Chapter 5: Teaching Information Literacy and Digital Citizenship

Chapter 5: Teaching Information Literacy and Digital Citizenship

3 Concepts:

1) Teaching Students About Internet Searching

        In the past, people could use different search engines to look up all types of information. A person would type in a keyword or phrase and the “most reliable” information would pop up. Unfortunately, advertisers and webpage creators found ways to use materials that would fool a search engine into ranking their website higher than others. Now-a-days, Google has helped to eliminate this problem by sorting websites based on reliability, popularity, and whether or not it is cross-listed with other sites. Google provides numerous tools that benefit both teachers and students. Search education is a link that teaches students how to use the Google search engine.

       The following website is great for using lesson plans to teach students how to use Google Search.

http://www.google.com/insidesearch/searcheducation/lessons.html

        This lesson plan provides videos and “how-to” instructions for different lesson ideas. I personally liked the lesson on determining credibility of a source. The lesson talks about trusting your instincts and looking for information that shows whether or not the source is truly credible.

       Google also provides a tool called Picasa which allows students to find, edit, and share information online. This is useful for PowerPoint Presentations. Google also provides a tool called Blogger. I am using this tool to display my Digital Badge assignment. I think it would be great because students can use the blogger to submit journals, book reviews, and personal opinions on articles they searched using Google.

       This chapter also discusses search sites that are designed for students. Media specialists are great about locating these search tools/apps that students can also use safely at home.

2) Evaluating Online Information

      It is important for all internet users to understand what information is valid and what is not. It must be explained that anyone has the power to create their own site and use their own information – regardless if it is true or not. This is why it is important to find websites that are edited and approved by experts. There are 4 different strategies use to control and manage the information that might be suggestive: censorship, filtering software, partitions, and labels.

     Censorship eliminates materials such as websites or books banning them from a school. Filtering software is a required tool for federally funded schools that blocks materials from computers based on their keywords or phrases. A partition is filtering information by providing restricted access through certain pages. Labels are classifications that give ratings on sites to provide a standard of safe material for children. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia with a worldwide collection of users and editors. What is scary is that literally anyone can edit the information and make it untrue. Teachers can eliminate the use of finding wrong information by comparing Wikipedia to other online encyclopedias. Explaining that other encyclopedias are updated and edited by scholars will allow students to see the difference in credibility.  The main criteria that should be evaluated for web resources include: accuracy, authority, objectivity, currency, and coverage.

3) Responsibilities for Digital Citizens

            It is important for educators to teach their students how to act as proper digital citizens. This is a broad term describing how to use technology appropriately. This could include: using social networks safely, citing sources, and preventing plagiarism. Many schools have adopted the Acceptable Use Policies (AUP) which states the rules of technology use and the consequences if the rules are broken. Copyright is a legal protection of a person’s creative work and cannot be used without the permission of the original creator. Fair use is a term that allows teachers and students to use limited amounts of copyright materials for educational and research purposes. Plagiarism is a term used when someone directly copies another person’s work and acts as if it their own. Cheating is a term used when technology is used without permission before or during a test to share information for themselves or for others to do well on a test.

         There are 3 factors that contribute to plagiarism and cheating in school: the web, high-stakes testing, and incorrect assumptions by students. There are websites that teachers may use if they want to check for plagiarism. Turnitin.com is one of the popular sites that teachers use for this. The best way to eliminate plagiarism is to stress citation ethics, emphasize essential questions, assess student progress during research process, and create assignments that can’t be easily plagiarized.

Conclusion:

          This was an important chapter to read before teaching students how to use technology in the classroom. One of my favorite parts of this chapter was the terminology of different internet information terms. For example, misinformation is the false, out of date, or misleading information on the internet. 

          Malinformation is the information that might be suggestive or inappropriate for internet users to see. The students can use a role-play activity that demonstrates each group of students reporting on the same topic. This will allow students to see the difference in generation of similar material on the same topic. Showing students how to be responsible digital citizens is important to practice their technology use, practice safety habits, and to demonstrate how to properly share information they have found on the internet. I also liked the strategies to eliminate plagiarism and cheating in the classroom. This will help to show students that we want them to take credibility for their own work and how to correctly display someone else’s work by properly citing and acknowledging them.

