Walking the Fuzzy Boundaries – Ethical, Moral, & Legal (ECI 832)

Posted on March 27, 2022 by Patricia Ives
Quantum Mechanical Model – Khan Academy

Every spring when the thaw comes, I like to go out and hike in the woods. As I slog through the muddy sections in my rainboots, I am reminded of how difficult it can be to find a clear and easy path through any exploration – be it through a forest or through educational aspects of internet and social media use. These muddy paths in the real world exist in many areas of life and ways of understanding. For myself, one of the ways that I personally develop understanding is by relating what I am learning to other areas of knowledge. The commonalities help me to build definitions and create structural concept maps for complex knowledge. In this manner, I have taken my muddy walks in the forest and applied this to digital citizenship and other ways of knowing.

Photo by Sergey Gavrilyuk on Unsplash

In my Chemistry 30 class, we discussed fuzzy boundaries in developing an understanding of electrons. It is impossible to know exactly where an electron is located, because everything is changing and moving constantly. In the world of internet and social media, what we know and understand are constantly changing as well. The changes that we experience underscore the importance of building digital literacy throughout a student’s life. I believe that schools and educators have a duty to provide a strong foundational base for students that encourages growth and respect in all aspects of life, including digital citizenship.

Amanpreet shared in her blog post, “Technology advances are speeding up faster than adults can understand the ethical implications of their use, according to the Alliance for Childhood. Children learn ethics more thoroughly in face-to-face interactions, especially at developmental ages, which is becoming increasingly rare due to screen time distractions.” She also raised relevant points about how we provide education for students on the regulations surrounding driving, drinking, and voting. Key parts of enhancing and encouraging student self-efficacy are raising awareness and teaching respect for the laws and regulations surrounding proper use of technology and copyright laws.

As Bart pointed out in his blog post, educators need to consciously consider the purpose behind what they are choosing to post and reflect upon their online behaviours. This was reiterated in the article shared by Shristy, “Ethical Issues with Using Technology in the Classroom.” In the article by Study.com, it discussed the importance of educators establishing clear boundaries in their communications with students. There are many implications surrounding privacy, confidentiality, and ethical behaviour. It can be difficult to know where the boundaries are at times.

Nias (1999) as cited by Van Streun

As I stated in my previous post, “Rise and Tweet,” I have strived to be over-conscientious out of respect for students’ privacy, respect for personal right to information, respect for my employer, and respect for myself.

Ethically and morally, I believe that educators should behave in a manner that upholds the profession. In our professional and personal lives, we should be aware that we are role models and act accordingly. We can and should still enjoy our lives, but in a way that respects the laws and promotes responsible actions. If I have disagreements with others, there are diverse and legal channels to pursue civil actions. If I make mistakes, I behave responsibly and take steps to make amends. In my classroom, I am more aligned with a restitution model that promotes the understanding that we all make mistakes and get the opportunity to do differently.

Legally, I am aware of and follow the regulations that my employers and the law have in place to protect the rights of students, families, and teachers. Privacy and confidentiality are at the forefront of my mind when I post anything for or about students. Even within a closed framework, I am aware that others are able to view my online interactions. If a student is texting personal information that they may not wish for others to know about, I will remind them that the counsellor is available at the school for face-to-face conversations. When other students ask me about a student’s absences, I gently remind them that I will not discuss personal information for any students. The items that I have posted are with my adult students’ permission, but even then I try to not show faces or give names. I strive to be better at following copyright law. In my first years of teaching, I did not have access to many copies of textbooks. So, I photocopied more than I should have done. Over the years, I have learned more about fair use and what is allowable. This knowledge has helped me to improve exponentially! With students, I frequently share my thought processes surrounding ethics and legality of online information. Using a think-a-loud process is a great way to model digital citizenship during informal moments.

