sullyeduc5103blog

[sullyeduc5103blog]

Last, but not least!

Group 6: Boosting Student Motivation - Bola & Marie

Bola and Marie wrapped up our student-led presentations with a bang! Their presentation covered some tools to make our classrooms more engaging that made educational use of popular technology applications. From Duolingo to Minecraft, they expertly showed us how to make applications work for us in the education system, which again aligns with the Five Pillars of Online Pedagogy, which calls upon us to allow students to develop mastery of tools and use what they know to demonstrate learning.

I often do not like breakout rooms. Forced discussions often end up with me doing most of the work, usually as the only one with their video and audio on. It is more isolating than collaborating. However, the breakout room I was in was likely the most helpful group I have had yet. We were tasked with discussing Duolingo, and I expressed that my knowledge extended only so far as my kids' obsession with maintaining their streak. This opened the dialogue for others to share that they did not use it, and they asked questions about my children. I shared that it is motivating; they like to compete, and most of our family fights are over, one or more needing to “Save my Streak!!!!” precisely at bedtime. A classmate asked if I had noticed an improvement in oral language acquisition, and I shared a story with them. My wife has taken our kids to her school, where someone who speaks Spanish would be. She thought they could try out their knowledge, and while they were great at their “canned” phrases, moving beyond the common conversational phrases was unsuccessful. The learning extended as far as knowledge about words and memorized phrases. A classmate shared that his friend was obsessed with the platform and had a streak 4 times the length the streak my kids had, and said he also had limited ability in open dialogue format. Fun fact: when I shared this with my teenage son, he vehemently denied it and said he could speak fluently to anyone. I laughed. Not my best parenting moment, but honestly, his viewpoint is inaccurate.

We took our discussion back to the larger class, and we all echoed the same sentiment. These tools are great as additional educational components but cannot replace learning. They are great for precisely the topic of this presentation - Boosting Student Motivation. They cannot take the place of education.

[sullyeduc5103blog]

Group 13

Group 13: AI in Education - Eugene & Ted

Eugene and Ted’s presentation on Artificial Intelligence and its purpose in supporting education was incredibly well prepared, organized, and supported by research. They began by checking the class climate regarding our comfort, perspectives, and use of AI in education, which was an excellent introduction to their topic. Several of my conflicted comments were selected for discussion, such as “restrictive/freeing,” when asked for words that described my feelings about AI. It began in a personal way for me.

Their presentation dissected artificial intelligence’s usefulness in education into several categories, from student or teacher perspective, and into categories for educational use. They had spent considerable time researching and were motivated by the goal of making the path toward using it for educators a little less intimidating. The research was solid and comprehensive, but the presentation was also visually appealing, balanced with visuals and essential facts, and user-friendly. I appreciated this as someone new to trying AI out.

The presentation for me was well-timed. I had just helped a former student edit their college essay and used Grammarly. When we discussed my suggestions and corrections, my first question was, “Why don’t you have grammarly?!?!” The student said they were banned from using Grammarly. I said, “Yeah, you can get get grammarly to write your work or make it sound more academic, but surely you can use it for spell and grammar check?” I was shocked when they said no. Sorry? I told them to immediately get themselves Word and use that for spelling and grammar checks. However, the more significant issue is the blanket banning of AI as a tool to enrich our writing when it has so much value. To be honest, I am still mad about this. Instead of banning a helpful tool, teach how to use it for good purposes, such as improving our grammar. As someone with a specialized English degree, even Grammarly has suggestions for me. I use my intellect to select which suggestions are well-founded and which ones to ignore because the message I am portraying needs incorrect grammar. If you worry kids will cheat and do not show them how to use it in a way that is NOT cheating, then you are doing them a disservice and, frankly, just being lazy.

Finally, AI has such a beautiful aspect of enriching education beyond the four classroom walls, and I have learned from this class that it is a beautiful, albeit careful, dance to balance acceptable and unacceptable use. While we grapple with that as educators, we cannot ignore the world our students were born into and ban that which can lift them.

[sullyeduc5103blog]

Group 11

Group 11: Learning Management Systems - Deborah and Michelle

The presentation by Deborah and Michelle on Learning Management Systems was encouraging. Every time someone mentions LMS, I feel excluded and unaware of good tools. However, Deborah and Michelle focused on user-friendly and commonly used LMS, which made me feel more capable than I thought.

