Definitely agree with this! There is a curriculum development class that just talked about the importance of designing a lesson plan backwards. Having an end goal in mind is how we should be structure lesson plans and it's interesting to see how this applies to to technology as well. I have definitely gotten distracted by the "sparkle" before and really only had it just to use the tool, but if we backwards design, we can mitigate this problem.

I feel like so much of learning in schools nowadays is based on memorization, so I feel like we should start shifting away from this approach. Obviously there are facts and terms that students will have to memorize and I also think that Kahoot and Quizlet are great tools for that. On the other hand though, I feel like all you hear about when educators use digital tools in their classroom, is them using Kahoot. Since we know that it does not encompass connecting their knowledge to real life issues, we need to start learning about different tools to use in the future(which is why this class is so interesting)!

I think it's great that Maine passed this law - definitely did not expect Maine to be the one that did it but okay. I feel like there is so much information that someone could collect about you and you don't realize to what extent it goes to. Companies should not have access to this information without asking you first because that is an invasion of privacy, especially from something you pay for. It is an opt-in choice but a way that a company can go around this is to just have a really long privacy policy or something that people won't read

This is definitely very important but this also just feels like another "thing" that underpaid and overworked teachers have to do. I think that a lot of people don't realize that nothing is ever free in this world. You have to trade in your privacy and identity to use these tools. Another thing, websites may ask for users' ages but people definitely lie(I know I have), so how do we balance this?

I think some websites/tools/apps really need to ask themselves this question because some of them are really hard to navigate. If a website is not easy to use, it leads to a lot of confusion and people probably would not want to go back and use that website again(people meaning me). If a website is not easy to learn the first time, people will give up and just end up using another website or refrain from using digital tools in general.

I definitely agree with this because I feel like with every new website or tool or app we are asked to use or explore, you have to make an account for some reason and they don't let you do anything without an account. Giving them your information is giving over your privacy and it doesn't seem fair that we have to do that all the time

I love having the option of transcripts/captions even though I don't personally have a hearing impairment. It shows that accessibility in UX design is not only for people who have disabilities, but can benefit everyone. I do think that it's important to note that even though a lot of videos have transcripts/captions that they are not always accurate.

This is a super important aspect of education that I do not believe is stressed/highlighted enough even though it seems like a pretty big issue. UDL is a great concept, but it doesn't seem to very prominent in the school system except maybe in college. Speaking from personal experience, we did not have multiple means of engagement, representation or action and expression in high school because it was very rigid. UDL makes everyone feel more included and equitable, which should be the overarching goal for our school system.

This also happened to me very recently. I remotely tutor middle schoolers and I tried to do a gimkit with them to go over everything we've learned. We only have about half an hour together and we probably spent about 20 minutes just setting everything up and explaining everything and troubleshooting. There were only two people and it just wasn't as engaging or fun as I wanted it to be, so now I don't really want to do it anymore with them. There goes another really fun tool that I now am discouraged from using.

This was my exact reaction last week when we had to go on twitter and participate in the Twitter chat. I was literally so confused and absolutely bashed Twitter in my corresponding response. I can definitely see the upsides of using Twitter especially in an educational/supportive light when I become an educator but right now, I'm still questioning the sanity of people recommending Twitter

I really like this part of having a PLN because things change all of the time and just like life, we have to adapt and evolve. It is super important to mention this because I feel like people think that once you join something, you have to stick with it or it somehow feels like you are abandoning them, but that's not true.

I think social media especially recently has been a driving force in expanding your circle and your network. There are many more platforms to share things like lesson plans, hack or just tips and I really do believe that reaching out to do that is super important.

I feel like there is such a stigma that has surrounded hackers and what they actually do and that is one of the problems with social media. They can perpetuate stereotypes and hackers is one of them personally. Just because of the shows and movies I have watched about hackers, they make it seem like a side character moment and that all they do is sit in the dark and type to break into top secret databases for the main character and that's not what they really are all about.

I feel like this would be so hard to do in reality because I think that most mental health advocators are either groups of individuals or non-profits, meaning that they wouldn't have the funds to target audiences with ads. Especially if they are competing for spaces in well-known platforms. And then factoring that some people aren't looking up how to help their mental health and your audience gets smaller. It just seems like they have a lot of obstacles to overcome, which may be why they closed their doors.

I think that there should be a guide for things like ads and social media and other places where things can really influence a person. it is already known that businesses use these types of things to promote themselves so I think that it is very important to understand what is the intention behind this? Is Is accurate? Is it helpful? Is it useful?

While I do understand why this statement was included, I think that this isn't why people work "Alone Together". The problem with things like group work and breakout rooms is the fact that people don't talk enough. There has to be a combination of someone making the first move and people responding to it and it doesn't happen a lot of the time. The biggest problem with group settings like this is the fact that people think that it is too awkward and refuse to say anything. Then how does collaboration even have a chance of happening?