new to teaching but old to the love of learning

Category: Exploring and Enhancing Pedagogy

Video conferencing class

To begin today’s class we started with changing our environment from Macluarian to the video conferencing room in Clearihue building  where we were met with a 51st-century experience of a room that contained dozens of mics, sound-absorbent walls, and cameras that had the power to find the speaker in the room and zoom in on them talking. We attempted to have a video conference lesson however technology does fail and sadly we had to say goodbye to our virtual teacher. We had initial questions that made us think about pedagogical and modality approached practices. We were asked to compare face-to-face interactions with online ones to try to think about why both are important, beneficial and why people have different opinions on both methods.

Why is face to face experience important in class? 

-Face to face interaction allows students a mutual understanding with the teacher

-It makes the students feel more engaged and forces them to stay alert

Should an instructor’s preference override students’ accessibility?

-I think it depends on the teacher’s values if they believe that their pedagogy rules over students accessibility then they may think that it is up to the student to adapt their own lives to attend their class in the way the teacher prefers, and sometimes this isn’t physically or mentally possible for the student.

Should Modality bias exist?

-Yes

Comparing face-to-face classes and online programs you can relate them to the levels of exclusivity, segregative, integration and inclusivity aspects.  According to the diagram shown, face-to-face instruction can be seen as exclusive as it does not allow the chance for everyone to attend and learn. A segregated comparison would be having the same class in a face-to-face version and an online version. Inclusion comparing these two pedagogies is having either virtual conferences or using one of the robots that allow for artificial movement and being there. A major question that we need to think about as future educators are how can we destruct modality bias to seek what we want to achieve (inclusion and learning)

Another pretty cool thing we got to see and learn about today was a cool little robot man who has the ability to move around a class while projecting an image of the person controlling the robot from a different area. This robot was very neat as it allows for an inclusive classroom environment for students who may not be able to attend because of mental or physical reasons.

Also, It was very cute and we had the opportunity to scare lots of bystanders.

 

 

 

Mine of the craft

Today we had a creative workshop all about Mindcraft. We had a couple of little Minecraft geniuses from Colquitz Middle School come with their teacher to teach us the basics of the computer game. We learned the different ways teachers use Minecraft as a cross-curriculum platform to teach. They use the creative modes to allow children to express their artistic vision and help children show their creativity in architecture, pictures, and designs. The teachers also use the game as a resource for science, physics, and social studies, using the environmental aspects and resourcefulness mindset of the game. Kids can learn about the ecosystem, conservation, what humans need to have and access to survive and overall can work on their teamwork skills with their classmates.

This was my first hands-on experience with Minecraft. On my Wednesday visits, I have watched my class in their schools MAClab using Minecraft as a fun educational tool where they all share one Minecraft world and create their own spaces. In our Minecraft workshop, we were allowed to experiment with the variety of different modes Minecraft has including the creative world and the survival world. I had no idea what I was doing the whole time so I required the help of the middle school children and Teya to maneuver me around the world of pixellated land.

 

Below are some screenshots of what I saw and experienced while gaming on Minecraft:

 

This is the first photo of me in Minecraft, my name is kirbabyteytey (hence the combination of Teya and I’s name)

This is my first super cool house made out of pink wool, the inspiration for my house was to be built around trees and also have a beautiful skylight (not purposeful since I didn’t know how to make a roof). The image on the left you can tell is filled with hundreds of animals, this was not my creative choice, however, it made my home feel more comforting and loving.

The highlight of my gaming today was when Teya made and showed me what “The Nether” is. It is a magical blue glowing portal that takes you into a firey, lava-filled world.