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Module 3

Communication Tools: Reflection

The process of selecting communication tools has followed a relatively logical path that originated with my own inclinations and was supported by the relevant literature. I found the “benefits and drawbacks” charts within unit 2 of module 3 to be particularly insightful in confirming my choices. One of the constant issues swimming around in my head is the line (blurry line!) between using technology for the purpose of distance education and technology for the purpose of classroom integration. As MET is a meeting of students from the K-12, higher learning and business capacities, I think we often embark upon courses with our own perspective so ingrained that it is difficult to work outside this context. When I think about technological integration, LMS, communication tools etc. I think from my middle school context whereby distance education is not involved and my sole focus is to implement technology in a meaningful way where a face-to-face teacher will ultimately support my students. In building my LMS, I envision it to be used by students in the classroom in a more self-directed manner but also used at home in order to complete assignments, study etc. With a few tweaks my LMS could be used for an entirely distance capacity but in the context of my own teaching, this isn’t the purpose. That all being said, I wanted to use communication tools that were logical given that students would be seeing myself and each other in the classroom. A discussion forum made sense because it affords the opportunity for students to put thought into their responses and build off of the responses of others, ultimately creating a richer discussion than what would be had in class. Chat is also used so that students can get used to communicating synchronously outside of the classroom. Setting these tools up in Moodle was very straightforward, so straightforward that I can’t even think of anything to elaborate on! I did experiment with the different types of discussion forums and couldn’t really see that one would serve my purpose any more than the others. I stuck with “a single simple discussion” throughout because I like the way that the responses layer. Overall, this assignment was not very taxing in terms of using the technology and it was aided by the fact that I have finished writing all of the content for my site, so the discussions and chats fit into logical places.

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Module 2

Online Delivery Evaluation Rubric

Delivery Platform Evaluation Rubric (K-12)
Group 5 (Rachel Bronk, Marjorie Del Mundo, Erin Gillespie, Cathy Jung, Sarah Wood)

Scenario #5
You are Social Studies (“Socials”) teachers at Vancouver’s Little Flower Academy. One of your colleagues (Mrs. McGillivray) has been using a web page to distribute materials. A number of parents are unimpressed with how she’s doing it: they’re concerned about privacy and don’t think the design of the pages is very professional. To be fair, Mrs. McGillivray has been arguing that the school needs to adopt a “proper” LMS for these sorts of things.

STEP 1 – Objectives

LMS will:

  • have privacy protection.
  • have a professional appearance.
  • have video, audio and communication capabilities.
  • be available to purchase for a “small group” (LFA) fee if purchasing is necessary.
  • have support structures that are oriented for individuals not necessarily working with face to face IT support.
  • ease of use with regards to posting and retrieving materials for both site creator and users.

lms

STEP 3 – One paragraph articulation of why you included what you included, citing relevant literature.

Little Flower Academy (LFA) is an independent, all-girls Catholic high school in Vancouver consisting of approximately 460 students (LFABC, 2009). In creating our rubric, we relied heavily upon the Bates and Poole (2003) article, A Framework for Selecting and Using Technology, which outlined the SECTIONS framework. Each of the categories we have included in the rubric has a direct link to SECTIONS framework and relates to the potential needs of LFA. In this rubric, we considered essential issues for implementation of the Learning Management System (LMS) such as costs, technology, interactivity, ease of use for teachers, learners and parents, “look and feel”, administration, and functionality. For LFA, a professional looking site is desired but in the case of a LMS, professional does not necessarily go hand in hand with high cost. To ensure the needs of parents and students are met, technological support is also a considerable factor in deciding on a LMS. While LFA does not have a strong educational technology tradition, other teachers may want to buy into the LMS (not just Mrs. McGillivray) and therefore the issues of cost and support may change. We feel that by using SECTIONS as our guiding framework, we have also managed to meet the standards for educational technology outlined in the International Society for Technology in Education’s National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (2008).

Reference List

Bates, A.W. & Poole, G. (2003). Chapter 4: a Framework for Selecting and Using Technology. In           Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations for Success. (pp. 77-105). San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers.

Little Flower Academy. (n.d.). “About > School Profile”. Retrieved May 24, 2009 from http://www.lfabc.org/pageMain.php?navigate=abouSchoolProfile

The International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National educational technology standards and performance indicators for teachers. Retrieved May 24, 2009 from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_for_Teachers_2008.htm

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E-learning Toolkit

Toolkit: Social Software

Analysis and Reflection on Social Software


Facebook

Facebook is careful not to say that they own any of a user’s personal information or materials but they do state that a user grants Facebook non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable and royalty free licence to use IP content (video and images). They state that the user owns their content and information but that they have to control how Facebook shares it through privacy and application settings.

I would NOT use this with my students. I don’t see that Facebook can provide anything that I can’t find elsewhere in a more educational setting. I know that some teachers use Facebook in order to create a group and post homework assignments but I would rather put my students on an email group or give them read only access to a Google doc. I also think that there is a thin line with Facebook in regards to inappropriate access to communication between teachers and students. Students use Facebook to communicate how they wish with friends and to post personal photos. Teachers have the right do to this too without fear of their students viewing their personal information and images. That being said, I do have former students that have added me as a “Facebook friend”. I created a “friend list” for them whereby they can only see my basic information and they can’t see what my friend’s write on my wall or see any photos of me (the last thing I want my students and their parents seeing is a photo of me in a bikini drinking beer on a beach ☺).

I think that overall, Facebook does a fairly good job with their privacy options. They have many privacy settings that allow you to be as open as you want to viewers or virtually invisible. The only place where I take issue is the fact that they can use your images. I wouldn’t mind if they used a photo I posted of the Eiffel Tower but I wouldn’t be too pleased if the aforementioned picture of myself ended up somewhere other than where I posted it. That being said, I no longer upload images. I think that as long as users are aware of the terms of service, they can make informed decisions.

Delicious

Owned by Yahoo, Inc., Delicious states that user’s have the ability to mark their content as private or public but says that they are not responsible for how third parties access or use public content. Delicious allows a user to retrieve and/or remove posted content but does not guarantee this with regards to backup copies of said materials.

I would definitely use Delicious with my students. It is certainly an appropriate site and is great for teaching students how to organize research, categorize information and share links. Since no personal information is openly posted it is one of the safer social software to use with students.

I think that privacy issues are represented fairly. I don’t really see any areas that are lacking.

Flickr

Owned by Yahoo, Inc., Flickr is similar to Facebook in that by submitting content such as photos, audio or video, Flickr has the right to use, distribute, reproduce or modify the content via world wide, royalty free and non-exclusive license. They do acknowledge that Flickr does not claim ownership of this content.

Flickr is something that I would consider using with my students depending on what other resources I had access to. I wouldn’t see Flickr as a “must have” but I think that it is an appropriate site for students as long as the photos being posted were not of people.

I don’t like the fact that Flickr can use your content without permission. There is also a stipulation in the terms of service that allows Yahoo to disclose a user’s content information and content in order to comply with legal process, enforce the TOS, respond to claims that any content violates the rights of third-parties, respond to your requests for customer service or protect the rights, property, or personal safety of Yahoo!, its users and the public. These are such broad reasons that I think the disclosure of anyone’s information and content could be remotely justified which I see as a conflict with user’s privacy interests.

World of Warcraft

Owned by Blizzard, World of Warcraft expressly states that a user does not own his/her account and that that account is forever the property of Blizzard. Since user aren’t uploading content, there are no policies regarding it but there are very strict regulations about how to proceed in chat and what appropriate names for characters are.

I don’t think this is appropriate for my students (intermediate elementary aged) although I know that many teenagers play this game at home.

The privacy interests of members seem to be represented logically.

Overall Impressions

This assignment definitely had me on my toes with regards to processing the legalities of site usage. I wasn’t that surprised by the amount of control that these sites can wield over personal information and content but I was surprised that each site seemed to have a very generalized set of conditions whereby they could disclose a user’s information. I think there are a lot of great social sites out there but I have been operating with the policy that if I don’t want something to be public, I won’t post it on one of these sites. I think many people (read: kids) operate too freely with these sites, especially Facebook and MySpace without really understanding the terms of service. This assignment further validated the fact that I show my students how to change their privacy settings in Facebook and have a discussion with them about public access. As a teacher, I operate with the knowledge that my students use these sites and that all I can do is teach them how to use them safely and responsibly. I may be biased, but I think that educators should follow suit with this.

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Submitted Assignments

LMS Proposal

Note:  I don’t foresee having to submit a proposal in order to be able to use an LMS. Since I don’t have a permanent contract and have been working between 2 school districts, at this point I would use my own personal website to host my LMS. For the purpose of this assignment, I am assuming that a district would want a written proposal for the purpose of having Moodle installed on the district site.

LMS Proposal

As one of the goals of our school district is to increase the use of educational technology in the classroom, I am proposing that the district adopt a Learning Management System (LMS) that would meet the needs of students and many interested teachers. As per the ISTE’s 2008 Standards for Teachers, the ability to “design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments” is listed as one of the essential components with respect to the use of educational technology (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008). By using an online platform in order to deliver content, students will be able to enhance their learning experience both in terms of subject content and digital prowess.

I would like to propose Moodle for the LMS as it is the most logical platform both for students and teachers. As we are working in a K-12 environment in the public school setting, I first made a list of “must haves” that I took into consideration before recommending an LMS. My list was influenced by Bates and Poole (2003)  SECTIONS framework which was created in order to provide a framework for the selection of educational technology tools. In reviewing this framework, I considered “Ease of use”, “Students”, “Teaching and Learning”, “Interactivity”, “Organization” and “Cost” to be the most applicable with “Cost” ultimately being the decisive factor. I think applying the SECTIONS framework is essential in ensuring that the district adopts an LMS that will provide the best fit.

–    Free
–    Support must be available
–    Ability to upload documents (.pdf, .doc, .ppt), images (.jpg, .tiff) and multimedia (.mov, .mp3).
–    Discussion forum in order to support an interactive environment.
–    Ease of use for teacher and students – The chosen LMS should be relatively easy for teachers who are technological novices to learn and should be easy for students as young as 10 to navigate.
–    Organized – It must make sense… activities and assignments need to be located in a logical and obvious position.

After researching other LMS (WebCT/Vista and Sharepoint LMS), I have concluded that both of those would meet the needs of our district in every area except for cost. At this point an LMS is a new technology for the district to adopt and in the process of seeing how teachers and students use it, I propose that we adopt an open source system that does not have a price tag. The cost for this implementation with be nothing. The Moodle code is free and existing expenses in the district will cover the web hosting required. Support is a crucial issue when considering new educational technology, as evidenced when the district brought in SmartBoards last year. Technological support for teachers will not be instantly provided through a third party but there is a lot of great help guides and video tutorials on the web and the Moodle community is also very supportive. The District Technology Team could take it upon themselves to provide some after school inservice about getting started with Moodle and use the District Technology Sharepoint site as a forum for educators to ask each other support questions. I recognize that hosted support through an LMS is ideal, however, I think you will find that many teachers in the district are already familiar with Moodle and our district is very supportive when it comes to teachers helping teachers. Everyone using Moodle has had to rely on online tutorials and literature, therefore, these materials have been refined into very user friendly and easy to understand resources.

Several of Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education would also be supported, particularly the ability of Moodle to use active learning techniques. In my experience navigating through Moodle courses and starting to build my own Moodle course, I am confident that students will be thoroughly engaged through interaction with peers, navigating through content and links and producing their own content and ideas for others to see. The Moodle environment has all of the functions to support an active learning environment and this can be further achieved by applying Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) principles during the creation of course content.

I feel that Moodle is a great platform for the purpose of the district’s educational objectives and by installing Moodle, I think that both those experienced and starting out with educational technology will be able to provide their students with an active and progressive 21st century learning experience.

Please see the following links for more information:

–   Moodle as used by most of the teaching staff at Maple Ridge Secondary
–   Moodle’ official site
–   Moodle tutorials
–   ISTE’s Standards for Teachers 2008

Reference List:

Bates, A.W. & Poole, G. (2003). Chapter 4: a Framework for Selecting and Using Technology. In  Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations for Success. (pp. 77-105). San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers.

Chickering, A.W. and Gamson, Z.F. (1987).  Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education.  American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 39 (7), p. 3-7.

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers. Retrieved May 30, 2009, from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Sta    ndards/NETS_for_Teachers_2008.htm

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E-learning Toolkit

Toolkit: Synchronous Communication Tools

The toolkit activity didn’t necessarily expose me to anything new but it did, however, force me to think about what synchronous communication tool(s) I would use if I were running a course via LMS. I briefly explored Skype and Wimba and reflected on Elluminate – a synchronous communication tool available to BC teachers that I used very successfully to complete a group project in ETEC 510. I loved Elluminate because of all of its affordances – the way you could have audio, visual or both, the “whiteboard”, the web tour option which allowed one person to navigate the web while the group watched and many other features. The downside of Elluminate is that for a free account, the maximum number of participants is 3 people. The best part about Elluminate, from an assessment and accountability point of view, was that you could record your chat session and save it as an audio file. This worked well in the group setting as we had one session that a group member couldn’t make so we had our session and then sent the audio so that the missing member could listen and be quickly “on the same page”.

