Weekly Report & Reflection Blog Post #11

Wow, I can’t believe this course is coming to an end.  I must say, it was a great reminder on the wealth of tools I already have in my PLE, not to mention some of the new ones I have added through my learning journey of this course. 

Datoo, S. (cc2013)

Given the remarkable extent to which technology has transformed our lives, bringing a vast new world of information resources into our homes, classrooms, libraries, and offices, it seems clear that among the most essential ingredients of success today is the ability to learn, communicate, evaluate, and manage all forms of information.  It is imperative for people to know how to absorb, analyze, integrate, create and effectively convey information—and who know how to use information to add meaning and real value.   

This week we explored podcasts and screencasts, all of which are great for creatively sharing information.  In the classroom, they can be used to create a series of tutorials to demonstrate complex concepts or reinforce learning.  Text can be pretty boring, however, creating podcasts and screencasts are not only fun for the creator, but learners seem to be more engaged.   One of the biggest advantages I find is that it allows for mobile learning.   Students can view and listen to them on their mobile devices such as tablets, iPads, and their smartphones, which can lead to a productive bus or train ride home!

Digital literacy skills are a must and significantly important to work and learn in our information society today.  The consequences of lacking skills in this domain could have potentially numerous negative implications, not just for individuals but for society as a whole.  In the higher education context, students who lack digital literacy skills cannot benefit fully from learning opportunities either in the classroom or beyond.  No matter what field one is studying, success depends on one’s ability to organize the information once it has been amassed, to assimilate it, and in the end, find meaning in it.  Thus, for example, students who lack basic digital literacy skills are likely to be ineffective or inefficient in their attempts to conduct research using the Internet because they lack an understanding of effective search strategies; they may also have difficulty analyzing and interpreting the information they gather (e.g., judging the credibility of a source, or comparing various sources of information). Further, they may be unable to communicate their ideas effectively using technology, such as organizing data in a graph or composing their findings in a research paper with graphic enhancements and exhibits. 

Many of the technologies we depend on today will soon become obsolete, and new ones will replace them. It is therefore imperative that we, as educators, help our students develop the skills that will allow them to reap the benefits of any technology as well as understand their responsibilities of being digital citizens.

I had a hard time adding the CC License to the header and footer, so I have included this below.

Shaila's Digital Footprint by Shaila Datoo is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Weekly Report & Reflection Blog Post #10

Presentation tools are a great way to grab the attention of your audience.  They allow us to create dynamic presentations by adding visually appealing images, music, font styles, videos, and animations.  They can be a lot of fun or cause a lot of frustration.  What I mean by frustration, is that we are given so many options (which is not a bad thing), where we can waste a lot of time just on changing colours and themes! But I guess, this is something I do to myself! :D

When I looked back at my PLE, I couldn't believe that I didn't even think to add presentation tools that I have been using for quite some time now.  They allow us to bring together and share our knowledge, insight, experience, and research in a dynamic way by allowing us to incorporate images, video, and audio/music to complement our text.  I have updated my PLE and have included some presentation tools that I will continue to use.

Datoo, S. (cc2013)

Preparing Our Students for Web 3.0, is an article from my Feedly Reader.  It addresses a culture of online collaboration, sharing, and co-creation of knowledge and makes us, as educators, reflect on how we are preparing our students to work and learn in this culture.  As digital citizens, we need to be careful with the images and information we download and attribute them appropriately.  There are many people who continue to share their knowledge and work and we should not abuse our rights and responsibilities as digital citizens and ensure our students don't either.

This course on Digital Citizenship (ADED1P32, Brock University), should not be an elective; in fact it should be a requirement at all educational institutions for graduation.  A course like this can definitely prepare our students for Web 3.0 and instill values and ethics of being a good digital citizen; one who understands copyright and fair dealings, one who respects others online; one who uses technology appropriately; one who reports unlawful and unethical use of technology; and one who is willing to share knowledge, learn from others, and create communities of practice.

Technology Use Scenario

Scenario

"Jamie has persuaded her parents to let her talk to her friends in an online chat room.  Many of the people in the chat room are Jamie’s friends, but there are some people she does not know.  For several days, she has noticed on of these individuals talking to some of her friends.  Now, this person is starting to ask Jamie about herself and what she looks like.  Jamie becomes uncomfortable and logs off the chat room.  Later that evening, she talks to her parents and mentions the person in the chat room and how it made her feel" (Ribble, 2011, p. 93).

First and foremost I would like to commend Jamie on speaking to her parents about her experience in the chat room.  To her defense, Jamie is not using the online chat room inappropriately; she is simply connecting with her friends.  “Often issues arise from unforeseen and unintended uses of the new technology” (Ribble, 2011, p. 32).  Perhaps Jamie’s personality and profile attracted the “internet creeper”.  Instead of letting Jamie enter into the chat room, it would have been ideal if the parents understood how she could protect herself and raise awareness of digital security and the possibility of interacting with online predators.  Below is a video worth watching on how we can protect our loved ones.

Ribble, Mike. (2011). Digital Citizenship in Schools, 2nd Edition. International Society for Technology in Education.

Weekly Report & Reflection Blog Post #8

This week I successfully completed a group presentation with my peers using Google presentation.  It is amazing how easy it was to connect and collaborate with my peers without having to physically get together or communicate via phone.  The technology we have access to today, have truly addressed the many challenges of having to do group work, such as conflicting schedules, managing various emails, not to mention various versions of documents, etc.  Tools like Today’s Meet, Google Hangouts, Google Docs, and Wikis makes communicating and collaborating convenient and improves efficiency.  I came across this Education 1.0 vs. Education 2.0 vs. Education 3.0 article in my Feedly reader that illustrates how much education has changed the way students learn and educators teach.