Chapter 4: Designing Lessons and Developing Curriculum with Technology

Chapter 4: Designing Lessons and Developing Curriculum with Technology

3 Main Concepts:

1) Enhancing Lesson Development with Technology

       This has to be the most important concept in this chapter. Technology is constantly improving as the years pass us and it is our job to stay up to date for our students. There is so much digital content provided on the internet that assists educators when teaching. Using search engines, online encyclopedias, blogs, wikis, and web quests allow students to have access to new ways of researching and retrieving information. Teachers will use technology to understand what to teach, how to teach it, and how to perform a learning assessment. Assessments can be electronic tests and quizzes, portfolios, online surveys, learning rubrics, etc. Kahoot is a GREAT website that allows teachers to use tests as a performance/learning assessment. The teacher can create their own quiz and answer selections. Students can use electronic devices such as phones, ipads, or computers to answer the questions. Click on the link below to see how a technology assessment can enhance lesson development.

This is a Kahoot quiz created for Earth Science.

https://create.kahoot.it/#poll/8d21cec3-5d77-46e9-b704-8bdc6885ba9c

2) Approaches to Lesson Planning

           Teachers create goals, objectives, and procedures to determine the layout of their lesson for whole-group and small-group instruction. There are two different approaches to lesson planning: student learning objectives or understanding by design (UBD).

Student learning objectives explain who is doing the lesson, what are they doing, when will it occur, how much/how often, and how will the lesson be assessed. This approach explains how the students will demonstrate that they know the skill being taught.

The Understanding By Design approach is a backwards design of creating a lesson. The first step is to identify what it is that you want your students to be able to do/know after the lesson. The next step is coming up with different assessment strategies to be able to measure the students’ knowledge of the topic. The last step is planning the objectives and methods for the lesson.

3) Assessing and Evaluating Students

            There are 3 factors that strongly influence how teachers think about assessment: personal experiences standardized testing, and teacher tests. The textbook suggests that most teachers use their own teachings from the past also in their classroom. For example, if a teacher grew up always taking multiple-choice tests, they might think that is the best way to evaluate their own class. Using portfolios, group discussions, and creative writing are other assessment options to use. Standardized tests are “high-stakes tests” that are given to students K-12. These tests often determine whether a student will move on to the next grade level or be a part of school graduation. Teacher tests, such as the ones you have to take when in a program, also determine the type of testing a teacher may think is the “right way” of testing.

           Performance assessments are great ways of truly measuring student learning. The student creates, produces, performs, or presents which all counts as a performance assessment. Test assessments show what a student knows academic wise with traditional tests.

           Most teachers use an electronic grading software that stores different assignments, their grades, and grade averages for each student. This form of technology is great for not only recording scores but also keeping attendance and communicating with other teachers.

Conclusion:

     This chapter was very helpful with understanding the two types of lesson planning. I also was able to read about the different types of assessments we can use and how they will help to measure what our students are learning. The 3 factors that influence teachers how to assess their students was also interesting to read. This topic made me think about how I would like to assess my students and how my past classroom experience will compare and contrast to it.

Chapter 3: Transforming Learning with Unique, Powerful Technology

3 Concepts from Chapter 3:

1) Teacher-Centered and Student-Centered Approaches

Teacher centered teaching refers to the “old” type of teaching. This approach usually has the teacher standing at the board and giving a lecture while the students read textbooks or take notes. This is considered the traditional way of teaching called transmission teaching. The goal of the teacher is to instruct in the most effective way so that students may learn the information needed to excel.

Students centered teaching is focused on the students and allows them to be a part of the lesson planning, activities, assessment, and learning process. The goal of the teacher is to create learning that students can participate in problem solving with real-life scenarios and thoughtful learning.

Between the two approaches, assessments are different. Teacher-centered assessments are usually worksheets, tests, and quizzes. Student-centered assessments are based on projects, performances, and portfolios.

“Teacher-centered and student-centered methodologies identify opposite ends of a teaching and learning spectrum with many versions and variations” (Maloy, 2014).

