I found the professional development activity at the end of this course the most beneficial. Since my school had asked me to look into some assistive technology resources earlier in the semester for special needs students, I was able to tailor my PD activity research to help fit the needs of my district. It made learning very hands on! I also liked reading the articles about BYOD and collective intelligence. They were topics I had learned about in past classes, but I got to study them in depth during this course.
There weren't really aspects of this course that did not meet my needs. The only issue was at times the assignments were so lengthy that I had a difficult time completing them on time. However, Dr. Angelone was fair and accommodating if I needed extra time.
The topic I found least interesting was healthy use of technology. It is a topic I am familiar with and did not really learn anything new about, but I recognize that it is an important aspect of technology to consider.
My knowledge of technology in my district evolved over the semester dramatically. I was able to apply things I read in this course to our technology situations at school and determine how successful or unsuccessful various aspects of our 1:1 laptops and BYOD initiatives have been.
Thanks for a thought provoking semester!
Saturday, April 26, 2014
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Module #13 Reflective Post
Summary
In this week’s article, “Emerging Technologies And Their Impact On Disability”, Paul H. Wise explains that technology is impacting children with disabilities in both positive and negative ways. He believes that all technology attempts to fix human deficits. While technology can result in safer physical environments, it can also present health risks without presenting solutions to fix them. Technology is increasingly used to fix physical problems for those with disabilities even though emotional health concerns continue to rise. Efficacy is also an issue. As we fight to change health outcomes using technology, we also observe that technology is not readily available to all in our society. Health costs are expensive and available only to those who can afford it, making technology a major social concern on multiple levels. Technology has actually influenced our definition of the term “disability”. Wise recognizes that there are two main factors that determine our current health the ways we are able to treat it: Social environment and tech innovation.
In recent decades, assistive technology has been created by modifying scientific technology to be used for practice purposes in an effort to improve health. Environments have been made safer, preventative vaccines have been created, medicinal treatments have been established to help people cope with illnesses. Technology has become so great that society has been able to decrease infant mortality rates. As a result, however, the amount of childhood chronic illnesses and disabilities has increased. These children with special needs were saved by technology, yet it cannot always cure them and they depend on it for medical and educational help.
Assistive technology can improve independence and participation in typical situations, but disabled students often suffer from a lack of resources because of government pressures to reduce health and educational spending. The individuals With Disabilities Education Act of 1990 was established to help people with special needs gain access to the services they need to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Laws in support of disability rights would not be possible if it weren’t for social acceptance. It has been crucial that society raise awareness of diseases and mortality rates in an effort to call for change. A society’s willingness to change is what fuels research and implementation of technology to help those with special needs. It is important that these new innovations be universal in design so that all society members may benefit from their existence. Furthermore, designing technology for all people instead of a niche group makes the technology less costly. Wise explains that our society needs to be willing to continuously evaluate and alter the ways we implement technology in our community to ensure good health of the people who live in it.
Reflection
Last week’s module activity involving the use of WebAnywhere text-to-speech technology is a great example of why technology and society need to continuously work together to accommodate those members of society with special needs. I believe WebAnywhere exists as a result of society recognizing the helplessness of visually impaired populations in public settings where they cannot read signage. Consequently, technology was developed and publicized for the visually impaired to use. However, this is only a small group of special needs community members that is being helped by the program. Not to mention the WebAnywhere program is extremely difficult to understand and in need of some “fine tuning”. If this program had been created with universal design in mind, it would be useful to a larger population of people and probably more streamlined for efficient use. This is a prime example of the need for society to continuously re-evaluate the success of technology and find ways to make it relevant to human deficiencies.
In this week’s article, “Emerging Technologies And Their Impact On Disability”, Paul H. Wise explains that technology is impacting children with disabilities in both positive and negative ways. He believes that all technology attempts to fix human deficits. While technology can result in safer physical environments, it can also present health risks without presenting solutions to fix them. Technology is increasingly used to fix physical problems for those with disabilities even though emotional health concerns continue to rise. Efficacy is also an issue. As we fight to change health outcomes using technology, we also observe that technology is not readily available to all in our society. Health costs are expensive and available only to those who can afford it, making technology a major social concern on multiple levels. Technology has actually influenced our definition of the term “disability”. Wise recognizes that there are two main factors that determine our current health the ways we are able to treat it: Social environment and tech innovation.
In recent decades, assistive technology has been created by modifying scientific technology to be used for practice purposes in an effort to improve health. Environments have been made safer, preventative vaccines have been created, medicinal treatments have been established to help people cope with illnesses. Technology has become so great that society has been able to decrease infant mortality rates. As a result, however, the amount of childhood chronic illnesses and disabilities has increased. These children with special needs were saved by technology, yet it cannot always cure them and they depend on it for medical and educational help.
Assistive technology can improve independence and participation in typical situations, but disabled students often suffer from a lack of resources because of government pressures to reduce health and educational spending. The individuals With Disabilities Education Act of 1990 was established to help people with special needs gain access to the services they need to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Laws in support of disability rights would not be possible if it weren’t for social acceptance. It has been crucial that society raise awareness of diseases and mortality rates in an effort to call for change. A society’s willingness to change is what fuels research and implementation of technology to help those with special needs. It is important that these new innovations be universal in design so that all society members may benefit from their existence. Furthermore, designing technology for all people instead of a niche group makes the technology less costly. Wise explains that our society needs to be willing to continuously evaluate and alter the ways we implement technology in our community to ensure good health of the people who live in it.
Reflection
Last week’s module activity involving the use of WebAnywhere text-to-speech technology is a great example of why technology and society need to continuously work together to accommodate those members of society with special needs. I believe WebAnywhere exists as a result of society recognizing the helplessness of visually impaired populations in public settings where they cannot read signage. Consequently, technology was developed and publicized for the visually impaired to use. However, this is only a small group of special needs community members that is being helped by the program. Not to mention the WebAnywhere program is extremely difficult to understand and in need of some “fine tuning”. If this program had been created with universal design in mind, it would be useful to a larger population of people and probably more streamlined for efficient use. This is a prime example of the need for society to continuously re-evaluate the success of technology and find ways to make it relevant to human deficiencies.
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
My Professional Development Google Site Workshop: Assistive Technology
Below is a link to my professional development Google Site workshop on assistive technology. You will find a brief history, useful tools, resources, and exercises for teachers. Please let me know if you think any improvements or provisions should be made.
https://sites.google.com/site/profdevelopmentassistivetech/
https://sites.google.com/site/profdevelopmentassistivetech/
Saturday, April 5, 2014
Module #12 Activity: WebAnywhere
WebAnywhere
WebAnywhere is a web-based screen reading program that can be accessed on any tech device that has internet access and a sound card. Once you have accessed this online program, you can type in the address to any website and the site’s text will be read to you. The newer WebAnywhere Beta software even allows the user to highlight important text. It should be noted that this free program is only used for reading information online and cannot read desktop software. There are specific keyboard commands that the user can press to help skip unimportant information.
I tried viewing this blog and my own personal website, maurameyers.com using WebAnywhere. I found the program extremely hard to understand. Maybe I have been spoiled by using other software recently, but I think WebAnywhere may be as difficult to listen to as the text would be to read for someone who is visually impaired. I have recently been working with students to use Kidspiration and Inspiration software at school. These programs are also capable of reading all text, and the voice is much more relaxed and easy to understand than WebAnywhere. The WebAnywhere reading voice seems to be a British male who does not annunciate many words correctly. It talks so incredibly fast at times that it can almost sound like a different language. The monotone computerized version of a human voice almost makes the sound of the text distracting. I would not recommend the use of WebAnywhere. While my blog and website are not necessarily "universally accessible" without the aide of a screen reading program, I think it could be considered accessible if a better program was used to read the text. Upon doing some Google research, it appears that Screenreader.net and JAWS are two options for internet accessibility.
WebAnywhere is a web-based screen reading program that can be accessed on any tech device that has internet access and a sound card. Once you have accessed this online program, you can type in the address to any website and the site’s text will be read to you. The newer WebAnywhere Beta software even allows the user to highlight important text. It should be noted that this free program is only used for reading information online and cannot read desktop software. There are specific keyboard commands that the user can press to help skip unimportant information.
I tried viewing this blog and my own personal website, maurameyers.com using WebAnywhere. I found the program extremely hard to understand. Maybe I have been spoiled by using other software recently, but I think WebAnywhere may be as difficult to listen to as the text would be to read for someone who is visually impaired. I have recently been working with students to use Kidspiration and Inspiration software at school. These programs are also capable of reading all text, and the voice is much more relaxed and easy to understand than WebAnywhere. The WebAnywhere reading voice seems to be a British male who does not annunciate many words correctly. It talks so incredibly fast at times that it can almost sound like a different language. The monotone computerized version of a human voice almost makes the sound of the text distracting. I would not recommend the use of WebAnywhere. While my blog and website are not necessarily "universally accessible" without the aide of a screen reading program, I think it could be considered accessible if a better program was used to read the text. Upon doing some Google research, it appears that Screenreader.net and JAWS are two options for internet accessibility.
Reflective Post #12: Adaptive Technology
Adaptive Technology Website by Sheryl Burgstahler
Burgstahler’s website is a fantastic resource for people looking to familiarize themselves with forms of adaptive technology for specific special needs. She explains that adaptive technology is any tool that helps students be more productive, capable, and independent. AT is especially helpful for student inclusion if the devices can help them use computer software and internet access. People with visual impairments, cognitive disabilities, mobility issues, health concerns, speech, and hearing impairment can all benefit from adaptive technology. A list of helpful technology for each of these needs is broken down on the website. The devices can be divided up into two main categories: Input and output devices. Some examples of input devices for various special needs include dictation software, large keyboard print, grammar and spell check. Output devices include screen enlargement and speech output. The author describes a goal of universal design for all public spaces. In other words, any public space would anticipate the accessibility needs of its inhabitants and accommodate them in a variety of ways. Braille, speech output, ramps, and more are all ways public spaces could work toward universal design.
