Highlights of Weeks Readings
What is an Acceptable Use Policy?
Acceptable Use Policies ensure that school computers are being used in a safe, relevant and appropriate manner. Schools AUPs serves as a legal document, it should be complete, adaptable. be unique to their school, protect students, and inform parents.
Cornell University Library
Listed five criteria for evaluating Web pages:
Accuracy: Does the website list an author and a way to contact them
Authority: Does the website have the author’s credentials
Objectivity: Does the website have accurate information
Currency: Is the page is current and updated
Coverage: Is the website free or do you have pay fees to access it
Best search engines
I also liked this page it had the best search for your information needed. It broke it down into different categories by what the student was looking for and the best search engines to find the information. Some examples:
I need help to define my topic
I need to find quality results...
I need to do research in a specific discipline...
The timeliness of information that I need is..
I need facts…
I need perspectives and opinions...
Group Meetings
This week we met twice. Our first meeting we discussed digital citizenship and the effects it has on teachers and our schools. We discussed the necessity of implementing AUP’s in schools. We said that censorship is necessary but it does come with limitations. We also talked about blogging and how some schools are strict with blogging because of who can access the student’s blog and write back to them. Schools are also limiting what sites teachers can look at. They are even recording what sites they are using and using this information to dismiss some teachers who are using the Internet inappropriately. We felt that this is restricting because they are limiting the websites that teachers can use as tools to aid them in the classroom.
During the meeting Dr. S met with us and suggested that instead of using GTalk we use WizIQ because it would give us a better experience because it was more like Elluminate Live. During the meeting we all signed up for a WizIQ account.
Our second meeting we finished our discussion on Digital Citizenship. We also started our group Wiki. Lindsay set up the main page of our Wiki. We suggested ideas of what to put up such as pictures.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Reflections on Educating the Net Generation: 21st Century Learning and Teaching
Here are my reflections on some of the questions posted:
What are the six 2007 National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS-S) and which of the standards you think are well implemented? How do you feel about your readiness to meet those standards?
1.Creativity and Innovation: Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Students:
a. apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes.
b. create original works as a means of personal or group expression.
c. use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues.
d. identify trends and forecast possibilities.
2.Communication and Collaboration: Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:
a. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media.
b. communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.
c. develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures.
d. contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.
3. Research and Information Fluency: Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. Students:
a. plan strategies to guide inquiry.
b. locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media.
c. evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.
d. process data and report results.
4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making: Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources. Students:
a. identify and define authentic problems and significant questions for investigation.
b. plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project.
c. collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions.
d. use multiple processes and diverse perspectives to explore alternative solutions.
5. Digital Citizenship: Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior. Students:
a. advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology.
b. exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity.
c. demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning.
d. exhibit leadership for digital citizenship.
6. Technology Operations and Concepts: Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations. Students:
a. understand and use technology systems.
b. select and use applications effectively and productively.
c. troubleshoot systems and applications.
I think most teachers use the Internet for quick easy projects. They don’t give time for students to explore on the Internet. Standard 4 needs to be implemented more in the classroom for students to explore and create to learn more. Standard 5 Digital Citizenship needs to be integrated into the classroom. Teachers need to show students how to find information on the web safely and how to appropriately cite information without plagarising. Teachers seem comfortable with Standard 2 Communication and Collaboration. They are now integrating Wiki’s and Blogs into their classrooms as a way to communicate. For Standard 3 Research and Information Fluency teachers need to show students how to search for information on the web. How to evaluate websites to see if they are valid or not. Unfortunately students go straight to the internet when they research a project. They no longer go to the library.
What is the difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 bookmarking?
Dr. Smirnova’s Web 2.0 powerpoint:
One major difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 is the way information is shared. Web 1.0 was known as “the mostly read-only web”. In the year 1996 the web had 54 million global users and 250,00 sites. The sites were mainly published content with little user-generated content (work was very isolated). Web 2.0 is called “the widely read-write Web”. In 2006 the Web had over1 billion global users and more than 80,000,000 sites which. The amount of websites that were published by the user grew tremendously thanks to the creations of bogs, wikis, video sharing, podcasting, and social networks such as myspace and facebook. Communication and collaboration “flows in multiple directions” and is shared with the community of learners.
Discuss the Net generation. Why are the digital students different from the previous generations of students? What are the implications for teachers?
Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants by March Prensky
The article discusses the difference between digital natives and digital immigrants. “Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach”. Digital natives are those that grew up surrounded by computers, videogames, digital music players, video cams, cell phones and other tools of the digital age. Digital immigrants have had to adapt to this new environment of technology. Digital immigrants have an “accent” that can be seen such as printing out their email in order to edit it rather than editing it on the screen. “Digital Immigrant instructors, who speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language”. The article suggests that today’s teachers have to learn to communicate in the language and style of their students. Teachers have to teach in a quicker manner less step by step. Digital natives are multitaskers they can read a book while watching TV while emailing a friend. Digital immigrants cannot possibly believe that they retained any information while reading because they have never done so before. Teachers need to invent knew ways to teach to their students that will engage them. For example, a group of professors created a software that was much better than what they were currently using and they assumed that the company would adopt the program easily. However they found resistance because of the complication of the new program. In order to reach the digital natives they decided to make it into a video game in order to teach how to use the software. The game was very successful in getting younger people interested in learning the software. Teachers need to think similarly when teaching.
What are the six 2007 National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS-S) and which of the standards you think are well implemented? How do you feel about your readiness to meet those standards?
1.Creativity and Innovation: Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Students:
a. apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes.
b. create original works as a means of personal or group expression.
c. use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues.
d. identify trends and forecast possibilities.
2.Communication and Collaboration: Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:
a. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media.
b. communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.
c. develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures.
d. contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.
3. Research and Information Fluency: Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. Students:
a. plan strategies to guide inquiry.
b. locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media.
c. evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.
d. process data and report results.
4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making: Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources. Students:
a. identify and define authentic problems and significant questions for investigation.
b. plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project.
c. collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions.
d. use multiple processes and diverse perspectives to explore alternative solutions.
5. Digital Citizenship: Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior. Students:
a. advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology.
b. exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity.
c. demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning.
d. exhibit leadership for digital citizenship.
6. Technology Operations and Concepts: Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations. Students:
a. understand and use technology systems.
b. select and use applications effectively and productively.
c. troubleshoot systems and applications.
I think most teachers use the Internet for quick easy projects. They don’t give time for students to explore on the Internet. Standard 4 needs to be implemented more in the classroom for students to explore and create to learn more. Standard 5 Digital Citizenship needs to be integrated into the classroom. Teachers need to show students how to find information on the web safely and how to appropriately cite information without plagarising. Teachers seem comfortable with Standard 2 Communication and Collaboration. They are now integrating Wiki’s and Blogs into their classrooms as a way to communicate. For Standard 3 Research and Information Fluency teachers need to show students how to search for information on the web. How to evaluate websites to see if they are valid or not. Unfortunately students go straight to the internet when they research a project. They no longer go to the library.
What is the difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 bookmarking?
Dr. Smirnova’s Web 2.0 powerpoint:
One major difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 is the way information is shared. Web 1.0 was known as “the mostly read-only web”. In the year 1996 the web had 54 million global users and 250,00 sites. The sites were mainly published content with little user-generated content (work was very isolated). Web 2.0 is called “the widely read-write Web”. In 2006 the Web had over1 billion global users and more than 80,000,000 sites which. The amount of websites that were published by the user grew tremendously thanks to the creations of bogs, wikis, video sharing, podcasting, and social networks such as myspace and facebook. Communication and collaboration “flows in multiple directions” and is shared with the community of learners.
Discuss the Net generation. Why are the digital students different from the previous generations of students? What are the implications for teachers?
Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants by March Prensky
The article discusses the difference between digital natives and digital immigrants. “Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach”. Digital natives are those that grew up surrounded by computers, videogames, digital music players, video cams, cell phones and other tools of the digital age. Digital immigrants have had to adapt to this new environment of technology. Digital immigrants have an “accent” that can be seen such as printing out their email in order to edit it rather than editing it on the screen. “Digital Immigrant instructors, who speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language”. The article suggests that today’s teachers have to learn to communicate in the language and style of their students. Teachers have to teach in a quicker manner less step by step. Digital natives are multitaskers they can read a book while watching TV while emailing a friend. Digital immigrants cannot possibly believe that they retained any information while reading because they have never done so before. Teachers need to invent knew ways to teach to their students that will engage them. For example, a group of professors created a software that was much better than what they were currently using and they assumed that the company would adopt the program easily. However they found resistance because of the complication of the new program. In order to reach the digital natives they decided to make it into a video game in order to teach how to use the software. The game was very successful in getting younger people interested in learning the software. Teachers need to think similarly when teaching.
Highlights of Educating the Net Generation:21st Century Learning and Teaching
Here are some highlights of the weeks readings and videos!!
A Vision of k-12 students Today
“Students will use engaging technologies in collaborative inquiry-based learning environments, with teachers who are willing and able to use technology’s power to assist them in transforming knowledge and skills into products, solutions and new information.” I liked how the video was presented through written text on card boards. I found it very effective to portray the insight into the youth of today and how technology has greatly impacted their life and learning. Many students spend several hours a week playing video games, watching television, listening to their Ipods (music and books),using the computer, and communicating with family and friends through email, texts and ims. 63% of teachers don’t let their students create something new with technology. I found this percentage to be very high. As future teachers we have to allow students to create knew things and to learn knew things from technology.
