Chassidy's ePortfolio

As the semester closes, I have been tasked with sharing how I have contributed to the learning of others through the entirety of the class. When our class started I felt extremely overwhelmed with what we were tasked with through the course and honestly I was extremely worried about how I would be able to complete this all in the time frame we were given. I was putting off taking this course because I have such little experience when it comes to technology in the classroom and this course felt very daunting. Once I started breaking down my walls of being nervous, I felt like I actually could complete this course in all aspects. One major part of this course was contributing to the learning of others and this is what brings us to this post.

When deciding on how I wanted to share my evidence of how I contributed to my peers, I knew I wouldn’t be able to include everything. I thought it would be best to breakdown my contributions into two different areas and these are the Online Discord Community and the EDTC Blog Hub. I plan to share a varitety of blog comments, discord conversations and posts that I feel have showed my contributions best.

Discord Community

I really enjoyed using the Online Discord Community as a source of a network for everyone during our course and honestly, I will miss having this tool in future classes I take. This online community was an amazing source of support when we needed it. I never felt lost in this course because I always had my peers to fall back on and if I didnt have a question someone else would and it would also end up helping me as well. Within the discord community I asked a variety of questions and shared my opinion and perspective to better support my peers. Here I have included a screenshot of when Robyne was looking for imput on her blog when we were using different tech tools. I always really worried about if my contributions were substantial enough and supporting my peers in their learning. Having positive feedback from my peers showed me that what I was doing was working and what a relief that was.

Not only was I able to answer questions that my peers had, I was also able to ask my own questions in hopes to get some meaningful answers. The support I received all the time was overwhelming and this is why I never felt alone through this process. In this example, I had asked a question and many of my classmates responded which was amazing!

When going through my contributions to the online course community, I feel like I have contributed to the learning of my peers and myself. I relied on this program and made the most of using it because it truly helped me. Not only have I gained so much knowledge, I know my peers have too!

Blog Commenting

During our semester, I would say I spent the good majority of my time on the Blog Hub and that was to comment and interact with my peers. At the start of this course, I thought having to complete 3-5 comments was going to be hard but once I started going it got easier and easier. The further I got in the course I felt like I was contributing more and more. I enjoyed reading posts of my peers because I loved seeing what they were up too and how their learning has been going. When looking back at my comments, I seen that they invloved asking my peers questions, giving advice and most importantly providing positive feedback. Not only was I making sure to comment on my peers posts but I also made comments to my peers who commented on my own posts! Here are a few of many comments I made through the semester.

As you can see from what I have shared with you, I feel like I was participating meaningful with my peers and doing whatever I could to contribute to the learning of others. I truly feel having your peers to rely and fall on is what makes a class more meaninful and impactful. At the start of this course, I thought that contributing to others would only benefit my peers but it also benefited me too! Supporting one another is one small thing we can do and I believe through this course we truly built an amazing network family. It feels weird to say this is my last post for EDTC 300, But I am extremely greatful for everything this course has given me. This course has flown by and I have learned so much but I am ready to continue on through my journey. Thank you to everyone for the support through this course and I could not have done it without you! Take care and I wish you all the best!

Chassidy

This week I decided to use Chat GPT for my research. I have heard about this tool from many and I mean many people but I have actually never used it. I was always so scared to actually use this program and I am not even sure why. Now that I am thinking about it, I think it has to do with being so unfamilar with what AI is and what Chat GPT is. I think that over the past few years and even since 2023, AI has become so popular and this is all I ever hear about. AI is seriosuly everywhere and is embedded in almost everything I use. Siri, Alexa, AI on snapchat and even now on Facebook. Chat GPT is actually really cool and a neat tool that I can use and I think it could be great in the classroom. Honeslty, I really never realized how much AI is around us, and hearing that even when we google something AI is the one generating what we are looking at. It is actually quite neat but also really scary.

Reflect on how it could be used in the classroom by the teacher or the students. In your post, consider some of the following: could this tool be used to enhance teaching? Could it aid in personalized learning, automate administrative tasks, or provide new ways of engaging students?

