This is a presentation on generative AI and Academic Assignments by Rich McCue, MA, BComm (Digital Scholarship Manager & Education Technology Instructor in the Faculty of Education) and Zahra Premji, PhD (Health Research Librarian) for the Council of Canadian Departments of Psychology event in September 2023.

• Presentation Slides – Generative AI & Academic Assignments: Exclude or Embrace?
• Infographic for the presentation (full size)
• UNESCO flow chart to help students understand when it’s safe to use Generative AI in and out of the classroom (see below)
• Thompson Rivers University AI in Education Guide & Student AI Guidelines
• McMaster University Generative AI provisional guidelines for instructors
• UVic Libraries Digital Scholarship Commons free workshops (they may be useful to explore some alternate assignment formats)

If you have any questions or suggestions please feel free to reach out to me at: rmccue@uvic.ca

This is a presentation on generative AI and Academic Assignments by Rich McCue, MA, BComm and Zahra Premji, PhD for the UVic Learning and Teaching Support and Innovation’s (LTSI) Let’s Talk About Teaching (LTAT) event in August 2023.

• Presentation Slides – Generative AI & Academic Assignments: Exclude or Embrace?
• Infographic for the presentation (full size)
• UNESCO flow chart to help students understand when it’s safe to use Generative AI in and out of the classroom (see below)
• UVic Learning and Teaching Support and Innovation AI guidance
• McMaster University Generative AI provisional guidelines for instructors
• UVic Libraries Digital Scholarship Commons free workshops (they may be useful to explore some alternate assignment formats)

If you have any questions, suggestions or would like to explore the possibility of a DSC workshop for your class, please feel free to reach out to me: rmccue@uvic.ca

I thought back to my experiences as a learner at the end of the semester and remembered the best “last class” I’d ever experienced. In a self-regulated learning class, we create a Sketchnote of highlights of the course on the last day of class in small groups. It was a genius idea for a course review in Dr. Allyson Hadwin class, and a perfect way to end the first course of my graduate degree (Davis & Hadwin, 2021).

As the end of the semester approaches, students may feel overwhelmed with all the assignments and tests they have to prepare for. They also often struggle to identify and summarize all the important concepts and information they’ve learned throughout the semester. This is where sketchnoting can come in handy as a powerful tool to help students retain and organize their new knowledge and skills. 

The feedback from my students on the Sketchnoting activity was overwhelmingly positive. Several students told me (unprompted) that the Sketchnote they did in class was the best course review they’d ever done. With their permission, I’ve included several of their sketchnotes in this blog post. It was a wonderful way to conclude both sections of the Educational Technology class I taught (EDCI 336 at the University of Victoria), and I suspect would be a wonderful tool to use in many other K-12, undergraduate, and graduate courses.

For anyone who is interested in trying it out, this is the format I used to run an end-of-semester sketchnoting activity (McCue, 2023), and here is the UVic Libraries DSC Sketchnoting workshop that my class completed earlier in the semester to introduce them to Sketchnoting: 

1. Brainstorm with POST-IT Notes (20 min)
   • 10 min: First on your own, use Post-It notes to brainstorm and identify concepts, ideas, and pedagogies that are important to you. Identify 1 or 2 key takeaways from each module of the course.
   • 10 min: Compare your Post-It notes with your partner, and discuss any differences between them. Because of the different backgrounds and grade levels you will teach, there may be significant differences, and that is just fine.
   • Feel free to create new Post-It notes for yourself based on your discussion with your partner.
2. Organize Your POST-IT Notes (5 min)
   • Next, individually you will organize your Post-It notes in a way that will allow creates visual relationships between the notes to help you prepare to make your sketchnote.
   • This is optional, but you might want to quickly draw simple doodles on your Post-It notes to visualize some of the concepts and ideas you’ve identified.
3. Draw Your Sketchnote on Paper (30 min)
   • Continue to work on your own, and use a provided sheet of paper (11”x 17”), along with your pens, and highlighters (highlighters are optional) to create a sketchnote, using your organized Post-It notes to guide you.
   • Create Relationships Between Ideas with arrows or other connecting doodles. Bonus marks for connecting course content with prior knowledge.

Some of the key reasons why I think that Sketchnoting is such an effective end-of-semester learning and review tool include:

Going forward I’m going to be using Sketchnoting every semester as a last day of class course review activity. By encouraging students to incorporate Sketchnoting into their review and study routines, undergraduate students can improve their memory retention, better organize their thoughts and ideas, add an element of creativity to their review process, and communicate their ideas more effectively.

Here are all student sketchnotes from EDCI 336 who gave their permission to share them publicly: https://photos.app.goo.gl/h9eiKaCDhiGXf91J9 

—

Davis, S. K., & Hadwin, A. F. (2021). Exploring Differences in Psychological Well-Being and Self-Regulated Learning in University Student Success. Frontline Learning Research, 9(1), 30–43. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1284915 

Gansemer-Topf, A. M., Paepcke-Hjeltness, V., Russell, A. E., & Schiltz, J. (2021). “Drawing” your Own Conclusions: Sketchnoting as a Pedagogical Tool for Teaching Ecology. Innovative Higher Education, 46(3), 303–319. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-020-09542-6 

Mccue, R. (2023). Sketchnoting to Reflect on the Term. Rich McCue v5.0. https://richmccue.com/2023/03/25/week-12-reflecting-on-the-term/ 

Meade, M. E., Wammes, J. D., & Fernandes, M. A. (2018). Drawing as an Encoding Tool: Memorial Benefits in Younger and Older Adults. Experimental Aging Research, 44(5), 369–396. https://doi.org/10.1080/0361073X.2018.1521432

Smith, R. S. (2016). The scientific case for doodling while taking notes. Quartz. Retrieved 6 May 2016, from https://qz.com/676557/the-scientific-case-for-doodling-while-taking-notes/ 

