Home for alternative formatted digital books turning hard copy to accessible formats.
Anything from digital textbooks and novels, they can even format any books you need that they don’t already have made. Digitally splicing and scanning every page needed for the student. ARC exists for students with learning disabilities both physical and visual. Perceptual disability holding seeing or understanding in its original physical books. The Accessible BC Act (ABC Act) is a BC law to identify and prevent barriers to Accessibility.
A accessible committee is (should be) appointed in every district, half of the people need to have a disability and at least 1 person with an Indigenous background. To work with the district to make it more accessible for all students. Not just adding in ramps and railings (which is of course important) but there is a lot more to be done. Especially with learning disabilities there are so many different ones both noticeable and not.
I totally forgot about if parents had a disability providing alternative ways of reading or incorporating alternative text. There is so much that needs to be done for people with disabilities both mental and physical anything we can do that helps we should. Stuff to consider when writing emails, forms, powerpoints etc.. for students and even parents.
Font: calibri, arial, verdana, and Tahoma
-size higher than 11
Lettering: Watch colors and contrast
-Use alternative text and image
Hyperlinks: use full name not just the url text to speech readers will read the entire thing, which can be confusing and long.
This is a great resource and I didn’t know this existed till the presentation. This is such a good idea and I will be using this if needed in my practice.
We had Sandy from Science World in Vancouver come to speak to us about what digital literacy is and how AI is incorporated in that. Digital literacy is the understanding of the software and the hardware. Understanding what is going on and how we can filter it.
Technology is changing all the time. Being able to keep up with it and understand how to teach our students about it is important. The generations we teach have a large amount of access and literacy already with the internet. With social media, websites, coding, and everything in between at our leisure. As educators we can teach our students on how to find a reliable source and how to filter through biases opinions to form their own point of view. We can incorporate technology into our lessons through so many subjects to make our lessons more engaging. We can teach how algorithms work and how we can be influenced easily and how someone can fake something well. We were shown a video by the BBC April foolâs joke in 2008 about penguins flying. It looked real and to someone who wouldnât know a lot about penguins would think it was. It of course was CGI, but the power and abilities people have it can be a lot to sort through.
The idea of AI is so interesting to me because I can see the benefits and I also am aware of the âconspiracy theoriesâ behind it. Learning about how AI can be helpful through this presentation and throughout Block 1 of the program, the idea of it is growing on me a bit. Seeing how AI is used through games, subtitles, lessons, and just by watching a video. We were given links to these AI games, which quick draw is fun.
I want to learn more, and I wish we had something big like science world here in PG. The exploration place is one of the closest things we have along with UNBC programs and some others but to be able to have access to science world for field trips etc. would be nice. They do have lots of online resources for educators and sometimes if they are able they can send someone to speak and share like we had today.
During our class we squeezed into the small rooms at the UNBC Wood Innovation and Design Centre in downtown Prince George. To learn about the advantages of 3D printing and how we can use it in our classrooms. 3D printing can be used to print almost everything. We learned how different printers print different things. What kind of things you can print and how far you can push the technology. We were shown examples that move straight from the printer, flat surfaces and even printing characters. So many things can be printed and if you can’t find it you can create it. With free programs like Tinkercad and Openscad printing can be don in a class with a 3D printer. Students can create their own designs and play around with different objects. 3D printing adding material Wood cutting subtracting material.
Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important.
Bill Gates
3D printers can be useful in printing learning materials for many different subjects at any grade level. Objects can be used in the BC Curriculum by incorporating objects in Science, Math, Art, ADST, and English. An octopus that is 3D printed can be used to show how Octopi move and look during a science lesson. The legs can be chained and be used in math; counting the links. If the legs were removable it can be used the same way; asking the students to show a certain number, “show the number 10” etc. With Highschool it can be integrated in the same way just using more in depth coding or in final projects in metal or wood works or a computer class. It can be used as a fidget for those with a disability. Different materials print different ways. There are materials that dissolve in water, materials that are soft, biodegradable and ones that are solid.