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Rise and Tweet – A Day in the Life (ECI 832)

Posted on March 21, 2022 by Patricia Ives

“Beep-beep-beep,” the insistent tones of my alarm wake me far too early. My desire to sleep in wars with my awareness that I have many items waiting for me on my daily to-do list. Reluctantly, I reach out for my phone and turn off the alarm. Before I leave the cozy embrace of my warm blankets, I start my day with what has become my favorite ritual habit, “Wordle.”

After taking a few moments and waking my brain up, I shift into “awake” mode. I make my coffee, let my fuzzy old dog out to take care of business, and start to get ready. While we are eating breakfast, I grab my phone again and send quick greetings and check-in texts to my boyfriend and other loved ones. I like for them to wake up and see a message from me asking about their days and letting them know I am thinking about them. It is more than just a hello; I ask about events that I know are happening in their lives. If they have time, we exchange a few updates. Otherwise, I log into my school texting app and check for messages from students. Sometimes I send out a cheerful greeting to let them know that I am looking forward to seeing them today. I check my twitter feed and catch up on some tweets or send one out if I scroll across an interesting read that I like or want to re-tweet.

Looking up at the clock, I see that it is time to go. I put the phone away and grab my multiple computer bags, checking for all my cords and other necessary tools for getting online once I get to school. It’s a pleasant 30-minute drive with the sun rising over the horizon earlier and earlier each day. I often vary between enjoying the silence or listening to an audio book or podcast. It really depends on what I feel in the mood for that day.

Getting to the school, I greet everyone and set up my WebEx meetings for the week. Every class has remote students that join me and my face-to-face students. I place my headset on, get my Jabra ready, and prepare to head into another exciting day of learning. My Smartboard and headset have become my friendly companions lapping along beside my heels and following my instructions. They are tools that make my day easier to navigate.

For all that I do online each day, I am conscious of my boundaries and respect for student’s boundaries.

Dylan shared an article from Van Streun who cited Nias (1999) in discussing the six components of a culture of care. I strive to be over-conscientious when considering my student’s rights to their digital identity. To this end, I do tend to keep what they create within an LMS space. They have made blogposts and participated in discussion forums, but those stay within the classroom. Any items or images that I do share have been discussed with the students, and I take care when sharing faces, using names, or posting other student-created content.

Throughout the day, we all participate in discussions, play Quizziz or Kahoots, read/watch CK-12 content, and take part in hands-on learning. It can be a challenge to ensure that my remote students are active participants and not just passive viewers. This is something I am really working on. Some of them are slower to share ideas, so I am trying to find ways to develop more engagement. In Canadian Studies, the conversations around current news and fake news have been vibrant (see my past blog for more details.) I am starting to realize how often I have in the past not done nearly enough fact-checking for content that I have passed along! Like my students, I am learning and developing stronger skills at fact-checking for truth and biases. It’s like a set of muscles that we all need to develop and strengthen. The more that we use them the better we will be at doing these “sets.”

Last week, my Biology 30 class participated in synchronous experiments. We did these side-by-side and talked about what we were doing and seeing. It was a fantastic shared experience. After I edited and cropped photos, I shared a couple of these on Twitter. This was received well with likes and comments, but I was also reminded that everything I do as a teacher is under observation. I received a positive comment from the Vice President of Academics and a “like” from the Program Head. I had known that they follow me on Twitter, but it had become “out of sight, out of mind.” I am glad that my personal philosophy about social media has always been to only say and act in ways that I normally would in person!

At lunch, I take a few minutes and make a video for my students in Chemistry class who are struggling with some of the concepts about electrons. I use my SmartNotebook and WebEx record myself before putting this on Youtube and share it on Brightspace LMS.

At the end of my school day, I log off my computer, pack up, and head home. It’s time to make supper and play with my pets. I will probably call my family, then talk with my friends. I might make some time to play video games with my boyfriend. (Lol! Might is an understatement. We usually play on the PS4 in a private chat each night.) Before bed, I will read on my Kindle or listen to some music on Spotify.

At the end of it all of this, I wonder how typical my day is compared to some other people’s days. I am a physically active person who does unplug and plays boardgames, spends time with friends, goes dancing, skiing, hiking, or kayaking, and enjoys those times.

