380 Matching Annotations
  1. Jan 2021
    1. Indian School
    2. Thank you

      Thanks to Shea Swauger for this methodical Twitter thread refuting Proctorio's claims in this letter. Come for the careful analysis, stay for Shea's A+ gif game.

    3. expand educational acces

      Here's the expanding access trope again!

    4. brands

      Schools as brands further reveals how Proctorio views education.

    5. 2​

      Ugh, did Mike and his lawyers read the article they're citing here? Because it ends with: "Big tech’s impending march into higher ed will bring more learning to more humans, and erode our humanity."

    6. parents
    7. As higher education undergoesmass transformation

      Another part of the narrative, one that's common from edtech companies: everything is changing so quickly and we, a benevolent tech company, are positioned to lead the way into our brave new world.

    8. aspiring

      All people are learners. Proctorio's use of "aspiring" is part of a larger narrative I've seen elsewhere that frames their surveillance technology as enabling people who otherwise wouldn't be able to complete their education to do so. It's a bogus story of uplift.

    9. access

      Also seeing "access" repeated early in the letter. I count 51 matches for "access" in the letter. Now seems like a good time to raise how digital redlining affects students' access to high-speed internet.

    10. high-integrity

      Not just integrity, but high-integrity!

    11. distance learning

      Well, not really. The increase in online proctoring has less to do with distance learning and more to do with teachers' reliance on narrow, often inauthentic assessments.

    12. trustworthy,

      Will Olsen tell the senators he posted a student's chat log to Reddit?

    13. Integrity,

      One of Proctorio's favorite words. Note that "integrity" appears 28 times in this letter. The company often frame integrity in terms of a student's degree; that is, the company promises a degree's integrity, or value, is what's most important. What (and who) does this vision of education as driven by the marketplace leave out? How does an obsession with integrity harm students?

    14. inclusive

      In what ways will Proctorio defend its technology as "inclusive" when many students have experienced acute exclusion from its technology?

    15. quality

      How does Proctorio define "quality"? In what ways does focusing on "quality" fit into the company's larger vision of education?

    16. provide information
    17. Visit the Against Online Proctoring library for an open, growing collection of journalism; peer-reviewed articles; examples of student, staff, and teacher resistance; and various blog posts and Twitter threads addressing online proctoring.

  2. Nov 2020
    1. "Proctorio is the best proctoring service in the market. Easy, simple, it just works."

      I notice the quote is attributed to the university rather than an individual person. I wonder: why attribute the quote to the university rather than an individual person?

    2. unblinking

      I’m struck by the image of the software constantly watching students that’s conjured by “unblinking”. I also can’t help but think of HAL 9000.

    3. Instant

      The word “Instant” suggests immediate access for all students. However, digital redlining and a lack of high-speed internet means that, for many, “Instant” is not possible.

    4. bias

      I’d like to know what evidence Proctorio can offer to support this claim. The company often says it’s up to the teacher (or in my experience, a staff member) to review a student’s video and then decide if the behavior flagged by the algorithm as suspicious constitutes cheating. But the teacher or staff member cannot help but hold implicit biases in addition to any explicit biases they may possess. So how can Proctorio prove their software eliminates bias? And what other forms and sources of bias are built into the software?

    5. Hi! Welcome to Ethical EdTech’s first #AnnotateEdTech conversation. During our open and ongoing conversations, we’ll engage in close, critical reading of the claims made by educational technology companies about their technology, how it works, and to what ends. The annotations we leave behind can also act as living resources for others to visit and build upon; to that end, you can use the affordances of social annotation, such as hyperlinking, to connect your observations with texts beyond each company’s website. You can also draw upon and contribute to a growing library of journalism, peer-reviewed articles, opinion pieces, and other texts about online proctoring.

      If you decide to annotate, you might consider addressing some of the following questions:

      • What do you notice? What do you wonder?
      • What narratives does the company tell about education? About being a student? A teacher? An administrator? About teaching?
      • What assumptions does the company make about students and teachers? About learning and teaching?
      • What claims does the company make about its technology? What evidence exists to support or oppose those claims?

      Thank you for joining the conversation!

    1. value of your program

      Online proctoring and its defenders often argue the software protects the value of a student’s degree (or an institution’s degrees). I agree with a recent tweet from Ben Williamson, a professor at the University of Edinburgh: We need to “Reclaim the idea that a higher education is for the social and public good, and define the public good of HE for persons and society. This is about stating the purpose of HE beyond employability and measurability.”

    2. continuous monitoring

      What are the cognitive, psychological, and emotional effects on students from “continuous monitoring”?

    3. Crushes

      I think “Crushes” is a problematic word. First, it’s a violent image. And second, those brick and mortar test centers employ people, so by “crushing” them, ProctorU is putting people out of work.

    4. Hi! Welcome to Ethical EdTech’s first #AnnotateEdTech conversation. During our open and ongoing conversations, we’ll engage in close, critical reading of the claims made by educational technology companies about their technology, how it works, and to what ends. The annotations we leave behind can also act as living resources for others to visit and build upon; to that end, you can use the affordances of social annotation, such as hyperlinking, to connect your observations with texts beyond each company’s website. You can also draw upon and contribute to a growing library of journalism, peer-reviewed articles, opinion pieces, and other texts about online proctoring.

