Reading Reaction #5: Digital Storytelling Project

I intend to teach high school social sciences, probably history, government, and economics.  My idea for a digital storytelling project would be to have students do a project where they pick a topic and link that topic through various events in history.  This would be an end of the year project for history or government students.  They could choose a topic like prejudice, war, or liberty and discuss what these things meant throughout different time periods and their impact on people’s lives ending with what impact these issues have on their own lives.  Students could use whatever media format they wanted: Prezi, video, live performance, etc.  They would have to create a storyboard and get approval before doing the final project.  Students could bring in quotes, audio, images, or video that emphasized their points.  For this project, they would need various web resources including sites with information on history and digital storytelling as well as how-to sites where they can learn how to incorporate different media in their project.  I would likely direct my students to the Florida Center for Instructional Technology site (http://fcit.usf.edu/).  They have all sorts of resources for copyright free materials.  By the end of the school year, I intend to have completed lessons on primary and secondary sources as well as internet research, which would deal with evaluating websites.  In order to get students to produce the type of digital storytelling project I want, I would probably do a lesson on what digital storytelling is and create an example for them to view.  I would also tell them not to limit themselves by copying my example.  I want something that is creative and meaningful for them not just something that they’re doing for a grade.  I want my students to have the skills to be able to find and incorporate the information they need, not just to regurgitate facts and I think that this project would do that as well as teach 21^st century skills through the use of technology.



ABC Week #9: Technology & Teacher Training

I read this sentence in Shelly, Gunter, & Gunter, “To prepare educators to use the technology after it is implemented, administrators provide technology training with mentorship programs and follow-up staff development after training.”  I don’t know whether they meant this as the ideal or what they think is reality, but this does not happen a lot of the time.  I was at a conference last weekend and on Friday, I did a workshop on whiteboards.  One of the teachers had a whiteboard, but never used it because she had no training, no mentorship, or any other assistance in learning this new technology.  It’s not that uncommon for a school to have technology that many of the teachers either don’t know how to use or are afraid to try to use because of the learning curve.  It seems like everyone thinks of the goal as getting technology into the classroom, but really that’s just one step in the process.  The work really begins once technology is in the classroom.  Technology that sits idle does nothing, but teachers need the time and support to learn how to use technology effectively.  Time in class is very limited and we’re all trying to get all the material in that we can, we don’t have time to lose trying to learn technology while teaching.  So if time isn’t set aside for professional development in using technology then those who don’t already know how to use it won’t use it.  It seems like a really simple concept, but obviously it is overlooked since there are teachers out there with technology, such as whiteboards, in their classroom that isn’t being used.

Shelly, G.B., Gunter, G.A., & Gunter, R.E. (2010) Integrating technology and digital media in the classroom (6^th Ed.).  Boston, MA: Course Technology.

Article on using whiteboards: http://bit.ly/9DuEXy

Activity Reflection #4: Prezi on digital storytelling

The activity this week was to create a presentation using Prezi about digital storytelling and how it might benefit my students.  I’ve never used Prezi before so this was a new experience for me.  It was still pretty easy.  I just went into the software and started trying things out.  It kind of reminded me of the class I took over the summer on creativity in gifted education.  I had to create a poster with words from the semester and make it look cool.  I really like Prezi and found it easy to use.  The presentation I made for this was pretty simple, but I think if I were to use it for presentations to my class then I would add in more detail like audio or video.

I think my students will love using Prezi.  A lot of kids are tired of boring old PowerPoint so this will be a welcome change from the traditional presentation format.  You can still integrate images, video, and audio so kids still gain those skills.  Creating this kind of presentation will improve my students’ ability to find, evaluate, and synthesize information into a coherent product as well as improving their communication skills.