DO-IT: Disabilities Opportunities Internetworking Technology by The University of Washington
This website is geared toward incoming college students with special needs at the University of Washington looking for work experience or classroom accommodations. The DO-IT organization, which stands for “Disabilities Opportunities Internetworking Technology”, brings together a variety of people: those looking to mentor incoming students with disabilities, educators interested in learning inclusion teaching methods, and students and employers interested in using technology to empower people with special needs. DO-IT also educates people on the importance of universal design of public spaces, education, technology, and services. The website provides videos about assistive technology for various disabilities, provides funding guides to obtain AT, includes transitional information for incoming students with special needs, and access to computer-based career information. DO-IT has a strong online community and resource base for those interested in learning about assistive technology and how it can benefit those with special needs in education or the workforce.
Reflection:
I am impressed with the DO-IT program available at the University of Washington and wonder how many programs exist that are similar at other higher education systems. I remember in college that many teachers would tell students on their syllabi to contact them if you were a student with any special needs, but I was never sure what qualified as a “special need”.
As a teacher for the last five years, I was not aware of what was considered adaptive technology until researching for my PD development website for this course. When I worked at a private school, I had very few experiences with students who had special needs because our school did not provide ample resources for them. Now that I am in my second year at a public school, I have seen many more examples of adaptive technology use. Students often have dictation software, iPad apps, or personal laptops to help them with reading, writing, speech, and visual impairment. These tools have not necessarily been used in my own classroom, but I am aware of students who use them. My adaptive strategies consist more of modified worksheets and tools. For example, if a student has low fine motor skills, I might provide them with bigger paper, worksheets that break skills down into more manageable parts, and larger-barreled supplies such as markers and thicker paintbrushes rather than skinnier colored pencils and brushes.
Burgstahler’s website is a fantastic resource for people looking to familiarize themselves with forms of adaptive technology for specific special needs. She explains that adaptive technology is any tool that helps students be more productive, capable, and independent. AT is especially helpful for student inclusion if the devices can help them use computer software and internet access. People with visual impairments, cognitive disabilities, mobility issues, health concerns, speech, and hearing impairment can all benefit from adaptive technology. A list of helpful technology for each of these needs is broken down on the website. The devices can be divided up into two main categories: Input and output devices. Some examples of input devices for various special needs include dictation software, large keyboard print, grammar and spell check. Output devices include screen enlargement and speech output. The author describes a goal of universal design for all public spaces. In other words, any public space would anticipate the accessibility needs of its inhabitants and accommodate them in a variety of ways. Braille, speech output, ramps, and more are all ways public spaces could work toward universal design.
DO-IT: Disabilities Opportunities Internetworking Technology by The University of Washington
This website is geared toward incoming college students with special needs at the University of Washington looking for work experience or classroom accommodations. The DO-IT organization, which stands for “Disabilities Opportunities Internetworking Technology”, brings together a variety of people: those looking to mentor incoming students with disabilities, educators interested in learning inclusion teaching methods, and students and employers interested in using technology to empower people with special needs. DO-IT also educates people on the importance of universal design of public spaces, education, technology, and services. The website provides videos about assistive technology for various disabilities, provides funding guides to obtain AT, includes transitional information for incoming students with special needs, and access to computer-based career information. DO-IT has a strong online community and resource base for those interested in learning about assistive technology and how it can benefit those with special needs in education or the workforce.
Reflection:
I am impressed with the DO-IT program available at the University of Washington and wonder how many programs exist that are similar at other higher education systems. I remember in college that many teachers would tell students on their syllabi to contact them if you were a student with any special needs, but I was never sure what qualified as a “special need”.
As a teacher for the last five years, I was not aware of what was considered adaptive technology until researching for my PD development website for this course. When I worked at a private school, I had very few experiences with students who had special needs because our school did not provide ample resources for them. Now that I am in my second year at a public school, I have seen many more examples of adaptive technology use. Students often have dictation software, iPad apps, or personal laptops to help them with reading, writing, speech, and visual impairment. These tools have not necessarily been used in my own classroom, but I am aware of students who use them. My adaptive strategies consist more of modified worksheets and tools. For example, if a student has low fine motor skills, I might provide them with bigger paper, worksheets that break skills down into more manageable parts, and larger-barreled supplies such as markers and thicker paintbrushes rather than skinnier colored pencils and brushes.
Thursday, March 27, 2014
RP #11: Troubleshooting Hardware, Software, And Connectivity Problems
The website, “Computer Troubleshooting For Teachers And Students” is an organized guide to solving hardware and software problems independently. Since most schools can’t afford the amount of technology support they need, grad school students and teachers at Pace University compiled this website to accommodate educator’s needs. The website is divided into five categories of issues: Input and output devices, internet and networking issues, interactive whiteboards and projectors, Microsoft Office applications, and printing and scanning problems. Each category is then broken up into subtopics describing possible scenarios that are seemingly unfixable. Each scenario is accompanied with step by step instructions to help the teacher or student attempt to fix the problem without the help of an IT consultant. The solutions often include labeled diagrams and pictures to encourage comprehension.
In the article, “A Computer For Every Student And Teacher: Lessons Learned About Planning And Implementing A Successful 1:1 Learning Initiative In Schools”, the authors describe trials and suggestions of 12 public high schools in North Caroline who started implementing 1:1 laptop use for their students and teachers. The program was started in an effort to increase student achievement and hone 21st Century Skills. After compiling data from teacher and student interviews, observations, and surveys, valuable feedback surfaced. Teachers recommended that at least 6 months of financial and logistical planning should be arranged before giving students and teachers laptops. Short term and longterm goals for updates and technology maintenance should be addressed. It is helpful for teachers to receive laptops first so they are familiar enough to help students learn to use them. The preparation time before implementing 1:1 technology is important because schools need to make sure they can properly accommodate wifi signals for the school population. Schools need to consider the amount of electrical outlets, the safety issues cords may pose, and the possibility of charging stations for student use. Hardware and software accessories that would be useful with the laptops should also be considered. Teachers in the study suggest that the IT department buys 5-10% more laptops than needed to use as loaners for students who cannot afford them or who have broken laptops. They stress the importance of acceptable use policies and orientations for parent and student computer use. In an effort to help teachers and students efficiently with computer related issues, the survey responders suggest that each school have a designated IT employee and student helpers to assist with technology issues.
After reading through the website and article, I wonder what regrets and suggestions for future improvement our own district would have for our 1:1 technology program. It would have been nice for the students to have the same computers that teachers have so we could help them with issues. It also would have been nice for parents, teachers, and staff to attend identical orientations for the computers so we all know the policies and procedures for use. There does not seem to be any clear consequences for misuse of the computer within school hours or beyond. Publicizing offenses and consequences would help computers to be used more efficiently during class time.
Teachers are not required to have their students use the 1:1 laptops at our school. Because of this, the students have a broad spectrum of comfort levels with technology. Many of them do not even know how to write an email. There needs to be a clear expectation stated for how teachers will require students to use technology. So far, it does not seem to me that they are acquiring adequate 21st Century Skills.
In the article, “A Computer For Every Student And Teacher: Lessons Learned About Planning And Implementing A Successful 1:1 Learning Initiative In Schools”, the authors describe trials and suggestions of 12 public high schools in North Caroline who started implementing 1:1 laptop use for their students and teachers. The program was started in an effort to increase student achievement and hone 21st Century Skills. After compiling data from teacher and student interviews, observations, and surveys, valuable feedback surfaced. Teachers recommended that at least 6 months of financial and logistical planning should be arranged before giving students and teachers laptops. Short term and longterm goals for updates and technology maintenance should be addressed. It is helpful for teachers to receive laptops first so they are familiar enough to help students learn to use them. The preparation time before implementing 1:1 technology is important because schools need to make sure they can properly accommodate wifi signals for the school population. Schools need to consider the amount of electrical outlets, the safety issues cords may pose, and the possibility of charging stations for student use. Hardware and software accessories that would be useful with the laptops should also be considered. Teachers in the study suggest that the IT department buys 5-10% more laptops than needed to use as loaners for students who cannot afford them or who have broken laptops. They stress the importance of acceptable use policies and orientations for parent and student computer use. In an effort to help teachers and students efficiently with computer related issues, the survey responders suggest that each school have a designated IT employee and student helpers to assist with technology issues.
After reading through the website and article, I wonder what regrets and suggestions for future improvement our own district would have for our 1:1 technology program. It would have been nice for the students to have the same computers that teachers have so we could help them with issues. It also would have been nice for parents, teachers, and staff to attend identical orientations for the computers so we all know the policies and procedures for use. There does not seem to be any clear consequences for misuse of the computer within school hours or beyond. Publicizing offenses and consequences would help computers to be used more efficiently during class time.
Teachers are not required to have their students use the 1:1 laptops at our school. Because of this, the students have a broad spectrum of comfort levels with technology. Many of them do not even know how to write an email. There needs to be a clear expectation stated for how teachers will require students to use technology. So far, it does not seem to me that they are acquiring adequate 21st Century Skills.
Rubric Evaluation
Summary Paragraphs: Good, 5 points
There is one well-developed summary paragraph per reading.
Reflection Paragraph: Good, 5 points
There are two reflection paragraphs that connects the readings to my own experiences at school and in the classroom.
Quality of Writing: Good, 5 points
Writing is clear and contains no spelling or grammar mistakes.
