My Summative Piece

Summative Piece - Okay, folks. There you have it. The link above will take you to my YouTube channel where you can display my final project for this course. Let me just tell you that I actually cheered out loud and might have done an outrageous mini fist pump when I finally got the audio to play through the slideshow. 

Not until I had uploaded the final piece was when it became blurry. So I apologize for that. Hope it is still read-able. 

read also : guru elektronika

I used Audacity to record the audio, PowerPoint to create the slideshow, and iMovie to put it all together, where it is now displayed on YouTube. So many resources in one project!

This course has been challenging but with every challenge comes a feeling of success. Achieving your goals has got to be one of the most satisfying feelings and I definitely felt that having completed this project.

Thanks for watching!

Class Presentations

Today in class we presented our group projects regarding education and technology/internet.

Along with group members @erinduchart, @MissTa24, @CArmstrong00, @alauraarmstrong, and @joseyd91, I presented a slideshow regarding BYOD. Bringing Your Own Device in the classroom is such an important issue in the school systems. Though there are many risks involved, I do believe that the benefits outweigh the negatives and the convenient access of personal devices in which student engagement has flared should be noticed by educators.
[Our presentation is available here]

The second presentation was done by @nicklasbaron, @mzlinzebraun, @banksjr19, @BanksMicki, and @Affleck24. Their group discussed The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of the internet. They definately hit all of the aspects of their topic with supported evidence and the awareness. One thing that really caught my attention was their suggestions on how to stay safe from the "ugly" on the internet. I definitely agree that spreading awareness to the students about the risks is crucial in order to get the point across. Great presentation, friends!
[Their presentation is available here]

Next up, @Langanlisa, @misslwbt, @tyler_jl, @jennasis22, and @kelseypenner presented How Not To Share. They were the first group of second years to present so I was very excited to hear from them. I was not let down - their presentation was great. They actually constructed their own webpage using wikispace, it was great! My favourite take-away from the presentation was the different types of CC Licences. I had no idea the amount that Tyler covered had even existed. I loved how the group emphasized the importance of citation and referencing because it is knowledge that needs to be learned in middle and high school with the crazy number of privacy rights and protection acts these days.

Forth, @anna_teach, @falk007, and @brookegelo presented about Internet Filters. I agree that some site blocking must be done to restrict the students from being distracted and tempted to search inappropriately. I had never seen or heard of Glogster before. It looks like a very fun tool to display information so I will definitely keep that in mind. Another great resource!!
[Their glogster is available here]

The last presentation was done by @melnyksteven, @scott_taylor87, @adriennewiebe, @gurrsarah, and @missHeducation, in regards to Cyberbullying. They delivered a video that portrayed how the media advocates cyberbullying. The media tends to overreact and freak out about cyberbullying issues. Cyberbullying is a part of Bullying in general, and even though it possesses long lasting effects, the generalization of bullying is overlooked. It needs to be dealt with as a whole and not only when a cyberbullying issue arises. A really funny video on such a serious topic, good work guys!

Big shout out to @erinduchart and @alauraarmstrong for the fabulous snacks; they were so yummy!
Great job today, class!

http://edu.glogster.com/glog/internetfilters/1uutbahig77
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaDcibcsWgw&feature=youtu.be

The LUCK (LCK) Attribute for old school fantasy games

... Or Save versus the universe. 

"Do you realize that everyone you know will die some day." - The Flaming Lips, Do You Realize??  

The original fantasy game is the most unadulterated nihilism the gaming world has ever seen.  Life is cheap and absurd at the early stages of a fantastic medieval wargames campaign. The universe is indifferent, but not benign, to the fates of the veterans, acolytes, and mediums that descend into the mythical underworld for gold or glory or even insanity pes 2017 iso update players ppsspp

As someone who delights in the mayhem and chaos of the original version of the game, I am perfectly content with the grim fate that awaits 99% of every single character rolled for a dungeon exploration game. I don't believe in fate or destiny, so I let dice fall as they may. Yet I understand that not everybody shares my excitement for the high level of lethality and randomness that permeates the beginnings of a fantasy campaign. ( Maybe they should read the same philosophers I read; that'll get rid of that hero worship and optimism real quick.) For my fellow gamers out there who get frustrated by the random pandemonium of earlier fantasy games I present my own take on a LUCK attribute.  

Even though I don't believe in it in real life, I think LUCK is not totally out of place in the original fantasy game. The heroic fiction that the original fantasy game emulates does allow for destiny and good luck to intervene for the heroes from time to time.

I've "created" this LUCK mechanic for any version of the game that uses the -1 to +1 bonus range on attributes. LUCK ranges from 3- 18, just like the other attributes.

Luck Attribute (LCK)

LUCK is determined by rolling 3 six sided platonic solids, just like the other attributes. If LUCK is equal to or larger than 15, the player gets the opportunity to re-roll 1 dice throw per session. This means any dice roll: damage, to hit, or any other throw the Referee allows.  If LUCK is 8 or less, the DM gets to make the PC re-roll one successful roll per session. The lowest roll is picked. Of course, if the referee wishes maintain the illusion of impartiality, he may only ask for a reroll after getting a 1-3 on the roll of a d6.

