Course Reflection

This semester presented me with great learning opportunities, thanks to the course IT 645: Computers in Education, taught by Dr. Shuyan Wang. I felt that nearly every aspect of the course challenged my growth as an educator, and I now am more equipped than before. I have become very passionate about the need for technology in elementary education and I hope to be instrumental in implementing a tech program for my campus, starting with my third grade class. Therefore, the tools I learned in IT 645 will be useful in the years to come.

The format of this course was very well organized and easy to understand. Using the blog to publish my work and reflections proved to be systematic and even fun! Because I have already created a blog for personal use, I was familiar with the procedure from the beginning. However, for those who did not have my background knowledge, the step-by-step instructions provided by the instructor were more than enough to guide a new user on how to begin. I felt that using the blog to post answers to text comprehension questions was a practical way to assess whether or not the material had been covered. However, when it came to commenting on a peer’s answer, I was dissatisfied. This is because my team of 3 that was created at the beginning of the course dwindled throughout the semester. One of my group members dropped the course at the beginning of the semester, and the other group member stopped uploading new posts after week 7. This worried me because I felt I would be penalized for not being able to comment on my group members’ blogs. Also, I missed out on reading the comments that my group members would have made on my own blog questions. After week 7, no one except for the instructor ever visited or read my posts.

I already started a blog in my third grade class after attending my first MECA two years ago. I use this blog primarily as an opportunity for the students to respond to text. For example, one week our reading story was about preserving the environment, so I posted the following question, “Think about one thing that you can do to help the Earth and your community. Post your answer in a comment to this question. Remember to use complete sentences, punctuation marks, and capital letters.” The students were required to type one or two sentences in response to the question. Since it is third grade, I had to use a couple days in the computer lab just to teach them how to open the Internet browser, find the class blog, and type a comment. Once they were familiar with the procedure, the students were anxious for me to post the next question. Imagine that! Students were “anxious” to answer a thinking question and all because they got to use a new form of technology. Because students were so thrilled to utilize the blog in their learning, I will continue to use it as an educational tool. Next year, I also plan to encourage my students to comment on each other’s posts. What a great tool in the classroom!

In this course, I only remember one threaded discussion in which each student posted the link to his or her blog once it was created at the beginning. In this case, the instructor chose to use a different approach to peer communication, which was through the blog. The use of both methods in one course would have been too much for me to manage. Thus, I agree with the instructor’s choice to utilize the blog in depth and not to use threaded discussions in Blackboard. In my third grade class, I do not plan on using threaded discussions, at least not in the near future. I should focus on incorporating a few new tools at a time.

Throughout this course, podcasts were occasionally added to weekly assignments. The podcasts were audio files of the instructor’s lectures. These podcasts elaborated on the text reading required for the course. For example, during week 2 I listened to a podcast called “Blogs in Education.” This podcast was intended to supplement the text in chapter one and went into more detail about blogs, or weblogs, explaining each feature of a blog. The reason podcasts are useful in education is that they are meaningful for auditory learners, or students who learn best by hearing the information that is being taught. However, not all learners learn best this way. While listening to the podcasts in IT 645, I tried to think of ways I could use podcasts in my third grade classroom, and this is one idea I had: I could record myself reading aloud the story of the week and add commentary that explains things throughout. Then, I could link my podcasts to the class blog so that they can listen to the story and commentary from home if the students have Internet access. This will greatly benefit the auditory learners in my classroom.
Other students learn best by seeing the new information; these students are called visual learners. To reach visual learners in IT 645, the instructor utilized several video clips throughout the weekly assignments. These videos were linked to the schedule page, which made it easy for me to access. These clips helped me to understand the topics that were in the assigned readings. For example, during week 3, the video clip entitled “Learning the Rules for Computer Use” showed two teachers talking about potential problems that they might experience during a lesson that utilizes computers. This clip gave more information on what to expect during the designing and planning stage of a technology lesson, which was the topic in the assigned reading for the week. In my own third grade classroom, I can use videos to demonstrate certain topics, especially science topics. For example, when learning about the life cycle of a butterfly, I could use a video clip that shows a chrysalis opening and the butterfly emerging. The students will get a first hand demonstration of a scientific concept.

As already mentioned, some students are auditory learners, and some are visual learners, but others are like me, hands-on learners. We learn best when we actually get involved and participate in our own learning. Therefore, the hands-on projects in this course were very meaningful to me. I understood more about digital storytelling because I was able to create one on my own. Otherwise, I would not have fully understood how digital storytelling can be utilized in my classroom. Now, I am encouraged to teach my third grade students how to tell a story using digital pictures and music. I am sure that my students will be thrilled to make an educational digital story.

In this class, my biggest strength was completing the hands-on projects. This was my first fully online course, and I truly enjoyed being able to work from deadline to deadline on my own time. I would have to say, though, that my biggest strength is also part of my biggest weakness: procrastination. Often I tend to procrastinate until the last minute to complete my assignments. In the future, I will definitely work to finish assignments ahead of time instead of right before the deadline.
In the future, I intend to continue and finish my Master’s of Science in Instructional Technology. As mentioned before, I also want to be instrumental in implementing a technology education program for the elementary school in my district. I will work towards these goals one step at a time, and will become a better educator in the process.