The following video was very helpful with explaining the difference between the different approaches:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR4ocKovy28

As future educators, it is important to understand the different approaches to teaching and to see which we feel more comfortable with.

2) Communicating and Collaborating

There are numerous ways that students can communicate and collaborate outside of the classroom. Our textbook discusses the link between communication, collaboration, and technology for students. Students can perform this by using social networks, online polls/surveys, digital games, online website publishing, and translation software.

Group work allows students to work and collaborate together. Students can use computers in small-groups to work and collaborate on assignments. Students can also use computers individually and still communicate with other classmates via computer discussion boards.

            It is important for teachers to provide enough group work to match the time spent on work individually. Both types of work allow students to communicate and collaborate effectively.

3) Expressing Creativity

            Students are able to express their creative side using technology. The students are able to create words, pictures, symbols, and numbers to express their creativity. This can be achieved by using word processor, paint, drawing, and design programs on the computer or other electronic device. Students often prefer to use technology when being creative because it is faster and allows them to use all forms of creative programs to edit their work.

            Technology also allows students and teachers to express creativity through social media. They are able to communicate with classmates, share ideas, and upload graphs, pictures, or charts they created. This is a great opportunity for students to communicate with others while being creative. It is important for educators to remind our students of internet safety and how to use the technology the right way and respectfully.

Conclusion:

This was a very interesting chapter to read as it showed the connection between collaboration, communication, and technology use. Before reading the chapter, I thought about how I could tie these three factors into one. After reading the chapter, I learned about the different tools on the computer that are used to achieve this connection.  Students are able to be creative using different word processors and editing program on the computer. Communication and collaboration are possible using small-group learning using one computer and also individually using a class set of computers (like being in a computer lab).  This chapter also showed the difference between teacher-centered and student-centered approaches. The textbook and internet did not say one approach was better than the other. Personally, I would like to find a way to use both approaches. I want my students to have a say in their learning process and assessments.  I also believe that the teacher is the head of the classroom and should be in charge of instructing. 

Chapter 1: Becoming a 21st Century Teacher

3 Concepts from Chapter 1:

1) Today's Students and Technology
 iGeneration of Technology Users
-This is considered the group of students between the ages of eight and eighteen years old who have grown with the movement of technology.
I found this concept to be very true and interesting to read about. The textbook mentions (page 3) that before the late 1990's, kids from this age group did not know what it was like to have cell phones, text messaging, etc (Maloy, 2014). I was born in 1991 and have watched technology changed throughout my school years. It was (and still is) shocking to me now so I can only imagine how people in the generations before me feel. We are now living in a generation that is geared towards social media and social networking which can be extremely beneficial to future educators and students. We are lucky to have access to computers and handheld devices in school so that we may obtain information for our lessons but also to share interesting video and pictures with our students.



2) Technology and the Work of a Teacher
The textbook states (page 4), "Technology potentially transforms every learning activity", (Maloy, 2014). I found this statement to be extremely true. We can take everyday learning activities and enhance them by adding videos or having students use word processor to complete assignments. On page 6 in the textbook, there is a breakdown of the common technological tools used in the classrooms now-a-days. It discusses tablets, smartphones, and laptops and the ways they can be used in the classroom. There are a lot of people who find technology to be useful an not useful in the classroom. I think this page in the tetx would help those who do not agree with technology use to understand the benefits and advantage our students have to be using these.


3) Building Your Digital Identity as a Teacher
This concept refers to a teacher's personal talents and competencies with technology. Some of the ways that teachers can obtain their digital identity is by maintaining websites, creating digital presentations, and researching information and trends online, (Maloy, 2014). The textbook discusses three goals for aspiring teachers to create a digital identity. These goals are: Building a multimedia resume, learning resources and teaching tools, and modeling technology for students. All of these goals are important for teachers to keep up with the newest technologies and using them to enhance our teaching skills.


Conclusion -
In the end, we have been watching technology change for years. As educators, we will need to create a digital identity by becoming aware of the newest technologies, practicing the use of these devices, and coming up with ways to teach with them for our students.