      If you decide to annotate, you might consider addressing some of the following questions:

      • What do you notice? What do you wonder?
      • What narratives does the company tell about education? About being a student? A teacher? An administrator? About teaching?
      • What assumptions does the company make about students and teachers? About learning and teaching?
      • What claims does the company make about its technology? What evidence exists to support or oppose those claims?

      Thank you for joining the conversation!

    1. Bar

      From a student profiled in a September 29, 2020, article titled "ExamSoft’s remote bar exam sparks privacy and facial recognition concerns": “It feels like we’re being treated like we’re expendable, like our rights and our data and privacy are expendable, and so I think that’s where we’re at right now.”

    2. save time

      I’m skeptical of this claim. If teachers or staff must review video of students the algorithm flags, in addition to all their other responsibilities, how does that save time? I believe teachers should spend their time building stronger relationships with their students and developing their teaching practices instead of honing their policing skills.

    3. We

      Who is “We” and what alternatives were considered? Because one of the problems with online proctoring is, in the words of Professor Joshua Eyler, "when you use proctoring software, you are measuring a student’s ability to manage cognitive load and to regulate negative emotions just as much (maybe more?) as their knowledge/understanding/ideas." Trust students, understand why students might cheat, and develop better assessments.

    4. Hi! Welcome to Ethical EdTech’s first #AnnotateEdTech conversation. During our open and ongoing conversations, we’ll engage in close, critical reading of the claims made by educational technology companies about their technology, how it works, and to what ends. The annotations we leave behind can also act as living resources for others to visit and build upon; to that end, you can use the affordances of social annotation, such as hyperlinking, to connect your observations with texts beyond each company’s website. You can also draw upon and contribute to a growing library of journalism, peer-reviewed articles, opinion pieces, and other texts about online proctoring.

      If you decide to annotate, you might consider addressing some of the following questions:

      • What do you notice? What do you wonder?
      • What narratives does the company tell about education? About being a student? A teacher? An administrator? About teaching?
      • What assumptions does the company make about students and teachers? About learning and teaching?
      • What claims does the company make about its technology? What evidence exists to support or oppose those claims?

      Thank you for joining the conversation!

  3. Sep 2020
    1. the tool itself

      As I've noted elsewhere, this information about the tool lacks critical engagement with the tool's assumptions and processes. Often, the information reads like ad copy rather than stating how Proctorio really works and how its very design damages students.

    2. I acknowledge that I have read and agree to the Terms of Service, and to the Privacy Policy

      I wonder how we can make those terms present in clear, decipherable language.

    3. recording of audio and video

      Again, please include students. It's the students' audio and video that's being captured.

    4. Due to the nature of Proctorio

      Here's an opportunity to be explicit about the nature of Proctorio. It's an invasive technology built on flawed technology. It's snake oil. It's cop shit.

    5. the tool has limitations in its accessibility for students

      If that's the case, then why keep giving Proctorio money?

    6. To consent to use Proctorio

      I mean, do we really want to be using technology that requires consent forms?

    7. take their exams at the time and in the location of their choosing

      Perhaps. But not when access to high-speed internet is an ongoing problem for many students due to digital redlining. Or if a student is sharing a computer - or a room - with family members. So "choice" is misleading.

    8. it is at the discretion of the instructor

      Just go ahead and say it: "We do not believe Proctorio is an ethical tool."

    9. Instructors should note

      This warning is indicative of the way Proctorio - and other harmful technologies like Turnitin - are framed to teachers. The resources' authors hedge. They hem and haw. Yes, I'm glad the warning is present, but it doesn't go nearly far enough to explain why Proctorio can't do what it purports to do - and why teachers shouldn't use the surveillance technology in the first place.

    10. Check exam recordings

      Proctorio claims it weeds out bias. It doesn't. The algorithms are biased and so is anyone who reviews the exam recordings.

    11. efficiently

      The influence of neoliberalism in higher ed. Let's get away from celebrating efficiency at the cost of our students' well-being.

    12. Leverage algorithms

      The algorithms are bullshit. Racist, ableist bullshit. The equally bullshit facial recognition technology trained on the bullshit algorithms is a dire threat to students. I know Ohio State and Michigan have some history, but it's vital to heed a recent study from researchers at Michigan and their conclusion: "We strongly recommend that [facial recognition] technology be banned from use in schools."

    13. webcam recording

      Now is a good time to at least mention that student behavior is flagged as "abnormal," which should raise questions about what we mean by "normal" and how such language reveals the ableism inherent to Proctorio.

    14. Record exam audio

      What - who - is erased in this statement? The exam doesn't produce audio. A student sighs. A student's hungry child cries. A student blows her nose because she's sick. We must not erase students and how technology harms them.

    15. solution

      A good place to ask, "A solution to what?" If the answer is cheating, then let's include reasons why students might cheat and link to ways teachers can design authentic assessments.

