Digital Badge D: Chapter 5

This chapter of the textbook, discusses the very real problem of cyber-bullying in today's 21st century society. The readily available technology mediums allow for bullies to access their victims easily, discretely, and at anytime. Text messages, social media forums, email, blogs, videos and photos are all tools a bully can use with the intent of causing harm to another person. While cyber bullying may not inflict immediate physical harm to the victim, the social, emotional and psychological harm inflicted can still be very detrimental to the victim. According to the text book, cyber-bullying victims can develop depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, poor habits such as smoking and drug use, and even lead to suicide in some cases. As a future educator, in our technology driven society, I intend to educate my students on cyber-bullying, I will be an advocate for the victims of all types of bullying, and I will work with students to prevent such behaviors from occurring. I plan to stress the importance of empathy with my students. I also want my students to know that I am here to help, all they would have to do is ask. I will encourage my students to make ethical choices. I will also make it clear that I will have a zero-tolerance policy for bullying of any form. I will also see to it that my students are made aware of helpful resources, aside from me, including their parents, their peers, as well as online tools meant to educate students on bullying.

This chapter also discusses the use of technology for plagiarism and cheating. With all the readily available information on the internet, created with the intent of cheating, and with mobile devices handy cheating and plagiarism may seem even more tempting to today's students than to previous generations. With academic pressures and busy life style, taking short cuts to reach end goals faster may seem appealing. As a teacher I will do my best to instill my students with the tools they need to feel prepared and confident in creating original work. I will also explain the importance of giving credit where credit is due, as I will promote them to be resourceful and ethical at the same time. With in my own classroom, I hope to prevent cheating on test or quizzes, by implementing different strategies to make cheating seem less appealing. I will allow students to make test corrections, to achieve a higher grade and to promote the material further. I will conduct test with open books, allow for group tests, and allow my students time to study in class as well.

I am a fan of reading. I love fictional novels, and will take advantage of any free time I may get to enjoy a good book. I have a e-reader for personal use. I have only used it once! My personal preference, is to read in the traditional manner, where I flip pages, use paper bookmakers, and have a light on in the room to be able to see the words on the page. I feel as though I get a more fulfilling reading experience from an actual book. With an e-reader, I missed the sound of the paper page turning, the smell of paper (especially in older books), and the actual feeling of holding a book. According to the textbook, "a survey of 2000 students, ages 6-17, 25% said that they have read a book on an e-reader, 57% said they wanted to, and 33% said they would read more if they had access to electronic books" (p 102). While e-readers may not be my personal preference of reading, I am all for encouraging students to read more. Reading is most beneficial, in my opinion, if it is enjoyed, not just required. If using an e-reader, sparks the interests of more students to read and better yet encourages their enjoyment and therefore the benefit of reading, then schools should find ways to accommodate theses digital natives in our classrooms.


References:

Maloy, R., O’Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2^nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc. 

Digital Badge C: Chapter 3

According to our textbook, "In education, feedback is another term for communication between a learner and an instructor. Feedback is one of the instructional practices that has been found to promote increased success for students." (p. 54) Feedback is very important for students to build their knowledge and critical thinking skills. Feedback is also equally important for teachers to receive from students in order to better accommodate the learners and a successful learning environment.  Technology makes it possible to communicate rapidly, and effectively. Through email, text messaging, blogs, live chats, and interactive websites teachers can now provide feedback to students, and students to teachers, even outside of school. Using technology tools as a means of correspondence with students (and parents) is something I fully intend on doing as a teacher.  I want my students and their parents to be able to acquire feedback from me as effectively as possible to promote a better learning experience for my students.  I also want to receive feedback regularly from my students.  I want to know what my students enjoyed most in class each day, what they liked least, what they would like to explore further, any questions they may have, and any suggestions they may have for me.  As a child, I remember multiple occasions when I would ask my parents to further explain my homework for me, and getting a response similar to this “I don’t know how to do that, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to ask your teacher what that means.” As a student I would feel embarrassed having to go to school and explain to my teacher, “I could not complete my homework and my parents could not help me either.”  It would have been wonderful if my parents or I had access to ask for help or further explanation via a live chat, or email. I look forward to having the ability to offer feedback to my students, outside of the classroom, using technology as an enhancement tool.

