Digital Citizenship

 (Ribble & Bailey, p.12)

Mike S. Ribble and Gerald D. Bailey wrote "Digital Citizenship for Questions and Implementation"to explain what they have identified as the nine areas of digital citizenship that need to be addressed and incorporated into schools today. These categories include the topics of digital etiquette, communication, education, access, commerce, responsibility, rights, safety, and security (Ribble & Bailey, p. 13). Ribble and Bailey researched these areas extensively because they feel that "personal misuse and abuse of technology have reached epidemic proportions in school as well as in our daily lives" (Ribble & Bailey, p. 13). In order to bring up a technology-dependent generation to be responsible, ethical, and safe stewards of the resources that they have been given, teachers need to teach and also demonstrate in their own lives the concept of proper internet and technology use. By incorporating the nine areas of digital citizenship into school environments, assignments, and lessons, teachers can adequately prepare their students for the "real world" in which they must understand and responsibly use technology, treat others with respect, and protect themselves against the possible dangers that lurk on the internet.

I have learned a great deal about technology and digital citizenship this semester, and definitely plan on transferring my knowledge in this area to my students. Thanks to the projects that we have explored in 422, I am confident that I can "develop information literacy and technology skill curriculum materials matched to content standards" by assigning activities that will be completed using Voicethread, Glogster, and other related computer programs (Ribble & Bailey, p.14). However, there are two aspects of technology education that I had not yet considered: electronic commerce and digital security. This article explains that teaching proper electronic commerce practices goes farther than simply telling students that piracy is wrong. Students also need to have a good understanding of "[purchasing] goods with emphasis on privacy, identity theft, and credit card protection" (Ribble & Bailey, p.14).  This is a very valid point, and I would love to come up with a way to teach my students this concept through a class activity somehow. Perhaps I could design a simulation in which students could use play money to "purchase" items from other students throughout the class, but they would have to check the seller's credentials and make sure that their own information was protected by refusing to share too much personal information with the seller. Some students could secretly be "bad" sellers, and the class could see the damage done to those sellers' customers at the end of the activity. Once we all reconvened, I could show my class real e-commerce sites and point out what information to look for in a seller, what information to trust, and what information to stay away from. Then piggybacking on this idea of self-preservation on the internet, I could introduce the second concept of digital security that I previously mentioned. My students would learn about viruses that can be picked up on the internet, how to protect their computer from such viruses, and how to save and back up all of their files so that if their computer ever did crash, they would still have a copy of all of their information. I feel that these lessons in digital citizenship and security are invaluable and should definitely be taught to students in our technologically advanced world today.

This article was a great source for information on digital citizenship, and it shed light on a lot of very important issues in the world of technology. Ribble's and Bailey's nine categories of digital citizenship will become an absolute necessity in schools as our society continues to advance and become dependent on technology. Issues like etiquette and responsible communication on the internet seem to be rising as popular topics in the teaching community. These are definitely important issues, but we as teachers need to be aware of all of the issues that come with using technology. Teaching our students lesser-known skills like engaging in safe electronic commerce and being prepared to counter the devastating effects of viruses on computers will be tremendously helpful in their academic and personal lives. We need to help raise the coming generations in a way that will enable them to be successful citizens of a digital age.

Students who become fluent in proper digital practices due to the information in this article and the commerce activity that I would like to implement in my class will fulfill NETS-S #5: Digital Citizenship.

Ribble, M.S., & Bailey, G.D. (2004, October). Digital Citizenship for Questions and Implementation. United States & Canada. 
 

Bringing History To Life!