I think that specifically chat gpt can be used both for teachers and students. After researching Chat GPT I thought how neat it could be for teachers to use this program to help aid them in their planning. I think as teachers we could use this program to help us come up with ideas for lesson planning and even create lesson plans for us. I went in and checked this out and I was shocked at how much we could do on this. Lesson planning is so time consuming and having Chat GPT this could allow us teachers with time and ideas. In the search engine I decided to plug in grade 4 health lesson plans and this is what came up. I decided to scroll and it was crazy at the amount of stuff I was able to find, so I do think this tool could be helpful for teachers however, it does not take into account for your students that you have but I think you probably could narrow down the parameters to better suit your students. Moving onto students I think that students could even use this program. I think this program could be really helpful for students who need ideas or support in writting and even coming up with topics. I think it is really important though, that we educate and teach our students how to use these programs and citing their information properly.

I actually chose to search how to use this program for teachers and came across the next video on Youtube which I found to be really helpful and neat! Check it out!

How might this tool support different learning styles, assess student understanding, or encourage critical thinking and creativity?

• I think that Chat GPT could be a great tool for students to use because now that I know what it is, I find it extremely straight forward and easy to use. I do think that it takes some getting use to but can be used by most students. In schools today, so many students and teachers are using technology in their classrooms. Using Chat GPT studnets can be asked to reflect on what they find and explain what they have learnt. Since this program brings forward so much data, as the student they will need to understand and know what they are reading. I think that this program can easily be used in the classroom and students will have to be creative while using it. Chat GPT can be used for so many different things and students have so many options when using it. I think it could be neat to use in the classroom.

What are some of the ethical or practical challenges of using this tool?

• There are a few challanges that I can think of when it comes to using Chat GPT. When using a program like this there will always be bias involved and not all information will be completely well rounded. When using this program we would really need to be aware of this because what is generated is based on what AI thinks we want to see. Another challange I would anticiapte would be plagerism and this is what I can see happening with students. Using these programs is okay but we need to make sure we are properly referencing our information and where we get it from. I do think it is scary to use AI and it is worrisome how much our students might become dependant on AI itself.

Overall, I do think that Chat GPT can be a great tool for us teachers to use and our students. I am not extremely familar with this tool but I think once I start using it I will feel more comfortable with it. I think integrating AI into the classroom is daunting because of the lack of experience. I do think that it is going to become increasingly popular in our classrooms so we might as well ge use to it now. If we can educate our students on how to properly use these programs, it might be more successful for us.

What might it look like to teach about digital literacy in your subject area/grade range?

• When reading the article, How do we teach students to identify fake news I was able to learn about ways we as teachers can eduacte our students on digital literacy. It stuck out to me now that in the world we are in today, there are so many different digital tools we can use and have access to that we never had even twenty years ago. Digital literacy is very important and we need to eduacte our students on the dangers that can come from it. From the above article, I was able to learn about a variety of different verification webesites we can share with our students so they can fact check and figure out if what they are reading or investigating is true or not. If I were to implement something like this into my own grade nine classroom, I would give my students a varity of websites or resources and they would have to use the verification websites or using fact checking to figure out if what they are seeing is fact and real or not. I think it is important that we incorperate real-world fake news examples that we can encounter every day into our classrooms so that our students can connect and be challanged to think about real situations that are happening.

• “Ultimately, in a world where it is increasingly dangerous to simply trust what we read and see, it is critical that students are taught to approach the world around them with a healthy sense of skepticism to avoid being misled, duped, or scammed.” Right in the article this was posted at the bottom and it was a full circle moment. It is so important that we eduacte and teach our students what is saffe and how to figure out what is real or fake.

What general ties can you make to the curriculum?

I chose to pull up the Saskatchewan Curriculum and go to the grade 9 outcomes under English Language Arts. AR 9.2 a) Assess own and others’ work for clarity, correctness, and impact. In a grade nine classroom we could connect fact checking and use fake news in our daily lesson plans. With outcome AR 9.2(a) we could incorperate checking websites and news and checking if it is fake or reliable. As I explained above, I would provide my students with a varity of websites or resources and they would have to use the verification websites or using fact checking to figure out if what they are seeing is fact and real or not. By completing this in together we can tie into the curriculum with our learning of fake news and digital literacy. When reading the It’s Easier To Call A Fact A Fact When It’s One You Like, Study Finds, I learned that in general they found people were better at correctly identifying a factual statement if it aligned with or supported their political beliefs. I think this is interesting and it is something I never really thought about but now it makes sense. If we read something about a topic we enjoy or believe in we most likely will believe its true or maybe we will believe its fake. We must remember how bias does play a role in fake news and it can make it harder for us to decide and figure out what is true or not. Bias is always something we will face and this is usually why we all will fall to fake news. The What is “Fake News”? article discusses all different types of bias we can face. Magazines are a great source of fake news which is something many of us have access to. I actually think this article was great at explaining fake news and all the biases we face so defiently think you should check it out!

