Category: Weekly Reflections

Critical Reflection Week 5

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Summary

This week’s reflection will be on the article “What is inclusive design?” This article discusses Inclusive design and Universal design. It also talks about the similarities and differences.

According to this article, inclusive design aims to embrace diversity by allowing adaptability and flexibility in its designs. This means inclusive designs can be changed for individuals and their unique needs. Universal designs aim to find one design that works for as many people as possible (it is one design, unlike inclusive designs that can adapt to each person).

There are 3 dimensions of inclusive design:

  1. Recognize diversity and uniqueness
  2. Inclusive process and tools
  3. Broader beneficial impact
Here’s a cute video explaining what inclusive design is and why its important

My Thinking

Prior to this reading, I had only heard of Universal design for learning or UDL. This past year, many of my assignments had the requirement of adding in UDL to my lesson plans. For that reason, I’m quite familiar with the idea. However, I had no idea about inclusive design.

I love the idea of inclusive design more then UDL. Although UDL is great, I find it hard to imagine a singular lesson plan that works for everyone. Even if the original plan has been adapted to fit in UDL, it still can’t possibly be perfect for the diverse needs of every individual. Inclusive design seems to be the better option because it allows students to personalize the design to their needs. But how does this work? It seems almost to good to be true.

I’m imagining a teacher, with 20 students, who all have different needs. Theoretically, having each lesson planned using inclusive design would be beneficial to the learners and is best case scenario. But how can a teacher ensure all 20 students have a design that works for them for every lesson? It seems like an overwhelming and unrealistic amount of time and work would have to be put in. This would lead to teacher burnout. I agree that it is extremely important to do as much as possible to guaranty student success. However, where do we draw the line? Teacher’s mental health is also a factor we must take into account. In an ideal world, there would be a less student to teacher ratio (example: one teacher per 5 students). Unfortunately, this is not realistic.

As I think more and more about this topic, I realize this brings up questions of ethics. Is teacher burnout okay if students are excelling? Where do we draw the line if its not okay?

Conclusion

Overall, inclusive and universal design are both excellent and should be incorporated wherever possible. In theory they work well, but when put into practice there are some ethical questions that need to be addressed.

Thank you for reading my blog! I hope this sparked some deep thinking for you. I feel like I have more questions now than before this blog. I’d love to hear your thinking on this subject!

~ Mady Chase

References

 Inclusive Design Research Centre. (n.d). What is inclusive design? Inclusive Design Research Centre. https://idrc.ocadu.ca/about/philosophy/

Critical Reflection Week 4

Photo by PeterAustin on Unsplash

Summary

This week’s reflection will be on the article “Chapter 17 – 2010 Connectivism” by Weller, M. I chose to focus on this article because I found it quite interesting.

Aggregation – collect different types of information & materials from various sources

Relation – relate content to prior knowledge

Creation of own content such as a blog post

Sharing work and insights with others in that network

Here’s a quick video explaining Connectivism

My Thinking

This article was very intresting to me. Prior to reading this, I hadn’t heard much about connectivism. I found the topic to be extreamly relevant as I’m currently studying fully online. Connectivism seems like how we learn in todays society. I’m constently learning through videos, google, AI, social media, and sharing information with peers. This past year I was in a co-hort and we were all very close. We would share information or helpful resources with each other. Reading about connectivism reminds me of that. It was a great network and community to be apart of.

I also love how connectivism focuses on finding and collecting information rather than memorizing it. As someone who struggles with memorization, I like this type of learning much more!

Of course I can’t leave out the most obvious connection I have to connectivism, THIS COURSE! The four types of activity that make up the characteristics of connectivism that are listed above in my summary, fit this course almost perfectly. Each week, we examine different types of information from various resources (Aggregation). We then create weekly blog posts reflecting on that weeks topic and sources (Creation). The blogs tend to include a reflection on that weeks content back to our prior knowledge on the subject (Relation). These blogs are shared with our peers who have the oppertunity to comment on them (Sharing). When I realized this, I felt as though everything made sense and the course was coming togeather for me. It made me chuckle a little.

Conclusion

Overall, this is a very intriguing theory and I hope to dive deeper into it. I love how relevant connectivism is to me. I hope you too learned lots from this blog. Feel free to ask any questions or comment your thinking on connectivism!

Thanks for reading!

~ Mady Chase

References

Weller, M. (2020). “Chapter 17 – 2010 Connectivism.” 25 Years of Edtech. AU Press. https://read.aupress.ca/read/25-years-of-ed-tech/section/198057f5-1a3e-4436-a4b8-c6e1a3e0bd69#ch17

Critical Reflection Week 3

Summery: 

This week’s reflection will be on the article “What’s next for Ed-Tech? Critical hopes and concerns for the 2020s, Learning, Media and Technology,” by Neil Selwyn et al. This article discusses the key challenges and concerns for educational technology in the coming decade of the 2020s. It argues that this is the time for EdTech scholars to critically assess and reshape technology education. Selwyn emphasizes the importance of addressing these challenges and the hope of reaching equity, sustainability, and human-centred design within EdTech.

Here are the six challenges the article mentions:

  1. New forms of digital in/exclusion
  2. Platform economics in an age of artificial intelligence 
  3. ‘Divisions of learning’ across humans and machines
  4. IT industry actors as a leading educational force
  5. Reimagining forms of EdTech suitable for an age of climate change.
  6. Finding alternatives: solidary economies, convivial technology, respectful design 

My Thinking:

Education and technology are constantly changing, growing, and developing. Although this sounds great, it doesn’t mean the educational or digital divide is decreasing; sometimes it means the opposite. This article pointed this out, explaining how there have always been exclusion issues, and quickly advancing EdTech means there will be even more.