Wammes, J. D., Meade, M. E., & Fernandes, M. A. (2016). The drawing effect: Evidence for reliable and robust memory benefits in free recall. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 69(9), 1752–1776. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2015.1094494 

Learning Objectives:

• Create a group sketchnote to identify, summarize and visualize the main themes and takeaways from the course.
• Become minimally competent in one or more of four EdTech tools:
  • 3D Design & Printing -or-
  • SmartPhone Photography -or-
  • Interactive Storytelling with Twine -or-
  • Death by PowerPoint

Pre-class Activities:

Sketchnoting for review (this video focuses on sketchnoting in the science classroom) (8 min)

3D Desing & Print introduction video (2 min)

Smartphone photography video (7 min)

Interactive story telling with Twine (7 min)

Death by PowerPoint (9 min but a HILARIOUSLY funny video

Class Time

We’re going old-school EdTech this week as you Sketchnote your key takeaways and important ideas from this course! Even though we’ve all experienced EDCI 336 together this semester, everyone’s sketchnotes will be different because everyone’s brought different things with them to the class, and we will be teaching learners of different ages, so what is very important to me might not be as important to my classmate.

The photo below is of a group of education students sketchnoting to review the main themes and takeaways from a course on Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) at the end of the semester on a much larger sheet of paper than we will be using.

Step 1: Brainstorm with Post-It Notes (20 min)

• 10 min: First on your own, use Post-It notes to brainstorm and identify concepts, ideas, and pedagogies that are important to you
• 10 min: Compare your Post-It notes with your partner, and discuss any differences between them. Because of the different backgrounds and grade levels you will teach, there may be significant differences, and that is just fine.
• Feel free to create new Post-It notes for yourself based on your discussion with your partner.

Step 2: Organize Your Post-It Notes (5 min)

• Next, individually you will organize your Post-It notes in a way that will allow creates visual relationships between the notes to help you prepare to make your sketchnote.
• This is optional, but you might want to quickly draw simple doodles on your Post-It notes to visualize some of the concepts, and ideas you’ve identified.

  

Step 3: Draw Your Sketchnote on Paper (30 min)

• Continue to work on your own, and use a provided sheet of paper, along with your pens, and highlighters (highlighters are optional) to create a sketchnote, using your organized Post-It notes to guide you.
• Create Relationships Between Ideas with arrows or other connecting doodles.

Step 4: Post a Photo of Your Sketchnote to Your Blog (5 min)

• Take a picture of your sketchnote and post it on your blog using the “weekly-reflection” category.

EdTech Training Resources

These are mostly, but not all, free training resources for EdTech tools and related resources:

• Podcasts on Teaching & Learning
• Getting Started with Google Classroom
• Microsoft for Education Training
• SMART Board Training (for the SMART Board brand)
• Education Apps, Website, & Digital Citizenship Resouces

Hands-on Lab Time

This week you can choose your hands-on activity from one of four options: 3D Design & Printing -or- SmartPhone Photography -or- Interactive Storytelling with Twine -or- Death by PowerPoint (or how to create engaging presentations)…

3D Design & Printing

TinkerCad is a user-friendly surface that enables users to create 3-dimensional digital designs, which then can be 3D printed and made into physical objects. TinkerCad is useful for all ages and levels, as its features are user-friendly and free to use. TinkerCad makes 3D designing more accessible and grants the ability to publish designs under a Creative Commons license. In addition to this workshop, throughout TinkerCad there are numerous tutorials that model a hands-on approach to learning this software.

• A gentle introduction to 3D Desing & Printing using TikerCad: DSC TinkerCad workshop.
• Here are some math-specific activities: Teaching Math Concepts with TinkerCad.

SmartPhone Photography

Smartphone photography focuses on using your mobile device to take beautiful pictures. Just because you don’t have a big fancy camera or the newest smartphone, you can still take amazing photos with whichever smartphone camera you currently own. Throughout the following activities, you will become more familiar with your smartphone camera app and become a better photographer as you learn about critical elements such as lighting, the story you are trying to tell and photo editing on your smartphone:

• SmartPhone workshop activities

Twine

Twine is an open-source tool that can be used to create stories that are interactive and non-linear. Twine can be used for storytelling including embedded images, video, and audio if desired. Optionally Twine can also create game-based experiences which give readers options and choices throughout the story. All reader choices and selections in Twine stories are saved locally in the readers’ web browser and there is also no need to create an account, which means that there are little to no privacy concerns when using Twine in educational settings.

• Twine workshop activities

Death by PowerPoint

We have all been there before… In a class or a meeting, the presenter is reading text off of densely packed PowerPoint slide after slide. If it isn’t death by PowerPoint, reading text off poorly constructed slides to an audience is a very ineffective way to teach or convey information in a business setting. In this workshop, we’re going to focus on learning and using tips and tricks so your presentations engage and persuade, and not bore your audience to death by PowerPoint.

• Death by PowerPoint activities

Learning Pod Time & Homework

• Register for a 1-1 end-of-semester interview with Rich (link will be provided during class time).
• Complete any outstanding blog posts or assignments.

This week we are fortunate that Joanna Lake, who is a K-12 educator in Victoria, BC, has taken the time out of their busy schedule to engage talk to us about her inquiry-based learning practice and assessment in her middle school classes. Joanna is interested in using technology to provide authentic learning experiences and incorporating Indigenous pedagogy in both face-to-face and online learning environments. 

When we move to the hands-on lab portion of our class time, we will review the semester in our learning pods by Sketchnoing highlights from each topic of the semester and then make visual connections between them.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe how the inquiry process can be implemented in your elementary or middle school classroom using a scaffolded approach using technology where appropriate.
• Describe how the “See , Think , Wonder” technique could be used to facilitate guided inquiries as early as kindergarten. 
• Create a group sketchnote to identify, summarize and visualize the main themes and takeaways from the course.

Pre-class Activities:

As you watch the following videos, please do the following:

• Prepare at least one question to ask Joanna during our class time this week.
• Make note of the inquiry-based learning suggestions and tips that you think might be helpful to you in your grade level and in particular your practice as a teacher.