How would you incorporate the goals of the NCTE framework?

I think as teachers we must take into account the NCTE framework goals. How might we incorperate these into our classroom? Well I think we could more than likely incorperate these in our classrooms. I decided to include the goals that were right from the NCTE framework website.

• Participate effectively and critically in a networked world, as explained we could make sure our students are using and exploring resources that are best fitting what they are needing it for.
• Explore and engage critically, thoughtfully, and across a wide variety of inclusive texts and tools/modalities, it is important our students use a variety of tools and seek out many different viewpoints to widen their own perspectives.
• Advocate for equitable access to and accessibility of texts, tools, and information, providing our students equal opportunity and acess to a variety of tools so that they can fully use them and use them to their best ability. Making sure we have different tools such as access to digital tools and printed tools as well.
• Build intentional global and cross-cultural connections and relationships with others so to pose and solve problems collaboratively and strengthen independent thought, we can use both face-to-face and virtual environments for our students, working in groups and individually.
• Promote culturally sustaining communication and recognize the bias and privilege present in the interactions, our students should feel safe to bring up any questions they have and be in a safe space as well as being in a shared space with others who share different values and beliefs.
• Examine the rights, responsibilities, and ethical implications of the use and creation of information, our students should be sharing information that is ethical and informative. Our students need to respect and follow copyright rules and obligations.
• Determine how and to what extent texts and tools amplify one’s own and others’ narratives as well as counter unproductive narratives, our students need to be able to honor their cultural backgrounds while using digital tools and feel safe in their learning space.

In today’s world, we really must be careful with what we place on the internet. Years ago, when I was a teenager I truly did not realize how harmful the internet can be. One thing that stuck out to me was when one of our classmates said that we must be careful, you will never know how it could harm us in the years to come. What we put on the internet at a young age, can affect us when we are wanting to get hired on at a job. I never thought of this, it wasn’t even a thought that crossed my mind. It never occured to me how many actions on the internet could harm me now how many years later. I however, am very lucky I did not put anything on the internet that could harm me now and this I am thankful for.

During class we were asked to look up our name and see what comes up when we look ourselves up. I was actually really shocked, I was able to see back in 2010 and the sports teams I was playing on. I was also able to see my Facebook profile and all of my blog posts. I know now to be extremely careful with what I place on the internet. I am thankful that I have an online identity that does not portray myself in a negative way. I am extremely careful now with what I put on the internet not only for myself but for my daughter. I ended up searching my daughters name and thankfully nothing even came up. I am going to make sure to be extra dilegant especially for my daughter because she cannot consent to having herself on the internet at such a young age. Relfecting on digital footprints, moving forward I want to ensure my child’s safety because the internet can be a really terrifying place.

Cyber Vigilantism and Cyber Shaming

Cyber Vigilantism and cyber shaming is becoming increasinly apparent in the online world today. It is upsetting to me to know that there are people out there that will hide behind their screens and bully and harass individuals out there that they don’t even know. In class, many of us discussed how you shouldn’t ever have to live your life being stalked and harassed because of a mistake you made. I firmly believe that everyone makes mistakes but we shouldn’t be trolled and stalked or harassed because of these mistakes.

One thing that really sticks out to me is that there is a longlasting impact that is placed on indivudals. Amanda Todd’s case is heart wrenching. Amanda was a young girl who committed suicide becuase of the longlasting effects of cyber-bullying. I know this documentery that we were asked to watch was one that many of us unfortunately have been aware of. This is terribly upsetting and it is something that will always be impactful for me. I firmly believe that there are many poeple out there that hide behind a screen and will say things that have really harmful effects on others.

What does this all mean??

This is simple and I think we must all follow these things. Educating oursleves and our students on how the internet can be a dangerous place and we must be careful is important. By educating our students we can show them what is safe or unsafe on the internet and how we must always be kind to others always. Something I always have lived by is, if you cannot say it to the person’s face, chances are you shouldn’t say it at all. We must be kind to everyone even when others are not kind to us and this is something I will always instill in people around me.