Maureen Brown Yoder's "Adventures in Electronic Constructivism" was written to give teachers a collection of great ideas for turning traditional curricula into fun and constructive projects! Yoder believes that the typical acquisition of knowledge in which students complete research projects by collecting a series of well-known facts about important people and then rephrasing those facts in their own words is boring, mundane, and has little impact on kids. Instead, students should be challenged to get a better over-all picture of who exactly these important people were and what they were like. For instance, in researching Socrates, some students discovered that he had a reputation for being a "smart aleck with a prickly personality" (Yoder, 2006, p. 27). This made studying Socrates much more interesting, and consequently resulted in a humorous and insightful student project! Yoder explains that "[discovering] the persona of accomplished figures in history can bring the individuals to life and remind us that they were human beings, like us, not just static characters described in black and white text" (Yoder, 2006, p. 25). Using WebQuest, teachers and students can participate in fun and exciting projects that demonstrate this concept. For instance, The aforementioned tidbit regarding Socrates' personality was discovered by a couple of students who had the assignment of conducting an "interview" with Socrates himself. They were to research Socrates, his personality, and some key facts about him, and then produce an interview in which Socrates was brought to life! "Socrates" answered questions in a sarcastic, humorous, and insightful way that allowed students to learn not only key facts, but also about the man himself. Furthermore, the students who produced the interview obtained valuable research skills, as well as video, audio, and picture editing skills that enabled them to create a nice presentation.

(Yoder, 2006, p. 26-27)

I found most of the ideas in this article to be very useful! In addition to the interview idea, Yoder also suggested doing projects such as creating a student panel of ten famous historical women, having "travelers to mars"give a recap of their "vacation" to the red planet, and having "George Washington" and "George Bush" correspond through email and other media to compare their leadership styles and give each other advice (Yoder, 2006, p. 25-27). I could definitely see myself introducing projects such as these to my students one day. Though for younger elementary students, I would adapt these ideas a bit. Fifth graders would probably do just fine with video interviews and with conducting deeper research on the internet; but for all other elementary students, I would replace video projects with in-class skits, and would provide them with the exact resources and websites that they should use to further explore their historical figures.

The constructive approach to teaching can be very beneficial to the learning experience because it allows students to have some fun while they expand their research skills and knowledge to greater depths than what would be acquired through some more traditional methods. Learning about Socrates, for instance, can be a lot more interesting and entertaining with the discovery and portrayal of Socrates' whole personality, rather than just some classic textbook facts about him. Teacher Maureen Brown Yoder recommends WebQuest as a good resource for completing constructive projects like the ones that she has done with her students. For more information, check out http://webquest.org/!

In conducting deeper research through these constructive projects, students fulfill NETS Standard #3: Research and Information Fluency. In completing interesting and informative projects by taking on the role of historical figures and bringing them to life, students meet NETS Standard #1: Creativity and Innovation, Standard #2: Communication and Collaboration, and Standard #6: Technology Operations and Concepts.

Yoder, M.B. (2006, September). Adventures in Electronic Constructivism. United States & Canada. 

Connecting to the World

This article highlighting teacher Shannon McClintock Miller was written to inform readers of the many cutting-edge teaching methods that Miller is using at Van Meter Community School in Iowa. Miller is the school's librarian and technology coordinator. She has used her experience and resources to develop new ideas for expanding learning not only outside of the classroom, but even outside of the state! Most impressive are her efforts to use Skype to allow students to communicate and collaborate with a variety of different people. Through Miller's Skype arrangements, students of all ages at Van Meter have been privileged with the opportunity to speak with peers in other states, and have even had guest speakers including authors, software designers, and other experts digitally come into their class! Miller also has a website that can be visited at https://sites.google.com/a/vmbulldogs.com/van-meter-secondary-library-voice/, and a blog that can be visited at http://vanmeterlibraryvoice.blogspot.com/. On her website, Miller has links to numerous resources including Web2.0 tools! On her blog, you can find student-made videos, Animoto videos detailing inter-state Skype sessions, links to activities like polling via Facebook, and lots of other great posts! Through these efforts and many more, Shannon Miller has changed and greatly improved the learning environment for her school and for a good number of other schools.

