Midterm - AudioBoo - with course objectives

Design meaningful and authentic digitally based learning experiences with multiple and varied assessments - Before taking this class I didn’t know the difference between a blog, a webinar, or a podcast even though I have heard about them before. Once I started creating my blog, I really liked it and could definitely see myself using it in my future classroom. I imagine myself using it on a daily or weekly basis for students to interact with each other out of the classroom. Students would answering questions, ask questions and chat with peers about assignments. Having them use a blog would benefit their typing skills, digital etiquette skills, and communication skills with others. Watching  different webinars was helpful for some assignment so far. At first the webquest scared me. I was nervous and anxious to do it because it was something new. Once I started it, I realized that its pretty easy and flows really well. The webquest is really like a virtual lesson plan that can be interactive for students that need more visual stimulation. They can become something, in my case, a droplet of water and travel through the water cycle to experience it in a new way. I think that I have started to meet this course objective in some ways with the blog, watching webinars and certainly by doing this AudioBoo podcast.

Learn ways to promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual understanding -  One tool that we used in class that I found really intriguing and didn’t know existed before now was Padlet. This is a great tool that you can use in the classroom to pop up a question and have everyone answer at one time to see if they are understanding the lesson so far. If they are not, that is where they can write “I am stuck.  or “ please help me with this part”.” Most teachers in my school use red, yellow and green cups on the students desks to let the teacher know if they are struggling during a lesson. Using Padlet is much more productive and probably faster. The answers are just at their fingertips.

Demonstrate an understanding of safe, ethical, legal and moral practices related to digital information and technology. - Learning all about Digital Etiquette and how teachers and parents should teach their children starting at a young age about what it means was interesting. I really liked that when I read about Digital Etiquette most of the ideas behind it go by the “golden rules” such as treat others they way you want to be treated, use appropriate language while on the internet, because unlike having a conversation with someone in person, all they have are your words and your words can express the opposite of what you may be feeling through the text.

Illustrate through application how state and national standards are implemented within the curriculum and NH-ICT Literacy Standards for K-12 Students (Ed 306.42)) - I have learned about some of the Common Core Standards and ISTE Standards and am looking forward to learning more about how I can attach them to any piece of curriculum that I will be teaching in the future. I think that its good that we have standards here in New Hampshire to use as a guideline for what students need to know to become a successful learner. I would like to learn more about each standard so I can become more familiar with them.

Midterm - AudioBoo

listen to ‘Midterm’ on Audioboo

Week 4 Assignment - Digital Citizenship

Learning about Digital Citizenship was a brand new to me. I had never heard that phrase before. I had a lot of questions about when it should be introduced to kids, who should teach them about it, and how should one teach a child about it? All of these questions that were going around in my head were answered during the lesson.

First things first, when should it be introduced to kids, you ask, as soon as they pick up your iPhone, your iPad or tablet, you laptop or any other device that is hooked up to the internet. I was never taught how to “act” online but because my parents raised me the right way with morals, goals and respect for others, I figured it out as I went. We first got a computer when I was in middle school, when AIM was big. It was a basic website that allowed you to connect with friends by chatting. I used it mostly for looking up information for projects for school and for some personal use. Both my brother and I had to take a keyboard class in middle school and high school so we could learn how to type and where each letter was. I remember that most of them were timed tests to see how fast you could type. In these classes I don’t ever remember being told about digital citizenship, it was more that we needed to know how to type.

Secondly, who should be teaching the children about digital citizenship? Teachers and parents should be responsible for instructing students who use the internet for anything about what being a good digital citizen is. Teachers lead by example, they always put their best foot forward and make the right decisions. Along with teachers, parents should also be teaching their children about having respect for those online. Even though you can not see someone, that doesn’t give you the right to say whatever you want to them because they can’t do anything to you back. Being a good citizen online seems like it would be tough for parents and teachers to show by example but it is something that needs to be done. 

