ICT Tech Blog

This quote, along with “New technology is common, new thinking is rare.” – Sir Peter Blake, are two statements that are resoundingly true. We as educators are consistently looking to improve the quality of education that our students receive, whether through improvements in our pedagogy, access to better resources, or simply creating a learning environment with many diverse options to approaching learning. I feel as if there is a disconnect between how quickly society advances in the integration of technology in our daily lives and the curriculum being delivered in schools. Do specifics matter anymore? If a student knows how to find information, does memorizing specific facts still hold value? Are subjects such as history changing because the facts are less important compared to the ability to find that information on your own? I’m continually frustrated with how no technology curriculum exists for intermediate and younger students in the public board, and the vital content that shou...

A question that I keep coming back to is how the varied integration of technology in schools may be adversely impacting students’ ability to focus on boring stuff. It is quite challenging to actually be bored for any extended periods of time now, as soon as there is nothing going on the smartphones come out to play and fingers start texting, playing games or scrolling through social media. Is this causing an adverse impact on creativity in kids? Technology has taken over making stuff up to keep ourselves occupied, imagination may be being stifled. In a classroom environment we’re always looking at trying new and novel things, but I feel like a lot of it may be “lets try that, lets try this” instead of sitting down with a particular perhaps not-so exciting tool and mastering it to a high level. Sharing our information: I’m interested to see what @AndrewMendosa, @SamHarris and @StevenPinker would think about this issue, being the most active and followed psychologists currently on Twi...

The Cult of Pedagogy ( https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/ ) is a multimedia resource across a variety of platforms covering a huge range of teaching ideas, techniques, resources and strategies. The majority of technology areas have been covered at some point, whether it’s Google integration, building a makerspace, video editing, useful apps and it’s all quite relevant, straightforward and useful. It’s on Twitter, Youtube, Facebook as well as regular blogging so you can access the content whichever way you find the most convenient. Sharing our information: Lots of useful information for those getting started with their own classrooms, so @AmenthaRajagobal, @JamieLiang, and @AllisonMcCann could be inspired with some possible ideas. Easy to share with anyone unfamiliar with bringing technology in established classrooms as well, collaborating amongst educators is often a useful exchange of information. #Technologyinschool #Summer2018IICTI Reflection: Collaboration is not always something pe...

Flipgrid is a an app that can be used on Apple or Android devices that allows teachers to post questions or prompts about anything and have students respond with videos as well as view and respond to other students’ videos. This tool can help increase participation amongst students who have trouble voicing their ideas to the class and prefer to develop their own ideas independently while still including the group as part of the process. Having an alternative method in a world where students primarily communicate digitally helps achieve diversity in teaching strategies. Sharing information: Have a quiet student in your class who has great ideas but hates sharing? This is an app for you! It’s a digital world now and kids often prefer to text instead of talk, so why not let them use alternative means to communicate their ideas? Try it out! #Flipgrid #GetInvolved #Participation #Technologyinschool #Summer2018IICTI Reflection: Giving each student an opportunity to share their voice is a...

Good Blog for Old Dogs (Teach ‘em New Tricks!) This blog can be found at https://alicekeeler.com/ and is filled with easy to follow posts and information about technology basics that have become core to effective student learning experiences in the Modern classroom. Keeler covers a variety of resources such as Google Classroom & Sites, social media tips and tricks, and very straightforward tools. She also includes a number of shortcuts and quality of life improvements in programs we already use that many people may not be aware of. Anything that helps us save time as educators without losing quality is a plus! Sharing the information: An easy to follow blog that introduces technology and its teaching applications is honestly best suited towards older (or experienced as some would put it!) teachers later in their careers who haven’t particularly kept up with new things and feel like they may have fallen behind. It can be difficult to get up to speed with how quickly thing...

Ontario Teacher Resources  When searching for teaching networks, sometimes the most immediate ones can be the most useful: This group is very active (which is an important consideration when searching for learning networks) and consistently posts a variety of different ideas for many subject and curriculum areas with plenty of replies. No question is too small, and people share their experiences about what other people suggest to do in their classroom or about resources that could be helpful. Sharing the information : I think that @AmenthaRajagobal, @JamieLiang, and @AllisonMcCann would benefit from this network group (if they haven’t joined up already!) as new teachers, quite often when you’re new you want to do everything your own way but there’s no reason to reinvent the wheel, there’s a ton of ideas out there already! #OTR #Collaboration #Summer2018IICTI Reflection : I haven’t used collaborative networks with people I haven’t met as often as I should have, there...

I hope to be able to find new resources and innovative ways to use previously known or existing ones in my professional teaching. There's a saything that new technology is common, but new thinking is not, and there's a lot of tech being used in schools in fairly boring and standard ways that doesn't particularly inspire both the learner and the educator. There's a huge assortment of ways people deliver the same content, so collaborating with others who have a shared interest in technology is a fantastic way to figure out something new.