I really love the idea of connecting students to the world outside of the classroom! I have mentioned my desire to do so at other points throughout this semester, and think that using Skype is the perfect way to make it happen! Shannon Miller had two great ideas of allowing students to talk to other students who are out of state, and also giving students the opportunity to talk to professionals around the world. At this point in time, I do not know much about Skype but I am definitely interested in exploring it more, and wonder if there could be a way to combine the two ideas. It would be a really neat idea to have a three-way Skype session in which a professional could speak to classes in two different states, and everybody could interact with each other! For example, if I am teaching a series on ecosystems, I could arrange to have a scientist speak with my class, and also connect our session with a class in Colorado. This way, my Southern Californian students could bring something to the table with their knowledge of the ocean here, Colorado students could bring something to the table with their knowledge of the forests there, and the scientist could work with both classes to expand upon and clarify all of their ideas! This concept could also be beneficial to foreign language classes. Native English speakers learning Spanish could connect with Native Spanish speakers learning English, and a linguistics professional could moderate the session. Skype and other related programs have the ability to bring the world and all sorts of different people into the classroom!

Shannon Miller said it best herself: we as teachers want students "to be part of something bigger outside of the walls of their school and into the world. This is where every one of our students is going to make a difference" (Fingal, 2011, p. 1). Though we cannot always take our students out into the world, we can bring the world to them! Starting a blog, having a website, Skyping with professionals and other students; these are all fantastic ways to open up new doors to our students so that they may expand their education and life knowledge to resources outside of the classroom. This will help them both to hear others, and to be heard by others. So let's collaborate with the world around us to attain the richest and fullest education possible!

Miller's concepts connect students to each other, to peers in other states, and to professionals around the world. In doing so, they meet the NETS Standard #2: Communication and Collaboration.

Fingal, Diana. (2011, March/April). Member Profiles: Being the Change She Wants to See in the Schools. United States & Canada.

Filming Compassion!

"Filming Compassion" is an article written by two teachers in Ohio who wanted to share a great creative idea that involves using video cameras to both fulfill school requirements and contribute to society! Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy High School has a graduation requirement in place that calls for students to complete 120 hours of community service over the course of their four years. Video Production teachers Janet Bremer and Marilyn Clark came up with the idea of having students create a documentary or commercial for local charities and non-profit organizations. Students were assigned a partner and an organization, were given the necessary accommodations to complete the project, such as video cameras and transportation, and were then on their own to create their video. The sites they visited were instructed not to assist students in the actual filming and production end of things, but were encouraged to talk with students regarding what they would like to have filmed and addressed in the video. Students then conducted professional-style interviews with the employees and volunteers at their site, and filmed different aspects of the organization as they were led on a tour of the facilities. With the completion of their videos, students ended up with great video production skills, experiences, and projects, and the organizations were blessed with nice commercials and documentaries garnering support for their causes. In the end, teacher Janet Bremer was proud to say that "in addition to fulfilling some of their service learning requirements and acquiring new skills surrounding video production, students also learned about the day-to-day operation of nonprofit agencies. By the end of the grading period, students felt good not only about successfully completing the class and building their video production skills but also about having contributed a useful promotion tool to a worthy organization" (Bremer & Clark, 2005).

I love the fact that Janet Bremer and Marilyn Clark came up with a way to make students' work relevant, valuable, and applicable to society. This is a fantastic concept that could be applied to a variety of different causes. For instance, students could conduct, film, and edit a professional-style interview with a local politician. The finished product could be used as a campaign tool to raise awareness and support for the candidate's platform. In return, students would learn not only about video production, but also about the political system and their community. However, because ideas such as these involve giving a professional-looking video to important organizations and individuals, high school students should probably be the ones working on these projects. For the most part, middle and elementary school students may not yet have the same capacity as high school students to conduct themselves professionally and produce a serious, high-quality video. Since my goal is to be an elementary school teacher, I do no think I will be assigning any major video production projects such as these.