Also, 3D printing is being incorporated into the medical field. Printing different body part and organs. That can be used to help treat or replace missing pieces. Usually used with materials that are dissolvable. More research needs to go into this. I feel like this would help a lot of people but can be very expensive.
Introducing this can inspire our students to change the way we do things as a society or change the world.
Artery (3D Printed)Owl (3D Printed)Octopus (3D Printed) legs movable straight off the printer
At UNBC there is also kids camps through “Active Minds” that include elements of STEAM (Mostly summer camps) including camps like:
“How to Engineer Everything”
“Be an engineer for a week! Put your thinking cap on as you jump headfirst into the practical application of science and math made fun. Get firsthand experience designing, constructing, and testing your creations. Problem-solve, work, play, and laugh through the week as you engage in the many disciplines of engineering that are critical in the development of our modern society.”
Which can be good to introduce these kinds of camps and resources to students to learn more about STEAM and how it’s more than just worksheets.
With 3D printing, we can actually create structures that are more intricate than any other manufacturing technology or in fact are impossible to build in any other way.
Being outside in bad weather seems to be a pattern in this course. It does show that learning can still be done when youâre cold and not in your comfortable bubble that is the classroom. We went to Cottonwood Park which is a local park of trails next to the Nechako and Fraser rivers. Iâve been going to this park since I was very young. My family always loved going down to the river. Weâd always throw rocks into the river, skip rocks, even learn about the environment around it. Thanks to my grandpa, he always has information about rocks and mountains. The paths that were there when I was kid are not all there anymore. Theyâve been washed away from the river flooding. The farthest bridge had not always been there it used to connect with a path, but it washed away one year so they had to make a bridge. Itâs not as fancy as the first one but it works.
This weather this time was cold winds and snow. We used the walking curriculum looking and focusing on elements that we would have missed or not have taken the time to see, especially in the winter weather. Movement, shapes, and faces are the walks we did. The movement that I saw was the clouds, the branches when the wind blew and how the branches grew above. Shapes was mostly in the trees. The branches created shapes in the air and there were more shapes that were man made. Faces were carved in the trees, were carved by a local artist Elmer Gunderson, who has been carving and sculpting for more than 25 years. So, if you donât take the time to look around you may miss all these things. We also saw some ducks that started walking towards us. My group talked about do we lose the imagination do the ability to look for these as we get older or do, we not take the time to look for them? I think itâs both. We are always rushing and focused on other things we forget to take in the beauty that is the environment that we live on.
Learning from the land is educational but it also connects us back to where we live. We see things we might have missed on our own.
Here is another way of coding without the use of computers. Noelle Pepin came into our class and shared her master’s project called “Beaded Tweets.” Connecting the culture of beading with coding. Using 0’s and 1’s to create a message in beads. She shared that it can be used on a loom to create more detailed coding with smaller beads but in class we only had time to just use the bigger beads. We just used eight letter words, but it can be done to create sentences or even longer messages. Using 8 bead language, and ACII code. It can be adapted to unit ideas that you come across by integrating the local knowledge while following local protocols. Is what your teaching truthful? Is it something that can be shared? Are you the one that should be sharing it? and is what youâre sharing how it should be shared? Understanding these elements help it the lesson and teachings be authentic. When itâs authentic then the purpose of having Indigenous education is being met. Itâs not meant to be done randomly or just because it needs to be done. When it comes to working with Indigenous culture in classrooms, use local knowledge and local protocols. Infuse meaning into the work or project. Noelle Pepin focused on the idea of setting a purpose. There should be a purpose. There should be a connection not just doing something to cross something off the list. Integrating Indigenous elements doesnât have to look the same. This project is mixing digital and traditional, Nisgaâa elders have said itâs like a âdance in both worldsâ. Noelle connected to what the students use every day or see every day to beading that is part of many Indigenous cultures.
