Rich McCue

Week 2 – Most Likely to Succeed, AI, FIPPA & Inquiry Topics

Welcome to Week 2 of our class! The first week or so is always a learning curve as we set up our various tools and get oriented to BOTH the pedagogy of this class as well as the technology. I will support you through this process and plan to meet you this week or next in 1-1 meetings to talk about your free inquiry topics.

As you’ll notice below, I’m including the learning outcomes for the week in my weekly topic outline in order to help you better understand what my expectations are for the class each week. I will continue to include Pre-Class items to be completed before our class time each week.

The class outline covers what we will work on in face-to-face class. The homework section is a list of things that I’d recommend you complete in the 3 days after class so that when the Weekly Topic email arrives on day 3 you’re ready to start on the pre-class work for the next class. Here is a visualization of the new weekly format:

We will discuss this new format at the beginning of class this week, so if you have any questions, suggestions, or concerns, please bring them to class with you.

Learning Objectives

  • Describe the key points of BC Privacy laws as they relate to education
  • Discuss the pros and cons of the pedagogy used by the school in the Most Likely to Succeed documentary
  • Identify the differences between a Lesson Plan and a Learning Plan
  • Describe the difference between Free Inquiry & Guided Inquiry in relation to the major class assignments
  • Discuss the pros and cons of using ChatGPT in K-12
  • Setup PLN feed in Feedly and/or Twitter
  • Use Trello, if desired, for the project management of major assignments for this course (and other courses if desired)
  • Find freely licensed images and correctly use and attribute them
  • Create blog posts for this course using the provided rubrics, including a critical lens when reviewing educational technologies & pedagogies, that include hyperlinks, images, videos, and attribution
  • Signup for a learning Pod and Participate in your first Learning Pod meeting

Pre-class Activities

Please complete the following homework in preparation for our class this week:

  1. Grab some popcorn and watch Most Likely to Succeed Film (96 min). Please take notes on what you find interesting, and questions/critiques you have for our in-class discussion.
  2. Watch Education as if people mattered TED Talk video by Jeff Hopkins (12 min):

  3. Think strategically about your free inquiry topic (Assignment 1) and education technology interest (Assignment 2) for sharing & feedback with Rich in your 1-1 meetings via Zoom this week or next. 

Class Time

(No need to work through this unless you are unwell and not able to make it to our class time)

Most Likely to Succeed

Think about the “Most Likely to Succeed” Film, and if possible discuss the following questions with a classmate (5 min):

  • Do you agree with the film’s assertion that we need to re-imagine education, or is the status quo more or less satisfactory?
  • What do you think stops educators from shifting to these approaches?
  • What might this look like in your context?
  • What concerns or excites you about this approach?

In your mind what is the difference between Lesson Plan vs Learning Plan (2 min):

Free Inquiry & Educational Technology Presentation Q&A

ChatGPT logoThe Great EdTEch Debate: ChatGPT AI Edition

“ChatGPT, the new artificial intelligence tool that can write remarkably cogent essays on any topic based on simple prompts, is sparking intense debates among educators about the nature and purpose of modern teaching methods — and how to sniff out plagiarists.” – Jennifer A. Kingson

ChatGPT Annimated GIF answering a question.
ChatGPT answering a question about the usefulness of Academic Makerspace Informal Credentials.

 

As you read the short article below by Jennifer A. Kingson, titled “Friend or foe? Teachers debate ChatGPT“, please as yourself the following questions:

  • Can you think of other technologies in the past that have been when introduced and were seen in some academic disciplines as “tools for cheating?”
  • If ChatGPT can write compelling essays when given an essay assignment description, does that mean for English teachers traditional composition curriculums?
  • Could tools like ChatGPT be helpful to teachers? If so how?
  • Could tools like ChatGPT be used as tools to facilitate assignments or inquiries? If so, how?

ARTICLE: Friend or foe? Teachers debate ChatGPT

This is completely optional, but if you’d like to create a free account on the ChatGPT website, and if you do, ask it some questions, or try some of the following prompts:

  • Explain Things: Like I did in the animated GIF above where I asked it to explain whether or not Informal Credentialling is useful for academic Makerspce users in finding jobs.
  • Explain Like I am 6 years old:  E.g. “Explain gravitational force like a 6-year-old.”
  • Explain in a Particular Style: E.g. “Explain gravitational force in the language of the King James Bible.”
  • Get Ideas for AI Art, Decoration, Party Themes: E.g. “Give me party ideas for the birthday party of a 21 year old”
  • Write Programming code: E.g. “Write a Python script for a game of tic-tac-toe.”
  • Translate text: Get a details explanation of the translation. “How do you say ‘where is the bus stop’ in Spanish?”
  • Find Answers to Homework and Assignment Questions: E.g. “What are common examples of things around the home that are acids and bases?”

