Teemu Valtonen University of Eastern Finland, 
Matti Tedre University of Eastern Finland, 
Kati Mäkitalo University of Oulu, Finland
​Henriikka Vartiainen University of Eastern Finland, Finland
Overview: 
With recent changes in media, where information is shared like a virus, “fake news” resurfaced as a more powerful adversary. One of the reasons “fake news” is so pervasive is that it has become easier to make it look more credible and dynamic. “Fake news” is designed to be sensational, interesting and believable, it often includes real facts. Machine learning algorithms aid in dissemination of “fake news” and polarization of opinions.  “Coping with the world of algorithmically created and distributed news is a challenge to existing media literacy education” Media literacy needs to emphasize individuals’ active inquiry and critical thinking, people’s skills, and ability to reflect and analyze media input.
The article also discusses the algorithms that run online media platforms. They are proprietary to the companies who own the social media platforms, they are well hidden and get a user their personal media feed that is tailored to their personal preferences. They are using “attention engineering” to manipulate people’s emotions without their awareness.
Here is a list of Technologies and Educational themes and content I’ve found to be important to share: 
 
Tracking 
How are people tracked in the physical world (phones, health devices, instagram photos with geolocation data, credit cards, utilities, security surveillance, etc.) as well as in virtual worlds (twitter posts, facebook face recognition, loyalty cards, software updates, calendar events, etc.)—and how these are combined to make an extremely accurate profile of you, the consumer.

Recommenders and optimization
How do recommender systems use tracking data from massive numbers of people to very accurately predict what you might be interested in, based on people with similar interests, as well as on content similarity—and how is that information used for marketing, political and social purposes, provision of instant gratification, and facilitating addictive behavior.

Dynamic content generation
How is natural language generation used, for example, to create large farms of “followers” in social media, to create news and fake news that appeal to users’ interests, to design bots that are able to carry out conversations, and to automate journalism. 

Deep learning
How do computers learn to do tasks by looking at large numbers of examples; tasks such as translate text between languages, spot fraudulent credit card transactions, paint or compose music in specific styles, and recognize faces, speech, or objects in photos. 

Reinforcement learning
How do computers learn, by themselves, to take the right actions in complex, unstructured environments, such as keep up a conversation, drive a car, land a plane, learn to play games better than people do, find optimal settings for media content and customer retention, and optimize logistical operation

Attention engineering
How are social media adapting and tailoring their content to maximize the time users spend on their services through, for example, amplifying negative emotions and excitement, magnifying polarization, and finding an optimal balance between gratification and unpredictability.

Content filtering/ curation
How do web 2.0 platforms learn to curate content that the user is most likely to click or to filter content that is likely to drive the user away; for instance, search engines and video-sharing websites adapting to the user’s earlier choices, and newspaper comment sections filtering out potentially offensive or objectionable comments.

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I found this table to be a comprehensive and informative tool for discussion of media literacy in “post-truth” times.  The authors suggest these areas to teach as a part of the ICT skill set of a modern digital citizen. 

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​With the shift towards the knowledge society, the change of working conditions, and the high-speed evolution of information and communication technologies, peoples' knowledge and skills need continuous updating.
Learning based on collaborative working, creativity, multidisciplinary, adaptiveness, intercultural communication, and problem solving has taken on an important role in everyday life.
Integrating education technology into our classroom is an easy and productive way to differentiate instruction, increase student engagement and motivation, improve outcomes, and add some variety and interactivity to your lessons. I introduce you Flipgrid as one of the best tools that enhances student’s classroom experience and encourages work ownership and social interaction.
Flipgrid
Flipgrid’s platform allows teachers to encourage student reflection, collaboration, communication, creation, and critical thinking through their easily accessible platform - which is now FREE for EVERYONE! Teachers can use Flipgrid in a number of ways in their classroom to get a clearer picture of what students know and where they need help. Teachers create a grid in Flipgrid and then post topics for their students to respond to using video. Teachers can determine the length of the student submitted videos and can allow students to comment and react to their classmates’ videos, and can even share grids/topics/student videos through email, link, and QR Code!
After discovering Flipgrid as high school math teacher I immediately asked the question, “How I could use Flipgrid in my math classroom?”
 