Deborah focused on the use of google classrooms and the various features that reduce effort on educators' part and stream-line learning for students. I appreciated this portion of the presentation because I am familiar with google classroom, and feel it is widely known by students and very user-friendly. I found it very difficult transitioning from google classroom to canvas as a student myself, and wished we had stuck with google classroom my entire first semester. Then I realized how wonderful canvas can be as a LMS.

Michelle focused on D2L/Brightspace, which I was shocked that I also am familiar with! Look at me being all techy! Michelle was careful to highlight the incredible features of D2L alongside the limitations, which I appreciate. I sometimes wish tools can do everything, and when they can’t, I feel let down.

Blackboard was a tool I was unfamiliar with. Again, the presenters highlighted the clear limitations and benefits of the LMS tool. I appreciate that they essentially tried out tools for us, so that we do not waste our time. This was likely the kindest gift they could bestow upon the class. I appreciate the connection between marking and the assignments that are part of Blackboard - this is a time-saving feature a lot of educators could benefit from.

The presentation also included Canvas, which I appreciated. There are still so many features within Canvas that I do not understand. I feel like many Professors also do not understand it because I have experienced some “hot messes” of classrooms set up on Canvas. Rob’s class is actually the most user-friendly organization of material.

While the presentation was long, it was comprehensive. We could have viewed just this one presentation and learned everything we covered all semester in other presentations. Well done group.

[sullyeduc5103blog]

Group 9 - Alternative Learning Spaces

Group 9 - Alternative Learning Spaces - Erica & Nizy

This presentation was an engaging foray into expanding our learning environments beyond the walls of the classroom, school, or even country. Erica and Nizy did an incredible job exploring how to make the entire world accessible to our students through their analysis of Alternative Learning Spaces. While I was unable to attend for the full length of their presentation, it was just as engaging with the content made available online.

What I loved about the presentation was the many different platforms and tools shared that educators of all grades and content can access to support learning in their classrooms. From accessing Museums for Art or History, to live streaming events or demonstrations for any course, there is an Alternative Learning Space available to address the needs of students. I cannot wait to see how rich this continues to make the education environment for future students.

Personally, I do not like field trips. I had an awful experience in Teacher’s College where the bus driver decided she was not going to wait for my host teacher and 4 students who had lost an item inside the Science Centre, so she just drove away. As an unqualified teacher at the time, I was not to be left alone with students, especially not 60 students on a bus. The experience led to charges against her and the bus company, and had led to me refusing to go on field trips that involve busing. This has limited the opportunities I can offer my students to enrich their learning, but this can easily be addressed through Alternative Learning Spaces. 

The presentation reminded me of the way I created Alternative Learning Spaces during Covid. As a Careers teacher, I frequently opened the classroom doors to parents, community businesses, Colleges and Universities, and interested professionals. They were a rich part of my learning environment for students, ensuring real-world knowledge and pathways were a central component of student learning. When Covid happened, I struggled to think of how to retain that rich experience, but was able to find people who were willing to recreate that experience for students. In the end, any way to deepen learning beyond textbook knowledge will lead to greater retention of knowledge, and should be adopted where possible.

Brown, M. & Long, P. (n.d.). Trends in learning space design. Educause. https://www.educause.edu/research-and-publications/books/learning-spaces/chapter-9-trends-learning-space-design Cain, M. & Phillips, L. (2021, February 27). Alternative learning environments. Social Science. https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/03%3A_Motivation/3.06%3A_Alternative_learning_environments

[sullyeduc5103blog]

Group 8 - Leveraging Social Media in Education

Group 8 - Leveraging Social Media in Education - Amy, Sabryna, and Stephanie

Writing a reflective blog about your own presentation is a great way to improve future assignments, as well as unpack the components that worked well. Our group presented on Social Media, but mostly on what is important for educators to consider before adopting its use in their classrooms. Our presentation was heavy with content, research, and resources for others to access. We were lighter on the side of group interaction with the intention to provide the group discussion time for classmates to complete their blog. Time constraints made that a little difficult, but the intent was there.

Honestly, our presentation was dense with information for students as I did not take it lightly that I was supporting the use of Social Media in the classroom despite the professional urgings not to, which has resulted in many school boards restricting access to most if not all Social Media platforms. I drew upon my knowledge of the risk of trauma associated with technology use, and wanted to ensure educators were armed with how to safely monitor the use in their classrooms. By focusing on safe moderation, I felt that experienced educators might feel more comfortable engaging with new ways to engage their students. To many of us, this is uncharted territory.