    16. Getting Started

      The page assumes teachers should use Proctorio. What if the site was titled something else? I'd like to revise the title to Why You Shouldn't Use Proctorio. Too often these resource pages assume a neutral stance towards technology, and I think that's a mistake. Objectivity upholds the status quo, and maintaining the status quo means maintaining white supremacy.

  4. Aug 2020
    1. the tool itself

      As I've noted elsewhere, this information about the tool lacks critical engagement with the tool's assumptions and processes. Often, the information reads like ad copy rather than stating how Proctorio really works and how its very design damages students.

    2. I acknowledge that I have read and agree to the Terms of Service, and to the Privacy Policy

      I wonder how we can make those terms present in clear, decipherable language.

    3. recording of audio and video

      Again, please include students. It's the students' audio and video that's being captured.

    4. Due to the nature of Proctorio

      Here's an opportunity to be explicit about the nature of Proctorio. It's an invasive technology built on flawed technology. It's snake oil. It's cop shit.

    5. the tool has limitations in its accessibility for students reliant upon screen readers and keyboard navigation

      If that's the case, then why keep giving Proctorio money?

    6. To consent

      I mean, do we really want to be using technology that requires consent forms?

    7. the time and in the location of their choosing

      Perhaps. But not when access to high-speed internet is an ongoing problem for many students due to digital redlining. Or if a student is sharing a computer - or a room - with family members. So "choice" is misleading.

    8. it is at the discretion of the instructor if the tool will be utilized

      Just go ahead and say it: "We do not believe Proctorio is an ethical tool."

    9. Instructors should note

      This warning is indicative of the way Proctorio - and other harmful technologies like Turnitin - are framed to teachers. The resources' authors hedge. They hem and haw. Yes, I'm glad the warning is present, but it doesn't go nearly far enough to explain why Proctorio can't do what it purports to do - and why teachers shouldn't use the surveillance technology in the first place.

    10. Check exam recordings

      Proctorio claims it weeds out bias. It doesn't. The algorithms are biased and so is anyone who reviews the exam recordings.

    11. efficiently

      The influence of neoliberalism in higher ed. Let's get away from celebrating efficiency at the cost of our students' well-being.

    12. Leverage algorithms

      The algorithms are bullshit. Racist, ableist bullshit. The equally bullshit facial recognition technology trained on the bullshit algorithms is a dire threat to students. I know Ohio State and Michigan have some history, but let's heed a recent study from our neighbors to the north when they state: "We strongly recommend that [facial recognition] technology be banned from use in schools."

    13. webcam recording

      Now is a good time to at least mention that student behavior is flagged as "abnormal," which should raise questions about what we mean by "normal" and how such language reveals the ableism inherent to Proctorio.

    14. Record exam audio

      What - who - is erased in this statement? The exam doesn't produce audio. A student sighs. A student's hungry child cries. A student blows her nose because she's sick. We must not erase students and how technology harms them.

    15. solution

      A good place to ask, "A solution to what?" If the answer is cheating, then let's include reasons why students might cheat and link to ways teachers can design authentic assessments.

    16. Getting Started

      I'd like to revise the title to "Why You Shouldn't Use Proctorio." Too often these resource pages assume a neutral stance towards technology, and I think that's a mistake. Objectivity upholds the status quo, and maintaining the status quo means maintaining white supremacy.

  5. Aug 2019
    1. individual teachers can help to rescue learning in their own classrooms with a two-pronged strategy to “neuter grades,”

      In my experience, it's often individuals teachers who're the first to challenge entrenched systems. Personally, I've found the courage to say no when I speak with other teachers at my school as well as connecting with teachers on Twitter. More strategies on ungrading in "Grades Can Hinder Learning. What Can Professors Use Instead?"

    2. invited to participate in constructing alternative forms of assessment

      This invitation to the community seems key to me, and I'm curious what the co-construction would look like in practice.

    3. we find a penchant shared by the behaviorists of yesteryear that learning can and should be broken down into its components, each to be evaluated separately

      Standards-based grading and its connection to behaviorism.

    4. value is questionable — and never questioned

      And who decides what information is valuable? Often it's individuals and institutions that are more interested in maintaining the status quo than, in Henry Giroux's words, challenging students to think dangerously.

    5. monitoring

      The issue of monitoring and its deleterious effects on students' learning and intrinsic motivation is made all the more acute with online gradebooks that allow students (and their parents) to track how every single assignment impacts their grade. I've witnessed many students feverishly refreshing their browser to see how the latest test or essay affected their grade.

    1. cultural producers

      Sounds a lot like connected learning.

    2. classroom as a space that ruptures, engages, unsettles and inspires

      I'm curious to know more about how other educators rupture and unsettle in your teaching context.

    3. administrators, faculty and students

      Giroux overlooks staff - like me - who often work alongside faculty. We are teachers. See Sean Michael Morris' "Instructional Designers Are Teachers" for more.

    4. the stories they produce

      I've found the work of Audrey Watters and Jennifer Binis to be essential resources for understanding the cultural and personal narratives I've encountered and (re)produced with regards to education.

    5. entrepreneurial mission of education

    6. audit culture (a culture characterized by a call to be objective and an unbridled emphasis on empiricism). Audit cultures support conservative educational policies

      Audit culture and conservative educational policies.