Technology & Inquiry

The Habits of the Inquiry Teacher (2 min)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Trevor MacKenzie (@trev_mackenzie)

The Four Pillars of Inquiry (2 min)

Inquiry in Rebecca Bathurst-Hunt’s Kindergarten Class

Rebecca Bathurst-Hunt, who is a kindergarten teacher at George Jay Elementry School in Victoria, BC often uses “See , Think , Wonder” exercises with her kindergarten learners to help them think more critically about the world around them. Rebecca typically does this by asking her learners to look closely at an object or an idea and then encourages them to ask themselves:

• What do you see?
• What do you think about that?
• What does it make you wonder?

Rebecca typically uses paper worksheets and clipboards for her young learners so that they can easily go outside to conduct inquiries in nature as well as in the classroom. As most of her learners are not yet writing, she encourages them to draw on their worksheets, and then Rebecca assists by writing a summary of the learners’ stated thoughts on the form.

The video below uses the “See, Think, Wonder” technique with Google Slides rather than paper and clipboard, but the concept is the same no matter what media you choose to use as an instructor.

“See, Think, Wonder”: A Visual Thinking Strategy using Google Slides (2 min)

Inspirational Inquiry-Based Learning Sketchnotes

Please skim through Trevor’s wonderful Inquiry-Based learning Sketchnotes. Trevor uses them to help scaffold the inquiry process for both learners and their parents. As you review the sketchnotes, ask yourself the following questions:

• Which sketchnotes do you think would be most helpful for your future learners given the grade level you hope to teach?
• At which points in their inquiry process would they be most helpful?

Class Time

Guest lecture and Q&A by Joanna Lake (follow her great Twitter feed)!

Joanna graciously shared the slides from her presentation with us, which I hope will be particularly useful to you as you prepare for your practicums:

Hands-on Lab Time

Sketchnoting

We’re going old-school EdTech this week as you Sketchnote your key takeaways and important ideas from this course! Even though we’ve all experienced EDCI 336 together this semester, everyone’s sketchnotes will be different because everyone’s brought different things with them to the class, and we will be teaching learners of different ages, so what is very important to me might not be as important to my classmate.

The photo below is of a group of education students sketchnoting to review the main themes and takeaways from a course on Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) at the end of the semester on a much larger sheet of paper than we will be using.

Step 1: Brainstorm with Post-It Notes (20 min)

• 10 min: First on your own, use Post-It notes to brainstorm and identify concepts, ideas, and pedagogies that are important to you
• 10 min: Compare your Post-It notes with your partner, and discuss any differences between them. Because of the different backgrounds and grade levels you will teach, there may be significant differences, and that is just fine.
• Feel free to create new Post-It notes for yourself based on your discussion with your partner.

Step 2: Organize Your Post-It Notes (5 min)

• Next, individually you will organize your Post-It notes in a way that will allow creates visual relationships between the notes to help you prepare to make your sketchnote.
• This is optional, but you might want to quickly draw simple doodles on your Post-It notes to visualize some of the concepts, and ideas you’ve identified.

  

Step 3: Draw Your Sketchnote on Paper (30 min)

• Continue to work on your own, and use a provided sheet of paper, along with your pens, and highlighters (highlighters are optional) to create a sketchnote, using your organized Post-It notes to guide you.
• Create Relationships Between Ideas with arrows or other connecting doodles.

Step 4: Post a Photo of Your Sketchnote to Your Blog (5 min)

• Take a picture of your sketchnote and post it on your blog using the “weekly-reflection” category. No need to post anything to BrightSpace.

EdTech Training Resources

These are mostly, but not all, free training resources for EdTech tools and related resources:

• Podcasts on Teaching & Learning
• Getting Started with Google Classroom
• Microsoft for Education Training
• SMART Board Training (for the SMART Board brand)
• Education Apps, Website, & Digital Citizenship Resouces

Learning Pod Time & Homework

• Register for a 1-1 end-of-semester interview with Rich (link will be provided during class time).
• Complete any outstanding blog posts or assignments.

Learning Objectives

• Articulate the benefits and drawbacks of a flipped learning curriculum, including the potential pitfalls that need to be identified and prepared for.
• Communicate the benefits and drawbacks of a Multi-Access or Hyflex approach to teaching, including the potential pitfalls that need to be identified and prepared for.
• Complete an Arduino Science Journal activity.
• Identify an Arduino Science Journal activity that would be appropriate for the grade you hope to teach, and would be difficult or impossible to do in a non-digital way.

Pre-class Activities

Flipped/Multi-Access Learning

A few years ago I completed my master’s thesis on flipped learning for information literacy instruction, so I am keenly interested in this topic. That said, while a flipped learning pedagogy, or a blended learning method, can be great tools to use in some circumstances, they are not panaceas and are not the best teaching tools in all situations and at all grade levels. The video below talks about how one elementary school teacher uses a modified Flipped teaching method to differentiate learning for her students to better meet their individual needs. (4 min)

Please ask yourself the following questions:

• What are the primary benefits that a well-designed flipped learning experience can provide?
• What are some of the potential downsides to flipped learning, and how could they be managed?
• When you think about Blended learning, what comes to mind?

Multi-access or Hyflex Learning, and the goal of radical flexibility that some educators are pursuing for the learners in their classes. Please read the following article about Multi-Access Learning, and optionally listen to a portion of the embedded podcast about Hyflex Learning: 

• Read this article, by UVic Scholar Dr. Valerie Irvine, titled Why NOT to Quit After First Attempts in Online and Hybrid Learning Flexible Class (5 min).
• If you’d like to go deeper and hear some interesting stories, listen to this Teaching in Higher Ed podcast interview starting 10:25 minute mark:
  

Please ask yourself the following questions:

• How would building flexibility into your classroom instruction be potentially helpful during and after the covid-19 pandemic?
• What problems, concerns, or issues might arise from using a Multi-Access or Hyflex teaching method in K-12 in British Columbia?

