Category: EDCI 336

This is a category for the EdTech course. Please add this category in addition to the relevant edtech assignment category(ies).

April 1, 2026 EDCI 336, Free Inquiry

Topic 11 – Final Reflective Free Inquiry Blog Post

Having finished my 11 weeks of climbing and strength training I can say that I enjoyed the inquiry process as much as expected. I chose something that I wanted to do and something that would be beneficial to my life. Because it was already something I cared about I was able to be a lot more engaged than I would have otherwise.

If I could give myself some more advice I would choose a topic that was easier to document, as recording myself became more of a challenge than I though. I enjoyed the climbing immensely, and seeing myself improve was a satisfying feeling. However, the tools that EdTech provided were not really suited to my inquiry. The tracking of my own climbing data was about as close as I got, through video and posts here.

In future, I would recommend 336 students to find something that is both natural to them, but also has the potential to use the online tools that the class provides. If I could choose again, I probably would have used a tool like Obsidian to document my D&D world, which is something I was doing anyways. Or potentially another software to create maps & dungeons, such as Dungeonfog to create maps like this:

March 27, 2026 EDCI 336, Weekly Reflections

Topic 11 – Sketchnote Mind Map

We were asked to sketch note some highlights from the course. These are my highlights as seen below.

As you can see I focused on the positives, except for AI. My highlights were the Games and Inquiry based learning from PSII, which I found as the most important takeaways from this course. The major benefits of Games is the enjoyment of the students, it is an easy way to get the students engaged and interested in the topics. For Inquiry Based Learning I found that this was also the case, for students to get the most out of school they guide themselves and engage with what they want to do.

March 22, 2026 EDCI 336, Weekly Reflections

Topic 10 – Weekly Reflection Blog Post

Today’s blog post is around online citizenship & digital footprints

What Are Online Citizenship & Digital Footprints

Online Citizenship is the concept of being identifiable as a citizen of the internet, or of the modern age. Some people are actively engaged in this, and create online profiles using social media or other apps, but others are online citizens simply by being famous or noteworthy. This ties in to a digital footprint, which is a record of your actions, pictures, and opinions online that is permanent. Some of this is stored in metadata, but some is stored on live websites that you can see at any time. For example this is a list of sd63 teachers at Parkland secondary school.

a screenshot of the Parkland Secondary school directory.

A screenshot of the Parkland Secondary school staff directory.

Reflection

At this point, almost all of us are online citizens whether we like it or not, there are too many socially expected things that almost require us to be online. We all have some kind of online presence, even by nature of taking this course, or in our future as teachers in the public system, our names will be online. This is positive, as it keeps us accountable to our words and actions. Modern “cancel culture” is actually a useful thing in my mind, it allows us to hold people accountable, and when they say things that are inappropriate it is not lost in the wind. That being said, I do also think that this is a major issue that will create a culture of extremely isolationist and homogeneous thought, some times there are good reasons to go against the status quo and having the ability to be wrong without any major consequence is a good thing for society generally. Additionally, the ability to search for any individual means that some things that people, even teachers, that they may not want seen by their students or the public means that we have no choice for certain subjects.

March 16, 2026 EDCI 336, Weekly Reflections

Topic 9 – Weekly Reflection Blog Post

This week the topic we are reflecting on is Ed Camps.

What Are Ed Camps?

Ed Camps are participant led discussion forums, where individuals meet to discuss a topic under a general, educator provided, umbrella topic. These seem to be useful for generating ideas, having a blend of structure & inquiry approaches, and for online learning. They would be ideal for Pro D days or other inter-professional conferences.

Reflection

Ed Camps were an interesting idea, but the lack of structure seemed to be a limiting factor for the Ed Camp concept. I can see this being quite useful for professionals who do not have the time or ability to meet in person, however they do not seem good for working with younger students, or students who are not passionate about the subject. This may also work for grade 12’s who have elected to take the course.

Image from: https://digitalpromise.org/edcamp/

March 9, 2026 EDCI 336, Free Inquiry

Week 8 – Free Inquiry Blog Post

This week marked an exciting step forward in my inquiry, paired with an important reminder about taking care of my body. While my strength training had to take a pause, my climbing progress hit a milestone.

