Noelle Pepin – Personal Response
Recently the Elementary and Secondary cohorts attended a workshop put on by Noelle Pepin from School District 57. This was an all-around positive learning experience that engaged fully all those who were present and demonstrated another way that technology can be incorporated into teaching.
The Ozobots provide the ability to look at technology and the way it can be used in new and different ways. I love the idea of using the Ozobots for story re-telling, putting key parts of the story in the path of the Ozobot to draw attention to them. It could be approached any number of different ways. For example, the teacher could ‘map’ out the route that the students and Ozobots will take together to reinforce certain learning outcomes or parts of the story, or the students could change the path of the Ozobot and by doing so change the story outcome. Either way, students would have a much richer and deeper connection with the story and all because of a very tiny piece of technology!
I can see that there might be some hesitation to bring a piece of technology like this into the classroom and wondering if there would be enough uses for it. I can see how with the right introduction and expectations that the benefits should far outweigh any concerns that could arise. I can see how the Ozobots would help with cross-curricular connections, if in doubt, bring technology and programming into Human Geography, look at the ways that neighbourhoods are setup and the way that people and resources moved in the past in terms of migration and hunting. I believe that the only the only limitation on the use of the Ozobots in the classroom are the imagination of the teacher and students who are working with them. And while the teacher may at some point run out of ideas for different uses, the students never will.