Using TikTok as our selected platform to demonstrate the usefulness of Social Media was informed by in depth research into the safety features within the algorithms embedded in the platform. If we had known the other group would also cover TikTok perhaps we could have collaborated to ensure our classmates were not inundated with repeated information. Thankfully, Stephanie glossed over extraneous content due to the group previously mentioning it. This might be useful in the future if this assignment is repeated to ensure overlap does not occur. I hate wasting people’s time. However, with the focus on Trauma-informed use of Social Media, the explanation of algorithms, and how to use Social Media in a positive way we departed significantly from the previous group. 

One wish I had would be to see statistics on whether any educators start to implement the use of Social Media in their classrooms as a result of either or both presentations.

[sullyeduc5103blog]

Group 7 - Social Media in Education

Sownthy, Toufan, and Abdul presented on Social Media in Education. As the group began their presentation, I was concerned about the content overlapping with my group, which also covered Social Media. Thankfully, the presentation was entirely different from ours, with a focus more on various platforms and their usefulness in the classroom. 

The presentation focused largely on the ways in which Social Media can support learning within a classroom setting and in our personal lives. They covered the many benefits of using Social Media to engage with the world around us in meaningful ways, from considering where to go on vacation or what restaurants to try. The connectivity of human beings to other human beings provides a rich resource of information that goes beyond textbook learning, and their focus on how to use Social Media to enrich all aspects of our lives was my key learning from their presentation.

The content on the reliability of content portrayed on Social Media was interesting to me. Our class was presented with content and asked to determine if the specific content was fake or not, or if it would be an acceptable use of Social Media. While many people engaged with the chat to share their opinions, I felt like many instances were ambiguous despite the presenters stating the use was inappropriate. As with most things in life, further information needs to be provided before a clear judgment can be made. For example, they stated that the use of Social Media where a teacher had a TikTok video of her class and their work was displayed far in the background was inappropriate because viewers could see the students’ work. However, as I shared with the class, every year I sign consent for my children’s work to be displayed even on the school website or publications; therefore, for all we know, the teacher had consent as well. To say it was inappropriate is to assume we know more than we do.

Social Media will likely not become the main platform for academic content delivery nor for academic assignment submission any time soon. The unrestricted access to our intellectual property poses problems not addressed by this presentation nor my own. By widely disseminating our work without consideration for who has access will just continue to strengthen AI and its ability to replicate human tasks, and ownership of content becomes unclear. However, for some menial tasks in the classroom that could be made more engaging through the use of Social Media, I say do it. Let the students use their phones for good at least once a day!

[sullyeduc5103blog]

Group 5 - Game-Based Learning

Group 5: Game-Based Learning - Melissa, Fay and Gabriel

While I am an old-school teacher, Melissa, Fay, and Gabe's presentation was convincing about the benefits of Game-Based Learning in classrooms. They provided copious resources to show the effective use of games to provide new opportunities for students. It was engaging, visually pleasing, and persuasively situated with solid research.

My experience with game-based learning is limited. I created my own Jeopardy game using PowerPoint during the infancy of my teaching career, and I have been using it as a template for other courses ever since. I dislike Kahoot, given the potential for students to select names anonymously, that may be inappropriate, hurtful, or contain curse words. The only part of Kahoot I have liked is watching quiet students who get engaged and sometimes enraged through its competitive nature. It is surprising to see a different side of them. I dislike game-based learning because it requires intelligent development of the tool to use it for educational purposes, and given my lack of technical abilities, the effort is not going to equal the product I create.

While it may not be seen as an educational tool, I used Among Us during Virtual School teaching. I had a timetable entirely consisting of Careers and found that it was useful in discussing how we played the game, not the actual game itself, which provided educational lessons. We explored group dynamics through the game, which was part of the lessons on workplace essential skills. It was a fun way to segway into the lesson, but it contained no lesson within the tasks or game itself.

The breakout rooms were where I was lost during the presentation. While I enjoyed my group, the game we used was not user-friendly, and few of us understood what we were doing in the game. At one point, I just sat there answering the same questions while another student kept tagging me. I cheered her on because neither of us understood the game, but at least she had managed to get some points. This speaks to my reluctance to use game-based learning given the extraneous load it takes to learn the game first and then you can begin to learn. As a big supporter of the Five Pillars of Online Pedagogy, game-based learning does not allow mastery of a skill unless entire departments elect to use one game-based learning platform so that students can know how to use the tool and focus more on learning. This would require effort to coordinate at a level of education known for reluctance to use collaborative learning approaches. Or that is just my school.