    7. Such a language needs to be self-reflective and directive without being dogmatic, and needs to recognize that pedagogy is always political because it is connected to the acquisition of agency.

      Giroux defines characteristics of a new language for educators.

    8. endow

      Strikes me as an odd word choice. Rather than "endow" these groups by giving them something, which suggests a degree of passiveness on their part, I think we should be working with them to build a healthier democracy.

    9. Its aim is producing students who can think critically, be considerate of others, take risks, think dangerously and imagine a future that extends and deepens what it means to be an engaged citizen capable of living in a substantive democracy.

      What does Giroux's "be considerate of others" look and feel like in practice? How is it related to the problematic calls for civility?

    10. Far more than a teaching method, education is a moral and political practice actively involved not only in the production of knowledge, skills and values but also in the construction of identities, modes of identification, and forms of individual and social agency.

      Giroux extends what he means by "education."

    11. At the core of thinking dangerously is the recognition that education is central to politics and that a democracy cannot survive without informed citizens.

      Giroux offers his take on dangerous thinking's "core."

    12. online media

      Though online media and the platforms on which it appears are also part of the problem with regards to the health of our democracy.

    13. screen culture

      I'd like to know more about what Giroux means by "screen culture."

  6. Jul 2019
    1. political struggles are won and lost in those specific yet hybridized spaces that linked narratives of everyday experience with the social gravity and material force of institutional power

      I find this description to be a useful way of thinking about my own writing and what I admire about writers who can connect the personal with the public/historical.

    2. Freire pedagogy was a political and performative act organized around the ‘instructive ambivalence of disrupted borders’ (cited in Bhabha, 1994, p. 28), a practice of bafflement, interruption, understanding, and intervention that is the result of ongoing historical, social, and economic struggles

      Further articulation of Freire's vision of pedagogy. I'm interested in what "bafflement" looks like in this context. An openness to being surprised? A kind of Socratic ignorance? A beginner's mind?

    3. Hope for Freire was a practice of witnessing, an act of moral imagination that enabled progressive educators and others to think otherwise in order to act otherwise. Hope demanded an anchoring in transformative practices, and one of the tasks of the progressive educator was to ‘unveil opportunities for hope, no matter what the obstacles may be’

      I want to reflect on this more, but this is just to say I find Freire's vision of hope to be a call to action.

    4. Critical pedagogy is thus invested in both the practice of self-criticism about the values that inform teaching and a critical self-consciousness regarding what it means to equip students with analytical skills to be self-reflective about the knowledge and values they confront in classrooms.

      I'd like to know more about how others practice this self-criticism and how you "equip students with [the] analytical skills" described by Giroux.

    5. For Freire, pedagogy is not a method or an a priori technique to be imposed on all students but a political and moral practice that provides the knowledge, skills, and social relations that enable students to explore the possibilities of what it means to be critical citizens while expanding and deepening their participation in the promise of a substantive democracy.

      Giroux sums up Freire's definition of pedagogy.

    6. self-reflection, that is, realizing the famous poetic phrase, ‘know thyself’

      Thus the role of metacognition as part of critical pedagogy.

    7. credentializing factory for students

      I'm reminded of Illich's argument in "Deschooling Society."

    8. he corporatization of education

      This phrase makes me think of Audrey Watters' "Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics: Some Thoughts from ASU+GSV" and the Koch Brothers' influence at George Mason. How have others seen "the corporatization of education" and/or the influence of corporations and their CEOs in your context?

    1. more conscious, reflective, and aware of one's progress along the learning path

      This echoes bell hooks' emphasis on self-actualization as part of the learning process for students and teachers alike.

    2. Students who do not learn how to "manage" themselves well

      Who - on an individual and institutional level - defines what it means for students to manage themselves well? And how does this definition reflect, reinforce, or challenge the status quo?

    1. Resistance that is random and isolatedis clearly not as effective as that which is mobilizedthrough systemic politicized practices of teaching andlearning.

      I'm curious if others have examples of this mobilization. For me, I think of #DisruptTexts on Twitter.

    2. he yellowkitchen where she used to share her lunch with studentsin need of various forms of sustenance

      A compelling image that captures hooks' vision of engaged pedagogy.

    3. healers.

      I wonder whether viewing teachers as healers invites a deficit-thinking approach to students.

    4. fed to them by a professo

      Or an algorithm...

    5. those teachers who have had the courage totransgress those boundaries that would confine each pupil toa rote, assembly-line approach to learning

      I wonder how we can extend this courage to transgress to individuals who don't currently teach but whose work still touches the lives of students. What does it look like when an educational technologist transgresses these boundaries? An instructional designer? A librarian? A first step is to think of each role as inextricable from teacher.

    6. The engaged voice must never be fixed and absolute but always changing, always evolving in dialogue with a world beyond itself.

      A helpful reminder when considering not just what it means to be a teacher-writer, but a writer in general. I'm also reminded of edtech's role in negating and even punishing this engaged voice; see, for example, John Warner's piece "Another Terrible Idea from Turnitin" and its authorship investigation.

    7. Often before this process can begin there has to be some deconstruction of the traditional notion that only the professor is responsible for classroom dynamics.

