edci336 – Page 2

19 October 2020

Benefits of using video

Using video as a learning tool can be a great way to engage student and present info that may be difficult or not as exciting to present otherwise.
Presenting classes via pre-recorded video also allows students to review lessons afterwards, and re-watching can help clarify info for those who may not be comfortable asking questions aloud.

I’ve listed below some ways in which video can be used as a helpful, learning tool to help boost a lesson.

Helps answer questions

Like the 1878 clip of the horse running, video can help us gain the tools to speed up, slow down, manipulate, or see from a different perspective things that would be difficult to know otherwise.

Before this recording, people were unsure whether or not a running horse ever had all hooves off the ground at once. Using a series of photographs to create a video, they were able to show that this was the case.

Captions

A huge part of making a classroom inclusive is making sure that learning resources are available for all students. Using a video with captions is a hugely helpful way for those who are hard of hearing or Deaf to be able to learn and participate in the lesson at hand. These captions can be added by the content creator, or if the video is being uploaded on Youtube, there’s a handy tool that creates (mostly) accurate captions for you.
Additionally, it’s important to note that captions can be useful for all learners. Hearing the audio while reading along is a good practice for reading skills and helps in taking in the info being presented.

Read-a-long

In a similar vein, read-a-long stories allow student to read along to stories while watching the pictures on the screen. Some read-a-longs offer highlighted words to follow and animations.

Timelapses

These are a fun way to show something that would take too long to show in class, but is significant to know.

Screencasts

Screencasts are videos of someone talking over a separate screen (ex: a powerpoint presentation or animated clip). These are useful if explaining diagrams, charts, or images. They also handy in explaining processes for detailed written works like math equations. Khan Academy is a popular, but well done example of using these effectively.

18 October 2020

Bake 1 – Basic boules

After a week and a half of feeding my starters I was starting to get the feeling that they were ready to use. In both the whole wheat and the white, I was seeing consistent growth, increased bubbles (a great sign of fermentation!), and they were both smelling tangy and yogurt-y. Although the whole wheat starter was fermenting a lot quicker than the white, I felt they were both ready to bake.

To bake both of them, I followed the exact same recipe and the exact same method to ensure I would get an accurate comparison of how the different starters effect the process and flavour. I kept things simple by going with a classic white sourdough boule recipe from The Sourdough School, and followed the retarded method.

Recipe

225g leaven*
735g water
800g white flour
200g stone ground whole-wheat flour
20g sea salt

*Leaven:
35g sourdough starter
100g flour of choice
100g water at 86F

Method

The retarded method (vs. the ambient method) gets the dough fermenting at room temperature, then leaving it overnight in the fridge to slow down the yeast and get more acetic acid developing. The process, start to finish- takes up to 3 days due to this slowed down ferment, but results in a more sour, light-vinegary flavoured loaf, which is my personal preference in a sourdough.
This method also produces a more digestible and nutritionally dense loaf, as an added bonus.

Results

Whole-wheat
Although it’s not the most beautiful loaf, I would deem this first attempt a success. There was a decent amount of rise, the loaf was not too dense and the crumby was nice and airy.
The flavour was a touch sour, but mostly hearty, grainy, and a saltier than the white loaf (though not too salty), despite having the same ingredient measurements.

White/All-purpose
This loaf was less impressive… the starter was much less active than the whole wheat one, so it’s pretty clear to see after baking that it just wasn’t mature enough yet. I ended up with a pretty dense, flat loaf that we ended up making into croutons; the silver lining of bad bakes – it can just be made into another tasty, bready treat.
I was surprised, given the immature starter, that I was able to taste a difference in flavour between this and the whole-wheat loaf. Although it was subtle, this loaf definitely had a more sour tang to it, similar to milk or yogurt. It was a cleaner taste with a bit of sweetness to it.

I’m looking forward to maturing both of the starters and seeing how more fermentation changes the bake.

-Megan B.

4 October 2020

Social media & digital privacy

This week’s class topic was presented by Jesse Miller of Mediated Reality, and expert in the world of effectively and safety integrating social media into business and education. He offered a fresh point of view on a couple topics that I wouldn’t have thought of, and gave great reminders about things like our own digital privacy.

As someone who is not hugely into tech, Jesse’s talk left me with a few tidbits (and kicks in the butt) that I’ll be holding onto in regards to not fighting technology, but rather embracing it in the classroom. He mentioned the practice of some schools taking student cellphones, or not allowing them at all in schools or classrooms at all as being archaic. The idea of disallowing cellphone use was not a hot button topic on my radar, but I can see now that it can be a big deal to students, teachers, and parents alike. I really loved the example he gave of a class schedule he has seen to be effective in terms of incorporating cellphone use at designated times to dissuade students to use them during class time. Even such a simple example as the one he gave was eye opening to me, and absolutely something I want to keep in mind for the future.

In terms of personal technology use, Jesse brought up some great reminders and pointers for us future-teachers to think about. Social media leaves a bread crumb trail of the things we’ve said and the photos we’ve posted; it’s so important for us to think about the people that may find these things, whether it be employers, students, parents, or colleagues. This online version of ourselves needs to be tailored to be an extension of how we’d want to portray ourselves to these people in-person. Additionally, being teachers specifically puts us under a bigger microscope in that even a harmless photo of an educator holding alcohol is reason enough to get in trouble.

It was interesting to do the activity he suggested; doing a google search of your name and location to see what may pop up if someone were to look you up online. Not surprisingly, as someone with an incredibly generic name, I couldn’t even find myself through multiple different searches! I guess this is the upside of only having one social media account that is set to private.

Jesse’s talk was thought provoking and his messages are ones that I will keep with me through the different stages of my teaching career, as the technologies that learners bringing into the classroom change.