Janet Bremer and Marilyn Clark have created a very powerful learning opportunity for their students and for the community! Using video production to meet school requirements while also contributing to local organizations is a fantastic idea that should definitely be taken into consideration by high school teachers. Like the students of Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy High School, teenagers could and should be given the opportunity to use their school work to truly make a difference in society. Producing commercials, documentaries, and interviews for worthy organizations and individuals would greatly benefit everyone involved. As future teachers, let's keep in mind this concept of giving our students relevant, productive, and valuable assignments!

This video production assignment actually meets all six of the NETS standards! In working with each other, as well as with volunteers and employees, to research the needs of the organizations and figure out what needed to be incorporated into their videos to help meet those needs and bring awareness to the rest of the community, students met Standard #2: Communication and Collaboration, Standard #3: Research and Information Fluency, and Standard #4: Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making. In editing their material to produce original, creative, and high-quality videos that were appropriate for the organizations to use to show their public audiences, students met Standard #1: Creativity and Innovation, Standard #5: Digital Citizenship, and Standard #6: Technology Operations and Concepts.

Bremer, J., & Clark, M. (2005, April). Filming Compassion. United States & Canada.

"Scratch" That!

Students of MIT and UCLA conducted a study of the program, Scratch. They wanted to investigate Scratch's use as a tool in extracurricular computer explorations. For their case study, these researchers surveyed 536 projects and 30 children that belonged to the Computer Clubhouse after school program in South Central Los Angeles (Maloney, 2008, p. 1 & p.4). Scratch is a media-oriented computer programming application that enables users to easily create animated video clips and even simple interactive games using coding and programming concepts! The simple commands and programming threads that are available in this application embody the more complicated concepts of computer programming and coding that are essential to the creation of computer-based applications and projects. Many students at the Computer Clubhouse chose Scratch over all other applications that were available to them, and with it, created countless creative, innovative, and entertaining media projects (Maloney, 2008, p. 3). They received minimal help or oversight, yet still acquired an in-depth understanding of the program through their own explorations. Students liked the idea of expressing themselves creatively, and of being the creators of original and entertaining clips that their peers would enjoy. Despite having created intricate command threads for the animation of their pieces, when asked if they knew anything about computer programming, most students replied that they had no idea what computer programming even was (Maloney, 2008, p.4). This is a huge testament to the fact the Scratch has the ability to teach users complex computer programming concepts in a way that is so feasible and fun that users like exploring the program, and don't even realize that they're acquiring valuable skills at the same time!

The following is an example of what users are capable of creating with Scratch: http://info.scratch.mit.edu/node/163

As far as computer programming goes, I think that Scratch is a phenomenal application! However, I do feel like Scratch projects are too time-consuming to be a valuable asset to any subject matters other than computer science or computer explorations. For instance, we spent about a half hour in class creating a video clip of a hawk carrying away a bunny. Now as far as computer programming goes, I learned some great new concepts! However, had that really been an assignment for science class, I don't see the value in spending a half hour programming a scene to demonstrate the simple concept that hawks are higher up on the food chain than bunnies. With so much information in the required curriculum and standards for students, I feel that turning half-minute concepts into half-hour projects could prove to be extremely detrimental. Needless to say, I don't believe that I will be using Scratch as an integral part of my curriculum. I do, however, think that having one major project using Scratch at some point in the school year could be a good experience! For instance, I could introduce Scratch to my class, then give them two or three weeks to create a sort of animated book report! This could be a fun and valuable alternative to a typical essay-based book report.

As the students of this research report found, Scratch is a great new application that can teach valuable computer programming concepts in a way that's fun and accessible for its users! Children of the Computer Clubhouse after school program used Scratch to create their own games and video clips, without even realizing that they were really learning programming skills. What's more, most kids learned these skills with little to no help from their Computer Clubhouse mentors; they simply explored the program for themselves and were able to easily acquire some very valuable concepts! However, as a future classroom teacher, I don't believe that Scratch is appropriate for optimum multi-subject learning. While I may have my students use it once or twice for larger projects such as book reports, I think that Scratch is better suited for middle school and high school computer science classes.

