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My main thought from this class was about how technology can be used reciprocally in outdoor environments. I think the QR code activity was a great way to show this. The QR codes were low/no impact to the environment as they were removable and posed no threat to the plants/trees they were attached to. In doing so, we were able to learn about the plants around us and some ways we can use technology in the classroom. The exploration of the species in Finnerty gardens was a natural byproduct of our curiosity once outside in an environment rich with plants both familiar and unfamiliar. I was struck by the conversations we had as peers too, with discussions of previous travels, family traditions, and personal preferences being unearthed by simply being in the environment. I also found it funny, while using the plant identification feature through my phone’s camera, that they mistook a wisteria bulb for a bug.  

Below is a QR code I have created, linking to a guest house that I used to work at that had beautiful Wisteria plants, as well as other gorgeous garden garnishes.

I had a couple of thoughts during our talk on technology and inclusion. From my prior knowledge, I thought of how tech could be used as ways to help diverse learners access educational opportunities. My perspective was limited to assistive technologies like text to speech, speech to text and other softwares to give students equitable access to education.

The metaphor of the invisible backpack stuck with me too. Everyone comes into the classroom with a number of identities we cannot see, but are vital to understanding the student and their needs. This solidified to me the importance of getting to know your students, and makes me think that even though a certain student may not have a designation or any outwardly presenting learning barrier, there may be any. humber of intersectional factors that make participation in class without supports impossible. Assistive technology absolutely should not be confined to those who have designations or visible learning difficulties.

In my classroom going forward, I will really focus on integrating universal supports for learning. Thank you Kaori and Tracy!!

Here is a video of Google Read and Write in action, and some tips for how to use it. It seems to be a great universal assistive technology available!

I was glad that we brought up that when technology doesn’t work, it’s best not to catastrophize things. That behaviour is modelled onto the impressionable students we have, and is not necessarily conducive to solving the problem we have at hand.

Just like in school, parenting, driving… 

Origin of this image is from WW2, a poster to encourage British people to trust their army and raise national morale. It was posted before the war started and has been appropriated many times since in home decorations and t-shirt design, the message stays the same. Calmness as a teacher is infectious, as is stress. A philosophy I am hoping to take on in my practice is to always remain calm and solve problems with aa level head, and this will have to apply to technology because it is not always going to work out how we hope at the first time of asking.  

I created a concept of a man and his dog building a fence together on their farm.

I used GenType to generate my title page.

I generated 2 Photos of the man and his dog using 123RF. Here, I had varying success.

Prompt: A photorealistic 3D render of a farmer working on building a fence. His clothes are well worn and he is dirty. He has a border collie with him, and a cooler full of lucky lagers and ice. He is happy with his progress. The sun is setting over the land, which is sparsely treed and has a few tumble weeds spinning around. 

Images:

Next, I created a video. I was very impressed with what KLing Ai was able to generate, although I would have liked it to be longer.

Prompt: A man is building a fence with his border collie. He is wearing nice but worn clothes and is clearly working very hard. The sun is setting nicely in the background and his tools are sprawled out on the floor. He has a hammer, a level, a post hole digger, and a bucket. He also has a cooler of beer next to him. He grabs a fence post. 

Video:

His hands go a little wonky, and it looks like he takes a tool from his cooler which is a bit iffy, but overall pretty cool!

Finally, I asked Riffusion to generate a song that would fit with my setup so far.

It seemed very much an amalgamation of other’s work as I did not give a hugely detailed prompt but was given a song of over 3 minutes. They also did not stick to the theme I had asked for. Overall, I feel as though this specific facet of AI may need the most critical thinking and tinkering with the prompt to get what we want.