Active Learning with the Arduino Science Journal

Watch this Arduino Science Journal introductory video (1 min). As you watch the video, think of ways you could possibly use the Arduino Science Journal to facilitate learner inquiries with a science component.

This 1:21 video demonstrates six different ways you can use the science journal to engage in active learning experiments:

Install Arduino Science Journal on your phone. The install links are at the bottom of the web page.

Class Time

Multi-Access vs Hyflex vs Blended (6 min)

Hands-on Lab Time

Arduino Science Journal

“The Science Journal transforms your device into a pocket-size science tool that encourages students to explore their world. As they conduct eye-opening experiments, they’ll record observations and make new, exciting discoveries.”

1. If you haven’t done so already, please install Arduino Science Journal on your phone (note that there are versions available for Chromebook and iPad carts in schools). The install links are at the bottom of the web page.
2. Complete the following activities:
   • Find an Android Science Journal module on Light, Motion, or Sound, that looks interesting to you and that would be appropriate for the grade level you hope to teach at.
   • Work through the activity.
   • Reflect on how the Science Journal might be a useful tool in your grade level (this could be part of your critical reflection). 
   • What questions might you need answers to before using (or not) Science Journal in your class?

Learning Pod Time & Homework

1. Learning Pod Time:
   • Work on Assignment 2 with your learning pod.
   • Catch up on any missing blog assignments (including any which I didn’t get full 100% on the rubric).
2. Weekly blog post to document your learning in class:
   • Review the 336 Blog Post Rubrics to make sure you’re including all the minimally required elements for your weekly blog posts.
   • Here is a sample high-quality weekly blog post on the topic and/or technology of the week.
   • Please critically discuss this week’s topic and/or technology. If you’d like you can use the prompts below for inspiration:
     • Articulate the benefits and drawbacks of a flipped learning curriculum, including the potential pitfalls that need to be identified and prepared for.
     • Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of a Multi-Access or Hyflex approach to teaching, including the potential pitfalls that need to be identified and prepared for.
     • Identify an Arduino Science Journal activity that would be appropriate for the grade you hope to teach, and reflect on whether or not it would be difficult or impossible to do in a non-digital way.
   • Use the category, “weekly-reflection“.
3. Weekly Free Inquiry blog post:
   • Document your free inquiry progress, reflecting on your progress, as well as identifying and evaluating helpful resources you found. Provide details on your learning progress (through success or failure).
   •  Employ a multimedia strategy in your post to help document your inquiry by using text and one or more other media to help make it more engaging (e.g., image, screencast, video, or other formats).
   • Utilize social writing strategies such as hyperlinks to blog posts (e.g., trackbacks) or to articles/resources consulted, including web pages, images, videos, etc.
   • Use the category, “free-inquiry”.
   • Share your post with your learning pod at your next meeting (usually at the end of class time).

Here are the slides from the Knowledge Mobilization presentation for your reference. And a lecture video using the slides.

Workshop Activity

• Infographics

Other KM Skills Activities

After you finish the Infographic workshops, please feel free to explore these other hands-on Knowledge Mobilization (KM) skills activities to develop new skills:

• Video Editing
• Interactive Stories or RPG’s with Twine
• Website Creation with WordPress
• Podcasting
• Academic Posters

Learning Objectives

• Describe the kinds of features that can make games effective learning tools
• Understand how gameplay can be used as a tool to make traditionally less popular topics more engaging for some learners
• Be able to discuss the pros and cons of learners using games as consumers, compared to learners creating games (like subject-focused escape rooms for example)

Pre-class Activities

Skim the American Psychological Association article on Gaming to Learn. While skimming, please ask yourself these questions from the article:

• Do certain features make a computer game more effective in promoting learning?
• Do people learn useful cognitive skills from playing an off-the-shelf game?
• Do people learn academic content better from playing a computer game than from conventional instruction?

Watch a CNN interview with Jon Roozenbeek on GetBadNews (4 min)

Skim the Bad News Teachers Guide, and please ask yourself the following questions as you skim:

• Does inoculation theory make intuitive sense to you? 
• Is there any evidence that inoculation theory works in practice?
• How effective do you think Bad News would be at inoculating middle and high school learners from “fake news” in social media?

Test, video game, or cool inquiry project?

• As you watch the video, please reflect on what motivates you, or demotivates you, to learn new skills or new information. 
• What are some of the unstated assumptions that are made in Mike Rober’s video?
• Could Mike’s projects be framed as inquiries?

(15 min)

Digital Escape Rooms in Education? 

• Reflect on whether or not teacher-created escape rooms would be effective tools for learning or reviewing concepts and information in the subject areas you specialize in.
• What would be the potential benefits and drawbacks of having learners create escape rooms as class projects? Could this be an effective capstone or cross-curricular activity?

(15 min)

Class Time

Do games belong in schools? Please think back to times that you played games when in K-12 and as yourself these questions:

1. What types of games have you seen played in a school setting?
2. How have you seen or experienced electronic games being used in school settings? 
3. Have you ever played a multiplayer educational game?
4. What concerns do you have about introducing games as a teaching strategy?

Let’s have a bit of fun and play the educational game, GetBadNews.com which aims to teach people how to critically evaluate the news and social media posts to help them identify the truely “fake news.”

Open GetBadNews.com in a tab in your web browser, and then as you play, please reflect on how well the creators of the game did the following:

• Did they do a good job overall?
• What did they do particularly well?
• What would you do differently?
• Why do you think they made the game interface so simple?
• Did you learn any tips about how to spot fake news? 

(4 min)

Hands-on Lab Time

As you play the games below, please think about the following:

1. If you were to use this game as part of a lesson, does the game help achieve the lesson’s learning objectives?
2. Are there instructions & explanations about underlying concepts?
3. Does it include adaptive scaffolding mechanisms & guidance?
4. Does gameplay offer just doable challenges?
5. Are there dynamic in-game scores that provide learning progress feedback?
6. Is a learning attitude promoted without time constraints or penalty scores?

