This week I was able to get started learning about crocheting. I talked to one of my friends who crochets, and she made a few tutorial videos to send me to help me get started. I did not have much time this week to start working on my project, but I went to buy the materials for my free inquiry. I went to Michaels and got a 4.0mm crochet hook and some thin yarn. I got a couple of different colours following a pastel palette. I have decided to start working on my project by creating granny squares, then sewing them together to create something bigger. I will see how it goes making the granny squares and have decided to try and make a sweater for my dog if I am able to make enough squares. If not, then I will continue with making a dish towel or something more simple. The videos my friends sent me really helped me grasp the basics of crocheting, and I look forward to starting to work on putting it all to practice!
Using video and audio editing tools as mediums for assignments can open up many doors for bringing creativity into the classroom. Although it may require a bit of additional set-up, the payoff of these tools can greatly benefit students who may be able to present their knowledge more clearly when not completing things such as written assignments. With the wide availability of technology in schools today, these audio and video editing skills can be introduced early on and built on as the students grow and technology evolves. For example, rather than asking your students to write an essay on a topic, you could ask them to record a podcast on the topic. Depending on their level, you could give them certain criteria to follow and certain things that they have to add when editing. This could include requiring them to add audio clips, music, sound effects, or any other thing that would require them to work on their editing skills. You could also have students create short videos to demonstrate their knowledge. Skits have been used in classrooms before, but some students may find these live performances to be anxiety-inducing. Allowing students to create videos that they are able to edit would help reduce this stress, giving students the opportunities to do multiple takes, put videos together, and remove any parts that they feel don’t work well. The flexibility of these opportunities can make them all the more engaging for students, allowing their creativity to flow in whatever way they feel suits them best.
Multimedia Learning Theory emphasizes the importance of presenting information in a variety of ways, not just as a block of text. Using this in instructional videos and tutorials can present students with a more comprehensive guide of the material they are learning. If an instructional video is just a person talking, with no visuals to guide them, it can be difficult for students to focus on and digest the information being presented to them. Including graphics and other modes of presenting the material can make the tutorial or instructional video much more engaging and easier to follow, as it allows students who learn in different ways to have options of how they are viewing the material. There may be students who just need to focus on the audio and what is being said, while others may learn the most from the visual aspect, using the graphics to learn and remember the information. Making instructional videos interactive with tools such as H5P can also help students stay engaged by giving them opportunities to check their knowledge and see what they are retaining.
I have decided to make my free inquiry topic learning to crochet. I have never tried before, but I have a lot of friends who crochet and have always wanted to try! I’m very excited at taking this first step into learning a new activity that can allow me to make a lot of different things. I think it will be a great opportunity to pick up a new hobby that seems to be relaxing and a good way to wind down. I am a bit unsure of how good at it I will be, as I can sometimes be impatient with learning new things if I do not pick them up quickly. I’m hoping that these blog posts will also help keep me motivated to keep learning!
The first steps I have to take include getting the materials, and then I am going to work on learning how to begin crocheting. A few of my friends have offered to help teach me, so I will talk to them and look at some tutorials to learn how. I am going to start with trying to crochet something simple like a dish towel, and hopefully it opens a path for me to make other things!
While I don’t think we necessarily need to reimagine education as a whole, I think it is important to understand that evolution is needed in education in order to create learners who are adapted to the current state of the world. While this does not necessarily mean getting rid of ways of approaching education, mass revisions are sometimes needed. Incorporating technology in education can make learning accessible for many students, providing them with tools that can greatly impact their success. I view these changes more as evolution of the already established educational setup rather than a complete reimagination of the system. I found the discussion of ChatGPT to be interesting, as I wonder how it will affect cheating in schools. Since it is writing the information, I wonder if it would show up on things like plagiarism checkers.
What obstacles do educators face when they try to change pedagogy?
There are a lot of obstacles that educators can face when trying to change pedagogy. Not everyone is always open to changes in education, as some people will always want to stick with how things used to be. Though change can be conducive to education and improve pedagogy, it might not always be welcomed. There can be pushback not only from the school districts, but from parents and guardians as well. It is important to note that changes in pedagogy due to evolving technology and infrastructures can be beneficial once accepted. I have seen education be added to pedagogy throughout my life and have usually found it to be positive overall despite some pushback at the beginning.
What concerns you and/or excites you about this approach?
I found the approach in the documentary to be quite interesting. I like the idea of teaching what the teachers find to be important, but I do think that some structure is needed. I think that there should be some general criteria for the teachers to follow, but that there should be flexibility in the way things are taught. Having gone to school in the US, I know just how test-focused their education system is. This never felt very conducive to learning to me, as I was often just working on memorizing information rather than actually understanding it. I think that allowing more space for learning in the classroom would be great, and I think that this would open a strong opportunity for system reform with the creation of educational portfolios.
Hey, welcome to my blog! I am looking forward to starting my inquiry and posting weekly. Setting up the blog was a bit of a challenge, with the website being a bit confusing and not working for the first few tries. I think that this was likely due to the amount of people using it at once, and the website seems to be working perfectly now. Now that it has been resolved I look forward to customizing my blog and updating weekly!
Before proceeding with this first blog post, we expect you to consider your privacy preferences carefully and that you have considered the following options:
Do you want to be online vs. offline?
Do you want to use your name (or part thereof) vs. a pseudonym (e.g., West Coast Teacher)?
Do you want to have your blog public vs. private? (Note, you can set individual blog posts private or password protected or have an entire blog set to private)
Have you considered whether you are posting within or outside of Canada? This blog on opened.ca is hosted within Canada. That said, any public blog posts can have its content aggregated/curated onto social networks outside of Canada.
First tasks you might explore with your new blog:
Go into its admin panel found by adding /wp-admin at the end of your blog’s URL
Add new category or tags to organize your blog posts – found under “Posts” (but do not remove the pre-existing “EdTech” category or sub-categories, Free Inquiry and EdTech Inquiry). We have also pre-loaded the Teacher Education competencies as categories should you wish to use them to document your learning. If you would like to add more course categories, please do so (e.g., add EDCI 306A with no space for Music Ed, etc.)
See if your blog posts are appearing on the course website (you must have the course categories assigned to a post first and have provided your instructor with your blog URL)
Add pages
Embed images or set featured images and embed video in blog posts and pages (can be your own media or that found on the internet, but consider free or creative commons licensed works)
Under Appearance,
Select your preferred website theme and customize to your preferences (New title, etc.)
Customize menus & navigation
Use widgets to customize blog content and features
Delete this starter post (or switch it to draft status if you want to keep for reference)
Do consider creating categories for each course that you take should you wish to document your learning (or from professional learning activities outside of formal courses). Keep note, however, that you may wish to use the course topic as the category as opposed to the course number as those outside of your program would not be familiar with the number (e.g., we use “EdTech” instead of “edci336).
Lastly, as always, be aware of the FIPPA as it relates to privacy and share only those names/images that you have consent to use or are otherwise public figures. When in doubt, ask us.
Please also review the resources from our course website for getting started with blogging:
