Kristina Tran

I thoroughly enjoyed working on this blog assignment. It was an enlightening experience that allowed me to delve deeper into the course material and channel in my critical thinking skills. My blog demonstrated careful consideration of existing knowledge in my “Indigenous Perspectives” and “Women in Education” posts. In my undergrad, I studied Sociology and Law in which I took several courses exploring Indigenous history and education, and the breakthrough of women in education. These courses helped create a reflective foundation of knowledge that acted as a tool when reading and writing about these topics in the course. Taking a look at my posts, my biggest knowledge takeaway was my personal learning network. I was so impressed with the deep learning I experienced when making this post. Though it seems like such a small deal to know that I use technology and social media, I never reflected on how connected all these networks were to my life. They connected me to the world, my learning,...

Definition: Innovation   Innovation is a multifaceted, systemic process of developing new or improved ideas (ie. services, products) to solve problems and address complex challenges efficiently. Innovation can range from small to big change and progressive or gradual. It often relies on creativity, research, risk, commitment and a vision for change to improve economic development, society or culture.   In my newly revised definition of innovation, I noted that it can be progressive or gradual. After careful consideration and reflection among my peers’ posts, I have come to the conclusion that innovation can occur in many different forms; whether that be incrementally or progressively, they all work together to create change in a systemic process. Additionally, I also added the word, ‘commitment’. I believe that innovation requires a strong commitment to create change as it does not happen overnight. Lastly, I decided to remove ‘formulating’ from my working definition...

Workshop: AI Corner On October 12, 2023, I attended a UBC online workshop called, “AI Corner: Bi-weekly Generative AI Conversation” from 12-1PM every other Monday. Since this workshop runs on a biweekly basis for 1 hour intervals, I attended 2 sessions to ensure that I grasped enough information needed to satisfy my artificial intelligence curiosity. Though this event was open to the public, it had mandatory registration and was mainly targeted to university students curious about AI in education. The event sourced a number of AI tools such as My Lesson Pal, ChatGTP, and ClassPoint AI. The event panned out as an open discussion. The facilitators, Faeyza Mufti and Kristofer Mah, were very engaging and included the audience in their presentation (UBC, 2023). Once they gave a brief description of the power of AI, we explored the AI generators as a whole. My Lesson Pal generates unique lesson plans for teachers that are high-customizable, and edible. They adapt to your classroom standards ...

(Green, 2020) Part 1: Initial Reflections As a lifelong learner and educator, I learn about new developments, ideas, and opportunities in the teaching field using all four of my networks: professional, educational, social, and blogs/news feeds. Online tools act as a pivotal role in enlightening me on educational innovation and to stay connected to like-minded individuals. Social media has proven to be a powerful tool for educators to learn about new opportunities and to stay updated on the latest trends. I dedicate my nights to exploring online resources such as TikTok, Pinterest, and Twitter, to further my research findings and to stay informed on emerging trends. I utilize educational hashtags, such as “#teachingtips”, “#STEMproject”, or “#education” on networks to help me sieve through relevant content. This strategy has helped me enormously in finding a wealth of information facilitating innovative teaching practices and resources to try. To delve deeper, I follow education experts...

Kurucay and Inan explore the effects of online learning, in which an increase of courses offered and student dropouts grew aggressively. This study examines the importance and effects of “learner-learner” interaction and why individual learners scored lower than those working in groups. Online learning grew exponentially during COVID, where one could perceive it as “innovative” and progressive to today’s learning environments. During this time, courses were strictly online due to the pandemic. Post pandemic, we continue to have an increase of online courses offered. However, this study suggests that despite these online courses being offered, students who work face-to-face for example, tend to achieve higher than those who take similar courses online. This way of teaching can be understood as innovative since students do not need to physically go to school and they can take online courses (like this program) from anywhere around the world. As an undergraduate student, I loved going in-...

Toulouse explores the importance of integrating Indigenous culture into the classroom by celebrating and representing Indigenous “contributions, innovations and inventions” to increase the self-esteem of Aboriginal students”. Through “seven living principles: respect, love, bravery, wisdom, humility, honesty, truth”,  the writer explores several strategies to ensure the needs of Aboriginal students are met in the classroom. By exploring these principles, teachers will be able to connect Aboriginal students with their “physical, emotional-mental, intellectual and spiritual realms” while creating a respectful, safe, and inclusive learning environment. In relation, I also explored Madden’s article, in which they identify four pedagogical pathways to learn “from Indigenous traditional models of teaching, pedagogy for decolonizing, Indigenous and anti-racist education, and Indigenous and place-based education” (p. 1). Madden analyzes how these practices can engage Indigenous students to...

Herbst’s reading observes how educational historians have made a change to the field of education through time. As seen in his quote, “ whether they teach in public or private  institutions  of higher  education, historians of education should be committed in their research and in their teaching to present their field in all its aspects to the best of their ability” , he emphasizes the importance of recognizing the history of private institutions and public institutions as equally important. In addition to this, he recognizes that informal education such as tutoring, are just as significant and need to be valued (p. 11). Learning occurs in a diverse range of settings and is all valuable to supplementing the traditional formal classroom environment. Herbst critiques educational historians and their responsibility to reflect on all kinds of education to ensure a comprehensive perspective on the history of education.  In connection to our working definitions in the glos...

Werner explores the concept of “hope” and the importance of understanding worldly issues through   emotion, information, vision, and efficacy . Educators have the responsibility to adapt our teaching practices and create a learning environment that allows students to feel their emotions in a healthy manner. In order to do so, teachers must be emotionally aware of their students, specifically those with signs of anxiety or hopelessness in class discussions. In terms of information, we must educate students about global problems, rather than “shielding children” to “preserve their sense of hope” (p. 194). Students must be taught the proper tools, such as making thoughtful inferences to information shared during class discussions. Meaningful connections will help students better understand global issues with a lesser chance of being misinformed. Through discussion, students will be given the opportunity to share “personal visions” of the future and critically think of how the world ca...

Herbst’s Analysis Herbst’s, “The History of Education: State and the Art at the Turn of the Century in Europe and North America”, examines how Canadian education has been influenced internationally. As stated in his quote, “during the last four decades the history of education underwent a period  of  unparalleled fruitful scholarly activity”, he focuses on why scholarly work should be taught in both public and private schools and that historical pedagogies should be taught nonetheless. With that being said, he states that contemporary topics of  “women, the family, racial minorities, ethnic groups, working people and multicultural and bilingual education became firmly established” have recently been topics for discussion that have gained new prominence in education.  Past VS Present When I think about Herbst’s ideologies, I think about how history has influenced and developed our curriculum by reflecting on major societal issues such as diversity and inclusion. Philo...