Last question that was answered was how should one teach a child about it? To be perfectly clear in my opinion, talk to them, give them examples, act out a bad conversation and help them to make it right. They need to be accountable for what they put out their too so they need to understand all of the ways. Having a parent that is connected socially on the internet would probably be easier to deal with a situation that occurs. Everything that these children do online almost always falls back on the parent and or teacher.

Digital Citizenship is broken down into 9 categories. I looked specifically at Digital Etiquette and like that it follows the “Golden Rules,” such as treat others they way you want to be treated, taking responsibility for what you have posted, and being kind and courteous. Teaching young kids about all the different aspects of digital citizenship will only help them down the road. Teachers need to make students aware of the risks that the internet has. Of the 9 categories, I think the three most important ones are, Digital Etiquette, electronic standards of conduct or procedure, Digital Communication, electronic exchange of information and Digital Law, electronic responsibility for actions and deeds. These are the most important to me because they are most relevant.

Whether you are teaching a small group lesson or doing a large online lesson, students should be able to follow all of the themes of digital citizenship. Along with students, teachers and parents should be checking in on their student/child while using any form of social media. Social media has been expanding for as long as I can remember and I don’t see it slowing down or stopping anytime soon.

When teaching digital citizenship to younger kids I would use a lot of examples, have an interactive board, such as Padlet, where they can write what they think about it at that time. Have them ask lots and lots of questions because that is how young children learn best by asking and doing. I would take a much more serious approach with older students, say in the middle school or high school, and make sure that they understand the expectations along with the consequences of their actions if they are not following digital citizenship.

Generation Like vs Distracted by Everything

1.  Compare and Contrast each documentary.  What was similar or different from the first one Digital Nation filmed in 2010 to Generation Like filmed in 2014 ?  

Generation Like - This video was mostly about how kids these days want people to like them for who they are (online) and what their interests are. When taking pictures of themselves they made sure that they were perfect before posting so they would gain more likes. With social media now the numbers are there for everyone to see. I thought it was interesting that the girl who liked the Hunger Games spent all of her time and energy posting pics, re-tweeting, # stars names in her posts. She said that she felt empowered when one of them retweeted her post, having that happen made her feel important and thought that others would follow her because if the star thought she was important enough then others should too.

Distracted by Everything - This video was mostly about students trying to multitask. In class they couldn’t multitask because they were distracted by other things going on also because they can really only think about one thing at a time. At Stanford University they ran tests on 6 people to see if they can multitask by taking a test that makes your brain switch quickly from one task to another. Dr. Gary Small at UCLA showed us two scans of a brain, one was reading a book and the other was reading online. The one reading a book showed less red than the one online. He said even though there is more that doesn’t mean its better. Your brain is trained to read a book that you hold in your hand so it knows what to do, where as when you’re online and reading there’s more going on than just a blank page with words on it. There are advertisements, pictures, captions, bold letter, titles, and lots of colors. It takes our brain longer to process that information than it does within a book.

2.  Your thoughts on multitasking.  Do you agree?  Can you multitask?  Do you disagree with the video on the topic of multitasking? What do you think our students think about multitasking today?

Generation Like - In generation like they didn’t really talk a lot about multitasking per say, but the group of kids that were sitting at the table remaking one of their friends profiles seemed like they were going back and forth from page to page pretty easily and without much thought. Clearly there wasn’t a brain scan to go against to see the differences but there was a noticeable difference on how they could be doing something and still answer a question about a different subject.

Distracted by Everything - Spoke a lot about multitasking and how college students who thought they were really good at multitasking were actually not good at all and they were slower than normal. I thought that it was disturbing that students at Stanford University, in a large lecture class were sitting on facebook, chatting, and not paying attention. I think that at the college level students should be taking their education seriously and not wasting their parents money. Going back to the brain imaging, I found the difference between a brain reading a book and a brain reading on the internet extremely interesting. Also that just because there was more activity during the time on the internet, didn’t necessarily mean that it was better. The brain that was reading was had the training it needed to be able to do it with ease.

3.  Is there an addiction happening in society today with technology or is it just a new way of living?   Should we be concerned?

Generation Like - I definitely think that there is an addiction with social media sites that affect kids along with adults. They all want to be accepted for who they are and on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Everything is shown in black and white how many people see what they are doing, how many people like their posts and how many more followers they can get as they continue to post photos, videos and anything else that others have in common with them.

Distracted by Everything - I was a bit shocked to know that they have a camp to help people with their addiction to social media. There was a story about a teenage boy in South Korea that spent so much time on the internet he was unable to have a conversation with his mother. She sent him to the camp and he said that he didn’t think he would change because nor using a computer for 10 days was the hardest thing he had to do. Professionals at the camp also stated that because of this addiction they have treated some medical conditions such as eye strain and ear complications.

4.  Do video games serve a purpose in education or are they a waste of time?

Distracted by Everything - In this video, they used video games in a classroom and those students thrived with it. They knew more and learned quicker than the teachers. In my school we have iReady testing that is focused on English and Math, the whole test is done on a laptop and the more questions a student gets right the harder they get. In between a series of questions is a game they can play to give their brain a break. Most of the students that I work with that have IEPs enjoy the games and the break. In my opinion video games that do serve a purpose should be allowed in classrooms but a little at a time. I will be working with 2nd graders and although technology is great for them to learn they still need to be using a pencil and paper, they need to hold a book in their hand, they need to do math facts with regrouping on a whiteboard. Even though video games are fun and can serve an educational purpose students still need structure in the classroom.

5.  How did what you watched in the two videos support your feelings about technology or how did it change your views?

I use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest on a daily basis. I knew that marketing companies tracked what you liked on those pages and would send you more advertisements for the things you like, what I didn’t know was that they were using that information to track your every move. They compile all the likes and turn it into a franchise. Tyler Oakley, was very interesting to me. When they said that once he became “famous,” he began to do videos with a guest to get that person more likes and followers, then that guest brought someone new in and so on and so on. This to me was epic. I liked that kids have their own way to express themselves and they should be able to do it, but at the same time they definitely need to have digital etiquette while doing so.

6.  Are kids and adults today ruining their digital footprints by sharing too much information online without realizing that it may be detrimental to their future? Should they care?  Are they focused on too much of what others think?

I like that everyone out there is expressing themselves but as I watched the Generation Like video all I could think about what the Digital Dossier video which still haunts me. Even though these kids think that it is fine to put everything and anything out there I still believe that it is not completely safe to do so. The more information that you put out there the more the internet learns about you, what you like, who you hang out with, and what things you do in your free time. Personally, when I did my own digital footprint I was shocked at how many things I listed that I use, some on a daily basis, and started to think about who could find information about me. I googled myself and didn’t like that my previous addresses were listed. It really makes me want to delete everything that I have done on any social media site.

7.  What do you feel are the dangers of technology use?  Are there any?

I think the biggest danger is cyber-bullying. Cyber-bullying has turned into parents biggest nightmare. I read more about cyber-bullying and adolescent girls are just as likely, if not more likely than boys to experience cyber-bullying either as a victim or an offender. It is related to low self-esteem, suicidal thoughts, anger, frustration and a variety of other emotional and psychological problems. It affects kids all around the world. even though traditional bullying is more common cyber-bullying is still a real issue that needs to be dealt with at school or home.  

Please add anything else you feel would explain your views about the videos and how they relate to educational technology or your personal lives.

What was your favorite part of either video? Why? Most interesting?

My most favorite part of these two videos was the story of Bubbe and her grandson. I thought it was absolutely adorable that they made short videos of her cooking the recipe of the day. He did all the technical part and she did all the teaching. I liked that she answered emails of fans that watch their channel. It was a really cute and special bond that they have together.