Thankfully, group 5 provided many resources with learning content already created so that educators like myself could select from quality resources for use in their classrooms. This is likely the best part of the presentation. Everyone is busy, and this was a meaningful consideration for students in the class.

Archambault, L., Leary, H., & Rice, K. (2022). Pillars of online pedagogy: A framework for teaching in online learning environments. Educational Psychologist, 57(3), 178–191. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2022.2051513

[sullyeduc5103blog]

Group 4 - Flipped Classrooms

Group 4: Flipped Classrooms - Melita Fernandes and Clerona Felicien

This presentation delivered by Melita and Cle was incredibly engaging. They provided a slide deck, a website, and a breakout room padlet. While I am not new to a flipped classroom, I had almost forgotten about it, given that many other methods are at the forefront of education. Melita and Cle shared the strengths, weaknesses, and tools to make flipping your classroom a meaningful possibility for educators to adopt.

I have seen beautifully designed flipped classrooms over my 16 years of education. I had a department head specializing in information technology in classrooms, and she approached the task of flipping her classroom perfectly. She contacted parents ahead of the semester to let them know her approach why she thought it might benefit the students, and provided alternatives should students or parents resist. Not one parent did. She also created check-ins at regular intervals to assess and realign the flipped design and included student input. She made it an experiment in which they were all involved. I doubt it would surprise you to know it was widely successful. However, it took a significant amount of her time to plan. She was essentially double teaching, she said. Eventually, as her videos, lessons, and materials were created, the second attempt in the second semester was rewarding for her and her students.

I have also made use of flipping my classroom out of necessity. I was assigned Grade 11 University Biology with one day's notice. While I am a strong student and an even better educator, my Specialized English degree and grade 9 Science credit were useless here. So, without knowing it, I flipped my classroom out of a need to survive. One weekend I read the entire textbook, created notes for students, and then assigned homework to inform the next day's discussions. I needed the time to review the material. Meaningful discussions based on extending knowledge from the text and practical questions we engaged with together happened. It was likely the most meaningful course I have taught. I was also scared that I wouldn’t teach them enough to enable them to be successful in Grade 12, which fuelled my commitment to learning alongside them. Not only were most of them successful, but I like to think I made a doctor out of that experience as one of those students went on to practice medicine. 

As a seasoned educator, I really think new teachers could approach a flipped classroom the best. They are new, they are malleable, and they don’t have years of experience getting in the way of a new approach to teaching. They are also likely to have technological skills that will enable them to make captivating video lessons, create interactive games and tools, and make something beautiful. So, if anyone is reading this beyond Rob, take a chance and do it in your classrooms. The students are different post-covid. They want the social aspects of class that they missed during the lockdowns. If you look, they aren’t doing the work in class anyway. Make the intentional choice and give them what they are looking for. I bet you’ll do great.

[sullyeduc5103blog]

Group 3 - Using Video in Online Learning

Group 3 - Using Video in Online Learning - Marco, Rebecca, & Natalie

Marco, Natalie, and Rebecca created a user-friendly platform for interacting with a wide range of videos and using them in online learning. The content, applications for use, and tools provided could also be implemented in a face-to-face educational setting, making their presentation useful for all educators. Their website and presentation delivery were well-designed, professional, and engaging.

At the outset, the topic would touch on what my group is doing (using TikTok as an educational tool) or focus on showing movies in class. Thankfully, I was wrong. While they did mention video assessments for students to demonstrate their knowledge, they showed how using video within educational settings provides many avenues for educators. I have allowed freedom of knowledge production in assessments for many years as a firm believer that there is not only one way to show you understand what you are learning. As such, many students have been able to achieve using a method that suits their skills and interests. This aligns well with the Pillars of Online Learning, which calls for voice and choice in learning (Archambault et al., 2022), as well as Universal Design for Learning, which calls for student engagement through autonomy and choice (CAST, 2024). It becomes very apparent that the use of video in the classroom is supportive of both teaching and learning.

I was particularly drawn to Marco’s personal connection to the use of video and knowing that he has produced educational videos himself, I searched for them on the internet. I was able to find his youtube page, which has many videos that are exceptionally well produced. From videos discussing places he travelled to how to start writing, he has an approachable manner that engages. The content is visually appealing, interesting, and offers and range of topics to explore. One thing that comes across clearly is his love for his girlfriend, Mikayla. Besides being wildly jealous of his technological prowess, I am amazed by what he can do with video. People like Marco should use video in their classrooms. People like me, not so much. Well, at least not content created by me. This is an important distinction an educator should make note of, because creating content yourself instead of accessing the well-produced content that exists, like Marco’s would not be using video effectively. The whole point is engagement, and knowing if your abilities will create meaningful, captivating content is an awareness one should have. Not all video content is created equally, and that is ok.