Climbing Progress

I completed two climbing sessions this week, both focused on bouldering. The biggest highlight was successfully sending my first V5 at CARSA (blue tape), which felt like a major breakthrough after several weeks of working at this grade. The send came after working at it for the last two weeks, and getting some coaching from one of my co-workers. I’ve noticed that my footwork and pacing have improved, and the dynamic movement was quite a fun time.

Strength Training

In the process of completing my first V5, unfortunately I tweaked my shoulder, and was not able to do a very good gym session. I went for a 2 hour walk instead, trying to keep up some physical activity, focusing on my lower body, rather than do an exercise that would hurt my shoulder. I chose to do 2 laps of cedar hill golf course, as it is near my house and has an excellent path.

Reflection

This week was two lessons in one: progress is not always straightforward, and recovery is important. Sending a V5 was phenomenal, but I have not been able to repeat it yet, and taking time off lifting reminded me that training includes rest as well.

March 9, 2026 EDCI 336, Weekly Reflections

Topic 8 – Weekly Reflection Blog Post

This week’s reflection blog post is on the subject of using coding and computational thinking, and gaming in the classroom.

Scratch & Coding

This image is of "Scratch" a coding tool designed to help younger learners learn coding through segmenting code into blocks.

Above is a picture of the coding tool “Scratch” and my progress in a coding exercise. Using coding in the classroom seems to be an effective tool when it comes to presenting logical thinking. I can see the use in social studies as there are a lot of similar uses to computational thinking and historical thinking. Both have a lot of “if this than this” elements, and so there are many overlapping concepts and ideas.

I do think that there are also some major downsides to coding in the classroom. The use of coding is inherently one that can only be done with sufficient technology for the whole class, if you were to not have enough laptops it would be impossible for the whole class to complete the activity. In addition to the access, I’m not sure I think that encouraging students to code during a socials class really is the best use of the time, as students are spending more and more time on screens in other places, social studies is one of those times where it may be more beneficial to develop real social skills rather than online skills, such as coding.

Gaming In The Classroom

On the other hand, using board games or other kinds of serious games in the classroom, I think, can be a real benefit to both the teacher and students. Gaming can be a fantastic method of getting buy in from the students, as nowadays more students than ever play games as an outside of school hobby. Additionally, if serious games are used properly, the knowledge retained from learning through these games can increase dramatically,1 with students having much more engagement with the ideas, and getting to actually play with the concepts.
For non serious games, board games can be a fantastic alternative to coding to try and teach different kinds of thinking. For example, this thread of teachers who used board games in the class to teach physics is full of great ideas and ways that several different board games were used in classes.

On the other hand, not everyone should use games, and there are downsides to using games. If learning targets are not clear, students may not retain much of the information. Additionally, there is always the risk that students will get bored, as with any class, and if you have a larger than normal proportion of students who dislike games, than perhaps using a game in the classroom is not for you.

  1. Gundersen, Sindre & Lampropoulos, Georgios. (2025). Using Serious Games and Digital Games to Improve Students’ Computational Thinking and Programming Skills in K-12 Education: A Systematic Literature Review. Technologies. 13. 113. 10.3390/technologies13030113. ↩︎
March 2, 2026 Free Inquiry, Uncategorized

Topic 7 – Free Inquiry Blog Post

This week was another incremental step in my inquiry into climbing performance and strength training. This week there was no breakthroughs, however I worked quite hard at a V5 boulder and saw some noticeable changes in my endurance.

Climbing Progress

I completed two sessions of climbing this past week, both were bouldering sessions. They followed the regular pattern of Tuesday-Thursday, however I climbed at a different gym on Tuesday than I normally do, and so the grading was a bit off. I was able to climb at my baseline, but I noticed that I was able to do a 2 hour session quite easily this time, rather than the usual 1.5 hours. I made some more progress on V5 boulders, but have yet to complete one.

After noticing my poor technique last week, I decided to work on a specific boulder that worked on my footwork, this is letting me practice my weaker areas specifically, and should hopefully improve my overall performance.

The gym I went to this Tuesday is called Boulderhouse. It is a bouldering only gym where several world class athletes climb regularly.

A climbing gym. There are 3 different grades of wall, starting with a 45 degree overhang, than a 15, than a 10 degree slope.

PC: Boulderhouse.ca

Strength Training

This week I was only able to complete 1 session of strength training rather than the 2 I had set out as my goal.

