After browsing through the different options for the major digital project, I have concluded that I will be choosing option 2: A Personal Journey Into Media. I have chosen this route because I want to explore both social and educational apps in-depth. Exploring both the social and educational impacts of these applications is of great interest to me because of how integrated they have become into my student’s worlds and mine. In addition, I am interested to learn more about both the positive and negatives of these different platforms and sharing my findings with others.
For starters, I am most interested in investing Twitter. My goal for this semester is to engage more frequently with Twitter, and choosing it to research for my project, will only enforce that even more. I will be researching it through the lens of both a social media app and as an educational teaching tool. If I have learnt anything from my previous educational technology classes, the line between social and educational apps can be very grey and often intersect with each other.
Additionally, I want to further my understanding and knowledge of the app TikTok. For this application, I will be researching it more through the lens of strictly personal social media and less as a tool to use in the classroom. I want to dive into the psychology and sociology of this app because it is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms out there due to the pandemic, and more people are choosing content creation as a line of work. I personally really enjoy TikTok from a user perspective. However, I will be exploring it from a creation perspective as well (ex., the creator fund, advertisements, partnerships, etc.).
Lastly, I want to explore a more education-specific application to engage myself and my students within the classroom actively. I haven’t narrowed it down to just one tool yet; however, I have brainstormed some ideas, including; Microsoft Sway, Flipgrid, Quizlet, or Edpuzzle. If you have any suggestions of a classroom technology tool that I should try implementing, please leave a comment below! There are so many out there it can be challenging to choose just one.
I may also include a section of this assignment for demonstrating how Planboard works. Many teachers may already use this website; however, it has been my saving grace, and I love sharing it with others. Planboard replaces paper copies of teacher day plans and lesson plans. It is a website that creates your weekly schedules, including subjects, breaks, supervisions, day 1-5 calendar, non-student days and holidays all saved into one place. It also can be accessed on any device, can be emailed & printed as a sub plan, and saves space on your desk from having a physical daybook in front of you. I know many teachers that were hesitant to switch after using paper copies for decades but were very happy they did once they got the program set up. Please let me know any of your thoughts on these social and educational apps if you have any experience with them!
Ms. Mihial's Classroom 
Hi Kat,
Your project plans look like a great starting point! I am also going to be trying out TikTok from a creator standpoint instead of a scroller. Maybe we can help each other to figure out how to make videos. I don’t have experience with any of the education applications you mentioned. Haven’t even heard of microsoft sway! Perhaps that would be a cool on to introduce to people as I think school boards that use Google platforms instead of Microsoft probably don’t have exposure to is.
Planboard is amazing! A bit tricky to set up if you don’t know what you are doing but it is life changing.
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Sounds like it will be a fun and enlightening experience, Katherine! I’m glad you pointed out that the uses of Twitter are two-fold: both social and educational. I hope you’ll consider joining in on some Twitter chats! I have met so many amazing people through Twitter chats and I have always found that it is a very friendly and welcoming community of passionate, like-minded educators. Happy TikToking!
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Kat and Britt, I think it would be pretty neat to see the two of you pair up for a video! It sounds like you really have a good idea of what you are wanting to do and how you want to get there. Obviously, plans can change, but it sounds like you have a good path ahead of you. I am excited to see all of the things you take up and learn from you on the ones that I am not familiar with. Looking forward to following along!
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I’m also thinking of diving into becoming not only a scroller but a creator. I might try Instagram or Tiktok. Not sure yet! Planboard has really helped me in my career! I don’t use it to its full potential though since I only tend to use it to simply write a few sentences/links for each lesson. I do love having a day planner on my computer since it seems to save me a lot of time! I would definitely enjoy seeing a piece of your project on Planboard.
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