Journey to New Beginnings: Incorporating Digital Technologies into My Educational Practice

For my final vision project, I chose to create a Google website using Bitmoji. I had previously seen Bitmoji classrooms throughout the province’s transition to online learning following the COVID-19 pandemic. I was very intrigued. Not only were they visually pleasing, but also quite interactive for students attempting to work from home. I already had a Bitmoji that I had been using for Snapchat with friends, so I figured why not extend its use and incorporate it into a virtual classroom. I felt that it was a great way to get students interested as it wasn’t in the traditional website format they were used to seeing. Students were encouraged to explore by clicking objects which directed them to lessons and videos relating to curricular competencies. I knew that I had to jump on board!

The process of putting together the virtual classroom itself was a lot of fun. I felt much like Tucker when he had been given the go ahead to create a Minecraft account. I don’t consider myself to be a tech savvy person so it didn’t take long for me to hit my first technological roadblock along the way. Fortunately, there was a plethora of YouTube tutorials and websites to help me navigate my way through. It wasn’t long and I was well on my way to decorating the perfect virtual space for my students to congregate. I even found myself extending my website to include a graphic syllabus. The possibilities seemed endless.

I remember I was watching my kids play on the back deck one afternoon. I was trying to figure out how to insert a personalized banner when Richardson’s words “real learning happens anytime, anywhere, with anyone we like” which had me think about my ability to access online tutorials through a few simple clicks on my computer (53). Just about anything I wanted to know I could find, from the comfort of my back deck. It was overwhelming at times, but I made sure to take breaks and allow my head to absorb all of this new information. The next phase for me will be figuring out how to make my digital space interactive and educational in regards to curricular content.

When reflecting upon my learning throughout this course I was somewhat frustrated at the lack of time educators are given by employers to explore, create, collaborate, and play. While I understand that we have a great deal to accomplish throughout the school year, I strongly believe that we need to allow ourselves some time to engage with digital technologies that are of interest to us. As much as I wanted to play around with different technological tools presented at professional development days in the past, I found they were often forgotten about in the business of the school year. My notebook is full of new technologies I want to explore this coming year. My goal is to do more than simply file them away. This course for me, has been the necessary nudge towards incorporating new digital technologies in my practice. I have to learn them soon, or they will be obsolete as a new wave emerges with more options and better graphics than their predecessors.

Overall, I am quite happy with how my google website has turned out. Clearly it is still in a draft phase and needs much more work before I am ready to promote it for student use, but it is a start. As I learn more about my new position this fall, I hope to make alterations to my virtual classroom to better suit my school and students. This course has really helped me to evolve my understanding of the importance of digital technologies, not only in the library, but in everyday life. Rather than shy away from the discomforts that I have been feeling with technology, I need to embrace the skills and relevance they offer to my educational practice. It has been a blessing to have been given an opportunity to explore and create something that I can use in the coming school year. What a wonderful way to end my summer coursework!

Here is the link to my Google site (still under construction): https://sites.google.com/view/mrs-lanes-website/home

References:

District Calendar. (2020, August 04). Retrieved August 13, 2020, from https://sd83.bc.ca/district-calendar/

Mindfulness Exercises. (2019, September 11). Retrieved August 13, 2020, from https://www.anxietycanada.com/articles/mindfulness-exercises/

Richardson, W. (2012). Why School?: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere. [E-book] TED Talks.

Staff, E. (2020, January 01). The Free Automatic Bibliography Composer. Retrieved August 13, 2020, from https://www.easybib.com/