Wimba seems to be a good option for synchronous communication although I don’t think that it is free. I searched around on the web and I couldn’t tell how much it cost but assuming it costs money, I can’t see myself using it with students unless I was working in an environment that paid for WebCT/Vista with Wimba integration… not too likely in the K-12 world (yet). I logged into the Wimba site the was set up and everything looked relatively easy to navigate. I haven’t actually ever used Skype before so it was nice to do a little research on it. Many of my friends have been using it as a communication tool and I could really see myself using it with students in the K-12 setting. The fact that it is free is a huge factor and I also like that it is a “cool” site in the eyes of kids. I like the idea of taking a “cool” site and having students use it in an educational way (ie. Skype, Facebook etc.). I guess the biggest consideration would need to be access to the correct technology for students if I was going to include this as a “mandatory” activity. I know that my beloved MacBook Pro has everything built in but many computers don’t include microphones, video etc. I don’t see video as educationally necessary for my target students (middle school aged) so a Skype voice call seems the most appropriate, accessible and least distracting.

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E-learning Toolkit

Toolkit: Web Design and HTML authoring

This is an area that I feel moderately comfortable with having some experience with many of the skills mentioned in the toolkit. I have used both Dreamweaver and nVu in order to create an ePortfolio. This was a requirement at UBC during my B’Ed in 2006-2007 and I was hired as a “tech coach” to show my peers how to create a basic layout (or storyboard) for the ePortfolio and then translate that into either Dreamweaver or nVu. In my experience, they are both straightforward programs to use as long as you remember to “mirror” your basic page for formatting purposes. I think the challenge for me was uploading to the web using an FTP.

Regarding HTML, I was always a bit scared viewing the html source for a page and seeing an explosion of nonsensical characters. I just learning some html code this year because of the MET and because my ETEC 510 group was using Mediawiki. There are a lot of great html “cheat sheets” on the web which were helpful and I still use basic html for bolding, italicizing and underlining in MET discussion boards. I would not choose to write a site using html but I feel that given all that is available, that wouldn’t be necessary.

For this activity, I went through “Web Pages that Suck” and saw some sites that almost made me cross-eyed! I did find the checklist a bit daunting because it was so extensive and many of the items didn’t apply to my particular experience or needs. I have a current website and hosting for the purpose of having my own Mediawiki and because I thought I would need this for my ePortfolio (I am now going to use WordPress as my main shell and link to my own site). My site is www.pezonk.com. I feel that even though it is a basic site, it doesn’t “suck” largely due to the fact that I created it in iWeb which utilizes many of the considerations under “Design Questions” on the toolkit page. I would use iWeb in the future if I was required to make a website.

Much of this activity was simply review for me but I did like the guidelines laid out in “Design Questions” especially given the terrible, blinding “sites that suck” that I went through. I did learn something new and that was about cascading style sheets. I haven’t heard that term before and the resource provided was useful in explaining what they are.

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E-learning Toolkit

Toolkit: LMS (Moodle)

After getting my Moodle site set up I thought I would try the toolkit activity. Previously, I have read materials about Moodle and the functions that it is capable of performing but I have never used a Moodle site as a teacher or as a student.

Overall, my experience was more positive than negative. I was able to complete the activity in about 10 minutes and I felt that I learned some new things. However, I relied heavily on the instructions from the activity. I consider myself to be very self-directed when it comes to new technology. I can usually open a brand new program and figure it out with maybe only minor help from a “help” menu or instructions. This was the case for me in learning Mediawiki, Fetch (FTP), iWeb, iMovie, CMaps and more. My fear with Moodle is that without direct instruction I won’t know how to proceed with some of the functions. In creating a discussion forum, it was obvious to me that I would select “add an activity-forum”. The questions for me came when I got to the creation screen and there were all of these drop down menus with default settings. I wasn’t sure if I should keep the default setting or if I should change it. I see that I will potentially have difficulties in this area…. for example, I don’t know what “aggregate type” refers to nor did I make sense of any of the options in the drop down menu. I assume that with time, I will figure these out. After all, Moodle has probably just assigned names to things that I might normally know but not by a particular name. I do anticipate having to spend a great deal of time learning about all of these options before becoming comfortable with Moodle.