As for the rest of the material produced by the group this week, the most meaningful page was the tools page which provided so many resources for educators to use, regardless of their access point in using video. This essentially is the point of these student-led workshops where we present what we know to others in the hopes that they benefit from it. I certainly know that the next time I want to show a video in an educational setting, I will first look to Marco’s youtube page!

Archambault, L., Leary, H., & Rice, K. (2022). Pillars of online pedagogy: A framework for teaching in online learning environments. Educational Psychologist, 57(3), 178–191. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2022.2051513

​CAST (2024). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines

Pereira, M. (n.d.). Home [YouTube channel]. YouTube. Retrieved October 23, 2024, from https://www.youtube.com/@Marcopolo2417/featured

[sullyeduc5103blog]

Group 2 - Online Learning & Pedagogy

Group 2 - Online Learning and Pedagogy - Toby and Claire

I enjoyed Toby and Claire’s presentation on Online Learning and Pedagogy. The content from Robert and Raagavi struck a chord with what I find uncomfortable in Online Learning, which was necessary—I find that most learning comes from being uncomfortable. However, the content of Toby and Claire’s presentation topic resonated with what matters to me and the way the delivered their presentation was engaging. 

Toby and Claire focused on The Five Pillars of Online Pedagogy, which may have been covered under the course readings but I had not yet read (I focused instead on reading our Professor’s book, which was eye-opening and lengthy!). The Five Pillars feels like home to me. Those concepts are integral to my approach to learning and most of what I struggled with when considering the material from the previous presentation. 

The first Pillar is the component of learning I am focused on as a teacher - RELATIONSHIPS AND COMMUNITY. Without trusting relationships established with the teacher and student, a sense of class community cannot occur. Oddly enough, as a student, I am less interested in the forced community thrust upon us through group assignments (yes, I am on that soapbox again!), and only find the true community has emerged as I engage with students of my choosing that I have come to know authentically through other courses. They have shared goals, work ethic, and personalities that align with what I want my community to look like. I appreciate professors' attempts, but when required, they lose value and do little to build relationships. However, I found it interesting in this course that our Professor enabled students to bounce between groups until they found one they liked. Where this went awry was group dynamics, where no one wanted to be the person who left the group because the people were not a right fit! However, at least there was consideration involved that could support creating a community.

The four remaining Pillars of online pedagogy are Incorporating Active Learning, Leveraging Learner Agency, Embracing Mastery Learning, and Personalizing the Learning Experience. As an educated, professional, and experienced learner in an M.Ed program, I find these infuriating to be presented with because, in many ways, the program does not align with these principles. How can one embrace a mastery of learning when using a new technology every other day? How can one actively listen when the content, teaching style, and format for learning have not considered what I consider to be the second most important Pillar - Personalizing the Learning Process. However, before this blog about an incredible presentation becomes another one of my rants about what is wrong with the education system, I will say I have one experience that got all of this right.

If you have a chance to take a course with Dr. Robyn Ruttenberg-Rosen, take it! I will give some credit to the content she has specialized in, which is the heart of what matters to me—Inclusion, Equity, Diversity, Belonging, Accessibility, etc. As we know as educators and students, when the material is personally relevant it makes a difference. Then there is her style of teaching, which so wholly embraces relationship and community building. You know she has a busy career and family, yet you know you matter to her. Then there is how she designs the assignments, readings, and group formations - it is all self-directed, full of choice, and free to explore whatever matters to you. Never before have I thought about the class content all week long, even waking up in the middle of the night with an “aha” moment. I am not alone in this admiration because my classmates echo the same sentiment- she has achieved what we all covet - engagement. That engagement even transcends class time, as many of us talk to our families, co-workers, and each other in authentically created discussions after class. That is community building, and I hope one day I come close to getting it even half as right as she does.

While I seem off-topic, Toby and Claire’s presentation also had components of “getting it right.” They began by allotting a significant amount of time to engage with a Pillar in groups, which was rewarding. Students in my group shared experiences of positive and negative learning environments and began to establish relationships. It allowed us to personalize our learning process and actively listen. This focus on break-out groups revealed a solid understanding of their material. Also, the discussion questions they posted before the presentation allowed students to grapple with the material in a way that promotes mastery of the subject matter.