Game time!

• Be Internet Awesome (10 min)
• Go Viral! (5 min)
• Digital Escape Room (10 min)
• Harmony Square (5 min)
• OPTIONAL: The OG educational game: The Oregon Trail.
  You can learn more about the origins of the Oregon Trail game here.
  The algorithm for the Oregon Trail game (think peanut butter and jam sandwich making video):

  

  Learning Pod Time & Homework

  1. Weekly blog post to document your learning in class:
     • Review the 336 Blog Post Rubrics to make sure you’re including all the minimally required elements for your weekly blog posts.
     • Here is a sample high-quality weekly blog post on the topic and/or technology of the week.
     • Please critically discuss this week’s topic. If you’d like you can use the prompts below for inspiration:
       • Describe the features of games that can make them effective learning tools
       • Discuss how gameplay can be used as a tool to make traditionally less popular topics more engaging for some learners
       • Discuss the pros and cons of learners using games as consumers, compared to learners creating games (like subject-focused escape rooms for example)
     • Use the category, “weekly-reflection“.
  2. Weekly Free Inquiry blog post:
     • Document your free inquiry progress, reflecting on your progress, as well as identifying and evaluating helpful resources you found. Provide details on your learning progress (through success or failure).
     •  Employ a multimedia strategy in your post to help document your inquiry by using text and one or more other media to help make it more engaging (e.g., image, screencast, video, or other formats).
     • Utilize social writing strategies such as hyperlinks to blog posts (e.g., trackbacks) or to articles/resources consulted, including web pages, images, videos, etc.
     • Use the category, “free-inquiry”.

Week 8 Learning Objectives

• Describe how computation thinking can help learners become better problem solvers.
• Identify non-math-related opportunities for integrating coding and computational thinking into your subject area’s curriculum.
• Describe how computation thinking or coding can turn math abstractions into concrete form to aid students with their inquiries.
• Create a Scratch “program” and embed it in your weekly reflection blog post.

Pre-class Activities

Watch the Digital Literacy + Computation Thinking for Children video below (4 min).

Skim SD 61’s Computational Thinking resource web page.

Watch this overview of a curriculum that integrates coding with English & Language Arts activities (4 min):

In what ways could “coding” be used to enrich one of your favourite non-math subjects?

Code with Scratch by MIT

This is optional, but consider creating a Scratch account at MIT’s free Scratch website.

You can use Scratch without creating an account, but you cannot save and share your programs with other people without an account. Note: Scratch is hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the data is stored in the USA and is subject to the US Patriot Act.

Class Time

(12 min)

Links from the above instructional video:

• Coding Resources Connected to BC’s Curriculum
• Hilarious peanut butter and jam sandwich instructions step-by-step
• Jillian McCue’s Goat Condo project, with some stealth math included (here’s Jillian’s blog)

Hands-on Lab Time

See what a finished, or nearly finished Scratch games look like by playing two or more of the games below in your favourite subject areas. This will allow you to see some examples of finished coding projects that are geared toward K-12 learners:

• Storytelling: Multimedia & Interactive Storytelling
• Social Studies: Equity vs Equality
• Physics: Ballistic Arcs with Artillery 
• Math & Geometry: Regiomontanus’ angle maximization problem 
• Logic, Looping, & Fun: Star Catcher 

Next, please explore the Hour of Code website or CS First websites below by searching for a coding project for the age group you want to teach at. Note that on the top you can filter based on grade. Then on the left-hand column, you can filter by topic, and activity type. Please select the activity type: “Self-led tutorial”, and the Language: “Blocks”:

• Hour of Code Hands-on Activities
  –OR–
• CS First – Hands-on Activities 

Complete one or more of the following coding activities:

• Complete one of the activities you found interesting from your Hour of Code or CS First website searches.
• Learn to code with Anna & Elsa from Frozen
• Learn to code with Flappy Birds

Learning Pod Time & Homework

1. Weekly blog post to document your learning in class:
   • Review the 336 Blog Post Rubrics to make sure you’re including all the minimally required elements for your weekly blog posts.
   • Here is a sample high-quality weekly blog post on the topic and/or technology of the week.
   • Please do the following:
     • Embed or link, or post a screenshot of one of your coding projects into your blog post.
     • Either use the prompts below or critically reflect on Coding & Computation thinking on your own:
       • Can computation thinking help learners become better problem solvers?
       • Are there any non-math-related opportunities for integrating coding and computational thinking into your grade level’s curriculum?
       • Could computation thinking or coding turn math abstractions into concrete forms for students with their inquiries at the grade level you’d like to teach?
   • Use the category, “weekly-reflection“.
   • Share your post with your learning pod at your next meeting (usually at the end of class time).
2. Weekly Free Inquiry blog post:
   • Document your free inquiry progress, reflecting on your progress, as well as identifying and evaluating helpful resources you found. Provide details on your learning progress (through success or failure).
   •  Employ a multimedia strategy in your post to help document your inquiry by using text and one or more other media to help make it more engaging (e.g., image, screencast, video, or other formats).
   • Utilize social writing strategies such as hyperlinks to blog posts (e.g., trackbacks) or to articles/resources consulted, including web pages, images, videos, etc.
   • Use the category, “free-inquiry”.
   • Share your post with your learning pod at your next meeting (usually at the end of class time).

Learning Objectives:

• Be able to explain the concept of digital footprints, and be able to identify what your current personal digital footprint looks like.
• Describe what orange shirt day is and why it is important.
• Identify the key practical issues around online privacy, safety, bullying, and consent as a future K-12 teacher.
• Correctly identify, use, and attribute media that are Creative Commons (CC) licensed.
• Create videos using CC-licensed video clips and audio as you learn additional video editing techniques including: Slow motion, Green Screen and Including music and/or sound effects.

Pre-class Activities:

The pre-class activities this week should take about 2 hours to complete.

