Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Acceptable Use Agreements

Districts create acceptable technology use agreements with students and teachers to ensure their electronic devices will be used safely and efficiently for educational purposes. The acceptable use agreement, for students, in my district is 4 pages long. As well as signing this agreement, students will also be required to watch a cyber safety video and pass a quiz. The following video was created for 6-12 graders in my district.


SBCUSD Student Use Agreement Video 6-12 from Ruth on Vimeo.

Over the past years, the district has blocked all social media, Youtube, and anything to do with gaming or music. This coming year is the first year they are opening up social media sites, Youtube, and other sites. The new technology use agreement is focused on being digital citizens while online, creating a positive digital footprint, and what the users can and cannot use the schools electronic devices for.

Technology use agreements should include acceptable uses of electronic devices as well as unacceptable uses. They should also cover consequences if improperly used. There should be some instruction at the beginning of the year regarding what makes a digital citizen and how to protect yourself while online.

My districts Student Technology Use Agreement
Palm Springs Unified Student Technology Use Agreement
San Diego Unified Student Technology Use Agreement
Ventura County Office of Education

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Edtech 541: Vision Statement


The National Technology Plan (NETP), wants to create “lifelong learners” “calling for a revolutionary transformation” “powered by technology” “by bringing state-of-the art technology into learning to enable, motivate, and inspire all students.” The NETP recognizes the need to bring collaboration and practical life skill applications into our classrooms.
We live in a world where technology continues to expand and evolve beyond anyone's imaginations. As educators, we must be prepared and willing to adapt and instruct our students to grow with the constant changes. As stated in USA Today, half of the fastest growing jobs in America are in Computer Science. The New York Times supports this in their article A Surge in Learning the Language of the Internet

Introducing technology in the classroom opens doors and worlds students and teachers never had access to before. According to Roblyer & Doering, "In today's technology-driven society, new technology tools and new versions of older tools are emerging at a dizzying rate." Classrooms can now Skype or have Google Hangouts with other classrooms, authors, or artists via a connected computer. Students can take Virtual Tours of Art Museums using the Google Art Project or Virtual Tours of historical places using Google Maps. Students can collaborate while creating Presentations and Documents within Google Drive or other Web 2.0 tools likePrezi or Padlet. Technology offers endless opportunities for our students to become critical thinkers and life long learners.

We are now teaching in a digital world and with that comes new expectations for educators and parents. As well as guiding our students imaginations and facilitating their learning, we are giving them skills they will need beyond the classroom walls. We are giving our students direction beyond the drill and kill, and the worksheet world, and offering them more project and problem based real world applications for learning.


References
Roblyer, M.D. & Doering, A. H. (2013). Chapter 1. Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching (6th ed., pp. 2-29). Boston, MA: Pearson.
U.S. Department of Education, The Office of Educational Technology (2010). The National Technology Plan 2010.