Shift Happens
The information in this video really makes you think about the changes occurring in the world. The number one English speaking country in the world will soon be China. 25% of people in China with the highest IQ’s is more than that of North America. Also the amount of new technical information is doubling every 2 years. That means that half of what you learn in your first year of study in college will be outdated in their third year. I am happy to be taking this course because I really do not know much about the Internet and technology and would love to incorporate this into my classroom. Teachers are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t exist yet and using technologies that haven’t been invented in order to solve problems that don’t exist yet. One fact that blew my mind was the number of text messages sent and received every day exceeds the total population of the planet. I used to be totally against texting because I felt that it was very impersonal way of communication. I finally had to give in because all of my friends and family were staring to communicate through texting. I still feel that it would be easier to call someone and have a five-minute conversation than texting all day to get your point across. I guess I am a digital native because I have to change and adapt my ways in order to fit in with the net generation.
Is It Age or IT: First Steps Toward Understanding the Net Generation
The opening paragraph describes a student at a university and how technology affects his daily life. The student wakes up to see several instant messages on is computer. He then blogs with other classmates on assignments, looks up the weather, sports and news on the Internet. Some characteristics of the Net Generation are: they are visual communicators, they learn through discovery rather than being told, they are able to shift their attention from one task to another, respond quickly and expect rapid responses in return. They are also Digitally Literate- having grown up with access to technology they are able to use many IT devices and navigate the Internet easily (don’t need a tutorial). They are also more likely to use the Internet for research than the library.
Portrait of a Digital Native By Tom McHale
One fact that I found amazing is that new research suggests that brains can be trained to multitask. “According to a study conducted by Monica Luciana, found the brain's ability to effectively self-organize competing information remains in the developmental process until 16 or 17 years of age”. I think it amazing to think that brains can be trained to multitask and that the brains of children in the net generation have adapted to technology.
A Vision of k-12 students Today
“Students will use engaging technologies in collaborative inquiry-based learning environments, with teachers who are willing and able to use technology’s power to assist them in transforming knowledge and skills into products, solutions and new information.” I liked how the video was presented through written text on card boards. I found it very effective to portray the insight into the youth of today and how technology has greatly impacted their life and learning. Many students spend several hours a week playing video games, watching television, listening to their Ipods (music and books),using the computer, and communicating with family and friends through email, texts and ims. 63% of teachers don’t let their students create something new with technology. I found this percentage to be very high. As future teachers we have to allow students to create knew things and to learn knew things from technology.
Shift Happens
The information in this video really makes you think about the changes occurring in the world. The number one English speaking country in the world will soon be China. 25% of people in China with the highest IQ’s is more than that of North America. Also the amount of new technical information is doubling every 2 years. That means that half of what you learn in your first year of study in college will be outdated in their third year. I am happy to be taking this course because I really do not know much about the Internet and technology and would love to incorporate this into my classroom. Teachers are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t exist yet and using technologies that haven’t been invented in order to solve problems that don’t exist yet. One fact that blew my mind was the number of text messages sent and received every day exceeds the total population of the planet. I used to be totally against texting because I felt that it was very impersonal way of communication. I finally had to give in because all of my friends and family were staring to communicate through texting. I still feel that it would be easier to call someone and have a five-minute conversation than texting all day to get your point across. I guess I am a digital native because I have to change and adapt my ways in order to fit in with the net generation.
Is It Age or IT: First Steps Toward Understanding the Net Generation
The opening paragraph describes a student at a university and how technology affects his daily life. The student wakes up to see several instant messages on is computer. He then blogs with other classmates on assignments, looks up the weather, sports and news on the Internet. Some characteristics of the Net Generation are: they are visual communicators, they learn through discovery rather than being told, they are able to shift their attention from one task to another, respond quickly and expect rapid responses in return. They are also Digitally Literate- having grown up with access to technology they are able to use many IT devices and navigate the Internet easily (don’t need a tutorial). They are also more likely to use the Internet for research than the library.
Portrait of a Digital Native By Tom McHale
One fact that I found amazing is that new research suggests that brains can be trained to multitask. “According to a study conducted by Monica Luciana, found the brain's ability to effectively self-organize competing information remains in the developmental process until 16 or 17 years of age”. I think it amazing to think that brains can be trained to multitask and that the brains of children in the net generation have adapted to technology.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Exploring Moodle (Week 1)
Week ones overview was to become acquainted with the Moodle webpage. I have used Moodle in previous classes so I am somewhat familiar with the layout. However this is my first online course so I am excited but I am also nervous. We had to explore the different sections of the page: Learning Online Netiquette, Computers, Internet, WWW, About Copyright, Fair Use, & Plagiarism, Tutorials for PPT Design, Video Tutorials and Blogging: First Steps.