Another thing that I liked was when they were talking about the arm men flying drones form 75,000 miles away. The drones are used to strike at a target with no risk to military personnel and they are extremely precise. It stated that being at war no longer has the same meaning as it did back in day. They can wake up in the morning in their own bed next to the significant other, go to work/war and be back at the end of the day to have dinner with their family. Having this luxury is good but at the same time a lot of soldiers suffer from trying to make their brain go back and forth from war to home and suffer from PTSD. The army has created a center where kids under the age of 18 can come to have an army like experience. It is a 21st century recruiting center. They have life size simulators that made you think you were really in combat inside a humvee.

I was surprised on how social media sites increase in value by how many likes, re-tweets and followers. Tyler Oakley, was just an average Joe and made videos of things that he was interested in. He gained followers by collaborating with others. Once his fan base was huge, he called in others that wanted to get where he was and worked with them, then they gain followers and the cycle went on and on. He has become pretty famous for just being a kid that posted videos of what he likes. Thats priceless if you ask me.

Week 3 Assignment

Pro's and Con's of Others Blog's

Liz Davis

I read the post “Passion Driven Professional Development - Teachers Unplugged at NAISAC14” posted on Friday, February 28, 2014. I really liked that this was a chance for teachers to get together to discuss ideas that they want to in small groups. It was like an organized meeting to discuss issues that they all have in common. It was broken down into two rounds, or more if there was time, where they could choose what topic/group they wanted to join. I think that this could work also with elementary aged students for given topics by a classroom teacher. If you know that you are moving into a new topic such as plants, you could have different groups talking about what they already know, what they want to find out and any questions they may have. The blog was set up well, as I scrolled through it I noticed links, pictures and on the left hand side there were categories that you, as a reader, could choose.

Lisa Neilsen

I read the post “Why the flip’s a flop” posted on Tuesday, December 11, 2012. Lisa Neilsen wrote that she “doesn’t like the flipped classroom approach because its foundation is in flipping lectures from classwork to homework.” I would have to disagree. She has a picture posted that states the difference of what a “Traditional” teacher would say vs a “Flipped’ teacher. The traditional teacher would say, “You have to read from pages 12 to 36 and tomorrow you will answer 20 questions about the topic.” The flipped teacher would say, “Why don’t you watch this video tonight, so we can discuss your ideas tomorrow?” I, personally, would rather be the flipped teacher in this situation. Giving something basic to watch and then have a classroom discussion about it would probably work a lot better than reading chapters out of a book and answering questions about them. Within the discussion you can ask different questions, relate answers to real life situations, and even connect them to other texts that the students have background knowledge to. I definitely think that by reading this blog post I can better understand the pro’s and con’s of a flipped classroom. I can also say that I will, as a classroom teacher, be more open to having more discussions about topics, lessons, ideas and less on the, read this and answer these questions, type of teaching. I enjoyed this post and think that it is worth reading more of what Lisa has to offer as an educator.

Darren Draper

I read the post “When should you buy your child a smartphone?” posted on April 7, 2014. I liked that he wrote “The answer to the question in this post’s title varies from family to family, and from child to child. There is no one-size-fits-all solution.” Darren mentioned a few different recommendations that he thought would be helpful to keep in mind. He stated that parents should “regularly speak with children about technology,” and that parents should “define the boundaries of inappropriate and appropriate conduct and content,” and to always be safe when using technology “kids will make mistakes and parents will make mistakes but the best advice is to always work together as a family to ensure technology use strengthens family relationships.” I think that these points are huge. I have a 3 year old cousin that has low vision and was recommended to use an iPad to strengthen his eyes. He, at 3, can unlock the iPad, flip through the pages, find the app he wants to play, play the app and know exactly what to do. I know so many young children that can do this already at such a young age. I also agree with Darren that parents should monitor what their children are doing on the iPad, laptop, or any type of technology. Even though Darren's blog posts were not that long, they were definitely informative and I could refer back to his blog if I was looking for information about a different topic. 