I am also a digital person who spends much of her days online. I don’t think I can define my identity in one box. My personal, professional, and digital lives are more blended and a part of who I am versus separate aspects. I feel balanced and aware that my personal health is my focus. When I take care of this, then I can put my best self back into my relationships with others, both online and in-person.

Posted in EC&I 832, Weekly Reflections | 10 Comments

Course Review: From First Steps to Steady Running (ECI 834)

Posted on March 15, 2022 by Patricia Ives

From childhood with our first steps, we look to others for feedback on how we are progressing and gain guidance on how to improve. In many ways, I feel young again looking for those positive comments and guided critique. Thank you to my reviewers, Myla and Leona! Your steady hand in mine is providing me with the feedback that I need to strengthen my steps in building a student-centered and relatable course.

Left: Photo by David Brooke Martin on Unsplash Right: Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

The reviews addressed three areas of the Course Shell, Overall Course Structure, and the Course Profile. Overall, I had positive feedback that reflected well upon the time that I have spent trying to develop cohesive modules. My past experiences developing Brightspace courses aided me in this, as I had experiences understanding what I am able to do with an LMS. With Canvas as a new LMS, I had more of a learning curve to climb. Even though I knew there were some transferable features, I was not familiar with how to set these up in Canvas. Fortunately, there were many videos on You-tube shared by teachers to provide a supportive learning environment!

Course Shell:

  1. Setting up students to access the course content had some hiccups that we eventually ironed out. In my review, Myla asked if students would be added automatically by the institution. The answer to that is an affirmative. Because I was setting this up for self-enrollment, there were a few more steps to take. This process would be much easier if this was an institution setting students up for access.
  2. Both reviewers suggested walkthrough videos for how to use the LMS and how to navigate through the course content. Although I did have a walkthrough video available on the site, it appears that I may need to be more overt in reminding students that this would be the place to go before anything else. (If you want to see what it looks like, check out my blogpost: Join Me – Course Update or view the video embedded below.)

In Brightspace, I am able to set up conditional elements that ensure students will access certain portions of a course first. I am going to check and see if this is an option with Canvas as well. I will also add more directional bullet-point comments on the first page to inform students to do this as their first step.

3. A suggestion was to change up some of my visual elements and look into re-naming some of the “buttons” that I created. Thank you! This is a very helpful suggestion that I will definitely put into place.

4. There was a question about the Big Blue Button tab which takes students to an area where they would access the virtual meetings. Yes, I did set up virtual meetings. Unfortunately, this does not show up unless I have started the meetings. This tab will be staying. I did address this and discuss it with students in my Walkthrough Video.

5. Some really positive comments on the use of the discussion forums, overall layout, inclusion of the outcomes/indicators, and on the variety of content materials and activities.

Overall Course Structure:

  1. “You have included lots of variety in your modules to engage students.” “There are readings, videos and activities sprinkled throughout the module, which creates variety to keep students interested. The activities are also within the modules and easily accessible, even ones that use external links.” Both of the reviewers found the variety to be engaging. The intention is that this reviewed section would take approximately two weeks to complete.

My classes are always hybrid-synchronous, so students do receive daily instruction verbally in what they need to complete. Additionally, I post weekly schedules in the announcements area outlining what students need to complete each day. For each section, I create walkthrough videos that are between 5 -15 minutes long that provide guided review of the content.

After reviewing Corrin’s course, I plan to develop checklist in Google docs and add these to my outline as one more way to help students stay on track with what they need to complete.

2. “It looks as though you have access to an online textbook source.  This is a nice touch. What is this resource – I would be curious what science resources the company has? ” Thank you! This has become one of my favorite resources, and it has many science and math resources. CK-12 is a free online resource for teacher with interactive flexbooks (textbooks). I use it for Biology 30 and Chemistry 30 as well.