Toby and Claire’s presentation allowed me to make meaningful connections to what I am learning in a course focused on technology, online learning, and new content. I am a fish out of water, but the focus on why we design the way we do and what we are doing it for gave me a new perspective that I will take with me throughout this course.

Archambault, L., Leary, H., & Rice, K. (2022). Pillars of online pedagogy: A framework for teaching in online learning environments. Educational Psychologist, 57(3), 178–191. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2022.2051513

[sullyeduc5103blog]

Group 1 - Online Course Formats & Technologies

Group 1 - Online Course Formats and Technologies - Robert and Raagavi

The first group to showcase their research in Innovative Online Learning was Robert and Raagavi. They focused on three designs: blending learning, synchronous learning, and asynchronous learning, my favourite. Robert and Raagavi analyzed several formats of learning delivery systems from MOOCs to LMS. Depending on our prior knowledge, they seemed well-situated to explain them from various access points. I appreciated the explanation of what might be common knowledge to some, but it was the first time I had heard of MOOCs as a term, even though I have engaged in open-access learning like it before.

The first thing that resonated with me, as they described option after option for online learning delivery, was that there are too many options. As someone struggling to keep up with an increasingly technological world, I find it impossible to become skilled at any platform when each Professor uses another platform, database for articles, and structure for their modules. If we could stop trying to reinvent the wheel those of us that are just learning to drive might stand a chance. Having spent time looking at cognitive load for another course, all this new information and learning just to navigate the online platform distracts from the actual learning, except in this class, where the point is to know about these systems, platforms, and technologies.

From this plethora of options for delivering online learning came my major takeaway: none of this is getting it right. We all covet student engagement, yet we are approaching it all wrong. It is not about creating a new platform to deliver the same material to all students. It should be about meeting students where they are: for Secondary students, this is TikTok or Instagram; for Elementary students this may be Discord, YouTube Kids, and Minecraft; for post-secondary students this may be LinkedIn. These are online platforms students are familiar with and enjoy using. Hence, it stands to reason that if we can harness these online platforms for educational purposes, we stand a chance for student engagement. I was reading an article for my group assignment that calls for the use of social media platforms in educational situations to build upon the intrinsic motivation that students have to engage with these enjoyable platforms rather than focus countless hours on designing environments that still will not complete, no matter how many we create (Lobo-Quintero, R. et al. 2023). This further adds to my previous point about taking away from the learning by developing new tools for students to learn when we can use what they already know. If we want engagement, why are we not engaging in the world our students access daily? 

I will unpack the discussion surrounding asynchronous learning vs. synchronous learning in my next reflective blog, but for this presentation and stream of reflection, I will briefly touch on what stood out from Robert and Raagavi’s work. With the various formats to choose from, our knowledge of educational psychology, and our experiences with or as students, why must a course require the same learning mode for all students enrolled? I do not thrive in a dedicated synchronous classroom, even with the two token asynchronous classes scheduled. If students could elect to “drop in” if they need help or want to discuss, that would also promote student engagement that suits the individual student. Forcing students to attend a class does not equate to engagement or increased learning. To this point, neither do the required group assignments each M.Ed course contains. I do not assign group work as an educator because I know the pitfalls and believe it is unethical to assign one student’s grade to the collaboration of several students. If we are trying to teach group dynamics, that is one thing. Still, given the diversity behind our intrinsic motivation for pursuing our M.Ed, it has proven more often problematic than mutually rewarding.

As blogs usually do, this one has veered away from the original point quite nicely. However, is that not the real point here? We should engage with what our peers have put together, take away what is useful to us, and ask engaging questions that spark thought in others.

Fulantelli, G., Burgos, D., Casalino, G., Cimitile, M., Lo Bosco, G., & Taibi, D. (2023). Higher Education Learning Methodologies and Technologies Online : 4th International Conference, HELMeTO 2022, Palermo, Italy, September 21–23, 2022, Revised Selected Papers (1st ed. 2023.). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29800-4 

Lobo-Quintero, R., Sánchez-Reina, R., Theophilou, E., & Hernández-Leo, D. (2023). Intrinsic Motivation for Social Media Literacy, a Look into the Narrative Scripts. In Higher Education Learning Methodologies and Technologies Online (pp. 419–432). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29800-4_32

[sullyeduc5103blog]

Introduction

I'm just a tech-deficient girl standing in front of the tech-savvy world, asking it to be kind to my attempts at vlogging.