Here is a few ideas I brainstormed to use Flipgrid with math that can help us get started.  

1. Weekly Math Problem. This could be done as a review or about the current topic. For me, I’ll be teaching Algebra 1 and Quantitative reasoning, so it can be e a great way for my students to interact with each other.
2. Find the mistake. Post a video or picture of a math problem that was worked out incorrectly and has the wrong answer. Students must then find the error and explain in their response how to solve it correctly.
3. Would you rather…? Have seen www.wouldyourathermath.com? It’s a website put together by Classroom Chef co-author John Stevens. On the site are tons of scenarios posted that challenge the students to think, solve some math, choose a path and justify their reasoning. The best part is that new ones are continuously added and you can search them by categories!
4. Student created math tutorials. I can see this happening two ways. The first option is to have students add math tutorial responses on a predetermined math skill. Then share the filled Flipgrid Topic as a resource for others to use. The second option is like a “math help hotline”. Provide a topic where students can post questions or calls for help. Other students can respond with a short how-to tutorial. For either one these options, a screencasting app could be used to create the video and then just upload those videos to Flipgrid.
5. Student – Created Assessment. Have your students create questions for their classmates to answer. With Flipgrid’s response feature, you can view responses before posting them so you don’t have to worry about other students “copying” a response. And you can directly address any issues through comments to students.
6. AppSmash. Appsmashing is the process of combining two or more apps, and Flipgrid makes appsmashing easy! Students can record a video in Snapchat, Instagram, Adobe Spark, Chatterpix or any other platform and then upload the video to your class Flipgrid.  Be prepared for some of the most creative responses you’ll ever see!

 
These are just some possible ways I’ve brainstormed to use Flipgrid to enhance the mathematical discussion and learning in my classroom.

Here is my Book Review

Collaborative learning teams attain higher-level thinking and preserve information for longer time. It is widely accepted that we retain approximately 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear, 30% of what we see, 50% of what we see and hear, 70% of what we discuss, 80% of what we experience and 95% of what we teach others. But why is this so?
Learning is a social experience and students who develop good social skills become successful in life because they have the ability to deal with people.  We study and develop new ideas through books, technology and personal experiences. Collaboration is a processed that requires soft skills, those skills can be learned by direct instruction or by implicit learning. Collaboration allows for more challenging project – based assignments, various levels of differentiation, it helps students develop confidence and self-esteem as well as strengthen their social skills. The amount of social interaction between people has increased with the explosion of social networks like Facebook and Twitter. However, it’s still important that we teach communication and group work at a face to face classroom level, so students learn of the importance of personal interaction.  

    7 Principles for collaborative learning in high school classroom:

1. Establish group goals and individual accountability.  This keeps the group on task and establishes clear purpose. 
2. Keep groups midsized A moderate size group of 4-5 is ideal.
3. Establish flexible group norms.  Collaborative learning is influenced by the quality of interactions.  Interactivity and negotiation are important in group learning students. Students are set to create their own norms. 
4. Build trust and promote open communication.  Building trust is essential.  Students who provide and receive explanations gain most from collaborative learning.  Open communication is key.
5. Decompose larger tasks and create group roles.   The students might have turns to choose their own role and alternate roles by sections of the assignment or classes.
6. Create clear grading rubrics.  A good way to ensure the group learns together would be to engage in a pre and post-test.  In fact, many researchers use this method to see if groups are learning.  An assessment gives the team a goal to work towards and ensures learning is a priority
7. Use real-world problems. Project-based learning and using open-ended questions can be very engaging. Real world problems can be used to facilitate project-based learning and often have the right scope for collaborative learning.

