Three tools

A response to the I’m an Experimenter! Activity
created by Lynne Kennette (@LynneKennette)

Number of views: 270

Below are my responses to the reflection questions:

1. Which three experimenter activities did you choose to complete and why? Include links to your Activity Bank responses.

I chose to make a GIF because I had never made one before: https://bank.ecampusontario.ca/response/scientific-method/

I chose a virtual field trip-type of activity because psychology doesn’t usually lend itself to that, so I wanted to challenge myself: https://bank.ecampusontario.ca/response/worldwide-research/

I have always wanted to make an infographic, so I made one: https://bank.ecampusontario.ca/response/nature-versus-nature/

2. Identify and explain three overall lessons learned from experimenting with these three activities. How might you use these activities going forward in your teaching practice?

Being forced to experiment with some new tools is quite beneficial. I think as instructors, we tend to stick with what we’re familiar with, but there are always new tools coming out, so it’s to our advantage to check them out. I remember a couple of years ago when I discovered Padlet, I was amazed at all the uses I had for it (I didn’t complete the Padlet activity because I wanted to play around with new things). I think I will continue to explore the tools in the other activities I did not complete for this module. Maybe over Christmas break! 🙂  I also think that sharing our newly discovered tools with our colleagues is important as is being receptive to learning from others about what they do to support their students’ learning. Going forward, then, I will be sharing the new tools I have discovered (and soliciting information from my colleagues about their tools).

3. You were asked to complete at least one experimenter activity on a tablet or a smartphone. Identify the activity completed and on what type of mobile device? Then, identify and explain the advantages and challenges of using this technology tool on a mobile device. Comment on how you might plan for an upcoming assignment to be completed on a tablet or a smartphone. Explain the steps you might take in making access to these devices available to all students.

I completed the virtual field trip activity on my smartphone (OnePlus). It worked pretty well, but it was small, obviously, since the screen was small 🙂 For the activity I envisioned, it would work fine, but it would be more fun to be able to wander around and see things on a bigger screen, so that is what I would recommend to students- having only a smartphone/tablet wouldn’t prevent them from using it though. One advantage is that students could work on it anywhere (bus ride home, for example).

4. Using a mobile device, camera, or screencasting software highlighted in the Online Learning Toolkit  to create a short 2-3 minute video of yourself illustrating how, when designing learning experiences in the future, you will use the technologies, ideas, formats, and/or approaches that you experimented with in this module. Include an example of how you would incorporate this new knowledge into a lesson plan. Include the link for your video in your reflection document.

http://blabberize.com/view/id/2073154

I also wanted to explain the decorative image I included in this post. I chose to include this image because it is similar to one of the experiments I do in class with my students to demonstrate the speed of the action potentials in neurons (how quickly they communicate/send a message).