I haven't had the time to playtest my LUCK attribute, so let me know if you think it may break the game.

Donald Girouard & Sophia Palahicky

Donald and Sophia joined us in class today to speak about Web Based Courses. I have no experience with this style of learning or teaching so I found it beneficial and interesting.

Manitoba Education supports three Distance Learning Options: Web-Based Courses, Teacher Mediated Courses, and Independent Study Option. 

I remember in my rural school of 300 K-12 students, some courses such as Physics or Pre-Calculus, are not offered every single year because there are not enough students or teachers to make this happen. Evidently, these courses were offered something like every other year through Distance Ed and as an asynchronous style, with a designated teacher-observed slot. guru elektronika online

Donald and Sophia shared that there are 100 different LMS (learning management systems), such as Blackboard (from 15 yrs ago), Moodle, etc. As a student, I am able to relate to these programs and understand the convenient access and benefits they offer for online learning.

Why use WBC/ online courses? 

-distance delivery (distance should be print & web as long as teacher and student are seperated)

-face to face

-schools who don't have an instructor to teach a course that students want/need to take

-credit recovery

-timetable issues

-implementation of new courses/learning

-lifelong learning

Sure, there are multiple benefits, but how about for the students who are below reading level? Or the students who require extra support? Do statistics show success for these students as well?

As educators we must think about how the students best learn, first. Then find the right-fit technology to deliver instruction. Ultimately, no matter what delivery model is used, there is not always interaction, (ex: lectures). Don & Sophia's presentation emphasized the importance of a blended model: print, web, face-to-face, and its benefits to instructing a web-based course.

Infographics

Infographics are simply data visualizations. I believe they are very useful in a classroom because they are visually appealing and easy and fun to read. Infographics can also be used as a student assignment as there are many infographic tools and resources which make creating these data pictures pretty easy. Infographics allow students and teachers to actively interact with information.

A few programs to create infographics are Infogr.am, Visual.ly, and Piktochart.

You can view an infographic creation done by me here, made through Visual.ly.

Since this relates to my group presentation for next week, I decided to share this infographic about BYOD.

Podcasts

Exploring the amount of podcasts at my fingertips is overwhelming. I had never taken the time to develop an understanding of podcasts, but I always knew they were available on iTunes just a click away. I have gained a positive perspective on this new educational resource. 

I came across K-12 Greatest Hits: The Best Ideas in Education. One particular episode that I enjoyed was called Cellphones in the Classroom: Distraction or Undervalued Teaching Tool? It was argued that cellphones link to attention deficit, and they are being used as toys instead of tools. The opposite argument was that teachers of the 21st century must teach skills for today. One of those skills is mobile skills - which is required by many jobs for employment. So teachers must not ban cellphones - because we know that the students will bring them anyways - but teach students how to productively use them and make it an aware issue. 

The podcast matched identically with the research my group has been doing on BYOD (Bringing Your Own Device) into the classroom. There are many many benefits of BYOD as long as the devices are used productively and practically; there are always going to be distractions in the classroom - devices or not. 

One of my favourite things from the episode was the use of a traffic light sign on the door. If red was chosen, no cellphones visible or heard in class. If yellow, cellphones must be off and placed in the right hand top corner of the desk incase devices may be used periodically throughout the class; or green, cellphones will be used actively during the entire class.

Ultimately, it is not up to the teacher but it is up to the student to be responsible for knowing how they learn best.

This particular podcast may be beneficial to play during the first week or two during a school year, and as a class, creating a BYOD or cellphone/laptop rules or regulations guided by the teacher, regarding use of devices in the classroom.

Online Video

I'm not going to lie.. I have always just assumed that if any teacher were to use a video in the classroom, they would have found it from YouTube. It is obviously the largest free video sharing resource available, which leads it to contain much inappropriate and negative material for a classroom. I have learned that there are a variety of educational video sites, much like YouTube in the sense of convenience, accessibility and validity, such as EduTube, SchoolTube, and Ted. 

I particularly like Ted because of the many categories: Talks, Speeches, Playlists, Conferences, Ted Blog, Ted Community, and especially TedEd. By using Ted Ed, you can create lesson plans that incorporate video to better engage students and activate learning. You can use, edit, or completely create your own lesson on Ted-Ed. Also, since the videos are educational based, there is no fear of running into an inappropriate advertisement prior to the video, where this is likely to happen on YouTube. You can browse Ted Ed by Series, Subject, or Flips - which is neat because you can find the most viewed videos, which are prompt to be the best videos.

A couple of videos that I found beneficial and may use in my own lessons are:

How Pandemics Spread by Mark Honigsbaum, to supplement the Health curriculum, and

Situational Irony: The opposite of what you think by Christopher Warner, to supplement the English Language Arts curriculum.