 
Tech Tools that Support Classroom Collaboration.
I used Wakelet to make a small collection of tools that I use for collaboration in my classroom. You can use Wakelet in a flipped classroom. Pair it with Flipgrid or Screencastify to design a lesson that does more than deliver a lecture or set of instructions. Use it for research. Kids can save links to content and record themselves discussing the information and how it relates to their topic. Or use it to tell a story. Collect content from all over the web to tell a story about a current or historical event.
 
​​Collaborative learning is a fun and energizing break for students from the more traditional teacher-lecture model of education. Student collaboration in the classroom is an excellent educational enhancement. Collaborative lessons will make a memorable impact on your students, and they are well worth the time and effort to plan and implement.

 
Billions of dollars are spent annually across the United States on teacher professional development, but how much of this money makes a real difference and is relevant to teacher’s development? outcomes?
As a classroom teacher for more than fifteen years, I spent hundreds of hours in conventional professional development sessions Some examples would include a 20-minute after school training on “compassion circles” and mandatory ESL and standardized testing raining. These experiences, however well-intentioned and costly, did not really create long-term changes in my teaching practices. So, what's more effective? There is a useful distinction between traditional “professional development” and professional learning. Professional development, which “happens to” teachers, is often associated with one-time workshops, seminars, or lectures, and is typically a one-size-fits all approach. In contrast, professional learning, when designed well, is typically interactive, sustained, and customized to teachers' needs. It encourages teachers to take responsibility for their own learning and to practice what they are learning in their own teaching contexts.
Effective professional learning not only has the potential to improve both teaching and student outcomes, but can also be effective in recruiting and retaining teachers. According to research, high-quality professional learning:
Teachers must decide to improve their practice before systemic change can happen through professional development activities.
To assist the professional development process for both teachers and IT professionals, Digital Promise, in conjunction with Google, has established a new program called the Dynamic Learning Project to help introduce new education technology into the classroom. 
 
EdTech magazine has identified 5 Key Areas of Technology Professional Development for Teachers: 

1. Content Focus: When providing technology coaching, concrete examples are key.

 

1. Active Learning: Similar to the success teachers have found with students through new pedagogical practices, allowing teachers to actively engage in their own learning can help them retain lessons on using technology to solve classroom challenges.

 

1. Sustained Duration: The idea behind this one is relatively simple: Training takes time..
   
   
2. Collective Participation: Along with learning from trained technology coaches, some of the best sources for educators are other educators. Teachers involved in technology integration worked with each other to share ideas for ways to use their new tools to engage students. 
   
   
3. Coherence: While all four of the previous points are important, the most crucial component is guiding these principles around school-specific goals for outcome improvement. Utilizing data analytics can be a helpful way to understand where technology can best be injected into a school curriculum.

Guided with these principles and with an assignment from my graduate professor, I’ve set out to do some professional development on my own. My goal was very practical, how I can use online tools to enhance collaboration in my classroom.
My first stop was a youtube.com, there I was able to find a very informative webinar: Tech Tools for Interactive Remote Teaching Webinar Tech tools for interactive remote teaching webinar with Sam Kary of The New EdTech Classroom. In this webinar, Sam shows different strategies for how to make remote teaching more interactive and engaging for students.
There I’ve learned how to combine some tools I’ve been already using in my classroom to make my students interact with me as well as with each other more effectively.
My second stop was EdTechTeam website where I’ve learned how to create digital lessons in google slides.
My third and final stop for that day was a Tick Tock app, where I followed #algebra and handpicked a few really impressive videos on how to factor a trinomial.
Now, I am ready to create my own lesson with these tools at my disposal! Stay

I’ve created this choice board for my Financial Foundations class. The whole Unit study is presented in this mode. Students are allowed to choose two or more activities to complete. The activities are structured in a way that allows students to make choices on how deep to go into the unit depending on their previous experience with taxes as well as their preferences to work with math topics vs exploration of the topic. Students are asked to complete enough activities to make at least 50 total points. By design they must complete at least 3 activities of their choice. This form allows for a good degree of flexibility and differentiation. I hope you enjoy exploring this choice board!
Follow the link to see the choice board: Taxes: who and how?

