Well this was my first semester and EC&I 830 is my second course, I have thoroughly enjoyed all the classes. To be honest I was quite overwhelmed too as a lot of discussion regarding AI and other technologies was completely new to me, I could see my other classmates were way above than me on this, but I tried my best you know. To cope up, to share my thoughts.

I have learned a lot about new educational technologies, and the debate part was just outstanding, I was lucky enough to be paired up with Jessica who made this course more enjoyable and fun.

Here I am sharing the link of our summary video, please have a look.

Thank you and Good bye!

We are living in such time period where we cannot live without technology. So Why our classrooms will be without it huh! Right?

Trust me, if it was before 2020 and the pandemic, I would say no no I do not want much technology in my classroom, I am happy with books and my activities. But if it was not for technologies than how the last two years would have gone? Thank God for the technology, the internet, the dedication and patience of both teachers and students we were able to continue teaching and learning during the pandemic.

Even this course we are doing, without technology we wont have done it right? We all know technology is our present and past that is why we are doing this course!

in the classroom the more we introduce technology and show our kids the positive ways of using it I believe that would be good for our future generation too! The next generation is already advance and way ahead of us in using technology, at their wage we did not even have mobile or internet and now they are a pro!

So it is good to welcome and get accustomed the new technologies in the classroom!

Well I must say Hanieh+ Rokhsareh and George + Kanwal have done a splendid debate on this topic. Sometimes I was on the side of agreeing and again on the side of disagreeing!

Well if I share my opinion I must say Artificial Intelligence is the future of education without a doubt!

I know I know it is making the students cheater some would say but I would disagree with that. Being a good person comes from the upbringing and good learning, AI has nothing to do with it. I would rather say it is making the work of a student a bit more organized. I myself use Chat GPT and I have found sometimes the articles it shows is not authentic. So what so I do then? Do I stop researching of course not, I keep digging into it, I believe all other students does it too. Well there are plagiarism tools available too. So teachers can easily find out if a student is copy pasting. Trust as a teacher I know my students, I know the way they think or write, all teachers do, if they just cheat teacher could easily tell that.

Artificial Intelligence is our future, in our work in the classroom everywhere and I believe it will change our education for the better.

Well is it educators responsibility to promote social justice by using technology and social media? I wonder!

Well somewhat I would say Yes, teaching social justice at school to kids is good. Making them understand what is right and what is wrong, understanding of justice, sharing equally etc. Teachers play a key role in influencing students in the class and in their lives. But does it have to be on social media too? I doubt!

The risk of overexposing personal information, if teachers are going to have personal thoughts on some controversial and they goes online and say something even remotely

about any students I do not think so all the parents or students themselves would take them positively. We should maintain the privacy too.

Back in my country I have seen one of my colleagues lost her job as she vent out on social media about a coworker and students were commenting on that post. She lost her job as our school authority did not take it positively.

Who is going to take the responsibility if teachers say something online and particular students or parents or school authority takes that negatively? The teacher will end up facing the consequences!

Well this was another debate which I have thoroughly  enjoyed, both the teams Kennedy & Ummey Vs Jeff Graeme did amazing job in representing their points.

Equitable society, equity in all level seems quite farfetched to me to be honest. In my country I would say its a myth. In first world countries like Canada it is still possible and sort of already in the process of happening.

Well here I would like to mention the failure of ‘One laptop per child’. Just giving away devices wont make the children equal in all sense right? Technology comes with double edge sword. When we think about technology we also need to think about not just the device but the internet connection, the proper knowledge of how to use that. Sometimes it is not possible by the school authority to provide them all. But I would say it is a good initiative and at least the authority is trying to make a difference.

Well this was one of the earliest debates that I have enjoyed. This debate was presented by Valeska & Bart vs. Brenton & Brittney. Both the teams did great job representing their points.

If you look around you will see kids either watching something on the phone or playing with it or making videos. A huge number of kids are busy making TikTok’s, Instagram and God knows what… But that does not mean social media is ruining their childhood. I would say some of the kids have become more socially aware about their rights, society and environment.

Yes, I have noticed in my own relatives how the younger kids would just stare at the phone rather talking to others in a family dinner or any outing. Specially after the pandemic.

This is getting quite difficult to actually separate kids from the internet or social media. I am not saying social media has no positive, it definitely does just as any other things. But I must say social media is very influential and kids have tendency this days to posts everything then and there without thinking!

Last Tuesday it was me and Jessica( now my good friend thanx to this debate) vs JR and Laura and we were debating on this controversial topic “Educators and schools have a responsibility to help students develop a digital footprint”. Me and Jess were opposing the topic. Trust me both of us ended with this topic as we both were late to pick a topic. And we both new going against this topic means ultimate loss.

The more we started digging and tried to save our face we started to realize actually it should not be teachers responsibility you know! We teachers already have way too much on our plate, we are already tired and burn out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=junOQydzmk4 and taking blames for the bad results of the students! On top of that having extra burden of getting sued by parents for helping their kids for whatever they post in the internet! I do not want that!

Yes I understand we can guide our kids on what is right and what is wrong, helping them to be a good human being, a responsible citizen, they will eventually create positive footprint I am sure of that. And that is exactly what one of Jess’s students believe! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QO4eTspMNFWEn3Ep_m3uloDIRHiZOeHM/view?ts=6410094d

Well the debate went well I would say…. Me and Jess have thoroughly enjoyed. We  have lost but I would say it was a win as we have managed to pull a good percentage from the pre-vote to our side. And line from Dr. Alec that ‘Mic Dropped’ after our closing argument has really made our day!!!!

I have came to know about ChatGPT recently. Well I was amazed. Coming from a third world country where we learn everything later, get everything mostly second hand, ChatGPT was kind of interesting. When I found out about it all I was thinking how many night’s sleep I have wasted working on lesson plan, if we had ChatGPT back in 2015 above my life would have been a piece of cheese cake (well my favorite kind). Then I was thinking I wish we had this ChatGPT back in my University days while I was doing my Honors degree back in 2008 and above…. I was trying to countdown how many evenings I have wasted studying, doing assignments and research work!!!

Then I started to thinking again why did not someone invented this amazing ChatGPT when I was in school!! The hundreds and thousand words essays, assignments, projects and what not…Could have been soo many days partying with friends and could have stress free life!!!

Then reality struck me! Now if school students start to turn in their essays? What are they gonna end up learning? Are going to even read once whatever Essays or assignments ChatGPT would present in front of them??? In Universities if students are doing everything on this technology are they going to learn something even?

Are we making our future generation smart or lazy?

I know use of technology is always double edged sword. It depends on WHO use it and HOW they use it. We need to make your future generation morally strong, need to have ethical studies or something similar in their courses too. We cannot stop new technology to get invented, this is how we progress right? But we can surely control the use of it.

Well ChatGPT makers are launching tools to detect AI-generated text we are finding the cure of the poison……