Digit Lit Reflection

REMOTE LEARNING DIGITAL LITERACY REFLECTION

  • What are your thoughts on hybrid learning (in person and at home) compared to when you are in your learning groups (at school for all classes). Which format do you prefer, and why?

I think each learning schedule has its own benefits and it really depends on what classes I’m partaking in, or how motivated I am to be in that class. Overall though I liked hybrid learning more this year for the sole reason that I had time to sleep in when I didn’t have online class and being able to make lunch at home.  I find myself also working more efficiently at home compared to at school (excluding all group projects.) As I can freely move around and take breaks on my own time, and because I’m not distracted by any of my peers. Though I can’t compare this high school year to previous ones because as I’m writing this as I’m only a grade 9 but having shorter school days does put less stress on my body. Though some cons to hybrid learning are that I do get to spend less time with people I meet at school and some of the courses I took this year kind of only worked if I was at school in person, such as woodworking and foods.  Hybrid learning days also sometimes messed with my school schedule as I had a Y block when I didn’t have a B block, or if I had volleyball practice after school and I didn’t have a B block, etc. But I do prefer the hybrid learning days. One last thing is that hybrid classes also do reduce the risk of covid transmission.

Learning groups are great for getting to spend more time with everyone and it gives myself and everyone more time to get to know everyone, and this really helped in the TALONS program. However, learning groups did have the number of people in some classes halved which did make getting to know everyone difficult. Learning groups also works best for the more in-person focused courses. But after experiencing the hybrid classes, you do sometimes miss the extra free time at home.

Overall, I think both are fine with me, but I do prefer the hybrid learning days. However, a good balance of the two (this year it was half-half basically) is way better than just hybrid learning days by themselves or full days by themselves in my opinion.

  • How has technology benefitted you during the hybrid learning experience?

Without technology I wouldn’t be able to do any work at home, nor partake in any online classes, so without them the hybrid learning experience wouldn’t even be possible. I guess technology has benefited me in making hybrid learning possible and giving me the opportunity to spend more time chilling at home on the couch and on my chair. Without technology I wouldn’t be able to complete half of the assignments given to me at home, or just made most of them easier (I mean I’m not going to be writing essays by hand and looking through thousands of books for research does seem overkill.) I also couldn’t be a part of online meetings without my laptop.

And having technology during your other block at school also makes learning easier and more efficient as there’s more writing essays by hand there, and also, I’ve seen that TEAMS has been very useful overall at home and at school as you can hand in assignments there and your teacher can share important information at any time and it’s just convenient thing for everyone to have.

It also let me chat with my peers and friends while I was at home.

  • How has technology impeded you during the hybrid learning experience?

Even though technology were the thing that made learning from home possible, it does offer a lot of great distractions from what you’re supposed to be doing. I find myself playing games, texting others, watching movies, and browsing my phone during supposed school hours while I should have been doing schoolwork. Funny how technology made working from home possible but also impeded the same job it created.

At the school part of hybrid learning I also found myself not doing my work and doing something else on my electronics, but not as bad compared to at home as I didn’t have as much freedom, and I did have a teacher watching me.

Basically, it helped me procrastinate (a bit.)

  • Is there anything that you hope remains a part of school that was new because of hybrid learning after the pandemic is over and school returns to normal?

Shorter school days, or school starting later so I may have more time to sleep in. And maybe some half days because some days you do go to school, and you think to yourself “This could’ve been an email” or “I could have just done this at home”. I like the idea of packing the same amount of learning or even more into less time at school if that makes any sense.

The new use of TEAMS and those little programs that make learning a lot easier should definitely stay too.

  • Link to 2 Projects in school /TALONS that used digital technology and explain how the use of that digital technology enhanced your project. Ideas include In-Depth, Eminent, Zip, individual class projects in Talons or other subjects…

For my zip project I drew a short little illustrated story, digitally. I thought doing this project digitally instead of on traditional paper would not only help me learn digital art, but it would also be easier to share this assignment with others. So, I got my drawing tablet, and I used a program called Krita to create this mini story, and I think it turned out pretty well, and gave me the opportunity to add some colour to my story. Doing the project digitally on Krita also let me download a comic page template which made it way easier. Overall, I think deciding to do this project digitally really saved me some time, let me learn and gain more experience about digital art, and it let me add a bit of colour to the story.

For my in-depth project I did character design and drawing, digital technology let me meet with my mentor online and learn from her, and without all the online tutorials I wouldn’t have learned as much as I did, and I wouldn’t have improved as much as I did. I was also lucky enough to expose myself to the art of many other artists that shared their work online so I could learn from them and add some style or components that they incorporated into my art.

Thanks for reading!