Connection To Readings: Good, 5 points
Reflection paragraph make a strong and coherent connection to each reading.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Activity #11: Technology Troubleshooting Guide For Teachers And Students
Directions: After determining the problem, try to solve the problem using the solutions in the order that is listed. Contacting the tech department, internet provider, etc. is a last resort. This format would be appropriate for students and teachers alike because it organizes information into problem scenarios and provides methodical, logical ways to rule out issues. If I had more time, pictures of each step and differentiated instructions for Mac and PC users would also be helpful. I included videos when possible to provide visual aids and sources to help teachers and students find more information. It would also be nice if the school designated a few student technology facilitators in addition to adult technology coordinators to help students and teachers become more independent with computer related troubleshooting.
Sources
Computer Troubleshooting For Teachers And Students:
http://webpage.pace.edu/ms16182p/troubleshooting/home.html
MakeUseOf: “No Sound? Don’t Worry! Troubleshooting Tips For Your Computer Speakers.”
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/no-sound-dont-worry-troubleshooting-tips-for-your-computer-speakers/
Networked: “Why Won’t My SMART Board Pens Work In PowerPoint?”
http://sauxtersdoc.blogspot.com/2012/09/why-wont-my-smart-board-pens-work-in.html
About.com Wireless / Networking: “Can’t Connect To The Internet?”
http://compnetworking.about.com/od/internetaccessbestuses/tp/fixing-cant-connect-to-internet-problems.htm
Technology Support And Inspiration: “Common Smart Board Issues.”
https://sites.google.com/a/lajunta.k12.co.us/technology-support-and-inspiration/home/standards-correlated-lessons-for-smart-boards/help-my-smart-board
“SMART Board Interactive White Board”:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&ved=0CFIQFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.steljes.com%2Fmysmartspaces%2Fimages%2Fsmart_hardware%2Fsmart%2520board%25201.doc&ei=PTgvU7vyDZKCyAGpv4GgCg&usg=AFQjCNFGXpjXXtgO9z5JASJaWV3ue_AvVw&sig2=MdBokzLNzQ1u3OJqgO-1nQ&bvm=bv.62922401,d.aWc
“Reset Pens For SmartBoard” video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcmPAgb0Juo
“Using The Ready Light To Troubleshoot The SMART Board 800 Series Interactive Whiteboard.”
http://downloads01.smarttech.com/media/sitecore/en/support/flowcharts/smartboard800series/156537-flowchartsb800readylightv29dec10.pdf
SMART Notebook 10.8: “Calibrating The Cameras.”
http://onlinehelp.smarttech.com/english/mobile/nbwin/10_8_0/Advanced/Content/Support/CalibratingTheCameras.htm
Powersolution.com: “Why [Does] My Computer Keep Freezing?”
http://www.powersolution.com/my-computer-keeps-freezing/
For Dummies: “Fixing A Frozen Mac”
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/fixing-a-frozen-mac.html
HP Consumer Support: “Print Jobs Are Stuck In Print Queue.”
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c02239404&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en#N8882
Sources
Computer Troubleshooting For Teachers And Students:
http://webpage.pace.edu/ms16182p/troubleshooting/home.html
MakeUseOf: “No Sound? Don’t Worry! Troubleshooting Tips For Your Computer Speakers.”
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/no-sound-dont-worry-troubleshooting-tips-for-your-computer-speakers/
Networked: “Why Won’t My SMART Board Pens Work In PowerPoint?”
http://sauxtersdoc.blogspot.com/2012/09/why-wont-my-smart-board-pens-work-in.html
About.com Wireless / Networking: “Can’t Connect To The Internet?”
http://compnetworking.about.com/od/internetaccessbestuses/tp/fixing-cant-connect-to-internet-problems.htm
Technology Support And Inspiration: “Common Smart Board Issues.”
https://sites.google.com/a/lajunta.k12.co.us/technology-support-and-inspiration/home/standards-correlated-lessons-for-smart-boards/help-my-smart-board
“SMART Board Interactive White Board”:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&ved=0CFIQFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.steljes.com%2Fmysmartspaces%2Fimages%2Fsmart_hardware%2Fsmart%2520board%25201.doc&ei=PTgvU7vyDZKCyAGpv4GgCg&usg=AFQjCNFGXpjXXtgO9z5JASJaWV3ue_AvVw&sig2=MdBokzLNzQ1u3OJqgO-1nQ&bvm=bv.62922401,d.aWc
“Reset Pens For SmartBoard” video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcmPAgb0Juo
“Using The Ready Light To Troubleshoot The SMART Board 800 Series Interactive Whiteboard.”
http://downloads01.smarttech.com/media/sitecore/en/support/flowcharts/smartboard800series/156537-flowchartsb800readylightv29dec10.pdf
SMART Notebook 10.8: “Calibrating The Cameras.”
http://onlinehelp.smarttech.com/english/mobile/nbwin/10_8_0/Advanced/Content/Support/CalibratingTheCameras.htm
Powersolution.com: “Why [Does] My Computer Keep Freezing?”
http://www.powersolution.com/my-computer-keeps-freezing/
For Dummies: “Fixing A Frozen Mac”
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/fixing-a-frozen-mac.html
HP Consumer Support: “Print Jobs Are Stuck In Print Queue.”
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c02239404&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en#N8882
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Reflective Post #10
Educating For Global Competence: Preparing Our Youth To Engage The World by Veronica Boix Mansilla & Anthony Jackson
In the first chapter of the e-book, “Educating For Global Competence”, the authors describe three global concerns that are changing jobs and cultures throughout the world: An unstable international economy, migration, and climate instability. Mansilla and Jackson offer solutions for ways to continuing globalization through the trade of products, people, and ideas. If people are to be prepared to solve the world’s problems collaboratively, they must be creative and adapt easily to change. Students who seek future jobs must be aware of other cultures and their world views. They must learn intercultural skills and be able to work together on problem solving strategies with people from all over the world.
The number of migrants around the world rose to 214 million in 2010. We live in an age where people identify themselves as members of more than one country, identifying with more than one culture and economy. In order to obtain future employment, current students need to communicate effectively and work to understand perspectives that are diverse from their own. They need to value the variety of other people’s opinions and traditions. Instead of focusing on how to help their own country, students can work toward solving global issues such as poverty, global warming, and human rights concerns that will benefit all countries.
Chapter 4 identifies four ways students can acknowledge perspectives different from their own: Expressing their opinions on a situation, understanding what influences the opinions of others, explaining the value of cultural experiences, and identifying how access to education and technology affect quality of life. Students can explore the world views of others through online research and interactions. Understanding the values and needs of other cultures through online outlets helps reduce stereotypes and encourage action to be taken.
Sister Cities And Schools
Sister Cities And Schools promote relationships between different countries in an effort to learn more about each other’s governments, educational systems, people, businesses, and traditions. This program was first started in 1956 by President Eisenhower as a way to rebuild partnerships and avoid conflict after World War II. Cultural bonding is initiated to encourage one another to consider the needs of all people known as global citizenship. Global citizenship reduces discrimination, promotes peace, and develops respect between nations. Sister Schools have similar goals. The schools are also able to instruct collaboratively and work on project-based learning together. Web 2.0 tools allow skills with technology access to video conference, email, and more. Schools can also use blogs and wiki’s to share opinions, opportunities, and experiences. Working together with another country can result in profit for each. Good relationships between cultures can foster trade, business expansion, international educational opportunities, employment, and more!
Virtual Field Trip: Lascaux Caves
I chose Lascaux Caves for my virtual field trip since it is related to my content area, art. It was a little confusing to navigate at first, but I eventually found a hidden button that offered more information in English. The website showed a life-like digital model of the inside of the cave with a thumbnail map in the corner to help the viewer understand where they were “standing” in the cave. Descriptions can be read about individual drawings and rooms in the cave along the way. The viewer can pause the video tour and zoom in on the cave drawings. They can also view maps and pictures of the cave exterior and surrounding land in France. The information provided with these maps and pictures shares how the terrain contributed to the cave and what efforts will be made for continued preservation.
OER Commons
Open Education Resources (OER) Commons is a website that shares free educational materials for teachers and students. The website is setup into courses complete with lesson modules, activities, tests, and lectures. Lessons are organized by topic, education level, resource materials, and more. Users have the ability to upload lessons and collaborate with other teachers and students on topics of interest. Collaboration can occur through discussion boards or “Challenges” involving a broad question that requires teachers and learners to work collaboratively toward a solution prototype. Most items on the OER Commons website are Creative Commons licensed unless listed differently.
Reflection
Reading about ways to increase student knowledge of different cultures and world views made me reflect on our own education system’s values of cultural diversity. I think I have an advantage teaching art to help students learn about other countries and cultures through knowledge of historical and contemporary art. I read a lot of blogs to look for interesting websites and lessons from art teachers of all kinds. One of my favorite blogs is from a teacher in Italy, arteascuola.com. Other websites like Google Art Project and thisiscolossal.com showcase art from all over the world and bring opportunities to expand the minds of my students without leaving my classroom. While I think OER Commons is a really neat concept, I have doubts about the authenticity and relevance of the information to my particular classroom. While there are many resources for my content area, they are all formatted in text descriptions, which would require a lot of time and research to find something relevant. I think this site would be more useful if it had thumbnail pictures of the activities and presentations that go along with each lesson. Additionally, I would like to know more about the educational backgrounds of the teachers who have produced these lessons and the sources of their information before using it to teach in the classroom. I had trouble finding answers to these questions on my own.
In the first chapter of the e-book, “Educating For Global Competence”, the authors describe three global concerns that are changing jobs and cultures throughout the world: An unstable international economy, migration, and climate instability. Mansilla and Jackson offer solutions for ways to continuing globalization through the trade of products, people, and ideas. If people are to be prepared to solve the world’s problems collaboratively, they must be creative and adapt easily to change. Students who seek future jobs must be aware of other cultures and their world views. They must learn intercultural skills and be able to work together on problem solving strategies with people from all over the world.