      I'd like to know more about how others go about this process of deconstruction. I found Jade Davis' "Decolonizing (digital) Pedagogy by Shifting the Seat of Power" to be a helpful guide for carrying out the deconstruction hooks describes.

    8. Agendas had to be flexible, had to allow for spon­taneous shifts in direction.

      I found spontaneity to be one of the hardest things to grow comfortable with as a teacher. I think that's the case because I rarely ever witnessed spontaneity as a student, and if I did, I doubt I knew what had just occurred was, in fact, unplanned. I think the more teachers can make their pedagogy transparent to students, the better both groups can understand why and how to create more opportunities for the kind of excitement hooks is describing.

    9. I found a mentor and a guide,

      In your development as a teacher, who has played or is playing the role of mentor or guide?

    10. an undercurrent of stress

      I'm reminded of Claude Steele and his work on stereotype threat.

    11. During college, the primary lesson was reinforced: we were to learn obedience to authority.

      hooks' observation here makes me think about educational technology's role - and the teachers requiring students to use certain technologies - in reinforcing obedience to authority as the most important lesson in college. I know a lot has been written about Turnitin and other related, surveillance-based tech. I'm curious: how do others resist these technologies, especially if you're experiencing pressure to adopt them?

    12. My effort and ability to learn was always contextualized within the framework of generational family experience.

      I connect with hooks' emphasis on knowing the individual student means knowing that student's family and the historical forces that have shaped the student and their family's experience.

    13. For black folks teaching—educating—was fundamentally polit­ical because it was rooted in antiracist struggle

      I wonder how teacher education programs - and other professional development - can make clear that all teaching is political.

    14. teaching would be the not-so-serious-I-need-to-make-a-living ‘job.”

      Reminds of the refrain, "Oh, you're just a teacher."

    15. would teach and write

      Ah, okay, here's hooks recognizing teaching and writing aren't mutually exclusive.

    16. a teacher. Since we were little, all you ever wanted to do was write.

      I wonder why being a teacher-writer wasn't an acceptable identity. Have others encountered assumptions of what a teacher can and cannot do? Or should and shouldn't do?

    17. in

      I'm thinking about the difference between "in" and "of" here. For me, "of" suggests a distance that isn't present with the preposition "in." I read this renewed joy as something accomplished through living learning, being surrounded by it, merging with learning, rather than stepping outside of it. I also think it's important to note the joy is communal; it's "our joy," which challenges me to consider how my joy is contingent upon others' also seeking and achieving joy.

    1. limited access to the commercialized Internet can also stand in the way of someone’s access to online visual and musical forms and learning about them

      For more on digital redlining, read "Digital Redlining, Access, and Privacy" by Chris Gilliard.

    2. A review by a well-regarded critic gives an artist or musician an advantage over those who go unnoticed.
    3. Even in the 1950s

      Another idea for a related assignment: challenge students to create a timeline of controversial art using H5P, and then embed the timeline into the text.

    4. Some still consider

      I'd be curious to see citations throughout as a model for how students can cite their work and extend their knowledge.

    5. remnants of these prejudices are still embedded in American cultural history.

      A possible assignment: identify, research, and analyze a contemporary example of artwork that was rejected or demeaned because of these prejudices.

    6. Walk in to most any art museum or concert hall and you might think you had entered a temple.

      I wonder what assumptions are being made here about students and the cultural institutions they're familiar with.

    7. 1)

      As I reflect on how instructors and students might co-create an OER text, I see questions like this, generated by the instructor/author, as an opportunity to establish and explore essential questions together. After brainstorming these questions, a possible next step would challenge students to write their own chapter (or other unit) in response to this question.

    8. a public setting

      What are some of your favorite public art pieces? For me, Alexander Calder is high on the list.

    9. controversy

      I'm curious to learn more about what the author means by "limitations" and who defines what "controversy" means.

    1. paid for their work

      Agreed!

    2. collaboration between librarians and other faculty can facilitate OER adoption for courses

      And staff, too, such as instructional designers and educational technologists.

    3. It’s important to understand students’ constraints and choices around their course readings as we consider how to enable as many students as possible to access their textbooks, remove as many barriers as possible, and help them make the most of their time.

    4. “you have to buy the class, basically pay for the class […] you had to pay, there’s no way to go around it.”

      Which again raises the question of pedagogy. The practice also creates a classroom environment based at least in part on begrudging compliance and resentment. Not great!

    5. The CUNY students I spoke with were universally opposed to — and dissatisfied with — these platforms

      How can students play a more active, integral role when institutions are considering adopting these platforms?

    6. financial aid packages that required it

      Huh. This is new to me. How frequent is this practice?

    7. often saw a potential need to access those materials again in subsequent courses, which justified their economic investment.

      I wonder if these students ended up using the materials in other courses. I'm also curious as to whether instructors within a major or department share which texts they're using in order to shape course readings across a major or minor.

    8. lecture slides essentially replicated the content of their textbooks

      Perhaps an opening to discuss how to structure a more engaging lecture?

