Month: October 2024

Weekly Summary

This week we discussed the negatives and positives of sketch-noting and infographics. Sketchnotes are a way to take personal notes that in theory should help with recall and retention. It can help with memory/recall since you are “Dual coding” the information by writing and drawing a simple sketch.

Above are my sketches from the libraries sketchnoting workshop “skill building” activity. I will definitely be implementing sketchnotes into my notes moving forward since I do tend to doodle anyways so it may as well be helpful and connected to the material.

In Class Work

I decided to make a sketchnote page geared towards english speakers interested in Spanish. I included greetings, food from Spain, common phrases, a resource to easily access Spanish movies/subtitles, where Spanish is spoke in the world and a very brief bit of info on the origins of the language.

How could sketchnotes be used among different grades?

I think with very young students sketchnotes would be helpful to aid in learning the “basics” in any subject. Adding drawing to spelling lessons would be a great way to add multimedia and dual coding to the lesson, aiding learners and giving them different ways to try and recall the information.

I think incorporating sketch notes into lessons for older students would be extremely helpful for a few reasons. First of all it shows them a way to take notes that might actually work for them. When I started university I felt so lost on how to take good notes, my teachers never taught me any note taking strategies beyond highlighting. Through teaching students different note taking strategies and styles we are setting them up for success in their futures, weather they choose to go to post-secondary, take on the work force, travel, invent, etc. as taking notes is not limited to a school setting. Sketchnoting is also a great way to practice UDL and provide learners with a different way to engage and participate.

Feature image from Pixabay

Class summary

In this week’s class we discussed accessibility. Why it’s important, who may need/benefit from accessible tech/spaces, and how we can make small adjustments to our websites to make them more accessible and user friendly.

Example 1: Accessible Photos

Pictures are an amazing tool in education. We have already discussed in class the benefits of including images in our lessons, opposed to only speaking/text. While images are great it is important to keep in mind that people struggle with a wide range of vision impairment. We should be doing everything we can to provide accessible resources so everyone can benefit from the lesson material. One way we can do this is by including alternative/descriptive text boxes.

If I was teaching someone how to make different kinds or coffee/ran a barista blog it would be super helpful to include photo descriptions for a few reasons. It would make me website more accessible and user friendly for those who cannot see the photos. It would also be helpful because all coffee looks pretty similar and you can’t rely on visuals to know what something is. By including alternative text someone can figure out exactly what they are looking at without having to read though the entire blog.

Example 2: Accessible Videos

Much like Rich mentioned in class, accessible videos are a great tool for both folks with and without hearing loss/issues. I have found closed captioning to be super helpful in many different scenarios from school settings, to public places and at home. I also think playback speed it a great accessibility tool. Both captions and adjustable playback speed are available through Youtube. Below I’ve included a Youtube video I made, showing a website I love to check leading up to concerts called Setlist.FM .

Digital Accessibility Practices Often Skipped?

A digital accessibility practice I see missed commonly, even among UVic professors, is providing documents that can be put through text to speech software. This most commonly occurs when a professor/website provides a scan/picture of a physical page(s) in a book or when a resource doesn’t allow users the copy function if they have highlighted text. I understand it chan be an annoying extra task but I think it’s only reasonable to either exclude readings which cannot be properly formatted or put in the work to fix the formatting/type everything up into a suitable format if it is a class required reading.

I definitely didn’t consider how my websites colours could cause some issues for those with visual impairments until I put my website through WAVE this week. I’m glad I know now and have changed it to be easier to see. It’s definitely something I’ll keep in mind moving forward.

Feature image – Pixabay

This week we learned about and tried 3D design and printing. This week’s class felt more like a lab than our traditional classes, which was a nice change of pace. We met in the digital scholarship commons for a short lesson on some of the practical uses for 3D printing/design in the classroom from two guests, Brittany and Cam. After the short lesson we spent about an hour designing an item on tinkerCAD to be 3D printed, I made a keychain. (Image below, it says “Kenndawg”)

I think 3D printing/design could be a great classroom resource for many subject, especially indigenous language revitalization. If I were to create an indigenous language revitalization tool with 3D printing I would start by getting the proper education I need around the topic to help in a meaningful and indigenous led way. My current idea for this tech would be sourcing buttons that speak when you press down and can be customized. Then I’d use a resource like First Voices to download words and phrases being spoken in my school’s local indigenous language(s) and put those downloads on the buttons. Then I would 3D print the words/phrases and put them on the buttons or if that didn’t work I would try to colour coordinate in some way so students could match up the 3D prints to the correct buttons. I feel like that would be an easy and accessible way for all students to spend time hearing/learning the local indigenous language. My hope with this would mainly be to introduce students to the language and help them start recognizing common words/phrases local school elders/indigenous speakers may use when speaking to a class or assembly. I went to school on the T’Sou-ke First Nation from grade 1 to 12 and was given a lot of great opportunities throughout all stages of my education to learn about our local indigenous history, culture, practices and language. I had many presentations, assemblies, classes, etc. taught by indigenous knowledge holders, elders and teachers who would speak in our local language such as SENĆOŦEN. While I only remember a few words, it’s still more then many students ever get to learn, and me remember a few words years after I have graduated shows the impact that speaking/repeating these languages can have on the efforts to revitalize them.

I think the current negatives of using 3D printers in schools are the cost and safety which are both things that can change over time. I think the possible benefits far outweigh the cons since having access to a 3D printer in the classroom opens the door of lesson opportunities and the ability to create seemingly anything in some way, shape or form. If you are teaching kindies you can 3D print different fine motor skill activities, or teach advanced shapes and angles to middle schoolers. You could help a grade 12 students with their capstone project on 3D printing, the opportunities are endless. I’m not sure if 3D printers have become a common resource in public schools or education system as a whole yet but I hope to see them gain popularity/become more accessible during my career.

Feature photo- Unsplash