The number of migrants around the world rose to 214 million in 2010. We live in an age where people identify themselves as members of more than one country, identifying with more than one culture and economy. In order to obtain future employment, current students need to communicate effectively and work to understand perspectives that are diverse from their own. They need to value the variety of other people’s opinions and traditions. Instead of focusing on how to help their own country, students can work toward solving global issues such as poverty, global warming, and human rights concerns that will benefit all countries.
Chapter 4 identifies four ways students can acknowledge perspectives different from their own: Expressing their opinions on a situation, understanding what influences the opinions of others, explaining the value of cultural experiences, and identifying how access to education and technology affect quality of life. Students can explore the world views of others through online research and interactions. Understanding the values and needs of other cultures through online outlets helps reduce stereotypes and encourage action to be taken.
Sister Cities And Schools
Sister Cities And Schools promote relationships between different countries in an effort to learn more about each other’s governments, educational systems, people, businesses, and traditions. This program was first started in 1956 by President Eisenhower as a way to rebuild partnerships and avoid conflict after World War II. Cultural bonding is initiated to encourage one another to consider the needs of all people known as global citizenship. Global citizenship reduces discrimination, promotes peace, and develops respect between nations. Sister Schools have similar goals. The schools are also able to instruct collaboratively and work on project-based learning together. Web 2.0 tools allow skills with technology access to video conference, email, and more. Schools can also use blogs and wiki’s to share opinions, opportunities, and experiences. Working together with another country can result in profit for each. Good relationships between cultures can foster trade, business expansion, international educational opportunities, employment, and more!
Virtual Field Trip: Lascaux Caves
I chose Lascaux Caves for my virtual field trip since it is related to my content area, art. It was a little confusing to navigate at first, but I eventually found a hidden button that offered more information in English. The website showed a life-like digital model of the inside of the cave with a thumbnail map in the corner to help the viewer understand where they were “standing” in the cave. Descriptions can be read about individual drawings and rooms in the cave along the way. The viewer can pause the video tour and zoom in on the cave drawings. They can also view maps and pictures of the cave exterior and surrounding land in France. The information provided with these maps and pictures shares how the terrain contributed to the cave and what efforts will be made for continued preservation.
OER Commons
Open Education Resources (OER) Commons is a website that shares free educational materials for teachers and students. The website is setup into courses complete with lesson modules, activities, tests, and lectures. Lessons are organized by topic, education level, resource materials, and more. Users have the ability to upload lessons and collaborate with other teachers and students on topics of interest. Collaboration can occur through discussion boards or “Challenges” involving a broad question that requires teachers and learners to work collaboratively toward a solution prototype. Most items on the OER Commons website are Creative Commons licensed unless listed differently.
Reflection
Reading about ways to increase student knowledge of different cultures and world views made me reflect on our own education system’s values of cultural diversity. I think I have an advantage teaching art to help students learn about other countries and cultures through knowledge of historical and contemporary art. I read a lot of blogs to look for interesting websites and lessons from art teachers of all kinds. One of my favorite blogs is from a teacher in Italy, arteascuola.com. Other websites like Google Art Project and thisiscolossal.com showcase art from all over the world and bring opportunities to expand the minds of my students without leaving my classroom. While I think OER Commons is a really neat concept, I have doubts about the authenticity and relevance of the information to my particular classroom. While there are many resources for my content area, they are all formatted in text descriptions, which would require a lot of time and research to find something relevant. I think this site would be more useful if it had thumbnail pictures of the activities and presentations that go along with each lesson. Additionally, I would like to know more about the educational backgrounds of the teachers who have produced these lessons and the sources of their information before using it to teach in the classroom. I had trouble finding answers to these questions on my own.
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Activity #10: Virtual Field Trip Of India
Learn all about India without the travel time!
Pictures
- Click here to check out pictures of life, landmarks, traditions, and statistics on Pinterest.
- Click here to see quick stats on India
- Learn more about the most commonly practiced religions in India here
- Here is a list of restaurants where you can try Indian food in Toledo.
- Click here to learn how to apply henna. Here you'll find patterns to create with henna.
- Click here to watch a garba dance (skip to 1:00)
- Click here to see a list of popular festivals in India
- Here is a video about public transportation in India.
- A virtual trip to India can be seen here:
- "Only in India": A blog that showcases the quirkiness of India.
- "Outsourced": An American businessman moves to India for his job.
- "Slumdog Millionaire": An orphan from Mumbai has a chance to win $1 million.
- "The Lunchbox": A housewife who caters lunch for businessmen connects with an unlikely man who accidentally gets her husband's lunch. (coming soon)
- Click here to see a list of popular Bollywood films
- Click here to see a list of sacred destinations in India.
- Click here to see a list of the top 10 landmarks in India.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
RP #9: District & School-wide Communication With The Community
In the article, “Tweeting The Night Away: Using Twitter To Enhance Social Presence, Dunlap and Lowenthal believe that online classes miss out on the impromptu interactions between students and teachers that build relationships. In order to compensate for this loss, online classes benefit from exploring learning management systems and social media outlets in an effort to become familiar with the people involved in their education. Web 2.0 tools such as Twitter can provide students with a variety of methods to express themselves to others, including audio, video, and written work. Twitter is a great resource for educators and students because it can be used to link people with similar interests. Teachers can support their curriculum in the social media setting, while students can construct meaning through the concepts they have learned in class. While its most popular usage would be for social purposes, Twitter is a great professional tool for networking and sharing information as well. Users have the ability to pose a question or link and get feedback from similarly minded people or professionals in the community. Information is spread quickly and can be accessed from a phone or computer, which may be even more convenient for many people than a Learning Management System. The 140 character limit encourages comments to articulate their words carefully. The authors feel that if students are invited to Tweet rather than required, they might be more willing to participate in an educational setting. They also explains that Twitter results can be used to compile information for research papers and presentations.
In the article, “Grassroots Development: How Teachers Use Twitter”, Forte, Humphreys, and Park study teachers who use Twitter. Considered “Grassroots Professional Development,” Twitter is a social media outlet that is great for communication with teachers, peers, and parents. The authors conducted a Twitter teacher survey consisting of analyzation of 2,000 teacher tweets and phone interviews by survey responders. The goal was to determine how social media is used for educational purposes, specifically Twitter. Each tweet was divided into themed categories. Trends in teacher tweet topics included professional development, classroom exercises, educational policies, and safety online. The survey results suggest that teachers are not often linked to local colleagues on Twitter, gravitating more toward teacher acquaintances met online or in person. The authors believe teachers who use web 2.0 tools are open to change and more reflective thinkers. Teachers were most likely to use hashtags to share resources, but many also participated in discussions. Many of those surveyed reported using Twitter as a social outlet at first but then decided to use it for educational purposes. It seems that many teachers still hesitate to get students involved online because their districts have restrictions on social media usage and/or they worry about internet safety.
The article, “What Parents Want In School Communication” summarizes a survey completed by the National School Public Relations Association to help teachers and administrators develop good strategies for communication with parents. The results explained that parents prefer online methods of conveying information such as email, e-newsletters, websites, and automated text messaging. Surprisingly, social media ranked low on parents’ lists of preferred communication along with board meetings and watching the news. Results from the survey were differentiated slightly by parents of elementary and high school students. While most parents regardless of grade level like to have progress reports, information on classroom policies, and grade notices, elementary parents prefer to have more behavioral information. Secondary parents are more interested in the best ways to get in touch with their child’s teachers. Parents of all grade levels enjoyed having access to event calendars, course descriptions, student safety information, and any general updates. Author Anne O’Brien speculates that social media just might be too advanced for current parents. She believes schools who have successfully implemented social media as a means of communication have thrived because they are open to parent feedback. Regardless of the survey results, however, O’Brien stresses that it is important for each district to be aware of the communication needs of their individual student/parent population. Social media notifications may be appropriate in some areas while not reaching enough families in another district.
Brendan O’Keefe shares many ways districts can gain support from community members in his article, “Five Steps To Better School/Community Collaboration.” He believes any successful district communicates well with the surrounding community and takes action to bring students and residents together. It is important for teachers and administration to not only collaborate with parents but also students, seniors, and local businesses. As the saying goes, “it takes a village to raise a child.” O’Keefe believes it is important to get community members involved in local education through mentorship programs, partnerships, and hands-on activities in the community that apply classroom curriculum. O’Keefe suggests creating a community resource map that details people and businesses who are willing to help educational programs in the district. Any time community members can collaborate with students and teachers on “reinventing” a school resource, it is a source of pride for the entire community and perpetuates more collaboration in the future.
Reflection
In my personal experiences with social media as a means of communication, I find it very hard to find one method that all parents, teachers, and students are willing to use. The only successful method I have seen in my own experiences is text message alerts, as described in the O’Brien article. Most students and parents have phones, so this is an easy way to communicate with everyone. During every new class, I ask students what forms of social media they have in a written survey. Many have turned away from Facebook and use Instagram instead. However, there are still many more who do not have any forms of social media. This is often a reflection of parental concerns over internet safety. My own informal survey confirms the suspicions described in the O’Brien article, that social media may be “too social” for current parents. If students and parents were more willing to go on social media, I think they would be surprised and impressed by the educational capabilities of these web 2.0 tools. I use my Facebook page, “Miss Meyers’ Art Class” to post reminders, local art events, student artwork, and cool artists that I find online. It’s a fantastic tool! Instagram is also easy to use. Hashtags allow our work to be seen by a broader spectrum of people, links can still be posted, and plenty of student work can be seen. I am lucky to work in a district where social media is accepted as an educational tool. Our superintendent has a Twitter account, so I think this helps my case. I recently met up with the alumni fundraising coordinator and discussed the need for a classroom social media directory for our district. As O’Keefe mentioned, it is important to get the community involved in local education. If a social media directory is put together, the fundraising coordinator can meet with local businesses owned by former students and show them the incredible things we are doing in our classrooms. It might encourage them to be proactive in donating and volunteering in our schools!