I work at a unique school that offers free accelerated program for earning a core 40 Indiana High School Diploma to students that weren't successful in a mainstream school setting. We provide a unique opportunity for people 16+ to complete a full course work toward achieving their graduation. 
 Our students come from different walks of life and backgrounds. We have students that are fresh from high school to grandparents that want to get their diploma to show their grandkids the importance of education. Every student receives an individualized path toward their goal and get a full support of our teachers, coaches and other staff members. Every teacher, coach and special support personnel work together as a team to help our students every step of the way. The support comes in different ways: academic, social, emotional as well as barrier removal actions such as help to obtain a vehicle or secure a job or help to pay for transportation as well as support for young mothers and students in crisis. We are a dedicated team of professionals that work close with our students to provide every opportunity for success. Our graduation rates are not as high as a traditional school’s but we are up against much more tough obstacles and take pride in very one of our graduates!   
#ExcelCenter
 We even find the time to be silly. 
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I follow the ISTE  @iste   #ISTE20 #ISTELive
ISTE attracted me by having a wealth of resources on digital learning and teaching. I would love to learn about leading digital practices in education. 
As a math teacher I follow   NCTM - MT
@MT_at_NCTM
Mathematics Teacher--an NCTM journal for grades 8-14 math--includes activities, strategies, an exchange of math ideas, and linking math ed research to practice.
I've been a member of NCTM for many years, but did not think about following them on twitter. It turns our they are very active in posting really cool activities!
When I have some down time, or I am feelling down I follow   Bored Teachers    @Bored_Teachers
to have some pick me up time!

CompTIA, the world's leading tech association, is a thought leader and an action leader. From our IT professional association to our leading certification programs, from our original research to our member communities and councils, our unparalleled programs set industry standards, foster skills development and generate knowledge and insight every day. I've used their services to obtain my COMPTIA A+ professional certificate. It helps me to have a deeper understanding of underlying workings of IT. 

The growing pains of blended model for education is something we've experienced in 2020. The changes came at a neck breaking pace. A lot of us are overwhelmed and confused: students, parents, educators alike. 
Reflecting on these changes will help us adapt and grow more effectively. There is a lot of hope surrounding these new developments. 
I would like to take a minute and reflect on some pedagogical shifts we experienced. 
Moving away from achieving a score to looking at the skills gained, from drills and practice to inquiry-based learning is just a small portion of changes we underwent in recent years. I would like to focus on the following: 
1. Changes in assessments. 
Assessments are moving to more holistic evaluations that include promotion of soft skills such as collaboration and portfolio building. The focus is on growth rather then on raw scores. Treating students as partners in developing an educational success. 
2. Personal connections with students and developing creativity and individuality. 
Personalized learning is taking place of mass production in education. Withe advent of new educations technologies such that promote adaptive approach we must adjust our practices as well. There is no single approach that will encompass every individual's learning styles
3. Involving parents and community. 
2020 marked a significant change in parent's involvement in education. Parents and family are the key for engagement and success. 
4. Engagement strategies such as connecting with students, project-based learning, more meaningful lessons, visuals, as author/educator Kelly Gallagher says, “Engagement first, then content, then rigor.”
5. Be adaptive to change. Some schools with stronger infrastructure of collaboration and technology had more success in time of pandemic. We must compile and analyze their success:
"Our success was driven by our people being ready to be adaptive, innovative in the context that we're in… This Covid 19 moment's an unfortunate situation, but the good news is our educators and staff had built their capacity and continued to be adaptable." Phil Neufeld, Fresno Unified School District, California “Education Reimagined,”

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