Author: Brittany (Page 3 of 10)

Today Kati and I met to discuss our upcoming assignment 2 project. During this process we were able to refine our topic and start our research journey based on topics of interest. We have decided to do our upcoming assignment on Language Learning and Technology. Our lens for this presentation will be to talk about this subject from both our lenses as teachers. Kati as a Literacy intervention teacher where she supports students with diverse abilities and myself as a French Immersion teacher.

Some of the articles we found and will further discuss during our interactive presentation are the following (to access these you must be logged into UVic). These are specific to French Immersion but we will also further explore more articles in terms of Second Language Learning and Technology

• E-inclusion in Early French Immersion Classrooms: Using Digital Technologies to Support Inclusive Practices That Meet the Needs of All Learners
• Gamifying French Language Learning: a case study examining a quest-based, augmented reality mobile learning-tool

We look forward to embarking on this journey and sharing our experiences. We are looking at using digital tools such as Jamboard and Kahoot to engage our peers throughout our presentation.

Accordingly this brings me to a topic of discussion which is

• How are you organizing yourself to engage with research about educational technology?

Throughout this collaboration, Kati and I have been in the process of discovering Zotero. We learned how to create a group on Zotero and share our research and articles. This has made our research process more fluid as we make annotations and highlight key information in our shared folder. Using this research tool has benefited us as we collaborate on this assignment. Although we are able to meet in person (as we did today), some of our cohort members are not and I believe this feature will be well liked and used by many.

If you want to learn more about Zotero, feel free to visit the Digital Scholarship Commons Workshops

Furthermore, the organization part of research is crucial especially as we embark in our final long term masters project and learning this feature was key for us as we started our group project. In my Zotero, I have created a group with Kati as I stated above. I also have some previous folders for research I did related to digital badges. Recently other folders I have added include folders for our class readings in EDCI 570 and EDCI 515. Finally, my last folder is my final project folder (although later on this may result in more sub categories as I refine my topic).

When researching today we learned many features of Zotero (including making groups and adding videos to Zotero), we continued to practice our research skills by following the advance search guidelines on the University of Victoria Library website that Justin outlined in our EDCI 515 course presentation.

I look forward to continuing to create our Assignment 2: Team research presentation and to sharing our key findings with everyone. Stay tuned for more updates.

For now, here is a video that introduces some of the impacts of technology on second language learning.

I am currently teaching Grade 1/2 French Immersion at Macaulay Elementary and within my classroom I use technology daily in order to help support my students. When addressing what is the reality of educational technology in my context, I believe that technology continues to evolve and that this reality is constantly changing. My goal throughout this program is to help teachers use technology more.

At a district level, I am grateful to have access to numerous tech resources. My district for example, even has a digital resource section with French Immersion specific resources. These resources are accessible; however, a limit I have noticed is that there are many teachers who do not know of the resources or how to use them. Therefore, I believe a communal drive and instruction sessions would be beneficial. As someone, who is passionate about technology and willing to help fellow teachers, I know that other teachers within my school have started to use tech more as I share resources. Therefore the benefits grow as they learn new opportunities.

There is a slight lack in accessing devices right now as the district replaces old devices with new laptops. I am awaiting my district computer, but luckily my classroom does have access to some IPad’s. My hope is that in the near future each student will be able to have one assigned to them to use.

Here are just some digital resources to name a few that I use within my class to support French Language Learning. I continue to discovering new resources, as technology continues to grow.

For instance, this year I have decided to learn the new Digital Portfolio for SD61. I have already started to learn about this system and so far I have found it to be a great method where I am able to showcase a journey of learning, all while communicating with families daily. The digital portfolio is effective in demonstrating the process over time through videos, photos and many other resources. I believe that it helps build children’s confidence to showcase their work, which ultimately makes the work meaningful and something they are proud of. The benefits of technology range, but in terms of digital portfolio here are some benefits I have noticed:

• Oral French skills develop as they are sharing their knowledge through videos and pictures.
• In the early years, they start to learn basic digital technology.
• They are motivated to share their work and make improvements when looking back on their work.

Other common tools that I use are the projector, the document camera and online videos. With these there are many benefits, but specifically related to French, students are able to listen to different accents of French speaking people.  Thus, different accents expose children to language, promote diversity and help them develop their French skills.

I am looking forward to continue gaining access and information on strategies that best support language acquisition specifically in a French Immersion context. As a French Immersion team at my school, I wish to help support teachers with technology and eventually want to expand these resources district wide to make it more accessible for all teachers. So instead of teachers feeling overwhelmed by learning technology, it can be more “entangled pedagogy” (Fawns, 2022).