In the article, “Grassroots Development: How Teachers Use Twitter”, Forte, Humphreys, and Park study teachers who use Twitter. Considered “Grassroots Professional Development,” Twitter is a social media outlet that is great for communication with teachers, peers, and parents. The authors conducted a Twitter teacher survey consisting of analyzation of 2,000 teacher tweets and phone interviews by survey responders. The goal was to determine how social media is used for educational purposes, specifically Twitter. Each tweet was divided into themed categories. Trends in teacher tweet topics included professional development, classroom exercises, educational policies, and safety online. The survey results suggest that teachers are not often linked to local colleagues on Twitter, gravitating more toward teacher acquaintances met online or in person. The authors believe teachers who use web 2.0 tools are open to change and more reflective thinkers. Teachers were most likely to use hashtags to share resources, but many also participated in discussions. Many of those surveyed reported using Twitter as a social outlet at first but then decided to use it for educational purposes. It seems that many teachers still hesitate to get students involved online because their districts have restrictions on social media usage and/or they worry about internet safety.
The article, “What Parents Want In School Communication” summarizes a survey completed by the National School Public Relations Association to help teachers and administrators develop good strategies for communication with parents. The results explained that parents prefer online methods of conveying information such as email, e-newsletters, websites, and automated text messaging. Surprisingly, social media ranked low on parents’ lists of preferred communication along with board meetings and watching the news. Results from the survey were differentiated slightly by parents of elementary and high school students. While most parents regardless of grade level like to have progress reports, information on classroom policies, and grade notices, elementary parents prefer to have more behavioral information. Secondary parents are more interested in the best ways to get in touch with their child’s teachers. Parents of all grade levels enjoyed having access to event calendars, course descriptions, student safety information, and any general updates. Author Anne O’Brien speculates that social media just might be too advanced for current parents. She believes schools who have successfully implemented social media as a means of communication have thrived because they are open to parent feedback. Regardless of the survey results, however, O’Brien stresses that it is important for each district to be aware of the communication needs of their individual student/parent population. Social media notifications may be appropriate in some areas while not reaching enough families in another district.
Brendan O’Keefe shares many ways districts can gain support from community members in his article, “Five Steps To Better School/Community Collaboration.” He believes any successful district communicates well with the surrounding community and takes action to bring students and residents together. It is important for teachers and administration to not only collaborate with parents but also students, seniors, and local businesses. As the saying goes, “it takes a village to raise a child.” O’Keefe believes it is important to get community members involved in local education through mentorship programs, partnerships, and hands-on activities in the community that apply classroom curriculum. O’Keefe suggests creating a community resource map that details people and businesses who are willing to help educational programs in the district. Any time community members can collaborate with students and teachers on “reinventing” a school resource, it is a source of pride for the entire community and perpetuates more collaboration in the future.
Reflection
In my personal experiences with social media as a means of communication, I find it very hard to find one method that all parents, teachers, and students are willing to use. The only successful method I have seen in my own experiences is text message alerts, as described in the O’Brien article. Most students and parents have phones, so this is an easy way to communicate with everyone. During every new class, I ask students what forms of social media they have in a written survey. Many have turned away from Facebook and use Instagram instead. However, there are still many more who do not have any forms of social media. This is often a reflection of parental concerns over internet safety. My own informal survey confirms the suspicions described in the O’Brien article, that social media may be “too social” for current parents. If students and parents were more willing to go on social media, I think they would be surprised and impressed by the educational capabilities of these web 2.0 tools. I use my Facebook page, “Miss Meyers’ Art Class” to post reminders, local art events, student artwork, and cool artists that I find online. It’s a fantastic tool! Instagram is also easy to use. Hashtags allow our work to be seen by a broader spectrum of people, links can still be posted, and plenty of student work can be seen. I am lucky to work in a district where social media is accepted as an educational tool. Our superintendent has a Twitter account, so I think this helps my case. I recently met up with the alumni fundraising coordinator and discussed the need for a classroom social media directory for our district. As O’Keefe mentioned, it is important to get the community involved in local education. If a social media directory is put together, the fundraising coordinator can meet with local businesses owned by former students and show them the incredible things we are doing in our classrooms. It might encourage them to be proactive in donating and volunteering in our schools!
Sunday, March 2, 2014
RP #8
In the article, “The New Literacy: Scenes From The Digital Divide”, Richard Rapaport reports that 72.5% of Americans use the internet today. Due to these statistics, the digital divide that began in the 1990s appears to be decreasing as a result of the lower cost of hardware and software. Today’s generation is considered digitally literate. People use web 2.0 applications to interact, communicate, and work together on projects. Social media has become an important factor in educational programs. The new digital divide could end up segregating those who use social media and web 2.0 tools from those who do not use them. Connie Yowell, director of education for the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, calls game and web developers the “pedagogical theorists of the 21st century.” In other words, if educators do not utilize these new skills in the classroom, they will be less effective in communicating new concepts to their students. Since 80% of all America teenagers use a computer, they are conditioned to complete tasks in digitally advanced ways. Digital theorist Howard Rheingold thinks educators need to harness student interest in web 2.0 tools and teach them how to use it for educational purposes so they can learn skills for collaboration, activism, writing, and more. Teaching students to utilize social media and other online applications for educational purposes will help prepare them for jobs that require computer fluency in the future.
Eszter Hargittai and Gina Walejko use their article, “The Participation Divide: Content Creation And Sharing In The Digital Age” to explain ways socioeconomic status has impacted technology use. The authors explain that the “participation divide” refers to creative activity online. Members of higher socioeconomic groups are more likely to publish creative works such as videos, articles, and artwork because they have more access to digital tools and the internet. Additionally, online sharing is also divided by gender. Men are more likely to publish creative work online than women, but women are slowly bridging this gap (239, 240). Hargittai and Walejko believe that wealthier individuals gain more educational knowledge from the internet and computers than people of lower financial status (240). They found that 44% of American adults share content of some sort online, but those with more resources and internet connectivity are more likely to publish personal works online (241). The authors performed a survey of college students at the University of Illinois, Chicago in an effort to learn more about how people from diverse ethnic backgrounds use the internet. After collecting data about time spent online, the authors found that the average responders have six years of experience online (246). While they exhibit a variety of skill levels, they spend on average aout 15 hours per week on the internet (246). 60.8% were involved in creative activities. The information compiled from the survey revealed that students were more likely to participate in creative activities online if their parents were college educated (248). Older students were less likely to post creative products online, and women were still slightly underrepresented (252). The cause of the gender divide in creative online publishing is still unknown, but user skill level may play a key role (252, 253). Hargittai and Walejko note that the participation gap studied in their survey will increasingly influence jobs, politics, and cultural identity in the future (253).
Michelle Wright discusses the role of African Americans, specifically women and their participation in the technology field. She believes that “by default the internet in the western world is always white, almost always male, and sexuality rarely emerges as an imaginative category” (49). This statement alone illustrates Ms. Wright’s opinion that African Americans are underrepresented online and in digitally based employment. However, she also explains that African Americans and Latinos are the two fastest growing groups of internet users (49). This may be a result of the decreasing price for hardware and software (50). Consequently, the digital divide may be based more on socioeconomic status rather than racial background. The author spoke with three African American women in the technology field to gain some insight on their perceptions of racial diversity in their field. The interviewed women felt that African Americans were in low positions, with African American women at the lowest ranking jobs (51). These women did not feel members of their communities were computer literate, more as a result of few resources than lack of enthusiasm. The author states that African American representation online is growing but not accurately represented (53, 55). Wright feels that the term “African American” tends to represent black American males, discounting females and people from other countries who are black (56). Wright explains that sentiments expressed online about race affect people’s attitudes about race in the real world (53). Therefore, it is important to do everything possible to represent all black populations online to reduce obstacles on the internet and in the physical world (57).
Kathleen P. King uses her article, “Slamming The Closet Door And Taking Control” to document the positive effects of podcasts on the LGBT community. King believes that web 2.0 tools have given many minorities a voice they never had. The author documented the first three years of podcasting and noticed a variety of social phenomenons occurring. When this method of digital recordings and subscription was first implemented, many found it to be the perfect platform for DJ-ing. Eventually, podcasting became a censor-free pedestal for anyone to voice their opinions. This freedom led to a variety of unique leaders in audio recording, creating small niche communities including a LGBT presence. With the option of anonymity that accompanies the internet, the usual “observer” who might listen to the voices of various media were now able to use podcasting to become a leader and participant. King believes LGBT people were empowered and given a sense of identity through the development of podcasts. They are given the chance to “test the waters of new or closeted personas”. Podcasts continue to help users educate themselves in other ways as well. For example, the widest reported use of podcasts is foreign language learning. It allows for small group conversation and creation of new media. King implies that web 2.0 applications would be a great platform for diversity training.
One Laptop Per Child is a non profit organization that allows low income children from around the world to have 1:1 technology. Children ages 6-12 regardless of socioeconomic status are given laptops designed to survive in rugged environments. The laptops are charged through solar energy, designed to have screens viewable in direct sunlight, and built tough enough to withstand the rough handling of a child. The laptops are made at a low cost, connect children to the internet, and provide them with free open source software. While some may criticize the program for giving a child a laptop when they need food, shelter, or running water, the organization argues that technology is a resource to solve these problems. It provides students with educational resources to solve problems that they may encounter in everyday life.