Scratch fulfills three ISTE standards. The artistic aspect of designing animated characters and scenes meets Standard #1: Creativity and Innovation. The planning and management of each character's commands to create a fluid and coherent scene meets Standard #4: Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making. The general understanding and use of this intricate application meets Standard #6: Technology Operations and Concepts.

Maloney, J., Peppler, K., Kafai, Y. B., Resnick, M., & Rusk, N. (2008, March 15). Programming by Choice: Urban Youth Learning Programming with Scratch. Portland, Oregon, USA.

Understanding Digital Images

In his article, "Understanding Digital Images," J.V. Bolkan informs his readers of the technical aspects of photography so that they may make a wise selection in their choice of cameras, and therefore have low-cost, time-efficient, and great quality pictures of their classroom and students! He explains such technicalities such as pixels and megapixels, digital camera resolutions, printer dpi's (dots per inch), photo editing, and the difference between a film camera and a digital camera. Surprisingly, he makes the claim that "a $6 disposable 35 mm snapshot camera is capable of taking higher-quality pictures than the best $1,000 techno-wonder digital camera"! He goes on to explain that a digital camera's resolution could be more limiting than a film camera that uses chemical grains, rather than digital pixels. Bolkan also goes into great detail explaining how photo editing and picture resizing, if not done correctly, can really harm the quality of your pictures. This point is illustrated by the following two pictures....

 

 (Bolkan, pg. 2)

 (Bolkan, pg. 1)

These two images are both from the same picture. The first image is the original. Whatever camera took this picture clearly had a low resolution, because the image is very small. This is a problem because when the picture is enlarged (second image), it becomes grainy and loses its quality. For this reason, it is very important to research cameras before you buy them, keeping in mind what the main purpose for the camera will be. If you're on a tight budget and just want to take a few snapshots of the classroom here and there, you might consider purchasing a film camera or a lower-cost digital camera. However, if you plan to take pictures that you would like to crop, edit, enlarge, print and post on the internet, you could save a lot of time, effort, and money by buying a nicer digital camera that does all the work for you so that you don't have to toil over enhancing low-quality photos.

As a photographer and future teacher, I definitely plan on using a camera in the classroom. However, I definitely do not agree with Bolkan's notion that it would be better to purchase a film camera for this purpose. While film can be great for other occasions, I think it would be much more beneficial to have a digital camera when photographing students and school activities. Some major advantages to going digital are: immediate image display, capacity to take and store hundreds of pictures at a time, ability to delete unwanted images and not waste film on them, quick shutter speed for capturing kids in motion, quality files that can be edited on the computer, and any other fun features that may come with your digital camera such as color accent and self-timers. Canon makes excellent point and shoot digital cameras that last for a long time, take quality pictures, come with great insurance plans, and fall under the price range of the upper-end film cameras that Bolkan was suggesting! As a teacher who plans on doing lots of fun activities with my students, I will definitely be investing in a nice digital camera.

This article is definitely worth reading for a better understanding of how to select a camera and get the best quality out of your pictures. If you're a film person, you may be pleasantly surprised to learn that Bolkan has more faith in a low-cost chemical grain film camera than a low-cost digital pixel camera. However, if you have the budget for it, Bolkan explains that it may be worth your while to invest in a nicer digital camera that has great resolution and a lot of megapixels. In making this investment, you could save a lot of time and money in the long run, especially if you would like to manipulate, print, and post your pictures for your class to see. Regardless of all of the suggestions that this article makes, if you simply do your research and choose a camera that is a perfect fit for you, you should be pretty satisfied with your decision to bring a camera into the classroom!