Watch our guest speaker Jesse Miller’s wonderful video on children, social networks, & media literacy (15 min):

Learn more about your Digital Footprints & Google yourself: 

• Watch the Province of BC’s Digital Footprint video (6 min):
  
• Open a new table in your web browser and Google yourself!
  • For example, I’d search for: “Rich McCue”, and possibly the city where I live or grew up to the search string if you have popular names: “Rich McCue” Victoria BC
  • If you still can’t find any references to yourself, which often happens if you have a common name, add “UVic” to your search string (E.g.: “Tracy Smith” UVic), and see what comes up.
  • If possible do your search in “Incognito” or the private mode for your web browser so you can see your search in the way someone else would see it.
• Did you find any web pages or images of yourself?
• Will the web pages or images be helpful during your job search when recruiters search for your name (possibly along with where you live and/or UVic)?
• How can you add positive posts or images that will show up when people search for you on the internet?
• Can web pages or images on the internet be removed?
• What do you think recruiters would think if searched for you but found nothing?

Read the BC provincial government’s Online safety document. Please make sure to click on the “Expand All” button for each section of the document so that you can see all the tips and suggestions. After you finish reading the document please ask yourself:

• What can you do as a teacher if you become aware of a student who is being bullied on social media?
• Why should you avoid interacting with your student on social media unless it’s directly related to school work?
• How can we help our learners manage their digital footprints?

Watch: Remix Manifesto Documentary (86 min). Please ask yourself the following questions as you watch the video:

• Do you think that if you manipulate an existing song enough you can eventually claim it as your own creation?  Where do you draw the line between copying and creating?
• What do you think is more important, the creative process, or the final product?
• What kind of system could you create that would be fair to the artist(s) being sampled and the artist doing the sampling? 
• Copyright laws were originally intended to encourage people to create. Do you think that intention has changed in recent years?
• In America’s beginnings, the copyrights of foreign authors were ignored. Charles Dickens was pirated to subsidize the printing of Mark Twain, a local author. How do you feel about that situation? Do you believe one country has the right to impose its copyright laws on another?
•  “Brazil defied U.S.  Intellectual Property laws by breaking multiple international patents on HIV medication, producing their own copies of the drug for a fraction of the price.”  They did this to make the drug affordable to those who would die without it. Is this fair to the corporation that researched and developed that drug?

Don’t forget that Orange Shirt Day is held every year at the end of September. “Orange Shirt Day is a day when we honour the Indigenous children who were sent away to residential schools in Canada and learn more about the history of those schools.” Please read this excellent CBC Kids multimedia article that outlines where Orange shirt day came from and why it’s important.

Class Time:

Citizenship Online: Privacy, Safety, Bullying, & Consent

We will begin our session with Jesse Miller’s presentation on Citizenship Online: Privacy, Safety, Bullying, & Consent. The presentation will be followed by a Question and Answer period. Below is a presentation similar to what Jesse presented to the class, but directed a bit more towards parents (60 min).

Creative Commons & Copyright

(5 min)

Rip.Mix.Learn! Discussion

Please reflect on the video you watched in preparation for the class and answer the following questions for yourself:

• Do you think that if you manipulate an existing song enough you can eventually claim it as your own creation?  Where do you draw the line between copying and creating? 
• Do you think sampling can be considered an instrument akin to guitars, drums etc?
• Do you believe there are forms of music that are not built on past works? 
• The film claims that the current system of creating sample‐based music is cumbersome and financially out of reach for the majority of musicians. What kind of system could you create that would be fair to the artist(s) being sampled and the artist doing the sampling? 
• In your opinion, what could be the justification for the “Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998” (a.k.a. The Mickey Mouse Protection Act)? 
•  In America’s beginnings, the copyrights of foreign authors were ignored. Charles Dickens was pirated to subsidize the printing of Mark Twain, a local author. How do you feel about that situation? Do you believe one country has the right to impose its (copyright) laws on another?
• “Brazil defied U.S.  IP laws by breaking multiple international patents on HIV medication, producing their own copies of the drug for a fraction of the price.”  They did this to make the drug affordable to those who would die without it. Is this fair to the corporation that researched and developed that drug? 

Hands-on Lab Time:

Now we will get hands-on and you will make your own Screencast tutorial, edit your screencast and then make your screencast interactive using the H5P plugin on your OpenEd.ca WordPress blog. Let’s dive in!

Step 1 – Slow Motion Video:

Using the Libraries’ DSC Video editing tutorial you are going to find a Creative Commons licensed video clip and audio clip, and then create a short video with a slow-motion element, and include the audio clip in your video project.

• Download a video clip from the following websites:
  • Archive.org – Non-profit digital library with collections of digitized free movies, music, images, websites and more
  • Pexels – CC-licensed videos
  • Vimeo – CC-licensed videos
• Download an audio clip or sown from one of the following websites for your video:
  • Archive.org – Non-profit digital library with collections of digitized free movies, music, images, websites and more
  • Free Music Archive – CC-licensed music grouped by genre
  • CCTrax – CC-licensed music grouped by genre, including electronic, dub, techno, house, downtempo, and ambient
• Work through the DSC slow-motion video editing tutorial to create your video, but PLEASE use the video and audio you just downloaded instead of the provided mountain biking video clip in the tutorial. Below is an example of a video Rich created using his own video, and music from Archive.org (see the video description for music details):

Step 2 – Green Screen Video:

• Work through the DSC Green Screen video editing tutorial to create your video, using the video clips provided in the tutorial. Below is an example of the type of video you’ll create.
• NOTE: Please use the iMovie tutorial! If you don’t have a MacBook, please use one of the classroom iMacs to complete the tutorial. The free Windows video editor does not support the creation of green screen videos. If you have any problems or questions please ask Rich.