The One Laptop Per Child China case study acquired information about students in Beijing migrant schools to determine the effectiveness of OLPC’s laptop initiative. While they have provided 2 million laptops to students in over 40 countries, there has been little statistical evidence on the program’s impact. The study revealed student improvement in computer literacy and math test scores after six months of laptop use. The students were also reported more likely to use technology for learning activities rather than spending time watching TV. The authors believe that OLPC is capable of reducing the digital divide through the increased knowledge of computer skills, but it is still unclear of how the program will directly affect test scores in the future.
REFLECTION
It was interesting to read these articles on the digital divide and the participation gap because they focused mainly on gender and race rather than age as possible contributors to the problem. I thought King’s article on podcasting made great points about the possibilities for support and dialogue among minority groups such as the LGBT community. She explains that the internet provides users with the option to maintain anonymity if they choose to or provide personal information in an effort to network with people who have had similar experiences. Wright seems to think the internet still needs more minority representation, expressing that the internet has primarily a white male voice. She believes that those African Americans who do express themselves online are often interpreted as black American males rather than both genders from a variety of countries. I think Wright assumes that all minority members wish to reveal their ethnic background online. Through her assumptions, I think she does not consider that there may be more minorities represented online than she realizes. Not everyone thinks it is necessary to express their personal information online.
Eszter Hargittai and Gina Walejko use their article, “The Participation Divide: Content Creation And Sharing In The Digital Age” to explain ways socioeconomic status has impacted technology use. The authors explain that the “participation divide” refers to creative activity online. Members of higher socioeconomic groups are more likely to publish creative works such as videos, articles, and artwork because they have more access to digital tools and the internet. Additionally, online sharing is also divided by gender. Men are more likely to publish creative work online than women, but women are slowly bridging this gap (239, 240). Hargittai and Walejko believe that wealthier individuals gain more educational knowledge from the internet and computers than people of lower financial status (240). They found that 44% of American adults share content of some sort online, but those with more resources and internet connectivity are more likely to publish personal works online (241). The authors performed a survey of college students at the University of Illinois, Chicago in an effort to learn more about how people from diverse ethnic backgrounds use the internet. After collecting data about time spent online, the authors found that the average responders have six years of experience online (246). While they exhibit a variety of skill levels, they spend on average aout 15 hours per week on the internet (246). 60.8% were involved in creative activities. The information compiled from the survey revealed that students were more likely to participate in creative activities online if their parents were college educated (248). Older students were less likely to post creative products online, and women were still slightly underrepresented (252). The cause of the gender divide in creative online publishing is still unknown, but user skill level may play a key role (252, 253). Hargittai and Walejko note that the participation gap studied in their survey will increasingly influence jobs, politics, and cultural identity in the future (253).
Michelle Wright discusses the role of African Americans, specifically women and their participation in the technology field. She believes that “by default the internet in the western world is always white, almost always male, and sexuality rarely emerges as an imaginative category” (49). This statement alone illustrates Ms. Wright’s opinion that African Americans are underrepresented online and in digitally based employment. However, she also explains that African Americans and Latinos are the two fastest growing groups of internet users (49). This may be a result of the decreasing price for hardware and software (50). Consequently, the digital divide may be based more on socioeconomic status rather than racial background. The author spoke with three African American women in the technology field to gain some insight on their perceptions of racial diversity in their field. The interviewed women felt that African Americans were in low positions, with African American women at the lowest ranking jobs (51). These women did not feel members of their communities were computer literate, more as a result of few resources than lack of enthusiasm. The author states that African American representation online is growing but not accurately represented (53, 55). Wright feels that the term “African American” tends to represent black American males, discounting females and people from other countries who are black (56). Wright explains that sentiments expressed online about race affect people’s attitudes about race in the real world (53). Therefore, it is important to do everything possible to represent all black populations online to reduce obstacles on the internet and in the physical world (57).
Kathleen P. King uses her article, “Slamming The Closet Door And Taking Control” to document the positive effects of podcasts on the LGBT community. King believes that web 2.0 tools have given many minorities a voice they never had. The author documented the first three years of podcasting and noticed a variety of social phenomenons occurring. When this method of digital recordings and subscription was first implemented, many found it to be the perfect platform for DJ-ing. Eventually, podcasting became a censor-free pedestal for anyone to voice their opinions. This freedom led to a variety of unique leaders in audio recording, creating small niche communities including a LGBT presence. With the option of anonymity that accompanies the internet, the usual “observer” who might listen to the voices of various media were now able to use podcasting to become a leader and participant. King believes LGBT people were empowered and given a sense of identity through the development of podcasts. They are given the chance to “test the waters of new or closeted personas”. Podcasts continue to help users educate themselves in other ways as well. For example, the widest reported use of podcasts is foreign language learning. It allows for small group conversation and creation of new media. King implies that web 2.0 applications would be a great platform for diversity training.
One Laptop Per Child is a non profit organization that allows low income children from around the world to have 1:1 technology. Children ages 6-12 regardless of socioeconomic status are given laptops designed to survive in rugged environments. The laptops are charged through solar energy, designed to have screens viewable in direct sunlight, and built tough enough to withstand the rough handling of a child. The laptops are made at a low cost, connect children to the internet, and provide them with free open source software. While some may criticize the program for giving a child a laptop when they need food, shelter, or running water, the organization argues that technology is a resource to solve these problems. It provides students with educational resources to solve problems that they may encounter in everyday life.
The One Laptop Per Child China case study acquired information about students in Beijing migrant schools to determine the effectiveness of OLPC’s laptop initiative. While they have provided 2 million laptops to students in over 40 countries, there has been little statistical evidence on the program’s impact. The study revealed student improvement in computer literacy and math test scores after six months of laptop use. The students were also reported more likely to use technology for learning activities rather than spending time watching TV. The authors believe that OLPC is capable of reducing the digital divide through the increased knowledge of computer skills, but it is still unclear of how the program will directly affect test scores in the future.
REFLECTION
It was interesting to read these articles on the digital divide and the participation gap because they focused mainly on gender and race rather than age as possible contributors to the problem. I thought King’s article on podcasting made great points about the possibilities for support and dialogue among minority groups such as the LGBT community. She explains that the internet provides users with the option to maintain anonymity if they choose to or provide personal information in an effort to network with people who have had similar experiences. Wright seems to think the internet still needs more minority representation, expressing that the internet has primarily a white male voice. She believes that those African Americans who do express themselves online are often interpreted as black American males rather than both genders from a variety of countries. I think Wright assumes that all minority members wish to reveal their ethnic background online. Through her assumptions, I think she does not consider that there may be more minorities represented online than she realizes. Not everyone thinks it is necessary to express their personal information online.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Assistive Technology Google Site
Here is a link to my in progress website on Assistive Technology:
https://sites.google.com/site/profdevelopmentassistivetech/
https://sites.google.com/site/profdevelopmentassistivetech/
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Activity #6: Fair Use Case Study
The Problem: A science teacher and media specialist designed an online unit of study through the creation of a “virtual zoo” to be built collaboratively by students. The zoo was intended to help teach students understand fair use practices and to use Flickr as an educational resource. The students used iWeb to build their site and photographs taken by other people from Flickr. An email from an angry owner of one of the photos followed, who called the usage “theft” because the school did not ask for permission to use his photos. The photographer did not feel the student use of his work was fair use. The librarian maintains that she teaches the students practice “fair use” because the students always make sure the photos are copyright friendly and they cite the sources through URL links. She says she makes sure the students “add value” to the photos through the content of their virtual zoo websites to constitute for fair use.
Analysis Of Response: It is great that the librarian taught the students to add URL links to give attribution to the owners of the photos, but this is not enough. Copyright.gov stresses that citing a source is not the same as obtaining permission. It is not only a courtesy but a legal responsibility to ask permission to use another person’s work. The only exception to this requirement would be if the work is specifically listed as Creative Commons, but even then it would still be a good precaution to request usage. The video does not say if the angry photographer used Creative Commons copyrighting or not, so I would guess that asking permission would have been the appropriate response to the situation.
The librarian also says it is important for students to “transform” or “add value” to a work. There is nothing in copyright law that says using the photograph for a different purpose than its original intent makes it “fair use”. According to Section 107 of Copyright law, it is illegal to use an image if it interferes with the owner’s ability to make a profit from their work (Copyright.gov). Although the photographs were used by students for educational purposes, it is possible that usage diminishes the value and uniqueness of the original photograph. Diminishing the value of the original work would be considered infringement.
My Response:
The librarian says the “owner’s rights are limited.” According to Educationworld.com, copyrighting is designed to protect the owner more than those who want to use the owner’s work. Since the district is ultimately responsible for any infringement by the students or teachers, it would have been a good idea to contact a district technology coordinator or attorney to see what their thoughts were on how to teach and utilize the work of others in an effort to avoid legal battles. If the virtual zoo was my project, I also would have taught the students to only use Creative Commons work to make sure the owners have expressed the rights for people to use their work without permission. I would have created a tutorial with screenshots of how to locate Creative Commons pictures through the advanced search tools on Flickr and other relevant websites like morguefile.com. I also would create something similar to a dichotomous key to help students make sure they have taken all necessary steps to avoid copyright infringement. While the librarian had the students reflect on copyright infringement as a closing activity, this is something I would have done as an opening activity to stress the importance of using the work of others. As Educationworld.com says, it is important as a teacher to encourage fair usage among students and an understanding of the responsibility that goes along with using another person’s copyrighted work.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Reflective Post #6: Legal And Ethical Uses of Digital Information And Technologies
www.copyright.gov: Copyright Law
Copyright.gov explains that a copyright is meant to protect the owner of a unique work’s right to reproduce their creation and permit others to share it. The website also notes that copyrights cannot protect unrecorded ideas-- Only concrete evidence of someone’s creativity through audio recording, writing, artwork, etc. is eligible for protection.