I believe the article’s first section on New forms of digital inclusion is the most vital. As a privileged person, I grew up never having to think about how I was receiving my education, if at all, let alone if I would be at a disadvantage. When I needed a computer, we bought one with no concern about how we would afford it. Sadly, this is not the case for many people. Although I have been at an advantage my whole life economically, I understand struggles. I grew up in a military family, forcing me to grow fast and see reality. I also have dyslexia and anxiety, which have come with their challenges and obstacles. As an empathetic person who understands struggle, I have always wanted to help others. Becoming a teacher is the best way I could imagine to help people. This is why this topic of exclusion is so important to me. I couldn’t help but reflect on last week’s blog post about Andy Lane’s article “The Impact on Openness on Bridging the Educational Digital Divides.” It saddens me to think about the children worldwide who don’t have access to education or technology.

This past year, I completed my Link 2 Practice (Sept-Dec weekly observational visits to a classroom) and my first 3-week practicum in April-May. These two experiences were significantly different. My L2P was at Quadra Elementary, which is known for being a low-income school, while my practicum was at St. Michael’s University School Junior Campus. Reflecting on the EdTech within both schools is astonishing, considering they are only 6km away. Quadra had five tablets per classroom, an overhead projector, and a computer for the teacher. SMUS had designated Chromebooks for each student and teacher, a classroom printer, and a loft in every room (replacing whiteboards). They even have a virtual tour of the school on their website. Seeing firsthand the difference between the two schools showed me how significant the digital and educational gap is. The students at SMUS were better resourced, which gave them an advantage and allowed them to be more advanced in their academic ability.

This upsets me as the students at Quadra didn’t do anything to deserve less; they should be equals. As a future teacher, I strive to help all students and bridge the gap. How can I actively contribute to this?

Thanks for reading my blog!

References:

Selwyn, N., Hillman, T., Eynon, R., Ferreira, G., Knox, J., Macgilchrist, F., & Sancho-Gil, J. M. (2019). What’s next for Ed-Tech? Critical hopes and concerns for the 2020s. Learning, Media and Technology, 1–6. https://edtechuvic.ca/edci339/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2020/03/What-s-next-for-Ed-Tech-Critical-hopes-and-concerns-for-the-2020s.pdf

Critical Reflection Week 2

Summary: 

For my first critical reflection, I read Andy Lane’s article “The Impact on Openness on Bridging the Educational Digital Divides.” This article discusses how the concept of openness in education has changed and could potentially increase the digital divide that society is already facing. In principle, openness enhances access to education by eliminating cost and prior achievement or qualification requirements. However, many learners face barriers when confronted with open education. This includes the lack of technological access, low digital literacy, cultural norms, and personal circumstances. This article argues that open education on its own is insufficient, and there needs to be added structure and support for it to decrease the digital divide. Lane suggests that support from intermediaries (teachers, community networks, etc) and the focus on cultural and social inclusion will help bridge the digital and educational divide.

Figure 1

(Image is from Lane’s article)

My Thoughts:

I found this article to be extremely interesting. When I first started reading about openness in higher education, I thought it was perfect. As I continued reading, I realized this could add to the growing digital divide. The article included a list of reasons someone may be excluded or have a barrier. This list was eye-opening for me. Before seeing this list, I couldn’t think of the many obstacles one might have regarding open education.

Here is the list:

  • Geographical remoteness, even in rural areas of small countries;
  • Cultural norms, with some ethnic cultures not supporting the education of women in particular circumstances, for instance (Khokhar, 2008);
  • Social norms, whereby some family groups or communities do not value education as highly as others, so discouraging engagement;
  • Prior achievements, such as prior qualifications being used as a filter related to accessing a scarce resource or to maintaining an individual institution’s social and cultural status;
  • Individual or household income, where the relative cost of accessing higher education by certain groups is very high;
  • Digital divide, in that although computers and the Web offer many freedoms, they still cost money to access, and people with less money may not easily afford such technology and may even find that the absolute cost to them is higher than to other groups because they are seen as a greater financial risk to a technology provider;
  • Physical circumstances, whereby there may not be any easy places to undertake the learning due to lack of a home, space in a home, or having a particular type of home, such as a prison, and similarly, people with certain disabilities may need specialist equipment or support (Cooper, Lowe, & Taylor, 2008);
  • Individual norms, where a person is constrained by social and cultural norms – attitudes and beliefs – that they are not capable or not good enough to study at this level, as may be the case with older people (Martin, 2009) 

 

After reading the list, I was able to identify why I couldn’t imagine these barriers before. I’m a pretty privileged person who has never had to experience these types of challenges. Thinking about my life, I felt an overwhelming sense of sadness that overcame me. As a future teacher, I strive to help learners and firmly believe everyone has the right to education. It is disheartening to hear that many people struggle even with free educational resources. I then couldn’t help but think about my current situation with education. This article speaks explicitly about higher education as an open concept. I’m currently in a higher education program and am enrolled in four summer courses. All four of these courses are fully online and include open resources (although I paid for the course, there were no extra expenses for readings, textbooks, etc.). As a privileged person, I didn’t even think twice about enrolling and completing these online, non-face-to-face, technology courses. Although I don’t consider my technology skills extending, they are proficient enough for me to have the confidence to complete these classes. That is a key element to bridging the digital divide.

As I think more about decreasing the digital and educational divide, I wonder how I can positively contribute. I want to ensure my students are well set up for success and feel confident in themselves. How can I do this in an elementary classroom?

Thank you for reading my blog! I hope I’ve sparked some thinking and would love to hear your thoughts on openness and how we can actively bridge the educational and digital divide.

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