Homework:

1. Weekly blog post to document your learning in class and to document progress on your inquiries (incorporate audio, video, and screen video capture into your blog posts this week).
   • Review the 336 Blog Post Rubrics to make sure you’re including all the minimally required elements for your weekly blog posts.
   • Here is a sample high-quality weekly blog post on the topic and/or technology of the week.
   • Please address complete the first prompt below and then either address three or more blog prompts, or reflect on something else that interests you from this week’s topic:
     • Post a video you made today as part of your reflection.
     • How can creative commons licensed materials help me as a teacher?
     • How can we help our learners manage their digital footprints?
     • What was the most interesting thing you found when you googled yourself?
     • Will you change your use of social media after the talk and Q&A with Jesse Miller?
     • Could video creation be effective learning resource and/or class activity at the grade level I hope to teach (with learners creating their own videos)
2. Weekly Free Inquiry blog post:
   • Document your free inquiry progress, reflecting on your progress, as well as identifying and evaluating helpful resources you found. Provide details on your learning progress (through success or failure).
   •  Employ a multimedia strategy in your post to help document your inquiry by using text and one or more other media to help make it more engaging (e.g., image, screencast, video, or other formats).
   • Utilize social writing strategies such as hyperlinks to blog posts (e.g., trackbacks) or to articles/resources consulted, including web pages, images, videos, etc.
   • Use the category, “free-inquiry”.
   • Share your post with your learning pod at your next meeting (usually at the end of class time).

Before we start on our EdCamp we will talk about how Knowledge Management tools can be helpful tools to assist educators to collect and curate lesson plans, tools, and learning objects for their learners.

Week 6 Learning Objectives

• Understand how EdCamps can provide quality professional development opportunities as well as the cultivation of a local personal learning network for educators.
• Learn how an Edcamp is organized and run, including the tools necessary for a face-to-face EdCamp and a virtual EdCamp.
• Assist in organizing, running, and actively participating in a class-based virtual EdCamp.
• Begin (or continue) the topic and planning process for Assignment 2: Education Technology presentation.
• Describe how Knowledge Management tools can help educators collect and curate lesson plans, tools, and learning objects for their learners.

Pre-class Activities

What is an EdCamp? (4 min)

What an EdCamp looks like for participants (2 min)

Please review topics that have been discussed at other EdCamps for inspiration as you try to think of education or classroom topics that you might be interested in discussing or leading during our EdCamp on Friday. Might your group EdTech inquiry topic make a good EdCamp session topic?

With the other EDCI 336 class, we will vote on topics at the beginning of class on Friday and may group similar topics together. Please take a quick look at this EdCamp organizers checklist to get a sense of how you might organize an EdCamp for your school or school district one day. Feel free to make a copy of the checklist if you think you might like to use it at some point in the future.

Class Time

I hope that you are coping well this week. If you are in class on Friday, you can let me know how you are doing by filling out my optional weekly Check-in poll. If you can’t make it to class, please email me to let me your doing, so that I can better support you in the coming weeks.

Knowledge Management & Content Curation

Especially at the beginning of your career as a teacher, it can be overwhelming trying to keep track of all the great tools and teaching methods that we are introduced to in class and bump into as we talk to our peers. One type of tool that can be helpful to keep track of all these resources are digital note-takers/organizers. Some of the most popular organizers used by teachers include:

• Google Keep note taker/organizer (free) – https://keep.google.com/ 
• Trello organizer & light project management (free w/ paid extra features) – https://trello.com
• RainDrop bookmark manager (free w/ paid extra features) – https://raindrop.io
• Obsidian note taker/organizer (free w/ paid sync) – https://obsidian.md/ 
• Hypothes.is a collaborative annotation on the web (free) – https://hypothes.is
• Microsoft OneNote note taker/organizer (free w/ UVic license) – https://www.onenote.com 

Over the years I have used Evernote, Microsoft OneNote, and Google Keep, but a few years back settled on Google Keep as it was free, and worked on my Mac laptop, Windows computer, Android phone, and iPad (all of them are cross-platform now). If you would like to use a tool for curating resources, please choose the one that you think would work best for you, but in my video below I’ll use Google Keep. I also use RainDrop as my general bookmark manager That said, all of these tools work in roughly the same fashion even though they implement their features in slightly different ways.

The infographic below is a great example of the process many use for content creation. I personally tend to focus on steps 1 and 2, and unless I really, really like a tool I’ll skip #3, sharing.

KM Curation Tool Demo (6 min)

EdCamp

If you are not able to make it to class this week, please work through the rest of this weekly post as it contains everything for the week, except for the student-driven EdCamp sessions on Friday. Also, at some point please connect with your learning pod for an Assignment 2 startup meeting.

Hands-on Lab Time

Feel free to explore the personal knowledge management and content creation tools we discussed at the beginning of class time.

Learning Pod Time & Homework

1. Reading Break Surprise: No critical reflection or free inquiry post assignments this week! I hope this will allow you to have some downtime so that you can recharge your batteries for the second half of the course.
2. Learning Pod peer feedback:
   • Spend 10 minutes reviewing the Week 5 Critical Evaluation post from a different member of your learning pod.
   • Please make sure that everyone in the learning pod gets one of their blog posts reviewed.
   • Please be professional and kind as you provide feedback to your peers’ blog posts. Use this guide as you review peer blog posts today, and until the end of the semester: Blog Post Peer-Review guidance <- IMPORTANT INFORMATION – Do not review any peer blog posts until you’ve read this document.
3. Start planning Assignment 2 – Group EdTech Guided Inquiry with your learning pod. Then do other following:
   • Here is a Group Project Planning Guide for you to review if you would like some general guidance on how to plan for a successful group project. Make your planning & research visible to Rich via one of the following platforms (or talk to Rich if you’d like to use something else):
     • A Google Doc. Share to rich@msys.ca
     • An Office 365 document. Share to rmccue@uvic.ca
     • A new shared Trello Board. Share to rich@msys.ca
   • Every member of the Learning Pod, please Submit the Learning Pod planning document URL or website URL to Rich in the Brightspace Assignment 2A. If you have any questions about this scaffolding assignment, please contact Rich directly.

