Final Reflection EdTech 543

These are exciting times to be in the classroom. Technology continues to flood into schools. Students are coming to school with devices, some even bring more than one. Now is the time to make learning more engaging and practical.

 

I am fortunate enough to teach in a computer lab. I have built my lessons up to the point where I now have a paperless classroom. The passion of incorporating technology into my teaching is what pushed me into the EdTech Program in the first place. I wanted to learn more. Now my eyes have been opened to just how much more you can do with technology. 

In this class I have learned more ways to add collaboration into assignments. Students don't even have to be near each other. I have added a little collaboration into some of my lessons, but I have now seen just how far you can take it. Shortly, in the future, people could literally be hired and work from anywhere with collaboration. I am teaching my students these skills and want to stress them more so they look more viable to employers. This is their future. If I can give them some life skills, they will be more successful.

My favorite assignments involved working with my group. They were awesome. David lives in Idaho and Jody is on the East Coast. Although our time zones were all different, we were still able to pull it together and create our group work. We used Google Docs to collaborate our ideas. They have both been incredible and I think our final mini unit came out pretty good. My group carried me through this semester. I had a tragic loss at the end of October and David took the initiative to check in on me. He would email both Jody and I with important dates, answer my questions when I felt lost, and help me refocus. Truly incredible. I would not have pulled through this class if it hadn't been for them. Another thing I learned this semester was how to incorporate more student evaluation. I think if students know other students will be evaluating their projects then they might step up a level to make themselves look better. 

Another thing I am appreciative of this semester is our instructor, Jackie. She gives a mountain load of work, but she has so many resources and she seems so knowledgeable about this topic. I can feel her passion in every assignment. They are thought out, extensive, and very thorough. We were given examples and tons of additional information to help us through each one. 

I have started a class Facebook page and a class Twitter account. I am going to try and design next semester around using these tools extensively with my students. My goal is to incorporate many collaborative activities using these tools. I am a Google Apps school, so I have that one down, but I need to branch out to other web based tools like Scoop It and I'll look into Storify. Anything to get my student engagement up and to give them skills they will need beyond high school.

As for my performance on this blog I am proud of my post on  Creating a Positive Digital Plan, my PLE Diagram, Twitter for Professional Development, and this one. A few of the other could have used a bit more effort. Time is always the issue here. It doesn't compare to someone like David or Sarah, but I still think it deserves at least a 70/75. I need the points.

Thank you for a great semester, as always, I wish I had more time. And a big thank you to Jody and David for getting me through this.

One of my favorite social media videos. I love the music. The students and I have a whole conversation about the song and this composer and what he originally created it for. It is a great opener.

Social Media Policies

Keep it short and to the point. My district has a four page social media agreement. No one is going to read all four pages. San Diego also has four pages, but they are simplified better than my district. The social media agreement for teachers in my district is 7 pages long, no one is going to read that. The one I like the best is from the Palm Springs School District, they have two pages and it is very simplified, students will actually read that and understand expectations.

My top choices for a social media use agreement are:

1. I will share my passwords with only my parents and teachers.
2. I will not post hurtful or mean things to anyone online.
3. If someone sends me a mean message online I will tell my parent or trusted adult.
4. I will not share any personal info such as: my address, my phone number, or my birthday online.
5. I will be a good digital citizen.
6. I will not post inappropriate messages or pictures of friends.
7. I will not post funny pictures of friends without their permission.
8. I will get permission to post someone else's work, music, or images before I post them.
9. I will only post things that show a positive digital footprint.
10. I understand that by using the school's network, everything I post can be seen by my teacher and admin. 

I just introduced my classroom to Facebook. I showed them this page first. They did some editing before I posted. I would post these publicly during a board meeting and then also on our parents Facebook and Twitter feeds. Parents can give feedback via Facebook, Twitter, and phone. If we get it out there then everyone knows the expectations and can help us adjust what needs to be adjusted. The social media use agreement needs to be kept simple, but still cover the basics. No one will actually read a 4 page detailed agreement. How many times have you accepted a use agreement without reading their multi-page agreement?

