Another week packed with information that will serve us well for our future navigation in the XXI century classrooms. We had a very knowledgeable guest speaker from Mediate Reality: Jesse Miller. I found Jesse to be very open to questions and with a very positive outlook regarding the use of technology in the classroom as a learning aid/tool. Jesse highlighted the fact that classrooms/education must keep up with the world around us.  Here in Canada, we use our devices daily and are very much attached to them, and in many ways, we depend on them. Jesse argued that when used properly and safely, students can engage in the many activities/possibilities offered by mobile devices, thus enrich their academic experience. Furthermore, he focused on the idea of teaching kids how to be safe online rather than scare them into not using certain “Apps” to protect them from the many online dangers we have all heard about. There was some discontent about how some of the questions regarding the psychological effects of the use of social media were answered. This is a greater topic for discussion, and we should have a deeper and longer dive into it. Afterall, social media is a very powerful and persuasive tool used by huge corporation to decimate all kinds of information/misinformation with their “bottom-line” in mind…always. These companies don’t do what they do for the good of humanity… no matter what they tell us.

Another aspect that was super interesting about Jesse’s presentation were his warnings about the risks associated with using social media unprofessionally. This is something that we, as teachers, must be vigilant about. We always have to be aware of what potential risks we are taking every time we use our devices to engage both professionally and personally as teachers. We must protect the privacy of our pupils and follow the policies instituted by whatever district we end up working for. This will ensure we don’t get in trouble and the safety of our students. 

Big big topic with lots to discuss about still… 

Photo by Firmbee.com on Unsplash