Goldilocks vs. Technology ~ “Not too close, not too far, just right.”

With the world being dominated primarily by technology, we, as human beings, need to learn how to balance our lives, learning, and interactions with others with technology. There is no way to fully ‘escape’ the technological world, and therefore, we have to learn and grow with it.

Today in class, we watched a TedTalk by Sherry Turkle exploring the ‘Goldilocks Effect’ — “Not too close, not too far, just right.” She explores how we are letting technology take us places that we don’t want to go. The devices we allow into our lives, are changes not only what we do and how we do it, but who we are. We are having difficulty connecting in the present as people are not only trying to connect to the world that they are present to, but also want to connect to the digital world at the same time. Here lies the problem. Turke further on in her TedTalk tries to inspire people to take time for face to face conversations, actively listen to people with whom you are interacting with, and take time for quiet reflection. It is with ensuring you fulfill each of these prompts, that you are able to have balance between ‘real life’ interactions and ‘digital’ interactions (Sherry Turkle).

One could argue that this is the same within the classroom. With the push for technology to be integrated into today’s classrooms and educational experiences, it is important that the educator ensures that there is still a positive balance between technology and communicatory life skills. This balance is important to both teach and model within a classroom as it is a skill students are going to require in their futures, especially since there is no knowing what their lives will be like, technology wise, in the future!

References

Sherry Turkle (March 2012). Goldilocks effect, TedTalk. Long Beach, California. Retrieved from http://mdl4000.weebly.com/81-ds-reflect.html

All images retrieved from GoogleImages.

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Sandbox #3 - Digital Storytelling Tool - 'Toontastic'

      "Toontastic is a digital storytelling tool that empowers creative writers to draw, animate, and narrate cartoons through imaginative play" (LaunchPad). It has the potential to be an amazing teaching tool as it teaches students the fundamentals of storytelling (conflict, climax, resolution, story arc, etc.). Students are able to digitally tell a story by animating characters, narrating their story using their own voices, adding music. They can then play their creation as if it were a real animated film. Students can save their creations to the iPad's camera role in order to share it with others by means of presentation, email, online submission, etc.

     Toontastic is extremely simple to use and manipulate. Students simply follow the steps; the app guides participants throughout the entire process. Students may find it challenging if they do not understand the fundamentals of storytelling. Therefore it might be a good idea to first teach a few lessons on the elements of storytelling before beginning to use this tool.

     Toontastic is an application that is available for iPads through download from the App Store. It is outlined as a free to try application, with in-app purchases available in order to unlock additional content. Launchpad collects only anonymous identifiers, such as IP addresses, in order to support the internal operations. They do not collect, use, or disclose any personal information from children under the age of 13. Students are able to add their face to their creations and/or record dialogue. Depending on the purpose of the activity, ethnicity/religion of the class, and whether parents have given permission for students’ photos to be taken, this may or may not be a privacy issue when sharing.

     The Toontastic application is accessed through flash storage on an iPad. It does not require internet access other than during the initial download. The app does not require information in order to register or to accept user agreements and information guidelines. The only time the App or its designer LaunchPad would require information is if you were to contact them. They require contact by a parental/adult if the individual user is under the age of 13. As LaunchPad promotes the use of its products within the classroom, there are no privacy issues, copyright issues, or fair use issues. In regards to my own potential classroom privacy issues, we would have to ensure that all of our School Board’s rules and regulations are being followed in order to ensure that the safety of my students is not being compromised when sharing their creations.

     While interacting with the App, I found myself asking a variety of questions. The three most important questions in my mind were:
- How would I use Toontastic within the classroom?
- How would students of various age groups   react to Toontastic?
- What are the limitations of Toontastic?
     Toontastic is listed as being designed for children ages of 6 - 8. After playing with the app, I feel that Toontastic is relevant to students in Kindergarten to grade six. It would all depend on the approach an educator places on the App and the expectations for and of the students.
   
