After reviewing the visual resource, “Powering Connections: Teacher candidate perspectives on Computer Integrated Technology”, please respond to the following questions in this thread:

What are your thoughts on the teacher candidate visual resource? What surprised you? What resonated with you? What other perspectives do you wish had been included?

After reviewing the visual resource, “Powering Connections: Teacher candidate perspectives on Computer Integrated Technology”, please respond to the following questions in this thread:

What are your thoughts on the teacher candidate visual resource? What surprised you? What resonated with you? What other perspectives do you wish had been included?

[Jayra]

I really enjoyed the visual and hearing the voice of teacher candidates in this interactive and fun visual. What resonated with me was the story connected to scratch and the one about the teacher candidate who almost gave up on using technology. Both of this show different methods of problem solving troubles with technology. In the example from scratch, the students were exposed to the platform and allowed to tinker and sort of figured out the platform and it’s use in a safe environment. This resonates with me a lot because I feel as if I share this experience and so do the preservice teachers I worked with this last semester when I launched my project. The second example shows someone who was giving up but then with the support and guidance of another was able to succeed. This one resonates with me because it ties back into the discussion of equity and liberatory collaboration. This is important to design so that preservice teachers feel supported to make leaps.

[Stacy Katz]

I felt like the perspectives of the teacher candidates were very relatable around technology. It’s so clear from this resource that technology is not a monolith. I found the poem from Cecilia’s student really powerful. As a parent, I worry about kids using technology in harmful ways and finding new ways to hide behind technology. My daughter is a scout and had to watch “stay safe online” videos, but is also then very rigid about monitoring online behavior. The technology lessons for younger kids are not taught with much nuance.

[Anonymous]

The visual stories of teacher candidates’ experiences and perspectives of technology are so vivid! One of the teacher candidates shared their struggles with technology and the importance of supports from others. This reminders me of a student shared that they had to teach a group member using google slides for in-class group presentation. I was actually shocked at the moment but later realized my assumptions of all teacher candidates’ knowledge and skills with Google slides. That incident made me reflect on my assumptions and I planned to add a workshop session in the mid of a semester when I will provide individual/group support to any teacher candidates who might have difficulties with technology.

[Alison Lehner-Quam (she/her/hers)]

I enjoyed reading and seeing the student’s experiences in the visual resource. The questions asked students about their empowering and disempowering experiences with technology and what more they want to learn resonate with me as when I teach some library research classes I begin with asking students about their research strengths and areas in which they’d like to grow. I also ask a question about how they feel when they do research. This helps me learn more about the students–and helps the students see each others’ strengths and to see each other as resources.

I like seeing the lessons that use tech or address issues like privacy online that the students create and wonder if at the end of a library session I might ask the teacher education students to build a brief lesson or brainstorm some learning objectives that they might develop into lessons to engage their students around information literacy.

The barriers that the students addressed in the visual resource felt palpable and I could easily imagine many students having those experiences with the challenges of access, working with new technology on the fly, and misgivings about technology. Years ago first-year students would come into library classes saying, “I know, I know. We can’t use Wikipedia.” That has changed over the years, but now how will faculty and students feel about the use of AI?

I enjoy teaching the Adult Learning classes. In those classes there are some students who haven’t used technology much. The visual resource reminded me that it is always important to pause, ask students if they need anything repeated. This might involve demonstrating how to access a database a couple of times to make sure that we all on the same page–and then repeat it later when students started working independently with the resource. And through the library there are consultations with librarians so that one-on-one help is available as the students work independently.

[Yasmin Morales Alexander]

I really enjoyed this module. The visuals were helpful, engaging, and felt very personal…like, I could hear people actually saying these things! What stood out to me was how the student experiences ran the gamut from deep anxiety and frustration about technology (ie Lisbeth, Evelyn) to eagerness, a “can do” attitude, and even perspective shifting (ie Rolla, Lore) to the very personal (ie the poem by Michelle Ortiz)—amazingly powerful. Additionally, I also thought of the ways in which technology is necessarily changing/shifting language; the way we speak. For example,  Lore’s comment: “my son was a “youtuber”…something totally unheard of 10-15 years ago. I found that interesting. Lastly, something that gave me a moment of pause, though I HAVE fleetingly thought of is “digital safety” and how challenging it can be to teach young children to “protect” themselves from a threat that they cannot readily “see”. It is a question that I would like to explore with my own teacher candidates.

[Nancy Dubetz (she/her/ela)]

I really liked the author’s approach. This was like reading a graphic novel full of true stories.My takeaway was that as we invite students to tinker, explore, and consider the possibilities of using digital tools to solve problems, like Rolla did, we also have to dig deep into the challenges around the potential abuses of technology (particularly algorithms), which  narrow what information we get access to or defines one’s identity in particular ways in relation to what’s trending. I read about this interesting activity in the last module on the DigitalCivics toolkit site that engaged students in mapping their online and in person communities and where these overlap and where they don’t. I think we can’t ignore that the more we live and work online (I think Zoom as I am writing this), the more that our perceptions of others are shaped by online identities and I am wondering, are these identities as multidimensional as in person identities?