    9. They evaluated multiple factors
    10. My professor shows us slides, but, um, the book is not used at all

      The student's description of the course reminds me that conversations about OER go hand-in-hand with conversations about pedagogy. How does adopting and (co)creating OER texts affect the how's and why's of teaching and learning? And for instructors (and students) new to OER, how can they receive support before, during, and after the use/creation of an OER text?

  7. Jun 2019
  8. educatorinnovator.org educatorinnovator.org
    1. Teacher educators can play a critical role

      And not just teacher educators: as an educational technologist, I've led professional development for teacher educators (and preservice teachers) on a number of different technologies and how/why they might be used in the classroom.

    2. snafus, like those of privacy settings

      I'm struck by the choice of "snafu" to describe "privacy settings." I worry describing privacy as a snafu undermines the seriousness with which teachers and students should evaluate a technology's privacy settings when choosing to incorporate the technology into a classroom and other learning environment.

    3. She would tweet examples of students using technology for various projects that eventually gained recognition by her school administration.

      I'm of two minds when it comes to the attention Mal received from her administrators. One the hand, go Mal! She's engaging in a public discourse about teaching with technology, and she receives professional recognition as a result. However, I also wonder whether just seeing "examples of students using technology projects" reinforces a kind of surface level understanding of how technology shapes teaching and learning and misses the chance to ask critical questions about why and how students are using the technology featured in the photographs. What do others think?

    4. connect virtually with a network of educators around a common topic from the comfort of their own homes through the use of a twitter hashtag at a given time

      Did the author have connected learning principles explicitly in mind when creating this option (and the course in general)?

    5. All students engaged with exploration of apps, in disciplinary pairs or small groups during this course session and were asked to share one specific tool they might use in their future classroom.

      I'd like to learn more about how the TCs explored the apps. For instance, what questions did they ask about the technology? In my own development as an educator and educational technologist, one area where I've grown the most is being able to identify questions to ask about technology (and the people behind that technology), why those questions and their answers are important, and how the answers might shape my current and future actions.

    6. current practicing educator

      I'm curious to know whether teacher educators discuss the phenomenon of the so-called "teacher influencer" with teacher candidates. A related issue is the rise of "educelebrities" using hashtags like #edutwitter to promote technologies or books in which they often have a personal financial stake. Seems to me another aspect of teacher training should include critically reading the posts and other work of the educators-as-brand-ambassadors.

    7. We

      I'm interested to learn more about this "we" and how the group functions on an individual and collective level. I also read the title as a way for the members of the "we" to distinguish themselves and "how [they] do it" from other groups and how those groups do "it," which I'm assuming is teaching English with technology. Last note: I now have Montell Jordan's "This Is How We Do It" in my head as I begin the article, which is a plus.

  9. educatorinnovator.org educatorinnovator.org
    1. Researchers are encouraged to attune themselves to the social and political realities that produce boundaries

      I second both this statement and the researchers' recommendation in the previous entry about "real world academic engagement..."

    2. They argued that these implications from studying digital maker culture communities suggest “dynamic ways to restructure classroom environments that foster learning in new ways in the twenty-first century”

      I'd like to learn more about whether teachers who engage in CL find it affects their pedagogy and how they approach teaching and learning that's not based on digital tools or spaces.

    3. Participant observation included the research team publishing their own fanfiction while interacting in fanfiction communities

    4. he researchers focused on particular fandoms, interacted on popular fanfiction sites focused on these fandoms, and interviewed 28 young fanfiction authors

      I don't have a doctorate, but I got to say, if I ever go down the PhD route, research on CL sounds way more fun than prodding mice in a lab all day.

    5. Place-based media production provided opportunities for students to weave their lives into their learning.

      Aside: I'm intrigued by what this place-based media production would look like in an online course in higher ed. I can see such media production as a way to scale the walls of the LMS and connect the lives of students and teachers with course material in more meaningful ways.

    6. upport students’ learning in powerful

      Another thumbs-up from me: let's acknowledge and celebrate the ways schools support students' learning, whether it's through CL or not. Yes, programs and organizations beyond schools have an important role to play, but I think relying too heavily on these programs, or framing the narrative as if schools are inherently deficient - which isn't what's happening here, but is happening, I'd argue, in the larger conversation about schools, especially public schools - undermines a school (aka: the teachers, students, staff, parents, and community members) as a transformative force.

    7. the possibility and opportunities of using the connected learning framework in school settings

      I appreciate challenging the notion that "official" CL can only occur "across contexts and settings" rather than solely in a school. For me, a related issue is who can access these different contexts and settings. Digital redlining blocks or slows access for many students (and teachers), and I'd like to learn more about how CL addresses digital redlining.

    8. socially rewarding feedbac

      I wonder about the degree to which CL acknowledges and addresses the harassment faced by different individuals and groups when they work in an online space. A related question: to what degree are CL practitioners investigating the technology itself? How might Ethical EdTech provide questions and tools to support CL?

    9. fter-school programs offered more opportunities for technology-facilitated connected learning that centered students’ interests, offered challenging activities focused on creation, and created a shared purpose for learning between students and teachers.