San Diego social media agreement
San Bernardino City Unified
Palm Springs Unified School District

Schools and Social Networking

Teachers across the nation are using social media in their classrooms. My favorite example came from two like minded educators that use Facebook to create character pages for the book they were studying. Other take aways were to use social media sites to communicate with students and parents. From giving them a heads up of due dates, to answering specific questions about assignments, the students and teachers were always connected. Personally, I have a school Google email address and a Google Voice number that I give to students for communication. They are catching on slowly, yes, it is okay to email or text me any time, I will get back to you. Students love it and I love it. My ScoopIt shows all of the different ways in which social media sites can be used in the classroom.

http://www.scoop.it/t/classroom-projects-using-social-media

PLE Diagram

I found the image below originally on Twitter and then went and Googled it. I felt it was a good reflection on connections. My personal learning environments were comparable to fellow colleagues. We all had Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, and LinkedIn.

Of all of the colleagues I looked over, Markette Kalamete and I only had a couple in common, Twitter and LinkedIn. She had several others that I recognized, and also several I had never heard of such as NSTA, Informal Science, and Bloomed Expert. Her background image of the science teacher being fed through IV's was very creative.

Kyle's imagery of the football field and the players on the team being connected was well done. We had a couple similar sites and several different ones.

Katie Sisson and I had almost all of our sites the same with the exception of WordPress. I didn't include any blogging sites in my diagram.

I liked Karen Arnold Cameron's wheel diagram. It shows the spokes supporting the rim. She has some great sites I didn't think to add such as Edutopia and Ted-I use these all the time. The one that is new to me was edWeb, I'll have to look into it.

The tree position imagery done by Sarah Baughman was a great analogy. As a tree we are always growing. She has several sites that I am not familiar with such as the orange "W".

Levi Fletcher did an amazing food web to represent his PLE Diagram. I was sitting in a meeting with a teacher who has a Science background and without reading Levi's blog, she looked over and said, "That's a food web." Before I read the post I was confused, but now that I have read his blog, he did a great job setting up his analogy. We have many of the same sites and a few different. EdWeb came up again.

Collaboration on Creating Criteria

It has been a great pleasure to work with some exceptional classmates, Jody, David, and Google Docs. David was able to get us started using a shared Google Document. We met online and had some great conversations in the chat window as well as in Facebook's Messenger window. When one or the other wasn't online we were able to leave comments on the collaborative document to address as a whole later. Google is a great tool for collaboration, however, I am very biased. I am sure there are equally great collaborative tools out there. I enjoyed being able to work collaboratively with my classmates. I do this with my students as well, but have never experienced it on this level. I even learned a few things about my classmates I didn't know, it was like sitting down with someone and getting to know them even though we are all in different time zones.
Link to Criteria Checklist

Creating a Positive Digital Plan

What type of footprint do you want to leave?

Maintaining a positive digital footprint?

1.  Pay attention to where I go.

“A digital footprint is the collection of all the traces you leave in electronic environments as you use or move through them. Some is content you actively volunteer—like your Facebook profile. Other material is passive—the cookies a site stores in your browser, the content your district collects about your use of their equipment, etc. All this data can be aggregated to build a profile of you and your behavior” (Kharbach, 2013)

2. Stay on top of things

Your digital footprint says a lot about you. "But why should I care," my students ask. Future employers, colleges, and recruiters are now Googling your online presence. "That's my personal life, it should be considered separate." Your profile and what you post paints a certain picture of you. What do you want them see? Consider the following infographic from KBSD.

