Weekly Reflection 8: Final Reflection

I came into this course feeling a little apprehensive. We have been learning a lot about the effects of AI, specifically conversational AI and the harm it is doing in our society. It can be easy to hear “Tech Class” and unfairly bundle it with AI ed. What I was not expecting was to actually feel less doomsday and more hopeful about where education and society in general are headed through this coursework. Most recently, we looked into organizations distributing technology that helps students with diverse and complex learning needs communicate and reach their full potential.

Another highlight has been how technology has allowed games like Minecraft to be adjusted to be a diverse learning tool. I also wondered about screentime in schools. My experience speaking with students both in my L2P (Grade 8) and my work in out-of-school care (Grades2-5) tells me that some kids are getting a lot of screen time outside of school hours. Therefore, I struggled to decide what amount of screen time is appropriate in the classroom. Through this course, I have come to the opinion that if the technology is enhancing learning and the use of it is helping students overcome unnecessary barriers, I would be comfortable utilizing it. The SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition) model helped me come to this conclusion. An example that comes to mind is videos we are shown for our Math course, where teachers use a digital board to teach math. Personally, I don’t see how that enhances student learning, unless there was difficulty seeing the writing on the white or black board. With so much screen time in other areas, I think using analog systems like a blackboard and chalk are a way to reduce it, and also demonstrate using a pen or chalk to actually write. Redefinition, modification, and augmentation are seen in the technologies offered by SET-BC and ARC-BC, where tasks that would ahve previously not been possible are redefined through a system to allow students to complete them.

Cybersecurity in education was something that I had not really thought of extensively. We had a guest lecturer in our “Learners and Learning Environments.” who spoke about the use of AI to report card comments and assignment grading. We learnt in our L2P from our seminar teacher that she uses AI to have pre-prepped comments to give to students. She explained that this was because it helped her to create individualized-feeling comments within a reasonable time-frame. At the time, I didn’t think much of it, but the subject came up with our guest lecturer. He spoke about how using AI to mimic individualized assessment comments is the result of pressure on teachers to be overloaded with work, but that by using AI, the harm is being misdirected onto the students rather than the administration team. The other point he brought up about this scenario was that by uploading student work to AI systems, you are selling their intellectual property and possibly personal details. From this and what we learnt through this course about systems set in place at schools to utilize technology and keeping students safe is that as technology continues to develop faster than we can keep up, we must stay diligent as educators to keep our students and their information safe.

Overall, this course has caught me up to speed on current technologies used in classrooms. I have not been in elementary school for a long time, and it is interesting how much technology and attitudes related to it have changed. This especially came up for me when we explored Scratch. I have appreciated the school district-specific information, and having guest speakers who can give us insight into their niche (Minecraft ed). I am excited to use all of the resources we have been given to enhance my classroom and the scope of learning I can deliver.