Michaela's Designing Digital Learning Journey

     The App Generation was enlightening to view both the positives and negatives of the use of technology. To an extent, I felt it connected greatly the elements presented in the Information Diet , but it wasn’t solely focused on information consumption; it was more holistic and focused more on the learner’s lifestyle along with the habits of an entire generation.       I work with a wide range of ages; my learners range from Gen Y, Gen X, and Gen Z. Therefore, the way they interact with technology is different; it’s not about their ability to interact with technology, but rather it’s about their views on technology mixed with their culture.      Here’s a quick example: my mom boils eggs on the stove with water whereas I use an egg maker to boil my eggs while taking a shower and getting ready in the morning. We have two different habits to complete the same task. Gardner does the same throughout his book as he compares som...

NetSmart, by Howard Rheingold, focuses on information literacy; it goes beyond research or synthesizing data. NetSmart reveals different types of literacies such as Attention, CRAP, Collaboration, Participation, and Net Smarts literacies.  I found a lot of Rheingold’s information overwhelming, but not in a negative way. It was overwhelming for me to think of the different literacies and how to amend what I have been teaching or practicing myself for years. How do I start fitting in “attention” when I work with team leads on their leadership skills? How do I help employees find useful resources while having them use the CRAP test? It’s a delicate balance of not giving them too much but also subtly enforcing each literacy. The balance and responsibility of teaching those literacies is what overwhelms me. But, if this program has taught me anything (which it has taught me a lot), I know that I don’t have to change my practices overnight; it’s a gradual change to cont...

In reading and reflecting on my peers’ comments from my previous blog post about the Information Diet , I realized how much we have to teach ourselves and our learners how to filter information. The CRAP test is simple, yet do we really do it? Are we addicted to the junk? Yes, we are, which creates an unhealthy and imbalanced relationship with information. But one thing that my peers agreed upon is focusing on teaching a “healthy” balance and helping our learners understand what they are reading, why they are reading it, and how it will impact them. And this is where the CRAP test is important! Their comments about “reading junk” and balancing our information intake really extended my understanding of how to implement a design plan with the element of building a healthy relationship with information. One of my peers also mentioned how information is thrown at our learners constantly whereas some of us grew up without technology and know how to take a step back (or at least ...

  When working with the interns at my company this past summer, they were shocked when they learned that they could reuse code. Their schools always scan code for plagiarism, and they can’t even reuse their own code; it always has to be from scratch. But in the real world, engineers share code for efficiency.  I had a conversation about this with an engineer, and they said, “if someone already created it, we use it and build on it”. We compared it to the structure of a story. Every story or fairytale follows the same structure (exposition, initiating event, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution).  What worries me is if students are able to understand the difference between copyright use in school vs real life (aka when is it appropriate and when is it inappropriate?). If we print copies or save a PDF of a document and give it to students, how would they understand that it’s not plagiarism/illegal? Or, if we find material online and pres...

After I read The Information Diet , I wasn’t really sure what to think. Was I reading too much? But then how do I stay “in the know”? How do I help learners become global citizens in order to respect and appreciate different perspectives? How do I relax without watching my favorite show on Netflix?!  Somehow, news gets spread to us. In terms of mental health, I think there does need to be a limit to our news consumption. However, in terms of building our opinions and beliefs, I do believe that we must do our research. I loved the analogy of The Information Diet . If we always digest junk, then our opinions and beliefs could be shaped around or impacted by that junk. If we digest whole information that is not harmed by outside thoughts and proved by sound and reliable facts or data, then our opinions and beliefs will be healthier.  In a world where we are so consumed by what’s happening around us and within our communities (local and global), how do ...

The sixth principle consists of Students as Designers. What I love most about this principle is the skills that it teaches: Structure Process Organization Time management Collaboration ...and the list goes on. In class, we simulated this design principle by designing our own video on the DDLS Principles. While Dawn taught us concepts, we had to go through "designing" a product and implementing those concepts (plus explaining them in our videos, too!). The lesson was structured just enough to guide us, but it wasn't too structured that it limited our creativity. The process of designing isn't just for educators but for learners, too! It fosters creativity and allows learners to truly synthesize and implement what they have learned in a project that takes them outside of the "traditional classroom" format. What I know I will struggle with the most as a designer is having the learners create "meaningful outcomes." When I design, I always ...

Last week, we focused on the fifth design principle: The Means Principle. It is defined as the following: Good learning designs reflect technologies chosen after mindful consideration of the cognitive and societal consequences as well as a clear and appropriate connection with content and learning activities.  The Means Principle goes hand in hand with affordance analysis. In short, affordance analysis is the assessment of how a tool can be used and the purpose of the tool. For example, a hammer is not the proper tool to use to drink water. You could use a cup, ladle (although not very convenient) or jar. All of those tools are options to achieve the goal of drinking water.  My biggest struggle this week is where to start. Do I start with the goal in mind and then look at the tools? Or can the tools provide inspiration towards a goal? It’s like which came first: the chicken or the egg? I’ve definitely guilty of having moments where I looked at a tool and said “this wo...

After reading The Victorian Internet , I  learned a key lesson that I often forget: Technology is a new tool invented for the efficiency of daily life - it doesn’t have to be associated with electricity, wifi, or touch screens. As humans, we learn to determine whether or not it is beneficial for our race and adapt to our lifestyle. When I think about items that make my life more “efficient”, I oftentimes forget (or don’t even know) about the history behind the invention. Where did it come from? How did it evolve? Who was involved? Just like the story of the telegraph, there is so much that goes into the technology we have in our hands today.  I work at a cloud computing company, and I often forget that the work of the developers and engineers is innovative and does lead to new processes and applications that make our country run more effectively and efficiently. Even something small as creating an application nowadays can make our lives easier...and i...

There once was a man named Vygotsky Whose thoughts were outside of the box-y  Knowing knowledge will stay When kids get to play Away on his horse he did trotsky Everything about the poem activity above embodies Vygotsky (well, maybe not everything). We collaborated, socialized, and used our independent tools to come up with a product that represents our understanding. Vygotsky believes that the development of processing information is due to understanding the tools that surround us and how to use them in processing the information. That’s a vague overview as he also goes into ZPD and other elements; Vygotsky breaks it down a lot more. I’d like to focus on two smaller topics that Vygotsky presented: language and socializing.  Language is a tool to communicate and collaborate with others, but it’s also a tool that we can use independently to organize our own thoughts. Vygotsky saw that children’s “speech and action are part of one and the same complex psychol...