Reflection #6 – Week 8 (Week 7 was reading break)

This week our POD groups presented our mini presentations on our inquiry topics and the research we have conducted thus far. The topics that were covered are internet safety, video game effects, gender identity, screentime impacts, chatbots, gamified learning (my group’s topic), and social media impacts. All of these topics related to material that may be useful to us as future teachers because the research is based around children and the effects that these digital themes have on their learning and them as a whole. After each presentation, everyone provided the group presenting with two stars and a wish on Padlet so that every group would have some suggestions of what they might want to look at when continuing with their research.

After the presentations were finished we had a short lecture on the SAMR model. SAMR stands for substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition. A substitution looks like a direct tool substitute (eg. typing something out instead of writing it by hand). Augmentation looks like a functional improvement to help with productivity (eg. power point to go along with oral presentation). A modification would look like a significant redesign of a task (eg. podcast or video presentation). Lastly, redefinition looks like the creation of a new task that seemed inconceivable before (eg. publishing presentation online, or getting help from others around the world). The goal of this model is to help students transfer their learning. This transfer of learning happens between the augmentation stage and modification stage. To help us understand the model better, we went into breakout groups where we were given a scenario and we had to apply the different steps to it. We then posted our answers on Padlet.

This week’s tool of the week is Classroomscreen. Classroomscreen is a website where you can have a screen projected throughout the day for students to reference instead of having a blank screen. Some things that you can add to the screen are reminders, instructions, timers, noise meters, randomizers, timetables, stickers, and more. Another cool thing that you can add to your screen is a poll that students can fill out. The url and a passcode is given to students where they can then access and complete the poll. This website allows for a free trial, afterwards, it is $3 per month.