3. “The numbering system is helpful but I honestly am a bit confused as to what it is I’m supposed to complete with everything that is posted in the module sections.  How do students know what is expected of them.” This is a great critique! Just because it makes sense to me doesn’t mean that it will make sense to students. I will be looking at my organizational system and reviewing how I have items structured. Canvas is a more limiting in this area than it would be in Brightspace. It is easier to create content under one area in that LMS. Still, I will continue to explore ways that I can make this easier for new learners.

4. “I think one way to improve student experience is by giving instructions, written or in video, on how to use Flipgrid.” Another great suggestion on how to improve the student experience! Although Flipgrid is fairly user-friendly with instructions built into the tool as you use it, this could still present a challenge to students prior to use. If they are concerned about using it, seeing it in action can reduce any anxiety about trying out something new. I will add a video illustrating how this can be used in this assignment and others.

5. Some positive comments! “

You have done a great job of connecting Outcomes (Indicators) with your modules and your modules have good flow in order to complete learning objectives.  Well done!” “I really like how organized the course content is.”

Course Profile:

  1. The comments under this category were all on the positive end.

“You have done a good job of identifying expectations of the course.  I feel like students will be able to easily follow along with some guidance. It is also a possibility that another teacher even picks up and uses your course.”

“I really liked Patricia’s introduction and her positivity just shines in her course profile. The course profile is easy to follow. “

“The course profile matched what I saw on the course shell.”

Closing Comments:

I am grateful that the reviewers took the time to thoroughly go over my modules and make suggestions that I might not notice as the creator. Students who are coming into my class may be new to using any type of LMS, and anything I can do to make the process more student-friendly will make a better learning experience for everyone in the classroom and learning community. I will take your comments and hopefully make some adjustments that will clear up the pathways to learning. Thank you!

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Major Project Update! Life Transitions 30 Scope & Sequence (ECI 832)

Posted on March 14, 2022 by Patricia Ives

Our digital citizenship course has shaken up everything that I thought I knew! In reality, my prior view of what we should be teaching for digital citizenship was limited. Perhaps that same limiting vision is something that our students experience as well. It is easy to fall into a trap of thinking that we know more than we do. It takes new experiences to help us realize that there are broader applications and that digital citizenship extends its roots deeply into all areas of our personal and professional lives.

Since starting this class and with my “blinders” beginning to lift, I experienced shifts in my conversations with students. We began to talk about world events in Social Studies and critically question what we were seeing on media. We shared current news events with each other and discussed how to show respect and use dialectical skills in exploring alternate viewpoints.

There were three main steps that I focused on from my initial plan for my Major Project (see blogpost.) I wanted to explore other types of scope and sequence documents that might provide insights into developing one aimed at digital citizenship. What I found were some great resources like Commonsense Media. These are definitely a component of what I was trying to find. However, I was searching for more targeted lessons geared towards the units within my chosen course. This led me to the creation of a Google Form Survey that I posted on Twitter hoping to elicit responses that might guide me moving forward. (The Survey is still open, so please click on the link and add some insights!) Below are some of the responses that I have received.

Based on the responses that I received, I have started sourcing out a variety of resources that I will be able to add as resources to my Scope and Sequence. After checking these out, please fill out my Survey and suggest some more ideas. I want to provide access to realistic resources that will be interwoven throughout as relevant aspects in our daily lives.

A possible resource for Unit 2: Relationships and the Family Life Cycle and Unit 4: Health and Well-being will be Commonsense Digital Citizenship courses. Another great digital resource for adult students who may be navigating relationship changes will be Family Law at Plea.org, which has online resources on an easy-to-read website with access to online forms.

A possible resource for Unit 3: Independent Living and Consumerism is Everfi which has seven modules for high school addressing different aspects of financial well-being. A second relevant resource is an online course provided through the Canada Revenue Agency for students to learn about personal income taxes in Canada.