On the upside, the links to further resources were helpful and there is a lot of self-directed teaching about the functions of Moodle on the web, similar to learning Mediawiki.

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Submitted Assignments

Flight path

As a new teacher in a tough job market, I have worn many “hats” in an effort to get my foot in the door. My experience is limited in terms of duration, but plentiful in terms of learning. In three years, I have worked in an elementary gifted program, in an elementary social development program, as an elementary learning assistance teacher, as a special needs case manager, as a grade 4/5 classroom teacher and as a K-12 substitute. I am taking the MET because I am a “techie” and I want to be on the front lines of integrating technology into education. My goals for ETEC 565 are quite simple. I want to learn about how to select appropriate learning technologies and how to use technology as part of communication and assessment within the classroom.

LMS
I want to learn about how to use an LMS like Moodle effectively with intermediate elementary students. I hope to learn how a LMS can be a tool for creating independence among learners and as a tool for organizing students.

Synchronous communication
As far a communication goes in the evolving field of educational technology, asynchronous communication has taken precedence. Now that mainstream technology has made synchronous communication more available (ie. Cameras, speakers and microphones are built in to most newer computers/laptops), I am curious to see how it is integrated into online learning. I have used Elluminate (for an ETEC 510 project) and Vista chat already. I am confident that I can master the use of synchronous communication tools by simply being told about the options available! Synchronous communication would be very much supported by both Chickering and Gamson and Bates and Poole as it allows for prompt feedback, encourages interaction between faculty and student as well as reciprocity between students and allows for a level of (I)nteractivity that is second only to face to face communication.

Assessment
I would like to learn about the most effective options for assessment that would provide prompt feedback to students.  Chickering and Gamson’s “Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education” (1987) lists prompt feedback as one of its practices and I think this can be better achieved by using an LMS to submit assignments, direct email between students and instructors and delivering practice quizzes with automatic assessment.

Social software
Keeping the Bates and Poole (2003) SECTIONS framework in mind, I wonder if social software can be a way to meet the interests of the age group of students that I am teaching. I hope that ETEC 565 can guide me in using social software in such a way that it appeals to my students and has them associating social software with meeting their academic needs rather than just solely for pleasure purposes.

Multimedia
For me, multimedia tools resonate with Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) principle of “respect[ing] diverse talents and ways of learning”. There are many ways to incorporate multimedia into teaching and learning and I hope to learn how to embed these activities within a site.

References
Bates, A.W. & Poole, G. (2003). Chapter 4: a Framework for Selecting and Using Technology. In Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations for Success. (pp. 77-105). San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers.

Chickering, A.W. and Gamson, Z.F. (1987).  Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education.  American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 39 (7), p. 3-7.

Categories
Module 1

Applying the "Seven Principles…" framework

I like both of these frameworks and can really visualize their application. ETEC 510 had me apply the SECTIONS framework, which I find a little more complex to apply, so here I will focus on two of the “Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education” which resonated the most with my own teaching practice.

Uses active learning techniques

In reading this section, I was reminded of the style of learning that was prevalent throughout my own elementary and secondary education. There was a heavy focus on reading (novels, texts, articles) and then spending hours answering comprehension questions and the odd critical thinking question. I became (like many) a pro at memorizing and regurgitating but not as adept at putting my knowledge into practice. I attribute this largely to the lack of active learning techniques. In my own teaching practice, I tend to look at what I am teaching and try to limit the as much as possible the amount of that kind of “seatwork”. In working with intermediate students, I have to keep their attention and interest (especially because I am the only teacher they are with all day). In doing group work, I ensure that all students are accountable and can’t just zone out by using self and group evaluations as well as specific individual tasks within the group setting. I will set up stations during certain subjects/themes and get students involved in their own learning rather than just learning from the sound of my voice.  In utilizing the principles of project based learning, students will create artifacts/exhibits for science/social studies/language arts projects that demonstrate and understanding of what they know through tangible displays rather than just through their writing. If a video is shown, critical thinking questions are asked; on field trips, students are required to collect information/artifacts in order to review the trip.

