I, like many of us in educational technology, have been somewhat taken away by AI over the last few months. ChatGPT, Dall e, and Midjourney have been weekly, if not daily, topics of discussion, along with AI policy, frameworks, assignments, and assessments in education. For example, just in the past week I have run an edcamp session on AI in schools, developed coursework for an AI course, and shared a presentation with a local educator team on creativity and AI.

Artificial Intelligence is a topic that almost immediately makes for panic. I don’t know if it is the philosophical idea of humans creating intelligence or the demonization of AI through popular science fiction (looking at you Matrix, Transcendence, and about a dozen other movies), but every time AI is brought up, even pre-Chat GPT, it felt like the air was moving out of the room. AI is a tool and should be thought of as such. Like cassette tapes to the recording industry, AI is being worried about as a way for students to do less thinking and writing.

A few months ago I was teaching a session on digital literacy/citizenship and I posed a simple question, “Should students learn about Artificial Intelligence?”

The answer generally from 30+ educators was “Of course not.” Not enough time in the curriculum, too little expertise in our teacher pool, students don’t need to know this. I immediately shot back, “Of course they do.” We are surrounded by AI now more than ever and it is only getting better and easier to use in daily life.

When I received my first 3D printer on a grant in 2016, I was already fascinated with the possibilities for creating and printing objects for my classroom and students.

A few months ago I was asked to start a new web series for Utah Education Network about Google tools teachers can use. Nicole, my producer, and I decided to make these videos fun, maybe a little goofy, but entertaining. This month, within a discussion about extension activities, I believe that I have achieved that goal. Just watch the first minute to see what I mean (really, as if you can’t tell by the Viking helmet). However, in the video I explore a few options for educators to use in their classes for early finishers for extension activities.

Last night, I was lucky enough to run a Twitter Space for the ISTE Community Leaders Twitter account with Erin Dowd. Erin had just finished her Expert Webinar on Creativity earlier in the day and it was so great to just sit and talk about creativity and how to share it with students in our classrooms. If you are unfamiliar with Twitter Spaces it works almost like a call-in radio show allowing a host to add speakers to talk and share their ideas with whoever is in the room. Shout out to Greg Bagby for jumping in last night with some great questions.

Welcome to week three of #30daysofCanvas 2022! This week I am trying to incorporate some personal elements into each design. All five of these designs feature my photographs from the last few years. Join me for a tour around the world with the photos that I love to share with the larger community. As always, check them out below, click the gifs to head to Canvas Commons (login to Canvas first), and then download the design into your Canvas course. Remember that each of these designs is completely customizable by using Google Drawings or Canva, so feel free to edit them, but I would also love to see them. Share them back with me either via matt@teacherwinters.net or @TeacherWinters on Twitter. Enjoy!

Welcome back for week two of #30daysofCanvasHompages! This week I am digging into some diamonds and building some connections with the larger world through these designs. As promised there are five new designs below that will link you to a Canvas Commons page to upload the design into your course. Remember from there, you can either make a customized copy of the image using Google Drawings or there is a link to the Canva design to make your own copy of the gif version of the design for your classroom.

If you ever spend time with me, I will probably wax poetic about the phrase, “Becoming”. I love the idea that no matter how good we are at our jobs or naturally talented at anything, we are constantly in the state of ‘becoming’, or trying to continually push ourselves and learn everything we can to be consistently better at what we do. That is why this weekly post is called “Developing Educator”. I don’t think anyone is perfect at teaching or the myriad works happening to support educators and students worldwide, so we all are developing, or becoming, educators as we work, build, connect, fail, and grow. It takes time and effort to build what we want to be, even if we may never get to perfection. We still strive to be better.

In August 2020, I had kind of an insane idea. I planned out to make 30 free Canvas homepage designs and put them out through my blog. At the time, like many, I was helping teachers to get prepared for the online component of learning for the school year and had spent a lot of time in Canvas training sessions, either presenting or learning. One thing that was fairly consistent was the emphasis on designing a homepage for your classes to meet their needs. This meant that many educators spent time designing their homepage and connecting design to the practical needs of their classrooms. However, many teachers needed support to meet the needs of an online learning component. So, I decided to use my burgeoning design skills with my Canvas knowledge to build out 30 homepage templates for teachers to use in their classrooms free of charge.

In my last school, there were two science teachers that both had open play chess boards available to all students when they came into the class. They marked each day who made moves and when it was the teacher’s turn to move. It was a great way of exchanging with students and engaging them in the classroom beyond content. However, I always worried about those chess boards being moved, pieces tumbling to the ground, and losing their place. It happened on occasion and it was always an issue. So, why not move this online, and make it a customizable board.

First off, like many teachers, I know that distance learning is not always a suitable replacement for in class learning, particularly in the elementary and secondary settings. It does not give teachers and students the same level of communication and relationship building.