ABC Week 8: The Magic Technology Pill

I read news articles about how all these school districts are moving towards technology.  They have digital textbooks, Nooks, Kindles, Ipads, and more, but is this really improving education?  If you’ve read my previous blog postings or my about me page then you know that I’m not anti-technology.  If anything I’m pro-technology, but I don’t think blatant overkill will solve anything.  New technology is fun and can be very useful in improving productivity, but we need to take the time to do research and determine how to best apply technology in the classroom.  Throwing in a bunch of technology just because it’s fun isn’t going to help our students.  We need to come up with technological applications that improve some aspect of education (i.e. the curriculum, student motivation, etc.)  Adopting all this technology sounds great, but it may just mask the underlying problems.  Students need 21^st century skills but technology overload will not solve the problems with educational system.

Some interesting articles related to this idea
http://yhoo.it/cVRatd
http://bit.ly/dkvTTP

ABC Week 7: “Averting Tragedy in a Digital World”: Cyberbullying and Digital Citizenship

I was reading this article called “Averting Tragedy in a Digital World” (http://bit.ly/cf31Th) and I was thinking about the rash of incidents dealing with cyberbullying that have been in the news recently.  Bullying has always been a problem in schools and now has simply moved into the digital realm.  It’s not acceptable to bully another person, either in real life or online, to the point that the person sees death as the only way out, yours or their own.  Nor is it acceptable for parents to threaten children who are bullying their kid.  We need to establish a set of procedures for parents and educators to be followed when bullying or cyberbullying occur, but we also need to take preventative measures.

Citizenship education has been around for a very long time.  It was intended to make better citizens, but now we need better digital citizens.  So the solution is obvious: digital citizenship education.  We can combine regular citizenship education with the new needs of a digital citizen.  Rutgers University established Project Civility to raise awareness and sensitivity, but we really should start in elementary school.  Students need to receive the same message at school and at home, so that they understand the damage they can cause by bullying.

Some resources:

http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/uploads/09-0489_AWAY__26_DIGKIDS_.pdf

http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/uploads/1stLL.pdf

http://123digitalcitizenship.wikispaces.com/

Activity Reflection #3: About Page

Well, I created an About Me page this week.  You can check it out at the link on the right side of the page.  I decided to design it directly in Blogger rather than creating a Google Profile.  I’ve created and maintained websites before, but usually using FrontPage and occasionally DreamWeaver.  So I had to figure out how to add a page in Blogger.    It only took a couple of minutes to find the Edit Pages link under the posting tab.  I had already written what I wanted to say in Microsoft Word so I just copied and pasted it.  Then I added a picture of me and my husband as well as pictures of my dogs.  I also provided a link to my Facebook page.

I’m not afraid to make mistakes with technology when I’m learning.  If I can work out all the kinks then I can utilize the skills I’ve learned in my classroom.  Being able to create webpages from various platforms is a necessary skill in our digital world.  If I know how to do this then I can teach it to my students or if they already know how at least earn their respect for having this knowledge.  Teachers who aren’t tech savvy can be alienated from their students because their students may think they couldn’t possibly understand them if they don’t have this knowledge.

As with the Excel exercise from last week, I found this assignment relatively easy because I have experience with designing websites and I learn new software easily.  When I was at the University of Florida, I did work study in the Sport & Fitness Department.  I had some knowledge of FrontPage so they had me maintain their website for their classes.  Each semester I had to duplicate template pages for each course and add the info provided by the course instructors such as syllabi and schedules.  The page I created this week was fairly simple with text, pictures, and a link.  I should probably practice embedding more complex features and using other platforms.  This will give me further knowledge to help move my class into the digital age.