Posted in Major Learning Project, Uncategorized, Weekly Reflections | 2 Comments

Being Literate – A Stranger in a Strange Land (ECI 832)

Posted on March 14, 2022 by Patricia Ives


“Dónde está el baño?” These words became critically important to me during my recent journey to Cuba. Being understood by others even with the small pieces of literacy that I held meant that I was able to navigate my way around a “strange land” with a portion of confidence. I knew that at the very least I would be able to make the basic request and get some help! After I gained this knowledge, I was able to transfer what I had learned into new areas – “Donde” = “Where” = “Donde agua?” = “Where water?” (Bottled water was a secondary critical need while basking in the hot sun.)

Left Photo by Lynda Hinton on Unsplash Right Photo by saeed karimi on Unsplash

We were asked the question, “What does it mean to be literate today?” My first thoughts went to how we struggle from childhood to develop the ability to communicate – to be heard and understood by others. With each word that we learn as children, we fill with excitement and babble away to our parents and friends. As we move our way through our grade school years, we are exposed to new words, meanings, and applications. Each word that we learn opens up fresh lands for our feet to wander.

To me, a crucial part of being literate means learning the language that allows us to comfortably access and wander the landscape. With these words, we develop the ability to communicate, listen, and be understood. It goes even wider than that when we think about developing the ability to understand the events and issues that impact our daily lives. For example, when the Covid arrived, people were inundated with words like “virus,” “variant,” “mutations,” “antibodies,” and “RNA.” In order to understand how viruses work, we needed to strengthen our scientific literacies to understand the impacts of how our bodies function and how viruses work. In my Biology classes over the last few years, these are the types of words students learn along with the meanings behind them. They also explore how these words interact together to form a larger picture of overall health for their bodies and for their communities.

There are many different types of media that we are exposed to on a daily basis. It becomes challenging to sift our way through the detritus and find the nuggets of truth. The proliferation of “fake news,” “misinformation,” and “disinformation” add layers of difficulty to these efforts. Even the term, “fake news,” is a broad category that contains different levels of understanding, and it is important to critically examine what we are reading and seeing on all types of media.

“A review of previous studies that have used the term fake news reveals six
types of definition: (1) news satire, (2) news parody, (3) fabrication, (4) manipulation, (5) advertising, and (6) propaganda. What is common across these definitions is how fake news appropriates the look and feel of real news; from how websites look; to how articles are written; to how photos include attributions.”

Defining “Fake” News

I guess what I am trying to say is that being literate today means that individuals, schools, communities, and organizations need to work together to provide a strong foundation of words and meanings. From these foundational understandings, we can shift into viewing the “big picture” and make informed decisions about the issues and events that impact our everyday lives. The foundations need to be built through a wide array of literacy options: digital, media, biological, social sciences, environmental, governmental, and language arts. In each classroom, we continue to encourage students to explore new words, embrace the facility of language, and inquire about how we use it in everyday life.

Posted in Uncategorized, Weekly Reflections | 4 Comments

Join me? My Course Walkthrough on Canvas LMS

Posted on March 6, 2022 by Patricia Ives

For my major project in ECI 834, I chose to use Canvas LMS to develop a Biological Influences on Development unit for Psychology 30. There are three modules within this unit and each module has its own submodules. For my course shell and Module One hand-in, I have focused on the first submodule, “Stress and Childhood Trauma,” (1.1 to 1.5.) While I do have two assigned reviewers who are checking out my course and providing feedback, I thought I would share the Walkthrough Video that I made for any future students who might be accessing my course asynchronously. (On a side note, I used Loom to make the video. It was my first time using Loom!)

Posted in Major Learning Project, Weekly Reflections | 6 Comments

Foundational Supports: School and Teacher Roles in Digital Citizenship (ECI 832)

Posted on March 5, 2022 by Patricia Ives

“Shouldn’t they already know this?” and “Isn’t this just common sense?” are questions that I have heard from others when discussing how students are using technology or interacting with the digital world. There appears to be many assumptions that because my students are adults that they should already be aware of how digital media affects their lives or be able to independently access and navigate technology with few supports. According to Ribble and Park (2020), “There cannot be an assumption that everyone understands the tools just because they grew up exposed to the technology. Even those who seem to have mature technology skills still need assistance to become effective users of these tools.”