      I'd like to understand why teachers/schools were unable to achieve these same positive results. In my experience, teachers/schools do not have the freedom as independent programs. Sometimes a teacher's or school's freedom is circumscribed by various official (or unofficial) mandates, such as the hours and hours lost to studying for and taking high-stakes tests. Other times, a teacher's pedagogy or a school's culture don't include centering students. Guess I need to read the study!

    10. Findings suggested that students actively participated in shaping their learning and that each group evolved their own learning system related to selecting, using, and valuing the tools, objects, and subjects of their project.

      This stands in stark contrast to so-called "personal learning" technologies sold to schools.

    11. the quality of connection

      A tangential thought that may be addressed elsewhere, but I'm curious how/if CL in its various forms affects whether or not a teacher remains in the profession. Given our nation's teacher shortage, can/is CL be(ing) used to create and maintain communities that help teachers stay and grow in their classrooms?

    12. connected learning is paired with complementary theoretical and methodological frameworks

      I appreciate pairing CL with theoretical and methodological frameworks. I've taught in both public and private schools, and I think one of the challenges in a private school setting is helping teachers, some of whom may have little-to-no background in educational/learning theory, engage with theory in their teaching context as part of their professional development.

    13. represent the spaces in whicha significant portion of the work is currently taking place

      I'm fairly new to CL, so I'm curious: how is CL viewed in more "traditional," for lack of a better word, academic circles?

  10. May 2019
  11. citejournal.s3.amazonaws.com citejournal.s3.amazonaws.com
    1. by this rhetori

      I think it's important to note the source/s of this rhetoric. How is a particular technology's narrative shaped, and by whom, and for what end/s?

    1. corporations,

      I think it's important to note that corporate interests do not (or rarely) align with the interests of educators, students, families, and communities. Corporations are beholden to their shareholders. And while the call for more data is not inherently problematic, what happens if (or when) the corporations building the technology used to produce and store student/user data turnaround and sell that data or use it to further refine a product to sell? For instance, I'm thinking of Instructure's recent announcement to use all the student data is can access to improve machine learning/AI.

    2. public attention and private investment

      Sometimes with rather harmful effects.

    1. practitioners or apprentices of that subject.

      I appreciate reframing students as active versus passive.

    2. working inthe open.

      Yes, but working in the open is not safe for everyone, and finding closed or semi-open spaces is also an important responsibility. Another option is to for students to choose to work in the open.

    3. Ask youth what they need from you to feelmore comfortable and be willing to makethose changes

      On the importance of humility and kindness.

    4. Talking openly about the things that you geekout over is one way to cultivate trust and builda relationship

      Agreed! I'm disheartened by advice some teachers, especially those new to the profession, get to avoid smiling until March because doing so would erode their authority.

    5. modeling forlearners how to select theappropriate tool for their desireduse and skill lev

      I think part of this modeling means asking questions of the technology and talking through the responses to those questions with students. What are questions y'all ask of a technology before deciding to use it with students?

    6. explain the decisions you make whenthey differ from youth input

      Transparency and honesty go a long way.

    7. you cansupport “progressive complexity” for youth

      Another important and, in my experience, often unspoken part of being an effective teacher: knowing enough about the school and broader community to bridge gaps in personal knowledge/ability to assist a student.

    8. Stay curious about what yourstudents are interested in and bewilling to learn with the

      Such an important part of being a good teacher, IMO. Yes, be curious about a subject, but don't lose sight of the people in the room.

    9. codevelop learning goals with youth participants

    10. of youth and of theircommunity, such as positive social causes

      That's a lot to put on the designer of this learning experience. What about inviting students and community members to co-design?

    11. payoffs

      I'm bristling at the repeated use of "payoffs." Since @bakerdoylek got us started using dictionaries, I'll keep it up by sharing the Oxford English Dictionary's first definition of "payoff": "A payment made to someone, especially as a bribe or reward, or on leaving a job." What's a better word or phrase for "payoff"? Benefit? Growth? Improvement?

    12. led by learners

      One way is to let the learners identify their interests rather than imposing personal interests or guessing students' interests.

    13. increased test score

      To what degree does success on test scores translate into learning?

    14. youth

      I'm new to CL, and I wonder what about the model is particular to youth learning versus other age groups.

    15. Field-Tested

      I'm curious to know more about this field testing. What exactly were the environments? And what did the testing look like?

    1. The most critical stance we can take as educators is to assume we know nothing and become profoundly observational.

      I find this daunting, humbling, and exciting all at once.

    2. research-driven, evidence-based methods

      Is there room for research-driven, evidence-based methods to exist side-by-side with critical pedagogy? What does this look like?

    3. Have we engaged students in some way not measurable by clicks, hits, and discussion posts, or, are we letting the the technology teach in place of us?

    4. Are students online cared for?

      Put another way, "How am I caring for students online?"

    5. Do they know what analytics are being kept, who is checking those analytics, and what the repercussions of their actions or inactions online might be?

      My sense is that no, students - and many instructors - don't know how the LMS tracks and uses the data they produce. Recent events like the $1.75 billion sale of Turnitin or Instructure's announcement they'll be using (and presumably monetizing) student data as part of a machine learning endeavor suggests to me that such questions must be asked and asked now - and answered by students and teachers working together.

    6. push beyond the “how” to use a tool, and into the “why” and “whether.”