ABC Week 6: Social Media & Educators

If you use social media such as Facebook, do not expect privacy.  Employers now look for the Facebook or MySpace pages of their potential employees so be careful what you post.  Teachers, especially, have to be very careful to ensure that they portray a professional image.  Facial expressions, body language, vocal tone, and other cues are missing in internet communication so you have to be careful what you say and how you say it.  Humor or sarcasm may not come across as you meant it without your tone of voice to tell the reader that you’re joking.  There can also be questions about appropriate interaction between teachers and students online.  While it’s safest for the teacher not to communicate with students through social media, I believe avoidance is too limiting.  Class time is very limited and being able to communicate outside of class may allow for a better relationship between teacher and students.  Social media may provide students with the opportunity to ask teachers questions about assignments or to ask for help.  We just need to set some guidelines and remind teachers to think about what they’re writing.  Look at your potential posting or message from an outsider’s point of view.  Could what you plan to say be misconstrued?  If yes, then simply rewrite your message so that there is no misunderstanding.  I recently read an article with some tips for keeping school staff out of trouble when using social media (http://bit.ly/ctJLXn).  A second article I read this week, highlights a disturbing trend (http://bit.ly/bHNuAI).  In this article, they talk about rules that counties are thinking about imposing which limit what teachers can and can’t say on Facebook.  I think if these rules are passed then there are going to be some serious lawsuits based on First Amendment violations.  Honestly, just use common sense people.  If your settings on Facebook would allow other people to see what you say (potentially including your students or their parents) then don’t say anything you wouldn’t want to be heard saying in public. 

Activity Reflection #2: Spreadsheet

Being able to learn new programs is important in this digital age.  Working on an assignment this week where I had to make changes to a mock grade book in Microsoft Excel was pretty easy for me except for the last instruction.  I had to link the list of student names from the worksheet on the 1^st nine weeks to the worksheets for the other 3 nine week periods.  I’ve never had to do that before and I just upgraded to the 2010 version so I had to use the help section to figure it out.  I’ve had plenty of experience with Excel (at least earlier versions).  As an undergrad, I had to take a course on Microsoft Office, which had a lecture and lab.  After the first couple of classes, I quit going to the lectures and just completed the labs.  I did so well that they asked me to tutor some other students.  Being able to utilize Excel for a grade book would allow me to quickly calculate my students’ current grades and isolate the ones that are in need of extra help.  There’s no need to wait until the end of the nine week grading period to find out if the students need help when I can set a formula that will recalculate the grade each time I add a grade for an assignment or test.

Of course, even if I didn’t have experience with Excel, I’ve always been able to learn new programs easily.  Usually when I want to learn a new program, I just go into the new program and try different functions to see what they do.  If I can’t figure out how to do something with a program I’m using, I start looking for directions in the help section for the program.  If I still can’t find what I want there, then I search the internet for directions.  In high school, I took a course in desktop publishing and on occasion, I couldn’t get the results I wanted using just one program so I would figure out which programs could do the things I wanted and then worked between them to get the results I was looking for.  I think this ability will be very useful as a teacher.  Our students need to learn 21^st century skills and my ability to learn new programs easily will allow me to integrate more technology into my curriculum.  I know that some teachers are reluctant to integrate new technology because of the learning curve involved, but I really like learning about new technology.  Sure, there may be some bumps along the way, but as long as I keep a Plan B as backup for when technology fails, I’ll be fine. 

ABC Week 5: Wikis and Education

Wikis can be a useful research tool.  However, whether a specific wiki or specific wiki article should be used as a reference in an academic research paper depends on the wiki and/or article.  Wikis provide an excellent opportunity for teachers to instruct students on how to evaluate internet material for validity (Murley, 2008).  Wikipedia, for example, is meant to be an online encyclopedia.  Encyclopedias are secondary sources and are not considered valid sources for an academic paper, but are considered to be useful starting points for research.  I would not allow a student to cite Wikipedia as a source for a paper, but other wikis I might consider acceptable depending on their policies.  If a wiki has a policy requiring sufficient source references and has a peer review process then it should be an acceptable source in most cases.  In this age of digital resources, we have to adapt to new sources of information.  This does not mean that we should lower our standards, but that we should find ways to apply those standards to new media. 

Murley, D. (2008) In defense of Wikipedia.  Law Library Journal, 100(3).  Electronic copy available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1122602.