ChatGPT in Education

Few weeks back, I was teaching my year 4 students and was explaining to them how to write email in a correct format and with the right structure. One of my students asked me why are we learning it? He said " My dad use ChatGPT to write his business emails". This really took my attention to the point that it's so important to deeply understand the purpose of learning in order to have effective learning in this age where everything is just a click away. I have explained ChatGPT can only be useful if you understand yourself that whether it has produced a quality work according to your need or not.  

The future would be all about AI tools. We cannot escape from its existence, but what we can do is to use it to make our teaching more innovative and effective with these AI tool. We have to change the nature of the assessment to incorporate such technology-based tool. Use them in away that would helpful for the students to use it to sharpen their cognitive skill rather than passively acquiring knowledge. 

Recently, few of my colleagues had a discussion on ChatGPT and its impact on education, which is as follows. Please look through and add your point of view as well. 

Reference:

Roose, K. (2023), Don't ban ChatGPT in School- teach with it, Newyork Times, Available at : Don’t Ban ChatGPT in Schools. Teach With It. - The New York Times (nytimes.com) (Accessed on 28th March). 

Digital Visitor/Residents

 Recently, I have come across relatively new terminologies during my IPL course. Digital visitor and digital residents, which evoke my curiosity to further research about the coined words and reflect with respect to my personal and professional standing. Interestingly, it translated my digital usage and made me aware how my actions have impacted my practice for technology. Digital visitors and residents lay on the same spectrum, which is evident that traces of both would be found in the user practices.

Before I present my own position on the continuum, would like to elaborate the terms in a layman language; if your presence is visible on digital platforms and create an impact on the digital users then you would be certainly classified as a Resident. You not only have a digital footprint but also has significant influence in the world of technology. On the other hand, if you are quite a prominent user of the world wide web, but don’t have traces to be figured out. Your role is just to get benefited from the amazing technologies and leave the space without leaving your marks then you are entitled as a visitor (White & Cornu, 2011).

Although, we cannot categorize any of the phenomenon superior or better to the other, but indeed it depicts the level of engagement of the user and the effect it can cause to the strategies which can be employed accordingly. It can act as a psycho-behavioral tool to gauge the motivation and nature of involvement of using technology in personal and professional sphere (Formateje, 2016).

My diagram clearly shows, I am more inclined toward the institutional usage as a resident where digital platforms are frequently used and my interaction with communal space is more obvious. My digital footprint in the institutional context depicts that my urge to learn new informative system and approaches is stronger. My professional growth is dependent on my digital networking, and it portrays my strong commitment to excel and achieve within my professional space. On the other hand, there is more concentration as a visitor in terms of my personal usage. It could be deduced that my personal choices are dependent on the technological use, but only when there is a necessity to find something relevant. In a way it demonstrates my introvert nature when it comes to personal choices.

I would like you to reflect on your position to better understand your choices and behavior, which is a great way to introspect.

Reference:

Formateje, N. (2016) Digital visitors or digital residents, how do you browse, Universitat Oberta de Catalyunya, Accessed on 01^st April 2023

Available on Digital visitor or digital resident, how do you browse? (uoc.edu)

White, D. and Cornu, A. (2011), Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement, First Monday, Volume 16, Number 9 – 5, Accessed on 28^th March 2023

Available at: View of Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement | First Monday

My Digital Evolution!

I have never been a tech savvy person, however always been good at adopting technology quickly wherever it is required. My relationship with technology can be termed as “need based”, and if we look under the lens of today’s digital era, then this need has become a mandatory thing to evolve and survive in professional and personal space. If you want to excel, then there shouldn’t be any escape from digital presence.

My early experience with technology during my own academic journey was limited to overhead projectors, where I used to make transparent slides and used it for my class presentation. Later with easy accessibility to computers and laptops, it switched to Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Word for class tasks and assignments. Through my technological learning evolution, I realized if you have an urge to learn as an ongoing process then “technology” becomes a handy companion along your way. On the other hand, stagnancy in the domain of digital literacy lags you behind to be benefited from this amazing learning aid. The shelf-life of technological products is very small, so keeping up with the digital trends is key to success.  

My teaching journey embarked on in late covid times, where technology has already impacted the teaching practices. Being new in the field I had to catch up to so many new tools. Every step of my teaching career taught me a new digital platform or tool to enhance my experience. Online classes were new skill for me. I used ‘Microsoft Teams’ platform to conduct online lesson. I noticed that learning technology is not a one session phenomenon, where you read, understand, and apply. Rather it is a process where trial and error play a vital role in shaping your competency. There were days when technological platform didn’t work out well to support my teaching, but it’s important that how and to what extend you explore it and turn the ball in your court.

One of the key things I have learned from the usage of technology in classrooms is always have your Plan B ready. One cannot completely rely on one digital source solely. I remember once during my early teaching days, I had planned a lesson based on using a technological tools “Quizzes” as a starter of the lesson, but for some technical reasons I couldn’t execute it. Instead of panicking, I instantly altered it with another activity to carry out the lesson. This taught me a very valuable lesson that teacher is the main driving force of the teaching and learning process. Technology would facilitate you to make the process more effective and viable, but at the end how optimally utilize technology will still be in educator’s hand.

I would still consider myself in the growth phase of my digital learning curve, where there is yet so much to discover and learn in order to be at the top of my game!

Introduction

 

Welcome to my blog! I am Nusrat and novice to the world of teaching, but every day my new learning experience strengthens my believe that “Success is not an accident but it’s a choice”.

Currently, I am working as an ICT Primary teacher in an international school. The constant and active interaction with the technology in my classroom keeps me on my toes to learn and unlearn things and be flexible enough to change according to the needs of time.

In this blog I will reflect on my experience that how technology act as a catalyst to improve my teaching and learning practices in classroom. Along with you, I will explore some new avenues to effectively incorporate technological tools and platform in the classroom. And last but not the least with your valuable feedback, I aim to learn some new ways to make technology my best friend!