Among the tasks/projects I had done this last semester, there were various live-streams, exploring Microbits, the Tech Boot Camp, and even lugging desks for Mr. Gee.
There were many successful aspects of my work done. For example, the live streams that we had done did not spontaneously crash or fail to load. The Move4Mana assembly, the Red Surge Tournament, the spoken word finals, the Tournament for Emily were all examples of live-streams that had worked nicely. They were successful mostly because we had been educated on how to use the software and how to troubleshoot in the occasion where something may not work properly. Also, we had prepared the software early before the event so that we would have time to solve any problems that may occur, such as the time when the computer decided to do a BIOS update 10 minutes before the Move4Mana assembly had began. Quite a few people had watched our live-streams, so we can see the result of our “efforts”.
The difficult aspects of the work I had done has definitely got to be the Microbits. Mr. Gee had planned out many meetings and tutorial sessions for the Microbits, but unfortunately they had all been in the mornings and I had been unable to go due to band practices. Consequentially, I had been very behind on how to use Microbits. Furthermore, I am not very keen on coding so I had to work on it even more, watching many videos and reading many articles on how to use the Microbits. However, I am still not completely certain of how to use them, which is why I am still having difficulties finishing my Microbit application assignment. I am hoping to work with other members of the Tech Team who have more knowledge on the coding to finish my assignment. A different type of challenge with the work I had done is the amount of problems that I face at the Wave where the solutions are uncertain. There were many occasions where the problem was with the device, the network, the Wi-Fi. There were even occasions where it was impossible to identify the problem itself. In those cases, the best answer I could give them was that I was not capable of solving the issue, and some of the reactions were quite negative. Having to deal with that attitude but also maintaining a positive attitude myself was quite difficult.
The Microbit difficulty is one that I am still working on. I am continuously trying to find days to work with them in the library. If I still do not understand how to use them and other members are unable to help me, I would have to ask Mr. Gee himself to help me with my assignment. For the other type of difficulty I was facing, I had to do more research on common problems that the students would likely face with their technology. In this case, when there were problems with the Wi-Fi network not appearing on the list, or their Word wouldn’t open a certain file because it couldn’t find it, I was ready to help them. For the much harder problems, I tried to search it up on Google and find a solution. When I had trouble doing this, I sent them to Ms. Henderson, hoping she would have a solution. As for the insolvable problems, I had to smile, tell them that this is a problem beyond my capabilities, and embrace the death stares or pouty faces that they would show me.
I would like to continue my Microbit exploration and getting to know it, because my knowledge on it is quite low. I keep mentioning this over and over, but I realize that this is a really important thing that I need to focus on. I feel like I should improve my skills on video software so that I don’t need to rely on the other Streaming team members when doing live-streams. I need to get to the point where I can set up and run a stream by myself without the help of others because that would increase my independence and skill set. For the streams, having a better understanding of the stream would likely lead to a higher quality of streams so that would probably be a priority to ensuring that our streams look and sound better.
New technology is being introduced into our world everyday, and it can be quite difficult to keep up. Much like our Tech Boot Camp and our Follow-Up sessions, I think that a day where students and teachers can explore the new technology and secret features would be beneficial for our school. To be a true Tech-based school, the people not only have to own the technology, they have to be fully aware of how to use it. Our Tech Boot Camp for the new grade 9s is a perfect example where we introduce them to new platforms such as EduBlog and Office 365. We provide hands-on methods for them to get used to the new material, as we are also doing with the Microbits. Lifelabs has a certain day every month where the employees have a training day to learn of new protocols, how to use certain equipment, etc. Similarly, I believe that the Tech Team should also have a certain day regularly where we learn how to perfectly use certain equipment. I am aware that we have been doing this for the Microbits, but it can be quite difficult for people to match schedules, so doing this on a Pro-D day would be extremely beneficial.
I realize that with tight schedules and only meeting up once a week, it can be difficult to get stuff done. Therefore, the level of completion that we achieve is incredibly acceptable. However, along with the lunches that we meet up on, I think a time frame outside the time table could be a good idea. Communication Orale 12 is a class that is done after school for about an hour, and if we were to do something like that too, I believe we could accomplish more.