Respects diverse talents and ways of learning

In differentiating instruction for my students, I respect the fact that they are unique individuals with varying learning styles as well as individuals who possess different strengths and weaknesses.  I had a very diverse grade 4/5 class that had me making many adaptations to materials for accommodate learning styles.  When I was teaching I would, as much as possible, provide visuals to accompany written and verbal information. Working with students with autism spectrum disorder has certainly helped me understand the importance of visual learning for many students, with or without autism. I try to adhere to Bruner’s stages of representation when teaching by having enactive representation (action/”doing”-based), iconic representation (image-based), and symbolic representation (language-based). With summative projects and assignments, I give students the choice in delivery (ie. Podcast, portfolio, PowerPoint presentation, poster etc) because I know that students have preferences based on what they feel they are the most successful with. That isn’t to say there aren’t things I have everyone do, but most of the time, I do allow for that choice. I also “subscribe” to self-regulated learning (“SRL”) whereby the parameters of the classroom are defined as the ability of the teacher to incorporate complex tasks, self-assessment and give students choice with respect to their learning. Teachers that subscribe to an SRL environment also recognize that students will all learn at a different pace and therefore there is no pressure to assume that all learners will complete all of the same tasks at the same rate. I think that SRL is respectful of diverse ways of learning in a fashion similar to that of the Montessori philosophy.

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Module 1

Digital-Age Teaching Professionals


Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity?
and
Design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments?

I try to deliver subjects in the most exciting and relevant way possible. Technology has played a large role in this and by introducing Comic Life, Garageband, iMovie and podcasting to my students I have been able to inspire a level of creativity that I don’t know if I would have seen without the aid of technology. For instance, when doing reader’s theatre in grade 4/5 language arts, I had the students divide into groups with scripts based on a genre (ie. mystery, comedy etc.) and then create a podcast out of the script. In using the podcast as a vehicle for reader’s theatre, I allowed my students the opportunity to demonstrate their best oral language skills and their creative skills when selecting background music. This assignment was great for student learning because many elements were being targeted at once and those learners that may have been timid in standing up to read were much less inhibited when recording a podcast track. Additionally, students were able to add their podcast to their ePortfolio as a lasting display of their competency.

Model digital-age work and learning?

In wanting to encourage my students to use their computers for more than just playing games at home, I started a class webpage that served several purposes. A weekly blog communicated accomplishments and upcoming events to parents while categorized links provided homework helping aids, extension activities and educational resources to students. Additionally, assignments were posted in .doc or pdf files so that students and parents could access them at home.

Promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility?

This is definitely an area where there is a vast range of current practice and few “checks and balances”. In working with grade 4 and 5 students who have just discovered social networking sites (ie. Facebook and Twitter), I actually took the time to engage my students in a dialogue about safety when using these sites. I think that many students simply do not realize that status updates, photos, video etc. are public and can be used in ways that were not intended. I taught my students how to make their Facebook profiles restricted such that only their “friends” could view what they were posting.

I have also taken the time to teach students how to cite the source for the images that they take via google images for various projects.

Engage in professional growth and leadership?

Completing my MET certainly counts as professional growth but more importantly I do “impart my wisdom” on other teachers where it is warranted. I have to constantly remind myself that the technology that I deem “basic” – tools such as email, word processing, social bookmarking, etc. – is often akin to a foreign language to others. I try and show other teachers how to use these tools and make suggestions about technology that they can use to enhance the teaching and learning experience in their classrooms. Even though I consider myself very “techie”, I still take as many professional development opportunities as I can that relate to technology. Recent sessions include podcasting, SmartBoard technology and an assistive technology workshop.

We would also like you to reflect upon how you might inform your own learning goals in ETEC 565, in light of the competencies listed in the NETS.  How can ETEC 565 help you to become a digital-age teaching professional?  What are the key skills and approaches that you feel you need to develop to meet your goals? Look at the course schedule and the range of topics we’ll be exploring together and think about what areas are most important to your own goals in becoming a digital-age teaching professional.

I have several loosely defined goals that act as an umbrella for my MET courses. I think that ETEC 565 can be the most versatile course in terms of framing my different goals and enhancing my abilities as a digital-age teaching professional. I would like to :

–    develop my skills in using LMS technology so that I can confidently incorporate a centralized, digital course container rather than just importing technology into various assignments.
–    explore options for using technology as an assessment tool.
–    explore ways in which technology can be used as an organizational tool – both for students and teachers.
–    develop my skills in using collaborative learning tools within the classroom setting.
If I had to pick one higher level category from NETS to be my area of focus, I would choose “design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments”. By virtue of the title, this is an area that will certainly never be mastered as technology and the definition of “digital-age learning” will constantly be changing. I am hopeful that ETEC 565 can provide me with practical learning experiences that will make it more natural for me to design technological learning experiences for my students and additionally provide me with a better ideas about how to use technology as an assessment tool.

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