      As a recent graduate of a master's program in educational technology, I wish we'd had more (a lot more) conversation about the whys and whethers of tech.

    7. training usually consists of how-to lessons scaffolding to best practices.

      I'm trying to nudge the faculty who participate in such how-to trainings towards deeper reflection on their pedagogies prior to beginning whatever training we're doing. I find Kevin Gannon's "Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto" to be an accessible opening for faculty (and staff and students) to consider another person's pedagogy before elaborating on their own beliefs.

    8. we’ve always done them

      I'd extend this to, "This is not only how it's done at our institution, but this is also how it's done at other institutions, or this is how our professional organizations say it should be done, so that's how it's going to be done."

  12. Jan 2019
    1. join your voice with the voices of educational technology.

      I'm curious: how do y'all think joining our voices with educational technology sounds/looks/feels like?

    2. Are the answers that Vygotsky offers, that Skinner offers, or even that Freire offers going to help us here?

      I appreciate Sean’s relentless and restless questioning. No writer, no text, no idea is sacred.

    3. To be considered knowledgeable, all you need to do is remember what you learn, understand what you learn, and then apply what you learn.

      I agree with Sean’s critique here insofar as he’s - to my reading - warning against a vision of learning that’s more concerned with mass complacency than individual critical thinking. Yet I find Bloom’s Taxonomy to be a helpful launch point. For instance, I think it’s important for teachers to help students remember what they’ve previously learned in order to build on that knowledge. I think building knowledge does require recall; otherwise, new information remains in isolation. The problem arises when teachers and students alike do not engage in the more complex acts of analyzing and evaluating. For me, when I’m (co)designing a lesson, I return to Bloom not as a tablet delivered from on high, but as a taxonomy of possibility, a collection of verbs that stimulates my own thinking about the types of learning that might happen in a certain class with a specific set of students.

    1. Pedagogy has at its core timeliness, mindfulness, and improvisation. Pedagogy concerns itself with the instantaneous, momentary, vital exchange that takes place in order for learning to happen.

      The emphasis here on mindfulness as a core component of vital exchanges makes me think of the most recent newsletter from Middlebury College's digital detox initiative: "Mindfulness and Radical Listening in Digital Spaces."

    2. play

      I think the verb "play" is important, and it's a word that carries its own pedagogy. For one, play suggests freedom from evaluation. And two, play is unstructured; it meanders, drops off, becomes something else entirely. I'm curious what tools others have used that fit this (or other) descriptions of play. I think of Flipgrid, the video discussion platform, though even the play that occurs within its fields is circumscribed and preproduced by its limitations. Then again, limitations aren't inherently problematic. They can condense and sharpen, invite people to reimagine and remix.

    1. “As a classroom community, our capacity to generate excitement is deeply affected by our interest in one another, in hearing one another’s voices, in recognizing one another’s presence.”

      I'm reading Joshua R. Eyler's excellent new book How Humans Learn, and this line from bell hooks reminds me of Eyler's discussion of pedagogical caring. Eyler includes Richard Hult Jr.'s distinction between caring "about" versus caring "for" a person. When we go beyond caring about something or someone, Eyler via Hult Jr explains, to care for that something or someone, we "'behav[e] with special skills to support or increase some condition of value in the cared for.'" I'm drawn to the idea that caring for someone means encouraging them to see and develop something they define as important. As an educator/educational technologist, the challenge then becomes moving from an interest in and care about another person to an interest for and care for that person.

    2. But efficiency, when it comes to teaching and learning, is not worth valorizing.

      I struggle with this question of efficiency. I work with faculty who teach sections with hundreds of students. I understand their desire for efficiency. Yet here efficiency is framed as antithetical to teaching and learning. I'm curious how others think of efficiency. Do you agree its not worth valorizing? Or is there a type of efficiency that doesn't undermine teaching and learning, or a context where efficiency might find a use?

    3. outcomes over epiphanies

      I'm new to higher ed. In August, I joined the College of Education and Human Ecology at Ohio State as the educational technologist. Prior to my current role, I taught high school English and some college composition for eleven years. One challenge I'm wrestling with is this notion of "outcomes over epiphanies." Yes, as a high school teacher, I had to account for state standards when designing a curriculum, but I also had the privilege to work in schools where I had more freedom and not every decision was dictated by value-added measures and high-stakes testing. In other words, I could create learning environments conducive to epiphanies rather than clouded by outcomes.

      Now, I'm sometimes asked to help align syllabi with Quality Matters standards. While the QM standards ensure essential information makes it into the syllabus, they also have a more pernicious effect, one that prizes outcomes over epiphanies. And a lot rides on a successful QM review. Namely, the faculty member's ability to have their course accepted by the committee in charge of such decisions.

      I agree with Sean and Jesse that educators feel "flummoxed by a system." In their bewilderment - and in their understandable desire to get their course approved - they turn to easily plotted outcomes instead of messy, unpredictable epiphanies. The culprit, as Sean and Jesse note, is "a system." Importantly, it's not the system, but only one version of it. I view my work, and the work of critical digital pedagogy, as developing an alternative system liberated from the rule of King Outcomes.