3.  Create a solid online identity

In today's digital age, not having a digital presence at all could be seen as a red flag, similar to not having any credit background is problematic when applying for loans. When we make a payment on time, it positively affects our credit. Every time we go online we leave a digital footprint. "Having a solid digital identity is more important now than ever." (Taub, 2012)

4.  Pay attention to my privacy settings

Keep my personal accounts private and my professional ones public. "Change the privacy settings on your social networking sites so that only your Friends can see your information" (Educational Technology & Mobile Learning)

5.  Share helpful information, not banter.

Shirky (2008) suggests, "with an understanding of how transparency fosters connections and with a willingness to share our work and, to some extent, our personal lives. Sharing is the fundamental building block for building connections and networks."

6.  Acquire a domain name

"help control what people see when they search your name" (Taub, 2012).

7.  Apply the Golden RuleBe respectful online. Never post anything that could be hurtful or seen as an insult. "Never has this rule applied more than to how you speak to others online. What are you truly accomplishing by saying things behind the veil of a computer screen, that you would never say to someone in person? Treat others as you would like to be treated. Simply put, if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all" (Digital Media in the Classroom).

8. Google Myself

Make sure what is out there is really me, pay attention. "We can fully prepare students not just to be Googled well, but to be findable in good ways by people who share their passions for learning and who may well end up being lifelong teachers, mentors, or friends" (Richardson 2008).

9.  Think twice before posting

Never post anything you wouldn't say in real life or that you might find embarrassing later. "Always keep in mind that once information has been posted online, it can be almost impossible to remove because of archiving and file sharing. Even though you deactivate your accounts, the information may still be retrieved by others."(Educational Technology & Mobile Learning)

10.  Don't post personal information

Watch who you share your personal information with. "Do not disclose your personal address, phone number, passwords. Bank card numbers...etc even in private messages. There is always the possibility of somebody hacking into your account and finding them." (Educational Technology & Mobile Learning)

Resources

(2013). A Great Guide on Teaching Students about Digital Footprint ... Retrieved September 30, 2014, from http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/04/a-great-guide-on-teaching-students.html.

(2012). 4 things you need to know to help your students manage ... Retrieved September 30, 2014, from http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2012/10/4-things-you-need-to-know-to-help-your.html.

(2012). 10 Things Your Students Should Know About Their Digital ... Retrieved September 30, 2014, from http://www.teachhub.com/10-things-your-students-should-know-about-their-digital-footprints.

(2012). 5 Key Things Needed To Improve Your Digital Identity - Forbes. Retrieved September 30, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/alextaub/2012/06/07/5-key-things-needed-to-improve-your-digital-identity/.

(2011). Digitally Speaking / Positive Digital Footprints - ASCD. Retrieved September 30, 2014, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/apr11/vol68/num07/Positive-Digital-Footprints.aspx.Richardson, W. (2008). Footprints in the digital age. Educational Leadership, 66(3). Retrieved fromwww.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/nov08/vol66/num03/Footprints-in-the-Digital-Age.aspx

Twitter for Professional Development

Tweets by @AlissaBlackburn

When I first started out on Twitter I spent my initial 6 months just lurking. I couldn't believe the content I was seeing. I found it overwhelming, but completely applicable. I started to follow people I met at conferences and people on specific chats. My bank of resources kept expanding. I finally took the leap to Tweet during a workshop I attended with Eric Sheninger, one very inspiring principal. I slowly became used to Tweeting and today find I would not know or be able to help as many educators had I not taken those first steps. The professional development I get from Twitter is essential to my continued growth. 

The hashtags I am following at the moment are:
#edtech

• PBS News Hour Video
• Try Snapping a Picture of Good Class Behavior

#edchat

• The Power of "I Don't Know"
• 8 Tips to Create a Twitter Driven School Culture

#caedchat

• The Marshmallow Challenge-would be a great first day ice breaker activity
• Resources to help you start your own class Twitter account

#mlearning

• Quickly turn physical post-it notes into digital ones

#engchat

• Inside the brain of a struggling reader-Cool infographic and examples

#makered

• 5 Ways to Bring Innovation into the Classroom
• 10 Examples & Non-Examples of Differentiated Instruction