At times, a creative work may be considered “Fair Use”. This means that people besides the owner may use portions of the work without asking for permission. However, there is a fine line between “Fair Use” and copyright infringement. Section 107 of Copyright Law lists four factors that help determine if usage is “Fair”:
1) The purpose of the use (For example, will it be used for commercial or educational reasons?)
2) The nature of the copyrighted work
3) The portion of the overall work that will be used
4) The effect the use of work has on its potential for profiting the owner.
Some general examples of items that are typically considered “Fair Use” include quotes, reproducing a portion of work for student use, and judicial proceedings. Copyright.gov stresses that citing a source is not the same as obtaining permission. When one questions whether or not usage is “Fair”, it is better to consult an attorney or not use the source.
www.educationworld.com: Education World
Educationworld.com makes great suggestions for understanding copyright use specifically in educational environments. It advises teachers is to avoid using a resource if its copyrighting status is unclear. The site reminds teachers that their districts are ultimately responsible for any violations teachers and students make, so it is important to limit liability by requesting permission and using “Fair Use” sources. The site also stresses the importance of teaching students to respect copyright law by asking permission themselves.
Copyrighting is designed to protect the owner’s rights to “distribute, perform, display, transmit, or transform” their work for compensation. Most items are copyrighted even if the author of the work does not make the presence of the copyright known. Writing, music, theatrical works, and art are all copyrighted while facts, slogans, names, procedures, and ideas are not. Since laws and methods of publicizing creative works have evolved over time, there are a few valuable points to remember. Any work before 1923 is no longer copyrighted, and items published between 1923-78 are not copyrighted unless specifically marked. Additionally, work is considered legally copyrighted for 95 years after it is published.
Educationworld.com explains that technology lie in somewhat of a gray area. They are not specifically covered under law because no laws have ever been agreed upon regarding protection of technology related sources. It is suggested that teachers use the guidelines created by the Consortium of College And University Media Centers (CCUMC) to help them avoid infringement. The CCUMC notes “Fair Use” for teachers can include utilizing materials for classroom and remote instruction, conferences, and job interviews. It is important to obtain permission if a work is used for two years or longer, and one is always responsible for citing sources. If any written works are used, a maximum of 2 pages or 10% of the text (whichever is less) is permitted. One image can be used from an illustrated source. The website continues on to describe procedures for using software, music, and video footage in the educational environment as well. Educationworld.com reminds teachers that classroom websites and portals all leave a digital footprint. It is especially important to request permission and cite URLs because content owners can easily track usage through internet searches.
www.creativecommons.org: About Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a free website database that encourages the royalty-free distribution of photos, information, and songs. While the internet provides unlimited access to incredible resources, Creative Commons believes copyrights inhibit usage and therefore prevent the potential for new work to be made in the future. In an effort to help all people thrive off of public information, the website allows users to share, utilize, and build upon created original work. Creative Commons work is still copyrighted, but it allows owners to be more specific about interested users’ rights. After answering a series of questions concerning your sharing preferences, the website will match you with an appropriate Creative Commons license. The organization hopes to use its public sharing options to maximize the creativity of all people.
www.creativecommons.org/education: Creative Commons And Educational Uses
Creative commons is an excellent resource for educational environments. The website explains that “education is sharing” and strives to help others extend their knowledge by providing them with "Fair Use" resources. The organization believes that copyright is extremely restrictive in the learning process and wants to provide as many opportunities to spread information without legal concerns as possible. Creative Commons gives people the opportunity to view and share documents with an open license in an effort to give others automatic permission to use work. It provides users with “Open Education Resources” to educators that can be used as teaching tools in the classroom.
Reflection
I really believe in Creative Commons as an appropriate measure for protecting and sharing original work. I love that Flickr has adopted it, allowing users to perform advanced searches for creative commons licensed photographs. I have the students use Flickr Creative Commons searches regularly for locating reference pictures for their art projects. Morguefile.com is also a great open source image database.
I think the copyright policies either need to be more concrete or all unique works need to begin using Creative Commons. Regardless of the source and copyrighting stipulations, it is always polite to request permission from the owner. I have a website of my artwork and choose not to watermark any of my high-resolution images. I realize this allows anyone to freely use and re-post my work, but I choose to take this risk hoping that anyone who uses it will help direct people back to my site. I have greatly appreciated when people have asked permission to use my pictures on their personal websites. I also like Tumblr and Pinterest because users can easily show retribution to the original owner through URL links. Copyright law will constantly change with technology infused methods of creating original work. Hopefully creators will see the potential their work has to impact others and lean toward open use policies.
Rubric Evaluation
Summary Paragraphs: Good, 5 points
There is one well-developed summary paragraph per reading.
Reflection Paragraph: Good, 5 points
There are two reflection paragraphs that connects the readings to my own experiences at school and in the classroom.
Quality of Writing: Good, 5 points
Writing is clear and contains no spelling or grammar mistakes.
Connection To Readings: Good, 5 points
Reflection paragraph make a strong and coherent connection to each reading.
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Response Letter To Scenario #2
Dear Ms. Benedict,
Thank you for inquiring about Ben's accidental encounter on the computer in class yesterday. The school does have a filter that guards students from inappropriate material for students. Additionally, the district computers are monitored for inappropriate content. Websites are constantly re-assessed to ensure they are educationally relevant. Although these measures are very effective, the district is not able to block all offensive material on the internet. As a parent, you signed an Acceptable Use Policy form giving your child permission to use school computers in spite of this risk. The Acceptable Use Policy states, "Despite these [security] measures, students may be able to access content that the Board has not authorized for education purposes, and/or that is inappropriate, offensive, or objectionable. Parents/Guardians assume this risk by consenting to allow their students to use the Board's Computer Networks."
Wikipedia is a collective intelligence style website that is typically an appropriate resource for students to access for educational purposes. Online users who add to Wikipedia pages are required to cite sources. Users can also add, delete, or edit content. It appears that the inappropriate content Ben saw was recently posted and had not yet been removed as "irrelevant" and "inappropriate" by Wikipedia and users.
Ben did the right thing by making me aware of what I saw so I could contribute to filtering changes. We take pride in teaching our students digital citizenship at school, and Ben exhibited this through his recognition of improper internet etiquette.
It is unfortunate that the image did not get filtered by our district Network, but it is impossible for everything obscene on the internet to be blocked. By signing the Acceptable Use Policy, you as a parent recognized this risk and agreed to permit Ben to use school computers. You also agreed "not to hold the Board, its individual members or employees responsible for content [your] child may access or be exposed to while using the Board's Computer Networks." If you would like to revoke this privilege, please let me know and I will contact the District Technology coordinator on your behalf to update Ben's acceptable use policy form.
Again, thank you for contacting me with your concerns. Please let me know if I can answer any further questions.
Sincerely,
Maura Meyers
[Scenario #2:]
Dear Miss Richards,
I am the mother of Ben Watson. Yesterday in your class, Ben and his friend, Ryan, visited Wikipedia and saw inappropriate sexual information posted in a section on the rock cycle (of all things!). Ben said that he told you about it right away and that you told him to stay away from that page. Is there anything else that will be done about this?? Doesn’t the school have a filter? How could something like this happen under your watch?? Please respond asap.
Ms. Benedict
Monday, February 3, 2014
Reflective Post #5: Safe And Healthy Use of Digital Information And Technology
In his article, “Digital Citizenship in Schools”, Mike Ribble explains 9 elements of digital citizenship that teachers and schools need to incorporate into classroom learning. These elements are organized into 3 categories: Elements that directly affect learning and achievement, elements that affect the school environment and student behaviors, and those elements that affect life outside of school (43). Ribble believes it is important for school technology coordinators to continually assess technology usage to identify replacement technology as well as any areas of concern regarding usage or education (44). He emphasizes the importance of educators and schools creating technology policies that define the elements of citizenship clearly. The 9 elements of digital citizenship are the following: Access, commerce, communication, literacy, etiquette, law, rights and responsibilities, health and wellness, and security. Digital access and digital communication refer to the need for all students, regardless of socioeconomic status, physical location, and disability, to be given equal access to tech devices (16). Students need to be prepared for a future with technology through the opportunity to use 1:1 devices. Teachers should not assume that students have been instructed on how to use devices for educational purposes (26). Digital communication and digital etiquette refer to the importance of teaching students to treat people online and in person with respect while they use digital devices. They need to be aware of the times and places it is appropriate to use their phones and digital devices (29). Digital commerce, law, rights, and security refer to the importance of teaching students the importance of making informed decisions online. Teachers need to educate students about ways to protect data, what to do in situations where their work or words have been “stolen” and used against them, how to distinguish the difference between legal and illegal usage of files online, and how to avoid scams (20). All of these skills will help students become “educated members of society”. Lastly, students need to be made aware of the physical health concerns and addictive qualities of using technology (38). It is important to set students up for appropriate and healthy amounts of technology usage.
Stopybullying.gov explains that bullying is an unwanted, repeated aggressive behavior among children that involves a “power imbalance”. There are three types of bullying identified: Verbal, social, and physical. Verbal and social bullying are both possible through cyberbullying. Cyberbullying occurs through the use of tech devices including phones, computers, and tablets. Social media, blogs, and text messaging are a few examples of vehicles for harassment. Bullying online can manifest itself through rumor spreading, sharing embarassing photos and videos, creating fake profiles, or sending mean emails, posts, or messages. Victims of cyberbullying are often being bullied in person as well. Locating the source of harassment online can prove to be difficult because content can go viral easily, being spread 24 hours a day. It is important to save and print any evidence of online bullying, keeping track of dates and times. To prevent bullying online, parents and teachers need to teach students appropriate use of devices. Online activity should be monitored, and students should be made aware of consequences for inappropriate behavior defined by the school (and law enforcement). Website hosts and authorities can also be contacted in an effort to extinguish cyberbullying.