The textbook also discusses the importance of educators developing a sense of digital literacy in students.  The internet is a powerful tool for seeking new information and that is very useful in learning but the internet is also plagued with nonsense.  Educators are expected to teach students how to access information using technology and more importantly, how to assess the information they find.  Teachers need to provide lessons to grow the information literacy skills of students, guiding them to discover reliable sources and gain the ability to differentiate between persuasive, objective, and satirical information. As a future educator, I plan to stress the importance of internet literacy to my students.  I want to be sure that my students are enhancing their educations through technology, not being misinformed.  I also believe that the concept of internet literacy, is very closely related to the idea of overall internet safety, and therefore of extreme important in 21^st century learning.

This chapter also discusses using technology to enhance creativity.  ITCP- information technology and creative practices, are used for creative self-expression. (p.63) Technology can be used for writing, desktop publishing, design tools, photography, graphics, animation, movie making, podcast creating, etc. Having many different mediums readily available to assists students creative thinking is one of the greatest ways technology truly enhances the learning experience, at least in my opinion. I have witnessed firsthand in my own child how wonderfully inspirational creation through technology can be.  My son, Andrew, is ten years old now.  He has been working on creating graphic designs, using photo shop, and movie making aps for the last year now. While creating his digital art, he is engaged, he is learning, and best of all, he is having fun.  He is always very proud of his creations as well. He is building confidence, skills, and expressing his creativity with his new favorite art tool, his laptop.

Resources:


Maloy, R., O’Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2^nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.

Digital Badge B: Chapter 2

As a teacher I will have access to my personal laptop, my IPhone, my IPad, and have the ability to access the internet via my Wi-Fi connection.  Are these luxuries I have access to something my students and I will have common? Digital divides and participation gaps among students are caused by the uneven spread of technological access available.  According to the text the less access to new technologies students have, the greater the academic achievement gap.  There is a digital continuum, in which students fall into a wide spectrum of their overall access to technology.  The more affluent a child’s family, the more likely they will have new technologies; in contrast, less affluent families may not share the same access to as many up-to-date technologies.  Upon considering this wide spectrum amongst student access to technology, my excitement about integrating technology into the lives of my students extending beyond the classroom dampers. Luckily, as most schools have internet and computers, possibly tablets, or a BYOD (bring your own device) policy I am hopeful I will be able to, at minimum, engage my students through technology in classroom.  With all the drastic changes in technological advancement over the last 20 years, it is understandable that school systems may not have the most modern mediums available under typically tight budgets. The optimist in me, hopes that eventually all will schools catch up, as budgets can be adjusted, and digital divides will decrease so that today’s (or tomorrow’s) technology will exist in every classroom. 

Marc Pensky classified technology using individuals into two groups: digital natives and digital immigrants. Digital natives are young people, born after 1980 and grew up using all the interactive technology available. Digital immigrants are older adults who are learning later in life how to use all the technologies of today.  By Pensky’s definition I should be considered a digital native, by birth rights I suppose, having been born in 1985, however, as the introduction of new technologies continue to surface, I often feel more like a digital immigrant. In today’s society, children are confident in their ability to use technology. They often seem comfortable using technology because it has been such a significant part of their lives since birth. Integrating technology into the classroom seems logical and necessary since most children have a well-established preexisting knowledge of technology and value their multi-media talents.  Digital immigrants, or those of us like myself who are a combination of both worlds, may not have such a well-rounded preexisting knowledge. When digital immigrants become the teachers of digital natives are we doomed to be subject to digital disconnect?

Digital disconnect is a term referring to the way technologically savvy students perceive their teachers, as slow by comparison.  According to the textbook, “30% of students see smartphones and 36% see mp3 players as essential for a 21^st century classroom, which is double the number of teachers and administrators who see those tools as key to school learning” (p40) Students are voicing their wants and needs for technology in the classroom. Students will be more engaged in learning when they have access to learning tools that interest them and fit their generational upbringing. As technology integrates into more classrooms, it is likely, that teachers will apply student-centered learning more frequently. It is important to me, as a future teacher, that my future students do not feel disconnected from me, digitally or otherwise. I look forward to implementing my student-centered teaching philosophy and bridging any digital disconnect we may have. 

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Resources:


Maloy, R., O’Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2^nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc. 

Lmmatz728. (2014, September 5). Technology in School.  ToonDoo. Retrieved September 6, 2014 from http://www.toondoo.com/MyToondoo.toon