My program was:

  • Squat: 10×3 – 165lbs
  • Bench Press: 8×4 – 120lbs
  • Deadlift: 5×6 – 265lbs

I saw a steady increase over my last week’s training program even though I only went once this week, which was good to see, but I need to hold myself more accountable to missing the programs. My finger issues have slightly been fixed, but I believe that this is more likely due to the time off during reading break.

All my lifts were fine, and I think that my progress is okay, but could still be more on track. Next week I will focus on getting myself out there twice instead of once.

Reflection

This week the thing to work on is consistency, I need to hold myself accountable to going as many times as I said I would. Climbing is not an issue on this front, but for the strength training it really will make a difference.

February 16, 2026 EDCI 336, Weekly Reflections

Topic 6 – Weekly Reflection Blog Post

Today’s blog post concerns the NFB presentation that I attended during the Pro D workshop day on Friday last week.

What is the NFB?

The NFB, otherwise known as the National Film Board, is a Canadian government organization dedicated to preserving Canadian culture and history through film, providing educational tools, and promoting indigenous and BIPOC voices.

Their presentation was on the use of digital tools that they have created in the classroom, they provide high quality pre-made educational plans for lessons on all kinds of topics.

Pros

There are many positive things to say about the NFB resources: They are high quality, they align with the curriculum, they are easily accessible and free, and they are a different kind of multimodal resource. All of these things are true, and I think that the NFB does a fantastic job at creating resources. I believe that using the NFB resources in the classroom would be a massive benefit for most teachers, as their lesson plans are easy to follow, and come with really easy to use guides for teachers.

Additionally, they have resources for students of all ages, there are blogs that are dedicated to walking teachers through what resources to use and when, to teach a subject that may be difficult. For example, this blog has a selection of resources to teach students about citizenship through animated films.

Cons

Unfortunately, there are some cons still. The first, and most prescient, is that if overused films can become the same as lecturing, students will only listen for short periods of time before zoning out and missing the point completely. Another risk is that the films may be seen as completely objective, regardless of who actually made them. If we are not careful in teaching media literacy, students may be at risk of blindly believing whatever is put in front of them.

Additionally, the use of technology is a problem, with students who have limited access to technology, assigning the NFB resources as homework may create equity problems. This may also be an issue for school districts in rural areas where there is limited funds available for technology.

February 9, 2026 EDCI 336, Free Inquiry

Free Inquiry Project Feb 1-7 Update

This week marked the third week since the beginning of the semester that I have been following my training plan as laid out last week. This week’s training was useful as a data point on how my body is responding to the combination of climbing and strength training, as it showed little numbers wise, but I could feel changes.

Climbing Progress

I completed my two sessions this week focusing mostly on bouldering, but I did climb a top rope 5.10a on Thursday. During both sessions I was able to complete multiple V4 boulders, aligning with my baseline, and confirming that even with the strength training I am able to maintain my climbing level. Notably, I was able to make significant progress on a V5 boulder problem, but was limited by my finger strength, something that I will get to later in the weights section.

During my top rope climbing session I found that arms were getting much more sore than when I bouldered, it is a much higher volume of climbing. I was not able to flash the route unfortunately, as I had to take a couple breaks in between attempts. However, this is good progress towards my goal.

I believe that to be able to climb a higher grade, my strength is improving at a decent enough pace, however I will need to work more on my technique.

Strength Training

I completed my strength training this week focusing on volume rather than going for heavier weights, as I have been advised.

My program looks like:

  • Squat: 10×3 – 155lbs
  • Bench Press: 10×3 – 115lbs
  • Deadlift: 5×6 – 245lbs

The weights this week were conservative, but the higher volume still made the session challenging. As my fingers were sore from my V5 attempt the previous day, I found myself slipping during my deadlifts, and my fingers were really the limiting factor rather than back or legs.
From a performance perspective, all of the lifts were fine, and I didn’t experience any signs of injury, just the soreness of the climbing meant that I could not do more. Next week I will have to focus on rest and recovery, or focus on creating a healthy training program for my fingers.

This is a video of me doing a set of squats.

Reflection

The key takeaway this week was fatigue and performance. I have not seen any large gains, but I did not regress, which is a fantastic outcome during the early stages of this program. The combination of both climbing and strength training is quite demanding, and my body certainly felt it. However, after the first week where I was doing this, where i set my baseline, I was barely able to walk and last week I was mostly able to function as normal. The only exception to this has been my fingers, which have been struggling to recover between a climb than a lift. Perhaps using wraps or chalk will help me for this problem, I will do a test this week.