     As far as my usage is concerned, I could see myself using Toontastic within a classroom professionally more so than for personal use. I can see it being an excellent learning tool to assist my students in not only getting excited about Language Arts, but also as a potential link to cross curricular studies. LaunchPad, the developers of Toontastic, has also provided a variety of online resources to assist parents and educators in using this application.

     Although I think this app is more suitable for junior grades, I can still see myself using it in primary grades as a way to promote student creativity and practice in storytelling. I would use this in junior grades to have students create stories that follow the fundamentals of storytelling. In my opinion, this app would be easy to integrate into my digital repertoire as students, depending on resources and funding, will hopefully already be used to using iPads and Apps within their regular classroom routines. Although Toontasitic does not add greatly to my digital presence, I believe it will add value to my students' educational experiences.



If you are interested in downloading Toontastic from the App Store, click here.
If you are interested in exploring online resources from LaunchPad, click here.

Images taken from Google Images.

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WHAT, SO WHAT, NOW WHAT to Being Flexible

     Today in class we had a working period as we as a school are celebrating our 50th anniversary. First we were instructed to review each element of the course site page before choosing which activities to complete. I chose to complete the Digital Learning Horoscope where I found that my beliefs about the importance of teaching media to students revolves around the idea of being a motivator. I also developed an awesome beach themed magazine cover which you can view to the right.

   By completing the activities in class, I learned that there are so many alternate methods, modes and means that can be utilized within the classroom to enhance student learning and to engage students in the material and content.

   Within my classroom, I hope to utilize as many alternative methods like the ones that were shared in class today. I feel as though has the potential to enable whole new modes of learning and that it will only enhance student learning as the onus is placed on them to become innovated and creative in order to put the technology to good use. I would love to have the opportunity to be able to utilize smartphones, tablets, advertising, bitstrips, animoto, and a variety of other resources within the classroom in order to change how teaching happens and to be able to access more resources then what my school has through mobile learning.

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Digital Learning Horoscope

      After taking the Digital Learning Horoscope, I found that my beliefs about the importance of teaching media to students revolves around the idea of being a motivator. I believe that students should be given guidance and support while becoming independent learners in whatever direction their creativity takes them. I learned that a secondary focus of mine is being a spirit guide and am dedicated to looking at both the students social and emotional well-being. With this, I understand that media is an important outlet that they use to define their identity and sense of self-worth. I like to empower my students as well as myself as I see opportunities and advantages to using media and technology in my teaching practice and their learning, but I also see the importance of protecting my students and am able to identify the risks and challenges of using media and technology.

Personally, I feel that this test is fairly accurate. I see huge importance in utilizing media and technology in my teaching practice as this is where the future is headed and students need to be prepared for their future. With this, students need to understand the importance of being digitally literate and how they need to be safe in their interactions, persona, and explorations online.

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Discussion Posts So Far in Class

So far in class, we have explored and discussed two key topics. The idea of re-imagining instruction and connectivism. Below of the discussions I posted.

Re-imagining Instruction

These resources re-imagine instruction as an entirely different approach then that of the traditional methods of teaching and the act of digitizing our current practices. The video expresses how an educator needs to move from focusing on students in a classroom as a whole to focusing on individual students through personalized learning. Technology is  a huge component of this reinvention and refocus as it has the capability to create and cater an individualized lesson plan to a particular student that meets their growth pattern as well as their needs. This re-imagining of instruction also gives power to the students to take control over the knowledge, skills, and attitude they are gaining through their education in a safe and facilitated environment.

Connectivism

Connectivism is a theory of learning developed by George Siemens involving a style of learning that is not completely under the control of the individual, but rather embraces learning through “chaos, network, and complexity and self-organization theories” (5). The idea of connectivism revolves around the notion that new information is continually being developed and therefore the learner is constantly able to acquire and connect with knowledge residing in networking databases. Although the starting point of connectivism begins with the individuals personal knowledge, through the use of networking databases, one is able to extract knowledge and amplify their learning as well as contribute, connect, and assist with the learning of others. The article also discusses how connectivism is not just a theory about the impact of learning, but also has the potential to impact: management and leadership; media, news, information; design of learning environments; and, personal knowledge management (6).

Up next will be the future of technology!

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