In the NPR article/audio file, “When Playing Video Games Means Sitting On The Sidelines,” a rehabilitation center called reSTART is showcased for treating men with technology addictions. Most are addicted to video games, and many have mistaken their interactions with people online for socializing. In reality, their physical social life has often depleted as a result of their habits. Hilarie Cash, the founder of ReSTART, has noticed an increase in technology addictions since the center’s opening. She defines an addiction as a behavior that controls you instead of you controlling it. Cash explains that addictions often keep people from sleeping, exercising, and spending time with people they care about. The ReSTART program tries to teach people to relax in new ways, such as cooking, playing soccer, and meditating.
As I think about the articles I read for this week, Ribble’s nine elements seem repetitive to me. “Etiquette” and “communication” could be merged. It also seems that “commerce” and “security” could fall under one element instead of two. “Law” and “rights and responsibilities” could also be merged. Condensing the number of elements would make them more memorable and manageable to teach to others. I feel that Ribble puts a lot of pressure on teachers to convey the information listed in the digital citizenship elements. There should be more responsibility placed on the superintendents, state government, and voters as well. The community who helps vote in policies needs to be educated on the importance of technology if teachers are going to educate students on digital citizenship.
I don’t think our school successfully teaches all nine elements of digital citizenship. After talking to my educational technology mentor for EDFI585, it does not sound like commerce, health and wellness, or security are topics that students are given information on in school. I found it interesting that while Ribble’s article does express the importance of online etiquette, it does not directly verbalize concern about cyberbullying. This is one topic that our school really does a great job of covering. Our guidance counselors organize lessons for homeroom teachers to cover that correlate with Olweus anti-bullying curriculum to make sure students are aware of cyberbullying and ways to prevent it. I think we need to place more emphasis on health and wellness. I can recall many times during conferences where teachers have expressed to parents the need to reinforce “powering down” all tech devices during homework time. Parents often report that electronic devices including phones and video games get in the way of educational responsibilities. It would be nice if our school could use positive reinforcement to give students ideas of fun activities that would allow them time away from electronic devices to reduce the risk of related health concerns.
Rubric Evaluation
Summary Paragraphs: Good, 5 points
There is one well-developed summary paragraph per reading.
Reflection Paragraph: Good, 5 points
There are two reflection paragraphs that connects the readings to my own experiences at school and in the classroom.
Quality of Writing: Good, 5 points
Writing is clear and contains no spelling or grammar mistakes.
Connection To Readings: Good, 5 points
Reflection paragraph make a strong and coherent connection to each reading.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Activity #4: Collective Intelligence
After a week of participating in a collective intelligence activity on education through Google Docs, I was not very happy with the experience. My frustrations with this project may be due to the fact that I am not very comfortable with my Google Doc skills. There might be ways to find out who added various sections of the text and images, but the revision history does not identify the members of our class. If I knew who added what, I would talk to them before rearranging or deleting certain items. I found it distracting that the text was on multiple pages, in different sizes, and in different fonts. I was annoyed that there were huge blank spaces between text and pictures that I could not figure out how to correct. On Friday, I tried to rearrange some of the text and unify it through font size and bullet points. I gave up after the first page or two when I could not figure out how to condense our document onto less pages. I thought about assigning everyone a color of text so that we could easily identify who wrote what, but we were already wrapping up the collective intelligence activity at this point. I wish there was a way to annotate and comment on what others write without including it as a main part of the text.
I think the collective intelligence style of learning has the potential to be beneficial to students, but it needs either a student leader or teacher to take charge in some way. An outline, color coding, or some guidelines for organization (ex. pictures all on one page, quotes on another page, videos on another, etc.) would greatly benefit the readers of the finished text. It would help to give somebody the authority to determine an organizational style so that the piece of “collective intelligence” becomes a cohesive, reflective outline of information rather than a scrambled list of notes without documentation. Collective intelligence is probably best used for pre-writing activities and brainstorming for projects where thoughts are encouraged to be experimental and broad-ranged. It would be great for students to use while brainstorming what they already know about a topic or reviewing what they have learned. In my classroom, we will be using collective intelligence techniques using sticky notes this week. As we learn about complex patterns, each student will be prompted to use pattern principles to transform polka dots into a complex pattern. The students will draw their pattern on the sticky note, stick it to the chalkboard, and eliminate any repeat designs. This CI activity is aimed to remind students that there are many opportunities to fulfill project requirements in art class with creative, individualized results.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Reflective Post #4: Collective Intelligence and Personal Learning Environments
Article/Video Summaries
In his article, “Collective Intelligence: What It Could Mean For Education”, Shawn Bullock expresses disapproval for Prensky’s well-known article on digital natives and digital immigrants. He explains that education rarely changes because “we tend to teach as we were taught according to familiar cultural patterns” (45-46). While American society does try to implement new teaching strategies, Bullock is not convinced that education has been changed in any crucial ways. Although North American education is said to be geared toward individualized education, Bullock believes web 2.0 products have the ability to positively impact learning through social interactions (47). Technology can help us share information, produce new ideas, and collaborate in a variety of ways. Not only will technology help us reach new ideas and concepts more efficiently through social networking but it is cost effective and has the ability to change our cultural beliefs about education (47). Bullock explains it is not helpful or relevant to label people digital immigrants or natives. Instead, we need to concentrate on our natural desire to be social and work together while using web 2.0 tools to facilitate collaboration.
Lynn Ilon’s article, “How Collective Intelligence Redefines Education” focuses on the disconnection between the values in our culture, the mannerisms of our current economy, and the teaching methods of our education system. Ilon explains “collective intelligence”, an online collaborative learning style that has been used to gather and share information efficiently. Unfortunately, this style of collaboration that is making other industries thrive has not been well accepted in education systems. While Ilon suspected this was due in part to teacher training and attitudes toward the new concept, she later concluded that education’s disinterest in change is due to its deep roots in the past economy. She describes the current education system to be run like a business with “top-down management” guided by policies and procedures. In this system, learning is based on expertise, logic, and trade skills as a result of the Industrial Age. The Industrial Era valued mass production more than innovation, leading our culture to value an education that focused on skills and information that would create skilled employees. Furthermore, collective intelligence has not been welcomed into learning environments because the people and resources a student can access on a particular topic are not always experts. Since our culture and economy are becoming increasingly dependent on technology and social media to propel forward, Ilon predicts that technology will affect the economy, and the economy will in turn finally change the way students are taught. Ilon describes many advantages to collective intelligence style learning, including increased problem solving skills, social collaboration, and increased communication. Collective intelligence could eliminate the need for “one expert” and spread knowledge to all learners, helping them become more innovative, adaptable, and capable of critical thought.
The article, “7 Things You Should Know About Personal Learning Environments” (PLEs) describes tools, online learning communities, and resources that help individual students reach their educational goals. While PLE is driven by the individual, the student still interacts with others while synthesizing information from various resources and requesting feedback from peers or experts. Typically, each student has a blog or website where they can post various digital resources and their own reflections. It is important that the student be a “self-starter” and aware of their preferred learning styles. PLE’s create an environment for up to date, constantly evolving information. They create resourceful, organized learners who are engaged in the learning process and willing to collaborate with others. PLE’s help students become resourceful and thoughtful about the information they deem authentic.
The student video on personal learning environments showed PLE’s from a middle schooler’s point of view. The student presented a dashboard of sorts that held information organized into personal, social, and educational sections. Resources such as educational games, online note taking, Google Docs, blogging, and collaborative publishing are all part of the learning process. The student gathers information from various websites and synthesizes the important parts into multimedia presentations. In an effort to make sure her information is authentic, the student is responsible for contacting experts on the topic of her presentations to give her feedback on the accuracy of the information she gathered. The student seems happy with the PLE and enjoys having a paperless educational system that is self-paced.
Reflection
After reading the articles and watching the PLE video, I could relate very much to Bullock and Ilon’s viewpoints. I agree with Bullock that education does not seem to be evolving much. I believe the economic changes that Ilon mentioned have caused our cultural values and interests to evolve. As a result, the students have changed while the education system has not. The way the current education system was described by both authors seems authoritative and restrictive. I think these characteristics were rooted in noble efforts to create a strong economic foundation. However, the rigid structure is inhibiting creativity and innovation, characteristics of many thriving contemporary businesses. I enjoy watching video lectures on Ted.com. I once watched one by Sir Ken Robinson, who explains that “Creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.” I couldn’t agree more.
The way Ilon described our Industrial Age inspired education system was not at all flattering. There is a sense of authority that produces few experts of knowledge rather than many people who can collaborate and influence society. Collective intelligence seems like a fantastic approach to learning that will help people access knowledge and find inspiration in worlds and peers far away from their own. I recently watched a documentary on Chinese art activist, Ai Weiwei who uses social media to collaborate on projects. His blogs, Twitter account, and other online resources are constantly blocked by the government, causing him to constantly seek new and innovative online resources for communicating with others. Online tools and social media have made him an incredibly effective artist and leader. He is quoted as saying, “Censorship is saying: ‘I’m the one who says the last sentence. Whatever you say, the conclusion is mine.’ But the internet is like a tree that is growing. The people will always have the last word- even if someone has a very weak, quiet voice. Such power will collapse because of a whisper.” I think the education standards are, in effect, censoring the ways students can learn. Regardless of whether or not our education system embraces technology as a means of learning, I think it is a matter of time before the students and teachers themselves begin implementing the tools they find valuable from the bottom, up.
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