Blog Reflection Week Thirteen (Chapters Eleven and Twelve)

1. What are the legal, social, and ethical issues arising in the Digital Age? Summarize each.

With the rise of the Digital Age, various legal, social, and ethical problems have become an increasing concern. These are problems that cannot be covered up or ignored, especially for educators who have embraced the idea of using technology as an instructional strategy to supplement their curriculum. Those teachers (and even teachers who have not embraced this idea) must pay careful attention to all the issues that have arisen.

Legal problems include issues such as copyright and fair use laws, privacy, acceptable use, and software piracy. Many resources on the Internet are protected by copyright laws, but fair use guidelines allow teachers to use some copyrighted materials in face-to-face instruction. Therefore, it is important that a teacher is current with the legislation on such issues. Another very important legal issue is privacy. Teachers must respect a child’s right to privacy and have parental or guardian permission before exposing any personal work or information on the Internet. A third legal issue is acceptable use, meaning that it is the teacher’s responsibility to oversee the students’ activity on the computer to ensure that its use is both appropriate and safe. Filtering software supports the teacher and administration by monitoring acceptable use. A fourth legal issue is software piracy which refers to the illegal copying and distribution of software that was purchased for a single machine. In essence, software piracy is stealing and should not become a practice of a school or teacher.

The Digital Age has also given rise to social issues, also referred to as the digital divide. The digital divide, as explained in the text, is the gap between the technology “haves” and “have-nots.” This gap occurs across socioeconomic lines in which research shows that poorer households have limited access to technology information whereas higher earning households have greater access, thus giving these families an “upper hand” in the competitive Digital Age. The digital divide has also been related to gender, ethnic, and educational lines. Whatever the reason, the digital divide affects technology literacy in education. Thus it is important for educators to be aware of the gap and do what they can to bridge the gap for their students.

Furthermore, the Digital Age has given rise to ethical issues, such as freedom of speech. Not all information on the Internet is grounded in facts, rather much of the information is objectionable and opinionated. Other ethical issues include privacy and academic dishonesty.

These issues, though not all were birthed from the Digital Age, have definitely become more of a concern during the Digital Age. Therefore it is important that teachers and administrators are aware of these concerns and the resources available to them.

Blog Reflection Week Twelve (Story and Listserv)

This week, I found the digital story project fairly simple, but only because I learned how to use Windows Movie Maker last semester in another class. I chose to document an on-campus field trip in which my 3rd grade class participated last month. I enjoyed making the digital story and plan to show it to my students this week. I learned that Digital Storytelling is a great way to showcase what the students have learned and/or accomplished. In the future, I would like to try and see if my students can handle creating a short digital story of their own.

Creating the listserv wasn't as simple to me as the storytelling, because before now I have not had a gmail account. Signing up and following the tutorial was somewhat perplexing, because I was confused on what exactly the assignment was. I believe, however, that I was finally able to understand and complete the assignment. I can see how using Google groups can be a valuable means of communication between parents and students. And, for a school that is "going green" and finding ways to conserve and preserve natural resources, what a great way to decrease the amount of paper notes that are sent home! At the start of next school year, I plan to use Google groups as a way to keep parents informed of what's going on in the classroom.

View my Google group

View my story

Blog Reflection Week Eleven (Chapters Nine and Ten)

3. What is distance education? What types of support are critical to the success of distance education? Why?

When information and knowledge are communicated through technology venues across time and location, it is known as distance education. The key here is “distance,” meaning that the teacher and the student are separated by some space (whether time or location), and technology is used to “bridge the gap” as the text phrased it. In its early years, distance education referred to correspondence courses that were completed at home then mailed to the educational organization for grading. Little or no contact or communication occurred between the teacher and student or between the students. Distance education has since then evolved with each technological advancement (radio, television, telephones, personal computers, and Internet), and now this once learner-isolated system nearly mimics traditional classroom interaction.

Although distance education is more prevalent in professional and higher educational organizations, the concept is seeping to state and local schools as well. High school students are now able to select from a wider variety of courses by participating in distance education.

Distance education opens a vast door of academic possibilities, but such a system would be unsuccessful without certain considerations. Since students of distance education courses work at different times and locations, teachers must anticipate any and every problem that might arise so that she can design her instruction appropriately. Thus, a carefully designed instructional model is necessary for success.

Another consideration to ensure successful distance education is to prepare the students. The nature of distance education trusts that the learner is self-motivated to work independently of a physically present teacher. It also assumes that the student is well versed (or at least familiar with) the delivery and communication methods used by the teacher. If the students are not familiar with the distance education environment, it becomes necessary for the teacher to train the student in the technologies with which they will be expected to work.

A third consideration to ensure successful distance education is to anticipate anything and everything that might become an obstacle to the teaching and learning process. Anyone who has worked at length with technology can vouch that sometimes things do not go as planned. Therefore, it becomes necessary for the teacher to have a back-up plan.

Another thing to consider with distance education is how to provide proper feedback. Feedback refers to confirmation that a task is completed satisfactory and also to correction and constructive criticism. Because teachers are separated from their students, providing feedback can be a challenging feat.

The final consideration to ensure a successful distance education environment is to carefully construct the evaluation process. This is because the evaluation process in a traditional classroom is much different from that of a distance education environment.

Once these supports have been considered, the distance education model can be successful, and the teaching and learning process can thrive.