Technology and digital world of Teachers

The first session was very informative in learning about the course and what I can expect and be expected of in this course. However, what really caught my attention are the apps and little tips and tricks of how teachers use technology for professional needs. The full list of professional networks that teachers formed was very interesting, because it looks like the teachers have formed a strong community together based on their similarities and the technology helped with that connection. I knew that some teachers like to use Facebook to connect with teachers around them, but Bluesky was very new to know and it was interesting to see how it is supported for all teachers with a guide.

Building a Website/Brainstorming Free Inquiry

I have never had a website or had a blog in my life, so learning about this process of making a website was fun! I learned a great deal about privacy and security considerations when starting the website and navigating through and finding how to maneuver around editing and posting on the website was enjoyable. At my L2P, I have heard of districts that forbid the use of applications that store information in US, but I never considered how important it might be to consider where my information is stored. It was slightly challenging at first to overcome the fear of clicking a wrong button when I have never created a website nor have used OpenETC, but having a lot of the formats set up with EDCI 336 template and a guidance during the lecture helped tremendously. Learning about a free inquiry project was also very interesting, but honestly the near complete freedom was a bit intimidating at first. I have done number of inquiry projects before, but not with such free range of things to do. I looked at various options and it looks like it ranges all the way from researching a topic that is most relevant to an education student to personal interests and developments that are logged thoroughly. My first idea was to do a research on some topic that comes from my experiences in L2P, but that wasn’t really creative nor exciting for me. My idea right now before the 1:1 meeting with Mike is to arrange a pop song into a 2-part choral music that can be sung by an elementary students.

Quick Thoughts on “Most Likely to Succeed”

The ideas of education implemented in High Tech Highschool seems very sensational and challenges the common understanding of public education and it’s format. I like that they are moving away from traditional testing methods for grades to inquiry/project method under guidance and safe room to try and fail, which I also believe would be possible for implementation into our classrooms. However, it seems that in order for such schooling system to work for majority of public schooling, it would require post-secondary institutions and the workforces to change their expectation. Although, such methods will reduce the anxiety and lost of motivation for students in a long-term as a learner, the possibility of the entire system changing in a short period of time would be slim. So my thoughts are that we keep a status quo, yet implement a modified versions of this High Tech High’s module to adapt as much benefit from it as possible for a better learning environment of the students.