This week in class we talked about remote learning––our experiences and how we can utilize online tools. I thought it was really interesting hearing all of our cohorts various experiences with online learning especially during COVID times. From my personal experience, I had to switch to online school for the last few months of grade 12. I found doing online school in highschool (generally) a more enjoyable experience. I think this may have mostly been because I already had connections and relationships with my teachers and peers. I know a lot of people in our class were talking about the importance of personal connections and how a lot of us felt we lost that when we switched to online classes. This was particularly problematic for me in my first year at UVic (last year). I had all new professors and I knew nobody in any of my classes or on campus and making that transition was very lonely at the beginning. Even by the end of the semester I still felt like I didn’t know my professors and they definitely did not know who I was, and I found that very isolating. As well, I lost motivation very quickly and not having any personal relations with anybody expedited my burnout. Even though I met friends on campus, not having in person classes still made me feel isolated and like I was missing out. Subsequently, I am so so happy to be back in person this year!

This week, I also loved learning about how, as teachers, we can integrate online tools into our lessons! I think learning about technology is important because of how prominent it is in our society today. As teachers, we can make technology education inclusive and fun for our students––which is always important. Using different interactive websites that relate to your unit, or even getting students to use google slides to create presentations are great, simple ways to integrate technology. Using technology for daily check-ins or quick writing prompts is a great way to connect with your students and also provides some flexibility for them. One important thing to note, however, is that we must be picky what/ when we choose to use technology. The activities we lead must provide some sort of value to our students’ education.