Here are some things that I found very useful:
I enjoyed the article Active Learning by Leslie Hendrikson. The website Active Learning by Leslie Hendrikson discusses active learning in the classroom particularly in social studies classes. Active learning is seen in mock trials were students engage in role playing and take on the roles of characters in a court case, set up a mock trial courtroom and guide their own trial. As a student in the classroom, I tend to be very quiet. I listen and pay attention in class however I do not participate in class discussion unless I am called on by the teacher. Most likely in classes there are the students who like to talk and they tend to lead class discussions. I can recall one of my favorite social studies classes in high school was economics because as a class we made our own economy. I decided to open a bank and I was in charge of lending loans to fellow classmates. Everyone in the classroom was involved in the community and we all gained a great amount of knowledge about the economy by being active learners. If I would have read this from a textbook I would not have had the same experience or enjoyment of learning this new material. I think it is important to incorporate active learning into the classroom. The website gives you ways to do so in social studies classrooms. This is not something that happens quickly as a teacher you need to encourage and support students to make them feel comfortable.
I also liked the video Avoiding Death by Power Point. I have created many PowerPoint presentations in the classroom. I have to admit some of the slides I made could have served as an example of what not to do. Here are some suggestions to improve power point slides are: animation, enlarge screen capture and use call out brackets, you don’t always have to have captions or writing to convey your point, and for charts that are two small you can take the chart make it the background and add an animation so that it appears in front of the chart (keep the context of information because chart is in background).
I also liked the video Integrating podcasting into your classroom. This video is a great introduction to what podcasting is and how you can use it in your classroom. Using podcasts is a great way for students to demonstrate their understanding of the material. You can use it for any subject area. Students can edit their podcasts add music and sound effects for emphasis. They can listen to other podcasts of students and educators as a model. One elementary school has even made their own radio podcast. Some useful information for teachers where the name of websites that integrate podcasts into their classroom and several sites that had free podcast programs.
We also had our first group meeting. Our group decided to use gtalk. I have never used this program before I was not even sure how we were going to chat. After using gtalk I really liked the program. It made communication very easy. Since this was our first group meeting we discussed any problems or questions we had regarding the course. Many of us had questions and we were able to navigate each other through some parts of Moodle. We also discussed what we explored and next week’s agenda.
That about sums up Week One! Talk to you soon.
Here are some things that I found very useful:
I enjoyed the article Active Learning by Leslie Hendrikson. The website Active Learning by Leslie Hendrikson discusses active learning in the classroom particularly in social studies classes. Active learning is seen in mock trials were students engage in role playing and take on the roles of characters in a court case, set up a mock trial courtroom and guide their own trial. As a student in the classroom, I tend to be very quiet. I listen and pay attention in class however I do not participate in class discussion unless I am called on by the teacher. Most likely in classes there are the students who like to talk and they tend to lead class discussions. I can recall one of my favorite social studies classes in high school was economics because as a class we made our own economy. I decided to open a bank and I was in charge of lending loans to fellow classmates. Everyone in the classroom was involved in the community and we all gained a great amount of knowledge about the economy by being active learners. If I would have read this from a textbook I would not have had the same experience or enjoyment of learning this new material. I think it is important to incorporate active learning into the classroom. The website gives you ways to do so in social studies classrooms. This is not something that happens quickly as a teacher you need to encourage and support students to make them feel comfortable.
I also liked the video Avoiding Death by Power Point. I have created many PowerPoint presentations in the classroom. I have to admit some of the slides I made could have served as an example of what not to do. Here are some suggestions to improve power point slides are: animation, enlarge screen capture and use call out brackets, you don’t always have to have captions or writing to convey your point, and for charts that are two small you can take the chart make it the background and add an animation so that it appears in front of the chart (keep the context of information because chart is in background).
I also liked the video Integrating podcasting into your classroom. This video is a great introduction to what podcasting is and how you can use it in your classroom. Using podcasts is a great way for students to demonstrate their understanding of the material. You can use it for any subject area. Students can edit their podcasts add music and sound effects for emphasis. They can listen to other podcasts of students and educators as a model. One elementary school has even made their own radio podcast. Some useful information for teachers where the name of websites that integrate podcasts into their classroom and several sites that had free podcast programs.
We also had our first group meeting. Our group decided to use gtalk. I have never used this program before I was not even sure how we were going to chat. After using gtalk I really liked the program. It made communication very easy. Since this was our first group meeting we discussed any problems or questions we had regarding the course. Many of us had questions and we were able to navigate each other through some parts of Moodle. We also discussed what we explored and next week’s agenda.
That about sums up Week One! Talk to you soon.
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