ChatGPT Fails

I prompted ChatGPT to, “Write and Essay on the Pros and Cons of EdTech in K-12.” I’ll summarize it’s reasonable response below (reasonable to a non expert at least):

  • “More interactive and engaging learning experiences.”
  • “Personalized learning experiences, which can help to meet the unique needs of each student.”
  • “Can be expensive to purchase and maintain.”
  • “Not all teachers may be comfortable or trained in using the technology.”
  • “Can lead to a decrease in socialization and collaboration, which are important aspects of the learning process.”
  • “Excessive use of technology in the classroom can lead to a decrease in critical thinking skills.”

Notice that there is NO MENTION OF PRIVACY! This is a hug oversight and an excellent example of how ChatGPT can be a useful tool, it is not perfect, and can at the very least make significant errors of omission.

ChatGPT Discussion

  • How do you think high school students will use tools like ChatGPT in the coming weeks and months?
  • What types of activities or assignments would ChatGPT help students complete (with or without teacher support)?
  • What types of meaningful activities or assignments would students not be able to use ChatGPT to substantially complete?

Project Management with Trello

Trello is an optional but recommended tool. It is great for organizational purposes and project management and I encourage you to try it out.

  • Setup a Trello board & Start on your Free Inquiry Learning Plan using the Trello template we have created for EDCI 336.
  • Generate a free inquiry question and add it to Trello (or another document if you aren’t using Trello)
  • Generate research sub-questions and add them to cards in Trello (or another document if you aren’t using Trello) (3 min)

Please don’t forget to sign up for 1-1 meetings this week or next to talk to Rich about your free inquiry topic or possible topics. Even if you don’t have a potential topic identified, please setup a meeting earlier than later so that Rich can give you some suggestions and guidance.

Lab Time

Setting up your PLN/Managing Feeds

Why Personal Learning Networks (or PLN’s)?  

Twitter as PLN infrastructure. Optionally set up a Twitter account :

Optionally log on to Tweetdeck with your Twitter credentials (if you choose to use Twitter).

In Tweetdeck, follow #edci336 #edci336news #edtechbc #bcedchat #bclearns and perhaps others like #uviced #uvic #edchat #edtech & districts like #sd61learn #sd63 #sd36learn (see the video below on how to follow hashtags in TweetDeck).

What interesting topics are being discussed in the feeds you’ve subscribed to?

Open Educational Resources

What is an Open Educational Resource or OER?  “Open educational resources should be freely shared through open licences which facilitate use, revision, translation, improvement and sharing by anyone. Resources should be published in formats that facilitate both use and editing, and that accommodate a diversity of technical platforms.” – Cape Town Open Education Declaration

Where can I find OER lesson plans or activities that I could use in my classroom?

  • An example of a general K-12 OER portal website is the OER Commons. Please browse around the OER Commons website, and search for lesson plans and activities for the grade levels you’d like to teach and subjects you’re interested in. You might want to bookmark this website!
  • PLN via Twitter is another great way to find resources from like-minded teachers.
  • An example of a subject-specific OER website is the Hour of Code. It has hundreds of lesson plans, not only for math and coding skills, but most lesson plans are co-curricular, so include a coding component, and additionally language arts, social studies, art, or science-based elements.

Images for blog posts: Finding royalty-free images you can use free of charge in your blog posts and elsewhere – Unsplash, Pexels, The Noun Project, Public Domain Vectors (5 min video):

Learning Pod Time & Homework

Learning Pods

Homework

Weekly blog posts to document your learning in class and to document progress on your inquiries.  (30 min)

  1. Weekly Reflection Blog Post (if you didn’t have time to do it in class):
    • Review the 336 Blog Post Rubrics to make sure you’re including all the minimally required elements for your weekly blog posts.
    • Here is a sample high-quality weekly blog post on the topic and/or technology of the week.
    • Please incorporate a personal or properly-attributed CC image into your blog post.
    • Blog prompts (use three or more, or speak to things that stood out to you from this week’s topics):
      • Do we need to reimagine education?
      • What obstacles to educators face when they try to change pedagogy?
      • What concerns you and/or excites you about this approach?
      • Pros & cons of Lesson Plans vs Learning Plans?
      • What are the potential benefits of developing a robust PLN?
      • What are the potential benefits of using Creative Commons-licensed images in my blog posts?
  2. Weekly Free Inquiry Blog Post:
    • Review the 336 Blog Post Rubrics to make sure you’re including all the minimally required elements for your weekly blog posts.
    • Here is a sample high-quality weekly blog post on the topic and/or technology of the week.
    • Blog prompts (use three or more):
      • What is your free inquiry topic (if you’ve chosen it)?
      • If you haven’t chosen a topic yet what are some topics you are considering?
      • With this assignment, what are you excited about? What are you unsure about?
      • What are your next steps in your Free Inquiry project?
  3. It is very important that you fill out the Learning Pathway & Consent before next class.
  4. Review Trevor McKenzie’s Inquiry-based learning posters. The posters are very helpful for free inquiry projects (5 min).
  5. If you haven’t already, please use PSII tools to start to plan your inquiry (and select a topic or two to choose from if you haven’t already) 
  6. If you haven’t already, please Book a 1-1 Meeting  with Rich to discuss your individual Free Inquiry and group Guided Assignments.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

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