Week 5 Learning Objectives

• Describe the SAMR theory of technology adoption, and evaluate the technologies we are using in EDCI 336 using this framework
• Explain how the SECTIONS model and how it can be used to select the most appropriate tool or technology to help meet your learning objectives
• Understand the benefits sketchnoting can provide learners when used for readings or classroom instruction
• Create a sketchnote based on a reading of an article
• Use Canva to create an effective infographic by summarizing information into graphical representations in a narrative that is aesthetically pleasing and compelling

Pre-Class Activities

Evaluating Educational Technology Tools

The SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition) model of technology adoption gives us a useful framework to evaluate the potential benefits of new educational technologies:

What is the SAMR Model? (4 min)

When evaluating a multimedia learning tool, please ask yourself, where on the ladder of the SAMR Model of technology integration does it evaluated fall (see the infographic below)? If the new educational technology does more than “substitute” another technology, are the additional benefits the tool provides worth the investment of your time, your learners’ time, and school budget compared to other tools already in use in your school district?

Please read this excellent but concise SAMR article to round out our formal learning on this tool: SAMR Model – A Practical Guide for EdTech Integration (~5 min). 

REFLECTION – Please reflect on the H5P instructional video you created:

1. Compared to a lecture format of instruction, where does the H5P video you created sit on the SAMR spectrum?
2. Could you modify your video or H5P interactivity to move your H5P video higher on the SAMR spectrum?

Let’s take a look at the SECTIONS model, developed by Tony Bates (2015). It provides a framework for evaluating the appropriateness of educational technologies for any given learning environment. SECTIONS stands for:

• Students
• Ease of use
• Costs
• Teaching functions (including the affordances of different media)
• Interaction
• Organizational issues
• Networking
• Security and privacy

(7 min)

When considering using a multimedia learning tool, please ask yourself, what are the strengths and weaknesses of the tool as you evaluate it using the SECTIONS model? When it comes time to select the most appropriate tool or technology to help meet each of each learning objective I find it helpful to use Bates’ SECTIONS model to help evaluate the appropriateness of a particular technology. Bates’ model prompts us to critically look at each technology in light of.

REFLECTION – Please reflect on the H5P instructional video you created: What are the strengths and weaknesses of your H5P video when evaluating it using the SECTIONS model?

Class Time

Hands-on Lab Time

Now we will get hands-on and you will make your own Sketchnote edit and then make an infographic, both of which you can post on your OpenEd.ca WordPress blog. Let’s dive in!

Sketchnoting

(7 min)

Work through the Libraries’ DSC workshop, Sketchnoting: Doodle Your Way to Better Grades. Please have fun while you doodle and remember, sketchnoting is not meant to be beautiful art, but instead a tool to help you (and your learners) remember important or interesting information!

If you’d like to, please make your sketchnote on a topic of your choice rather than feeling like you have to use the provided article in the workshop handout. For example, you could make a sketchnote on SAMR or SECTIONS, or on your Free Inquiry topic. The subject for your sketchnote is up to you! Please ask Rich if you have any questions or concerns.

Infographics

(1 min)

(2 min)

(14 min)

Work through the Libraries’ DSC workshop, Infographics with Canva. Please ask Rich if you have any questions.

Learning Pod Time & Homework

1. Learning Pod peer feedback:
   • Spend 10 minutes reviewing the Week 4 Critical Evaluation post from a different member of your learning pod.
   • Please make sure that everyone in the learning pod gets one of their blog posts reviewed.
   • Please be professional and kind as you provide feedback to your peers’ blog posts. Use this guide as you review peer blog posts today, and until the end of the semester: Blog Post Peer-Review guidance <- IMPORTANT INFORMATION – Do not review any peer blog posts until you’ve read this document.
2. Weekly blog post to document your learning in class and to document your learning (incorporate audio, video, and screen video capture into your blog posts this week).
   • Review the 336 Blog Post Rubrics to make sure you’re including all the minimally required elements for your weekly blog posts.
   • Here is a sample high-quality weekly blog post on the topic and/or technology of the week.
   • Please complete the first two bullet points below and then critically discuss two or more of the following blog prompts (or if something else stood out to you this week, feel free to critically reflect on that but still complete the first two bullets):
     • Embed either a photo of the sketchnote you created during class time
     • Embed the Infographic you created in Canva.
     • How can the SAMR theory of technology adoption help you evaluate technologies that you might consider using in your classroom?
     • How could the SECTIONS model help you select the most appropriate tool or technology to help meet your learning objectives for your class?
     • Could sketchnoting benefit learners in the grade level you hope to teach at? If so how?
3. Weekly Free Inquiry blog post:
   • Document your free inquiry progress, reflecting on your progress, as well as identifying and evaluating helpful resources you found. Provide details on your learning progress (through success or failure).
   •  Employ a multimedia strategy in your post to help document your inquiry by using text and one or more other media to help make it more engaging (e.g., image, screencast, video, or other formats).
   • Utilize social writing strategies such as hyperlinks to blog posts (e.g., trackbacks) or to articles/resources consulted, including web pages, images, videos, etc.
   • Use the category, “free-inquiry”.
   • Share your post with your learning pod at your next meeting (usually at the end of class time).

Bibliography

Bates, T. (2019). Teaching in a Digital Age – Models for media selection. https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/teachinginadigitalagev2/chapter/9-1-models-for-media-selection/

Duckworth, Sylvia. (2015, April 2). New #sketchnote The SAMR Model @karlyb @ICTEvangelist @ShakeUpLearning #elemchat @TheTechRabbi #ipaded #ipadedchat https://t.co/1lJAqEE6my [Tweet]. @sylviaduckworth. https://twitter.com/sylviaduckworth/status/583778319235031041

H. L. (2017). SAMR Model: A Practical Guide for EdTech Integration. Schoology Exchange. https://www.schoology.com/blog/samr-model-practical-guide-edtech-integration