Coding is not just with computers. You can code with red, black, blue and green markers, white paper and little robots. Little robots called Ozobots. The Ozobots we had, had little faces on them or were designed to look more robotic. They read the code that is drawn on paper using the coloured markers. The main path is drawn is black. These markings move the Ozobots around. You can make it spin, go faster slower, backwards, forwards and turn left and right. Many people created designs to for their path. My group did a infinity sign for it, there was also a Christmas tree done. Thanks to the Exploration Place we were able to enjoy and experience these materials. Having these resource outlet helps us as teachers be creative and engage our students rather than just a worksheet. Making connections with coding and creativity without computers. Coding can look and be done by many things. When I thought of coding I thought of computers but this post and the next will show you as well it can be anything. Learning activities can look different and be fun.
Working with Ozobots connects to the 7 Principles of Learning:
Learners at the Centre– We were able to create our own path with our own trial and error.
The Social Nature of Learning– Working in groups
Emotions are Integral to Learning– Being connected to the little Ozobot and being patient in creating the path
Recognize Individual Differences– All of our paths were different and which codes were used were different
Stretching all Students– All of us had to think and take the time to create our paths
Assessment of Learning– Creating our paths and following the criteria of using 5 different codes and continuing movement
Building Horizontal Connections– Cross connecting/cross curricular with coding, art, and design
The art gallery tour was a really cool experience. There were two art installations “Nonreturnables” and “Dismantled Worlds”.
“Nonreturnables” had multiple artworks from different artists using plastics and commenting on the use and destruction of plastics. The one that stood out to me was the one by Carlyn Yandle, called Scaffold. Long pieces of plastic weaved together scoffolding onto each other. It was very tempting to touch but of course we were not allowed to.
“According to the Government of Canada, more than 30% of all plastic waste comes from the construction industry. Included in that category is the building wrap material of polyethylene fibers commonly known as Tyvek.”
carlyn yandle
In “Dismantled Worlds” artist Jude Griebel created artworks commenting on the climate crisis and how we treat our world. There were three artworks that stood out to me. One was a sculpture of a pile of animals intertwining with each other. It is Jude’s idea of the food pyramid. There is even a butterfly included because he ate a butterfly as a child. Which takes something that looks and means so powerful and adds a little bit of humour to it. I took it as how we eat everything not thinking of where it come from. Especially meat and other proteins we tend to forget where they come from unless we hunt for them ourselves.
Meticulously crafted figures personify overconsumption, dissolving the boundary between landscape and anatomy.
Jude Griebel
Another one was a dismantled and burnt city with a giant plant in the center. We were told to look at a piece for longer than 10 minutes taking it all in. Imagining ourselves in it and really looking at the details. I chose the plant city one to look at. It was powerful. To me it shows how we destroy our land but the plants still thrive and grow. Or after we leave how the earth can regrow again. Plus on a non serious note it reminded me of the Lorax how the city around him was taking the earth fro granted.
The last one by Jude that stood out to me was a creature made of shells on top of plastics and garbage. This one was right in the middle of the room, so when you walked in that’s the first thing you see. Which can be taken as the creatures that once lived on the ocean floor now have to work together to ge through the garbage below.
The final activity of the day was creating our own creature out of play dough that had its own purpose in the world. Which was fun to see everyone’s creations and which ones would fit into the themes of the instalments.
For teachers this is a good place to bring your students because they’ll get exposed to different kinds of art and different installations as they move them around. They’ll learn different ways to experience art and how powerful art can be. Plus an activity that connects them to what they’ve seen so they too can be the artist.
During a tour of Prince George’s Public Library, I learned there are so many tools and advantages for teachers. Okay, where do I begin? Well, we all know libraries have books. This library has books… a lot of books. Which is good considering their name and entire image. Yet it’s not all books.
Let’s talk about the books first. They have so many at a lot of different reading levels. For the most part their already sectioned into them. Which makes it easier to find the level you need and get and get out if you are in a rush. Or if you have the time take and peruse the shelves you’ll be there all day. So many genres, fantasy, mystery, comedy, biography, magazines, cultures, fiction, non fiction and even bugs. All at different lengths too. They even have some books that have built-in storytelling no disk required and ebooks. Which are really good for students with exceptionalities or those who like to be read to. For teachers they have an entire section for us on their website. They can get books together for us on any topic like if you want 20 books on cats early reading levels they’ll get that together for you. So we don’t have to spend time trying to scan through the shelves. But you can do that too if you’re into that. Almost their entire catalogue or wait I’m pretty sure it’s their entire catalogue is online. You can place a hold on anything, can checkout for pick up or see if they have what you want without leaving your class or home.