My Water Cycle Webquest

For my Webquest I am going to be writing a lesson plan for a 2nd Grade classroom to learn all about the Water Cycle. Luckily, I have two wonderful teachers at my school that have resource books that I will be able to borrow to help me write the lesson plan. I will also do lots of research online by finding other webquests to help with ideas, searching out lesson plans, using the website Teachers Pay Teachers (which is an amazing place to go for anything and everything) and any other place I can find information. I will come up with vocabulary words with definitions and a few hands on activities for the students. It would be very interesting if each student could make a virtual water cycle. Where they can create their own picture with animation, text and video. 

Week 2 Assignment

Promote Student Engagement and Achievement (and cover your standards) 

with Shutterfly's Photo Story App

Shutterfly is an amazing website that offers everything from printing out individual pictures, making photo books, creating your own cards, stationary and calendars and making your own photo gifts such as magnets, iPad cases, lunch boxes and coffee mugs. Shutterfly also has its own interactive App that is used in many classrooms. Shutterfly's App “is to help teachers engage students and promote student achievement by giving students an easy to use, multi-media tool to facilitate learning and creatively express themselves.” 

While listening to the webinar, that you can find by clicking on the above link, I learned so much about this app and plan on using it in my future classroom. It has many benefits for students, teachers and schools some of the benefits are that it is fun and easy to use, it is engaging to the students and gives them pride once it is published. For teachers it supports curriculum standards such as the Common Core Standards, State Standards and ISTE Standards. It is ideal for project based learning to start as a whole group lesson and then each student is engaged within their own story. As I said before, it is FREE to use for schools. It is adaptable for any grade level and subject matter. Its also a great way to showcase student progress and achievement to parents. 

Bits and Bytes promoted this webinar through their blog. They provided an opportunity for growth and learning for their teachers and students in a supportive environment. The had access to iPads for all the students before beginning the project for a class of first graders. They demonstrated two different lessons for an English language arts lesson. The first thing they needed to do was meet with the teachers and watch a webinar to learn about the app. Next, they brainstormed ideas to tie in the standards that needed to be met. Once that was done they developed a lesson plan which incorporated specific features of the Shutterfly App. Finally, they planned for the technology to be accessible and also called for support in the classroom.

Once they gathered with students they started to build background knowledge for their topic. They brainstormed ideas and put them down on large pieces of paper for all the students to see. They explained that each topic would be put on a different page and broke it down from there. The students were sent back to their seats to start their journal writing activity which would later be used to help organize each of their pages. Once the journal entries were complete the teachers showed the children how to login, choose a theme or layout, how to add text, take pictures, add a doodle, and how to edit and change background page colors. The teachers created step by step charts which served as a visual reminder for the students. At the closing of the project all the students families were invited to come and celebrate the great accomplishment their first graders had achieved. The best part about this project was that it could be sent digital to family members that were in different states.

 The student impact was wonderful overall. Their engagement while using the app was 100% and they were excited when it was time to work on their book. It promoted creative thinking and problem solving. I found it interesting that the ESL students thrived in this setting and their progress was greatly improved in their speaking and writing skills. The teachers did learn some key points while piloting this app. Using a checklist of tasks for students definitely helps with management.  Also, projects can be incorporated into long range plans and be spread out over a few months time. Finally, publishing the students work was critical to the projects success and a must have moving forward. I learned so much about the Shutterfly App from this webinar and will definitely be using it in my future classroom.

Learning Outcomes

#2. Learn ways to promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual understanding.

-I believe that this learning outcome was met because while learning about Shutterfly during the Webinar I was taking notes. I also went to Shutterfly.com to see if I could create a book. I did not download the app on my phone because I thought it might be to hard on such a small screen. Their website was definitely user friendly which makes me believe that their app would be an easy tool for any grade to use.
#5. Demonstrate an understanding of the use of assistive and adaptive technologies and other digital resources to personalize and differentiate learning activities for every student

-Using the Shutterfly App, every student is allowed to create their own book, in their own style and way. Having a classroom full of students with different learning styles, I believe that this app can be used for any of them. The students that are the higher achievers can go further with their books where as the students that need extra help that may be in inclusion will be able to complete it as well.