At the beginning of ECI 832, I chose to make a digital scope and sequence for Life Transitions 30 for my major project. (See introductory post.) The driving reason behind my decision was a growing realization that my past educational focus had been limited. I had spent time asking students to google their names to be aware of what potential employers or landlords might view. I had gone through the use of technology forms and made sure that students were aware that they needed to use the school’s technological resources responsibly. Additionally, I had facilitated students learning to use different tools like Word and PowerPoint. Those were as far as my forays into creating learning opportunities had gone.

Life Transitions 30 contains core modules and a variety of optional modules. I grouped these according to connections between the modules and identified common areas. I have created four major units in Life Transitions 30: Unit 1-Personal Inventories, Goals, & Documentation, Unit 2-Relationships & the Family Life Cycle, Unit 3-Independent Living & Consumerism, and Unit 4-Health & Well-being. Using Mike Ribble’s categories of digital citizenship, I will be focusing on the broad areas of Safe (Protecting), Savvy (Creating), and Social (Respecting). It is my intention to embed digital citizenship into each of the modules as a key part of developing personal goals, accessing documentation and government services, enhancing personal and professional communication, becoming a savvy consumer, and supporting overall health-mental and physical.

When I consider the roles that schools and teachers should play in about digital citizenship, the first thought that pops into my mind is that no man (person) is an island. I feel that far too often educators lack a comprehensive direction or vision for digital education. They may end up doing their best to met students’ needs based upon the educator’s comfort level and breadth of understanding with digital media and citizenship. Students enter my classroom with their own strengths and knowledge areas. By starting with a strengths-based approach that recognizes and respects what my adult learners already know, the school and staff can provide foundational supports that model and provide guided direction in identified areas of need.

Photo on left by Rodolfo Quirós from Pexels, image on right Parkland Regional College, Strategic Report, 2021

In my college, they attempt to address this issue through providing individual educators with access to a wide variety of tools and present us with learning opportunities. These are in-line with the college’s strategic vision towards building E-shaped learners. (Discussed in an earlier post.) However even with these in place, I feel that there is still much room to grow and develop a stronger, more comprehensive understanding of the role of digital citizenship and literacy within adult education. This needs to be explored and developed comprehensively with collaborative teams on a ground-level approach with both student and teacher perspectives included.

Administrators should develop and encourage a collaborative learning environment for all staff and be an active participant in learning as a learner and a facilitator. Key areas of focus should be coaching others to develop leadership skills among staff, building a collaborative vision, strengthening student, staff, parent, and community relationships, and participating in strategic planning.  It is important to create a safe environment through enhanced communication and respectful relationships. Effective strategic planning involves school unity and collaborated mutual goals. Leaders must be adept at employing organizational strategies, developing clear processes, and developing teams to address the many demands. Team planning and collaboration should be followed by deliberate and meaningful reflective practices from both administrators and educators followed by shared learning that advances professional competencies along a continuum.

Successful implementation of media literacy education at the school level is facilitated by approaches to pedagogy that combine and/or cross boundaries between spaces and roles — the classroom and the extended ‘third space’, teachers and students working in partnership to co-create learning, and professional development in hybrid combinations of physical and virtual networks. This work also speaks to the need for media educators to be
confident in accepting the need for the concept of ‘Bildung’ itself to change, as opposed to thinking of digital media as merely contributing to it as a stable entity.

McDougall et al. (2018)

Digital citizenship and digital literacy are critical in addressing the societal environment in which we live. Students are surrounded by a digital environment in every aspect of their lives, personal and professional. To understand that the digital world represents the real world for students means that educators need to feel confident in navigating a digital environment through social media and technological tools. Additionally, we are working to effectively develop students’ self-efficacy in utilizing technology for future education and employment demands. Digital citizenship is a broad canvas that should be embedded throughout all curricula and goes beyond surface-level interactions.