They have more than books too. All which brings value to teachers. They have a variety of learning kits that include lesson plans on so many different topics, which as a educator anything to help create engaging lessons is great! They offer school tours where they can either try and come to you or you can bring your class to them, and the students can get library cards. They’ll learn about everything the public library has to offer. Which is a lot. They have a variety of movies, games available to take out or to play in the teen area, computers, printers and different classes and clubs that meet at the library. So if your school doesn’t offer it the library probably does. They also have two locations in PG and can do interlibrary loans so if you need anything that is not at the main branch they’ll find it for you. Plus, they have it where there is not late fees. So no rush to get them back but remember someone else might be waiting.
The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.
Dr. SEUSS
The public library has so much value for educators it creates a welcoming environment and will support us to try and make our jobs easier. With all the services they provide especially for us. Plus they help us introduce access to books for some who don’t always have access to them or a quiet space.
How do we navigate around computers or a tablet? How do we use a cellphone? How does anyone understand these technologies? The importance of digital literacy is growing every year. Every time someone creates a new website or a new shortcut the knowledge changes. With the amount of change that happens with technology, teachers and students need to be able to understand the basics to grow a foundation. Then be able to add onto their knowledge to help keep up with the world that is technology. It’s a technology world we are just living in it.
As a teacher, it can be hard to keep up with changes that get thrown at us from every direction. Having digital literacy can make most things easier. We can communicate with parents and even each other quickly. We can use videos, lesson ideas, and tools, and we can find everything we ever wanted to know right at our fingertips,
â A teacher well-versed in digital literacy and internet safety can engage with these inquiries, fostering deeper understanding and critical thinking with students. However, when a teacher lacks expertise, they might struggle to answer questions accurately, leaving students to question their teacherâs real understanding of todayâs online world.â (The White Hatter)
Having skills that we can build upon for ourselves and our students helps in so many ways. Nowadays we can find new ways to teach. Although teaching with technology can have it benefits but it does comes with its draw backs as well. Most of the time it comes from slow connection to wifi or if someone forgot to charge the device and if all of a sudden the device just stops working. Plus, even though we can adapt our lessons easier which in return makes our student’s lives much easier, it can be a challenge to adapt the technology to those who need it. Unless you have the resources.
“The benefits of digital literacy include improving young learners’ writing, reading, listening, and speaking skills, getting used to authentic materials, increasing the frequency of digital technology use, enhancing online collaboration between teacher-learners and learners” (Buckingham)
The more we can communicate with others the more we learn and grow. As a teacher, we never stop learning about the world around us. We help create the next generation and shape them for the ever-changing world.
Teach students how to evaluate the information they find online
Discuss online privacy with students
Help students understand online etiquette
Teach digital writing
Discuss AI tools and academic integrity
For students or any learner, it’s important to have digital literacy. They can learn better and they can create so many things. They can write papers with accurate information, they can create art and share it with the world, start a business from their homes, learn world cultures from the world in a classroom and they can find out about their ancestors with a click of a button. The world is at their fingertips and the world is their oyster. Communication is the first thing that comes to mind with digital literacy. The more we know and can learn the more we can strive.
There are so many skills that come out of using computers. They are not just a distraction for games or social media,
“In relation to the internet, for example, children need to learn how to locate and select material â how to use browsers, hyperlinks search engines, and so on. But to stop there is to confine digital literacy to a form of instrumental or functional literacy. The skills that children need in relation to digital media are not confined to those of information retrieval. As with print, they also need to be able to evaluate and use information critically if they are to transform it into knowledge. This means asking questions about the sources of that information, the interests of its producers, and the ways in which it represents the world; and understanding how these technological developments are related to broader social, political and economic forces.” (Buckingham)
The stronger students can be with digital literacy the stronger they will be in life. It opens up jobs. It helps them succeed in their studies. So much information is shared every day being able to decipher what is real and what is fake is huge. Digital literacy can help form opinions and can help discover real answers to questions.