With its in-depth look at the technicalities of film and digital cameras, as well as the various aspects of photo editing and printing, this article satisfies the ISTE requirements 6.A: Understand and use technology systems, and 6.B: Select and use applications effectively and productively.

Web 2.0: Today's Technologies, Tomorrow's Learning

In their article, Web 2.0: Today's Technologies, Tomorrow's Learning, Jennifer Groff and Jason Hass use examples of real teachers and their experiences to illustrate to their readers the value of modern technology in the classroom, and to attempt to persuade readers to consider exploring and implementing some of these new resources at hand. Groff and Hass are both researchers at MIT's Education Arcade, where they extensively look into new technologies and educational tools, and how to bring such tools into the learning experience for teachers and students. Throughout the article, they promote three key vehicles of technology that can be used for academic purposes: social networking, simulations, and digital games. Spotlighted in the area of simulations is middle school science teacher, Hal Scheintaub. Scheintaub favors an MIT-developed program called Starlogo: The Next Generation, which allows his students to experience phenomena that would otherwise be impossible to learn through a hands-on approach, such as evolution or forest fires.

(Groff & Hass, page 2)

One example of a digital game that I found particularly interesting is Ayiti: The Cost of Life. In this game, students start from scratch with a family on the island of "Ayiti." It is the student's job to help their family make choices in careers, housing, education, finances, and other aspects of life. Just like in "real life," the students are faced with certain financial restraints and other barriers that often times require that judgment calls and sacrificial decisions be made to ensure the general well-being of each member of the family. I think that this is a great way for children to develop their problem-solving skills, while being introduced to what the "real world" is really like and what they can expect to face when they start their own lives and families. Simulations and games such as these can provide students with a profoundly valuable learning experience, both for school and for life outside of school.

(Groff & Hass, page 3)

When I become a teacher, I would love to bring games, simulations, and activities such as these into the classroom. As I was reading about the simulations portion of this article, the first thing that came to mind as far as how I could take advantage of this kind of technology was the idea of doing virtual "dissections." From my own experience, I have seen the problems that arise when doing real-animal dissections in the classroom. Besides the standard complexities of having to get parent permission for the dissections, ordering numerous preserved frogs or other organisms, and trying to get students to overcome their aversion to the smell of formaldehyde and prodding around the inside of an organism, my science teacher also had to deal with the public and disruptive protests of a girl who refused to participate because she believed that dissections were a violation of animal rights. An easy way to avoid all of this and still provide students with an engaging biology lesson would be to use interactive simulations that would allow students to "dissect" and learn about an organism on the computer. Furthermore, each organ or part of what is being "dissected" may offer quick and easy facts when clicked on.

In this day and age, we are lucky enough to literally have the world at our fingertips. Why not take full advantage of that as teachers? Students could get so much more out of the learning experience if they had the opportunity to be engaged in social networking, virtual simulations, and digital gaming. As an elementary school teacher, I could use Club Penguin to create a social network for my class. Other grade levels could use Ning, which is comparable to Facebook. Interactive simulations and digital games such as Muzzy Lane's Making History or Diplomacy are excellent ways for students to learn about history, as well as problem-solving and conflict resolution techniques that can be applied to real issues in their own lives. These examples and more are ready and waiting to provide students with a top-notch and engaging education. It is our job as teachers to explore what is out there, collaborate with other teachers, reach out for additional technical support, and give our students the opportunity to use the amazing resources available to them so that they may attain the best education possible.

The social networking resources mentioned in this article allow students to collaborate with their classmates, as well as with their teacher to enhance their own learning and help enhance others' learning as well. This fulfills NETS standard #2: Communication and Collaboration. With their interactive activities that allow students to choose from numerous options, explore different cause and effect scenarios, and develop problem-solving strategies, simulations and games fulfill NETS standard #1: Creativity and Innovation, and standard #4: Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making.