I started my collection by searching for information on online safety and responsible use of technology.  The library is filled with computers and tablets, and we are encouraging and promoting the use of technology all the time.  If we are doing this, it is our responsibility to show students how to appropriately use the power of the web.  I came across the video above which teaches about cyberbullying for a Pink Shirt Day campaign.  It is well-made and powerful when I watch it.  Having said that, I have shown my class several videos like that one, as well as had presenters come in to teach about online behaviour.  They have had little to no effect on reducing the number of incidents related to misuse of phones or social media.  Perhaps it is too late to start at grade 7 and this needs to be taught starting right from kindergarten.

Cyberbullying: Empowering children and youth to be safe online and responsible digital citizens

I also found this BC resource on cyberbullying.  It contains lots of useful information about the cyberbullying including definitions, past failures and why we need to improve, possible ways to deal with the problem, criminal law, and much more.  I particularly connected with the section on monitoring and how it can only take us so far.  While monitoring can help in certain situations, it is far more desirable to enable youth to make responsible decisions on their own.

The picture above is a link to Kids on YouTube by Patricia G. Lange.  I wanted to explore this idea of digital publishing as I believe that my students’ biggest influences are YouTube stars.  How can I use digital publishing, video creation, and online media to help teach literacy to my students?  Lange conducted a two year ethnographic study on the early days of YouTube (2006 – 2008).  I only skimmed through the book, but from what I read, Langue focuses on digital literacies and addresses the question “Are kids learning anything by making so many videos?”  The book appears to have a lot of good information in it, but is written using a lot of fancy lingo which makes it a difficult read (at least for me).

The above picture is a link to an article containing lots of information regarding digital portfolios for students.  The article contains lots of links to other articles as well.  You can find what online portfolios are, how to use them, how to get started, things to consider when choosing a platform, pros and cons, and much more.  There are also links to examples of student portfolios as well as webtools teachers and students can use for portfolios, blogging, note taking, and digital learning.

Finally, this is a video with both teachers and students talking about the benefits of how utilizing online portfolios can better represent the students as a whole.  They also outline a process on how anyone can implement this process in their school as well and provide a link to all their lessons in a Google Drive folder.  The link is in the video description on YouTube but I have also provided the link below.

Google Drive folder with all resources

Works Cited

Fraser, Daniel. YouTube, YouTube, 9 Mar. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmQ8nM7b6XQ.

“Cyberbullying: Empowering Youth to Be Safe Online and Responsible Digital Citizens .” Representative for Children and Youth, Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of BC, Nov. 2015, www.llbc.leg.bc.ca/public/pubdocs/bcdocs2015_2/590454/1882.pdf.

Lange, Patricia G. “Kids on YouTube.” Taylor and Francis Group, Routledge, 17 Sept. 2016, www-taylorfrancis-com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/books/9781315425726.

“Thing 31: Digital Portfolios for Students.” Cool Tools for School, 16 Feb. 2017, cooltoolsforschool.wordpress.com/digital-student-portfolios/.

Digital Portfolios – The Whole Child, The Whole Story, YouTube, 20 May 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUsy2ORFqII.

I have always had a love for technology.  I love computers, phones, tablets, cameras, speakers, and gadgets of any kind.  My high school years were primarily spent in the electronics/engineering department tinkering, designing, and building.  This was where most of my learning took place and it is only in the last few years that I have realized this.  Back in high school, I thought I was goofing off.  Many of our projects were self-directed.  We could choose what to make as long as we cleared it with our teacher.  I thought I was somehow getting away with something when my teacher let me make a set of speakers for my stereo.  Turns out, he was conning me into thinking I was goofing off, but really I was learning how to design, prototype, and refine.  In the end, my classmates and I made all sorts of things from robots to an electric car.

Contrast the last situation to the time I took computer science in high school.  That was one of the most awful experiences I ever had in school, and I am someone who loves computers!  If you just looked at the content of the course, you would think I would be happy in the class.  We learned how to build websites, code, and even program games.  Why wasn’t I happy then?  It was the way in which the class was taught.  We had written tests all the time to check if we knew our coding.  Projects were dictated to us and we weren’t given any freedom to choose.  We weren’t really allowed to talk to each other and projects were always individual.  Looking back at my own education, I understand the value and impact of implementing technology into the classroom to support learning.  But simply including digital technology in the classroom isn’t enough.  It has to be made fun and meaningful.

While implementing digital technology is something that interests and excites me, it also scares me quite a bit.  The dangers and problems of online activity are very real, and I have had to deal with serious issues related to social media this year.  This seems to get worse every year.  The situations this year were serious enough to have police involved a few times.  Because of this, I digital literacy and online safety are two issues that I would like to look at more in-depth.

Digital publishing is another topic that would like to delve deeper into.  The ways of telling a story or narrative are no longer limited to books or writing.  Many of my students have poor written output but have creative imaginations.  I have found that using the iPad to record and create digital books has been a good way for these students to express their ideas.  Another reason I would like to look at this topic more is because to my students, the most famous people in the world are digital creators.  YouTube stars are way more influential to my students than any famous person in any other medium by far.

Finally, I want to look at webtools and online portfolios.  I already utilize several webtools during my day-to-day teaching with my students, but I am always looking for more.  Online portfolios are something that I am not that familiar with and would like to learn more about.  Specifically, I am looking to learn about apps that share student work, assessments, and provide feedback.  Our school currently keeps paper portfolios in the form of binders, but these are not easily shared and are a pain to keep updated.

The topics of interest that I have right now may evolve as the course moves forward, but as it stands right now, these are the topics that or ideas that I am interested in exploring.

Topics I am interested in exploring:

Digital literacy, online safety, digital publishing, critical literacy, webtools, online portfolios