It’s important for everyone to have digital literacy. Being able to communicate with each other and discover what we can about the world. It will change everything we do.
Buckingham, David. “Defining digital literacy-What do young people need to know about digital media?.” Nordic journal of digital literacy 10.Jubileumsnummer (2015): 21-35.
The White Hatter âThe Challenges of âBoxedâ School-Based Digital Literacy and Internet Safety Lesson Plans!â the White Hatter, 1 Sept. 2023, https://thewhitehatter.ca/blog/the-challenges-of-boxed-school-based-digital-literacy-internet-safety-lesson-plans/
Vos, Lesley J. âTeaching Digital Literacy to Students in 2023.â eLearning Industry, June 2023, elearningindustry.com/teaching-digital-literacy-to-students-in-2023.
With all the technology that puts the world and then some in our hands comes with some perks and also creates eeary situations. The current generation and some before it grew up with being tech savvy. They know how to navigate themselves around technology even with their eyes closed. As a teacher we might not fully be on the same technological level as our students but we need to be able to get deeper. To help navigate ourselves and our students in the right direction.
Everything we do on the internet leaves a trace that follows us whether we know it or not. So, understanding how our digital footprint happens and what is left behind matters.
What is a digital footprint?
Our digital footprint happens with everything we do,
Websites we visit
Emails
Submissions we make
Purchases
Social Media Posts/Shares
Accepting cookies when a site asks/ Accepting terms and conditions
Surveys
Games
Chatrooms
Google/Google maps
Your digital footprints speak volumes than your CV â Bernard Kelvin Clive
Since the dawn of social media, lots of people have said to children of all ages be careful of what you post online, who you talk to and where you go. A lot of the time people resort to scare tactics, the ‘stranger danger’ trope, âspeak with any educator and they will tell you that when a child is frightened, learning stops. This is an important reason why I believe that when teaching children, we need to âenlighten and not frighten.â (The White Hatter) We shouldn’t just focus on the negative. People don’t always listen to ‘authority’ telling them what to do.
âMany children and teenagers are being discouraged from freely using the internet, in an effort to protect them from making mistakes . Media stories that unduly focus on the dangers posed by the internet (stalking, identity theft, cyberbullying, and internet addiction, for example) frame children as passive, vulnerable consumers of digital culture endangered by the online environment. This portrayal of children as powerless victims rather than resourceful participants overlooks the multiple ways children use the internet to establish their identities, build skills, communicate, and engage in their social worlds.â (Buchanan et al. 51)
Students are smarter than we think. There is a lot of unknown with how the internet works but we need to think of the positives that come along with it. The internet is a tool for students, just should be treated as a smart tool. Think about what and how much you are sharing.
As a teacher understanding digital footprints helps keep us safe and the ability to keep our students safe. Especially since technology is used in and outside our classrooms. We can’t hide from technology we need to embrace it. Parents, teachers, school admin, districts etc have a responsibility when it comes to the internet and how we use it and how our children use it.
Whatâs the message they want to convey?
Whatâs the best tool for doing it?
What are the best techniques to use in creating that message?
Who is your audience?
Also, it is important to understand digital footprints as teachers and as students because what others find about us online shapes how they see us or feel about us. When applying to jobs some look you up on social media and see if you would fit with their company right from the beginning. Teachers should as well understand that parents, schools, and students may come across social media profiles. Starting children young in understanding their footprint helps them in their future endeavours.
Buchanan, Rachel, et al. “Expert Insights into Education for Positive Digital Footprint Development.” Scan: The Journal for Educators 37 (2018): 49-64.
The White Hatter. âStranger Danger Doesnât Work in the Real World or Online World – The White Hatter.â The White Hatter, 29 Aug. 2022, thewhitehatter.ca/blog/stranger-danger-doesnt-work-in-the-real-world-or-online-world.
