how we would present it, which also made presenting challenging. I think that we did well considering the spontaneous style of our presentation. Looking back, we should have discussed who was going to say what in order to make sure that everyone was included. Personally, I think I could have been more clear when I was speaking to the class. If I were to teach this lesson to an elementary school class, I would definitely write myself some more specific notes about what I would like to say. I like that we engaged the students (in this case our peers) throughout the lesson by asking them for their input. Asking students for their input not only fosters active engagement, but also empowerment because it shows that their ideas are valued.

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Today, we decided to experiment with PicMonkey. PicMonkey is a photo editing and graphic design tool. It is easy to use and offers users tutorials to help them achieve their specific design needs. PicMonkey gives users the option to being with either a template or blank canvas. It also allows you make specific searches based on your needs.

PicMonkey is easy to use and all of us could definitely see using it in the classroom. However, PicMonkey has a massive downside: it costs money. We took advantage of the 7 day free trial in order to test it out. However, it is not realistic to pay $7.99/month for a graphic design tool as a teacher. It is much more reasonable to use a free tool like Canva or Adobe Spark for any graphic design opportunities in the classroom.

Here are some designs that we made:

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Today in EDCI336 we had the pleasure of video-conferencing Verena Roberts. Verena is a teacher and an expert in open pedagogy. In her own teaching, she values inquiry, active participation, and community engagement. I have included some notes that I took during her presentation below:

Open Education Practice: intentional design to expand and share learning opportunities for all learners across classroom walls encourage network participation from different cultural groups

  • Designing for sharing
  • Multiple perspectives (everyone has a voice)
  • Participatory learning
  • Develop and encourage personal learning networks (PLN)
  • Design and value safe learning spaces
  • Expanded learning environments do not just have to be online
  • Creating resources with the intention to share them openly (Google Classroom makes it hard to share resources–use Trello instead!)

RELATIONSHIPS: intentional interactions, collaborations, connections that facilitate digital literacy

Verena used an innovative polling tool (polleverywhere) in order to interact with both of the groups and get to know us all before she started her presentation.

Verena’s research questions:

  1. How do I search & communicate online? Finding credible content, communicating online
  2. Who is my online audience? Data, security, digital mapping, data analysis
  3. How do I solve a community problem? à Authentic resources, using social media, connecting outside the classroom, using open content
  4. What is my story & how does my story inform my identity? Critical thinking, storytelling/perspectives (Indigenous lens)

Find Verena on twitter: @verenaz