[Andrea Zakin (she/her)]

I enjoyed reading and viewing the graphic presentation of teacher stories. I was surprised by the many issues with technology it explored that can enhance or hinder communication and participant self-worth within a relatively brief storyboard. I appreciated the drawing quality and the humor inherent in the depiction of extreme perspective! I identify with the teachers’ voices, from empowering students to freely explore Scratch (which, as an art educator, I identified with), and teachers who learned to ask for help with technological difficulties instead of giving up (which, I also identify with). I agree with Jayra that working with technology requires taking leaps! Perhaps the teacher stories could include ways of problem-solving online, in addition to asking others more proficient than oneself.

[Andrea Zakin (she/her)]

When my daughter started school, I became aware of assistive technologies that help learners with learning differences, which made me think that technology could be a way to level the playing field in education. I’ve observed assistive technologies help students organize their thoughts, integrate visual, speech and auditory processing, provide immediate feedback and support expressive language. I’ve also seen ‘neuro-typical’ students envy those students who use these technologies. I only hope that assistive technologies have developed since then to be used in more creative and open-ended ways, not just render education-as-usual more accessible.

 

I’m beginning to understand how CITE pedagogy frames computing as a liberatory tool that can free teachers and learners to rise above the regimentation of school by transforming the process of learning. I hope to learn about new technologies alongside my students, shifting the typical, hierarchical relationship of teacher and student to create a democratic space to brainstorm, take risks, tinker, and examine new approaches; so rarely the norm in schools today. I knew that CITE was about “ideas” and not just mechanics, but didn’t fully appreciate how technology can empower and enhance the educational experience by placing equity and social justice at its core. I now see that this is a role that the CITE approach to computing can play. The collaborative process and depth and expansive nature of CITE pedagogy is truly impressive to me.

 

I recognize how naturally computing and equity enhance each other, and am drawn to the collaborative, supportive, creative aspect of equitable CITE pedagogy. This approach can revolutionize schools by making learning a co-construction of knowledge and a space of genuine investigation. It has the potential to transform education towards equity and social justice, and greatly appreciate that creativity is at the fore of this work. The two faculty artifacts I examined destabilized usual conceptions of literacy, scaffolding students to deeply engage in this process. I plan to closely examine the goals of my project-based courses and carefully chart the outcomes of what I hope to achieve.

 

I wish STEM was more often STEAM…

[Iain M. Coggins]

The graphic exploration of teachers and CS and the pitfalls we all face with technology was nicely done. Ifeoma’s artistry presents these issues in a very approachable way, and it was a refreshing switch-up in the multi-media approaches that I’ve been encountering in the modules. Content-wise, one thing that stood out to me, that I inferred, from this graphic presentation is that more teachers and would-be teachers are at a basic/entry level with digital technology than I have presumed. It reminded me that as an educator, digital skills that I assume are shared may not be, and this makes me consider the necessity of knowing my learners’ digital readiness as a precursor to my instruction.

[Dr. Atasi Das (She/her/hers)]

I appreciate the experience of learners that interacted and moved through experiences with digital technologies in this piece. I think it provides a great starting point to share with teacher candidates. I think that it would be helpful to follow one of the people in depth to “see” the trajectory of their journey. How long was the process of this story? What stumbling blocks did they encounter? How did they find support?

[Ellie Williamson (she/her/hers)]

I appreciated the presentation of the information through a visual resource. The images made me think about what each context might look like in my classroom. I also wondered how I might have responded had they occurred in my classes. I am disheartened when students use technology to hurt and harm their peers and it makes me think how intentional I need to be in encouraging my students to reflect and be critical of how technology is and can be used by users to cause harm to other users. Digital safety comes to my mind. I think reflecting and having discussions on digital safety with students is essential. It would be interesting to include the teachers’ reflections on the situations. Something like what worked, what needs to improve, and next steps.

[Joi Jones (she/her)]

I really enjoyed this resource. It was very compelling and easy to follow. I really loved the images. It was easy to put myself in the place of the students.

As a student success coordinator, I felt disappointed that student felt overwhelmed with technology during the orientation process as new students. I wondered what I could to ease the transition for the students. Office hours comes to mind but how can we advertise them such that students participate?!

I also thought about the benefits of the app my daughter’s preschool teacher uses to communicate and even the whatsapp group used by her camp. It made me more grateful for these resources. Also, as a parent I think in terms of danger of online spaces and not as much in the opportunities therein. I will think more about how my biases could be limiting at work and at home.