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Who Am I? (Within a Complex Cyberworld) – ECI 832

Posted on February 21, 2022 by Patricia Ives

From infanthood through to adulthood, we are consistently engaging in identity formation, asking ourselves the age-old question, “Who am I?” I remember playing in the dusty sand at my childhood farm, listening to the distant lowing sound of cows greeting each other. Understanding who I was and how others viewed me seemed much easier back then. My world was smaller with my family, friends, and school-mates surrounding me in a close-knit circle. When I was young, we didn’t yet have the internet or household computers, and there were no cell phones.

As our connected world has widened to where we are today, the questions about identity have become more complex as well. We interact with a wider and more diverse audience, some of whom we may never meet face to face. For many, we may look to others for their perceptions and feedback. This has a greater potential to be flawed when we have not met in person and our public face is the one that other people are using to develop an image of who we are.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R32qWdOWrTo

For my life today as an educator, I am always aware that others may be watching my actions. For myself, I tend to live my life online in the same way that I would in person. I will post or comment on media anything that I would be willing to say in person. Generally, I have a balanced and listening approach to other viewpoints. There are many issues that I feel passionate about, but I recognize that we can all learn from each other. If I wish to share my viewpoints, I can not achieve this by disrespecting others. I am also careful about what images I share and about protecting the privacy of myself, my child, and of others. If I make any errors, I try to make amends and apologize for any lines that may have been crossed. I believe it is important to model these behaviours for our students and our children.

The complex issues surrounding digital identity go deeper than the actions, images, and words that I choose to put forth. So often, my adult students may not have the necessary digital paperwork/identification to apply for different services. Some may also be struggling to interact with the justice system. These challenges can often be time-consuming or be difficult to navigate for some, adding to the marginalization of peoples due to socio-economic factions. Masiero & Bailur (2020) discuss:

In this optic, theorising the link between digital identity and development means referring to digital identity as related to the individual’s ability of self-realisation, be this connected to the creation of livelihoods, the exercise of essential rights such as voting, or being seen by the state and competent providers as recipient of services ranging from health, education, financial services to emergency assistance and social protection.

(https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02681102.2021.1859669)

Recently, Kate-Lynn, Dalton, Rae, and Brenda shared their Team B presentation that contained an article addressing this as well. Metcalfe (2019) broke down digital identity into four categories, which were illustrated by Kate-Lynn as below:

In the past, I would have thought about digital identity in a limited way with my main concern being about what I would post or share on media. I am learning that there are deeper issues and challenges for myself and others that are a part of answering the question, “Who am I?” As I move forward helping my students to learn more about digital citizenship, I can see that there is a place for a more active role. The counsellors and myself can provide active assistance and bring in outside experts to educate students on how to clear up any past financial and/or criminal records, address any online privacy concerns, and obtain digital identification needed to access government services. The issues might not be easily handled, especially as these pertain to the cyberworld where our past is discoverable, privacy is hard to maintain, and our identities have a permanent place.

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The Passion and the Power (of Community) – ECI 834

Posted on February 14, 2022 by Patricia Ives

In every teacher’s life, there are those golden moments. The times when I am surrounded by a buzz of busy conversation, students excitedly exchanging ideas with hands wildly gesticulating in the air. I’ve felt the electricity spark in the air like lightning in bottle and wondered, “How can I create more moments like this? What is the magical element that fires everyone up and gets us to this place of creativity, joy, and community?”

Last week, our ECI 834 class discussed Communities of Learning. Bates (2019) cited Harasim (2017) when discussing online collaborative learning (OCL) and three “phases of knowledge construction through discourse: idea generating, idea organising, and intellectual convergence” (section 4.4.2). In my opinion, these are at the heart and passion of true learning. When the teacher provides a direction and the students take the reins propelling the exploration in new directions through questioning and exploring, there is a potential for increased understanding and joy in learning.

Photo by Monica Melton on Unsplash

The first image that came to the forefront of my thoughts was the importance of 21st Century skills as students embark upon future careers. One of my previous classes, EDL 819: Organizational Theory in Education, provided perspectives on different organizational approaches. In Reframing Organizations (2017), Bolman and Deal state, “As modern organizations rely less on hierarchical coordination, groups have become even more important in forms such as self-managing teams, quality circles, and virtual groups whose members are linked by technology” (p. 169). It seems apparent to me that to effectively prepare our students for the future that we must encourage them to develop and embrace collaborative skill sets.

For my course prototype, I plan to encourage student/student-teacher interactions through the use of threaded discussion forums, Flipgrid, and small-group Webex chats in breakout rooms. When there are threaded discussion forums, it is important to ensure that there is an open-ended discussion prompt as this can elicit a wider variety of responses. Students will be instructed with response and commenting guidelines. These will also be modeled for them using a video of previous examples from another course where students used these methods to share ideas and respond to each other. As they are unfamiliar with discussion forums, I will need to facilitate and encourage interactions while monitoring them to ensure positive and constructive communications occur.

The use of Flipgrid for one assessment will allow for students to verbally communicate their learning. When I have used Flipgrid in the past, student responses were less guarded and included personal connections to the material with in-depth reflections. As a change, this will be the first time that I am using the settings to allow for students to respond to each other’s videos. I will co-construct expectations and guidelines for respectful responses with the students prior to the activity. However, this will need to be monitored and a reporting process set in place if there are any responses that do not meet these criteria.

As I have both remote students and face-to-face students at the same time, I plan to use small-group breakout rooms during the Webex sessions to encourage collaboration on an assigned group presentation. As a component of the overall activity assessment, students will be asked to complete self-assessment and peer-assessments after the presentation. Prior to the groupwork, groups will be asked to discuss and communicate their plans with me for how they plan to share the task and work together. There will be a variety of topic choices and the group will need to decide on one together and update me. There will need to be multiple sessions for the groups to complete the group assignment, as I anticipate it will take a few periods to complete.

After contemplating collaborative learning, I admit that a second image popped into my mind with a memory of a short-lived 2017 tv show, “Wisdom of the Crowd.” It was based in the idea that the collective crowd could be sourced to come up with diverse ideas that would eventually converge to solve crimes. While I realize that this may seem far-fetched, it is interesting that there are those who think about these ideas as being a possible future reality.

Global TV – You-tube trailer
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Sli.do – Review for EC & I 834

Posted on February 7, 2022 by Patricia Ives

“What are some different ways that we interact with Chemistry at home?” I ask the question of my wide-eyed students hoping to prompt some thoughts and discussion. Everyone is waiting in hushed silence for someone else, anyone else, to answer. I encourage students to answer in the chat area of our Webex meeting. Then, wait for a few more seconds. Blank screen. I move on to drawing names and randomly asking students to volunteer a response. This move garners more interaction. Although my classes have gone successfully overall, moments like these have me wondering, “What else can I do? How can I encourage the students to participate more frequently?”

About a year ago, the IT (Information Technology) Department where I work had made Sli.do available for all staff. At that time, I didn’t have a pressing need to check it out further. Now that I am teaching hybrid synchronous classes, I have Webex meetings all day. The Sli.do tool integrates within Webex and allows me to interact with my students in engaging ways. It is worth noting that Sli.do will also work within Zoom, PowerPoint, and Google Slides.

Before my classes start, I can create polls, multiple-choice questions, word cloud prompts, surveys, and open-ended questions. Then, I can access these during my Webex class and encourage students to respond within the meeting or by scanning a QR-code with their phones and responding from the QR-link.

According to all of the reviews that I found, this is an effective tool for audience engagement. So, I am excited to try it out with students and see how well it works at motivating participation.

I wanted to share how this works with my fellow EC & I 834 students, so I created a video to walk you through some elements along with some review comments. The relevant video section is about 8:13 minutes long. I was unable to show how this would look within a Webex meeting, but I located an additional short video clip that gives a visual of the tool in action. (Lol, one truth I have discovered with hybrid teaching is the importance of flexibility as reality doesn’t always cooperate with planning.)

Webex You-Tube Channel, Dec. 2, 2021

Posted in Major Learning Project, Uncategorized, Weekly Reflections | 6 Comments