I have to say I really enjoy the work that I do.  I get to play all day with various tools that contribute to enhancing teaching and learning.  Integrated into our Learning Management System is a Wiki tool that allows instructors to create wikis for individual assignments or collaborative projects.  Wiki assignments can be used to build knowledge bases, write papers, synthesize research, and present information in an organized manner.  Both instructors and students alike have access to using a graphical text editor that enables them to enter text, insert images, create hyperlinks, embed video, and create tables.  If granted the right permissions, students in groups can work collaboratively and can edit each others work.  The wiki also has the capacity to retain version history that show how the wiki has evolved over time and allow students to revert to previous versions.  Instructors can assess student contributions; the activity summary page provides insight as to who has contributed to the wiki assignment and instructors can drill down to a particular student’s level of involvement as well.  Additionally, when using wikis, instructors always stress the importance of maintaining academic integrity, respect, and inclusion.  Sounds like students are learning about the rights and responsibilities of being a digital citizen.

Here is a diagram I put together when reflecting upon what it means to have rights and responsibilities as digital citizens. 

Datoo, S. (cc2013)

We all have rights and responsibilities as citizens of a country, and now more so than ever, as global citizens.  Similarly the same can be said about being digital citizens.  It is important as educators to teach our students these rights and responsibilities.  We all have the right to access information, share our knowledge and experiences with the world, and the right to be protected against identity theft, piracy, copyright infringements, and security breaches.  We also have responsibilities to use technology appropriately and should report cyberbullying, spam, plagiarism, and any activity that are deemed to be unethical, if we want to create a safe digital environment.

Weekly Report & Reflection Blog Post #7

Technology is increasingly changing and enhancing the workplace and the learning environment; transforming today’s methodologies and analogies replacing them with new and efficient ways to connect, interact, learn with and from each other.  The skills obtained from digital literacy programs within educational environments, are finding themselves in the working world by the very students who were trained to master them. 

I have been using Google Docs for sometime now as it is a convenient way to collaborate on presentations and documents with my colleagues in real time and across distances.  Additionally, it provides the flexibility to easily store and access files on the “cloud” to eliminate the need to carry around USB keys, have compatibility issues with various versions, or the need to have MS Office installed on any device I decide to use, such as my smartphone or iPad.  Of course, I would need to ensure that I would have access to the Internet in order to retrieve my files on the “cloud”. 

In this course, we were asked to use Google Docs to collaborate on our group presentations and Today’s Meet to brainstorm ideas.  The ability to share documents and ideas in real-time with my peers on a shared cloud allows for seamless collaboration, editing capabilities, brainstorming fluidity and much more. 

Socially integrated web applications have already started to break ground in educational environments.  The inclusion of tools such as Google Docs into modern-day classrooms have the potential to facilitate collaboration amongst students, break time barriers, login with various mediums without the need of specific software, and log time contribution.  It also allows for one-on-one, teacher-to- student time, giving professors the ability to login, find active or inactive students to help monitor their progress and provide formative feedback, regardless of time.  In fact, from my Feedly Reader, I came across an article that talks about a tool that allows educators to leave voice comments on Google documents.  Google Docs can also be used to permit class wide access to all student projects, but limiting editing access within student groups.  Not only does this allow for continued out of class learning experience, but instills a best practice environment and culture –where students are able see and match the work of others or exceed expectations as group projects may become competitive in nature thus raising the bar.

In the past, access to technology was limited, expensive and complicated.  The future has many promising innovations and technologies that are going to make it easier to access, analyze, share and contribute information in our digital society.   New applications are constantly being developed; we are fortunate to have many independent open source developers (most of whom are students themselves) to ensure widespread use and affordability.

Weekly Report & Reflection blog post # 6

In this week’s session, we explored Evernote.  I have been a strong advocate for using this tool, as you are able to type notes, store documents, record audio, and capture images from multiple devices.  Speaking of devices, I have the Evernote app on my mobile device, a windows desktop version, and I am able to easily access my digital “filing cabinet” from anywhere using a browser.  I believe this is the strength of using Evernote; I am able to use any of my devices to capture my thoughts, add resources I have come across from Twitter, Pinterest, Feedly, or simply browsing on the Internet.  The best part of it all is that no matter what device I use, Evernote has the ability to synchronize my activity. 

There is a wealth of information online and it requires us to filter through it all.  Online bookmarking tools provide us with ways to organize, search, and synthesize the topics of interests to us.  Using online bookmarking allows me to stay on top of my professional field and the information I gather can be easily shared amongst my team.  Learning for me is a social activity; being able to collaborate with my colleagues digitally brings a lot of great discussion into our team meetings.

Social media provides us with a platform to create PLE’s where we are able to get inspired, share knowledge, engage in critical reflection, and curate content that allows us to develop personally and professionally.  The development of digital literacy allows us to work towards becoming good citizens in a digital realm.  Advancements in technology are making its way into the workplace.  As educators, we should be incorporating these technologies into teaching and learning to prepare our learners to use these technologies appropriately; in meaningful and respectful ways. 

So the question remains, how do we teach our leaners about digital citizenship where ethical use manifests itself when engaging in digital activities?  My recommendation to all educators would be to integrate technology into their practice and model netiquette rather than being submissive to digital exclusion.  The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework is a helpful guide that addresses the effective integration of technology into teaching and learning and resonated with me from my Feedly Reader.  Below is a little snippet about the framework:

We have to keep in mind that it is not about the technology we use; it is how we use technology efficiently and appropriately to create effective PLE’s.  To promote digital rights and responsibility, as educators we need to become more digital literate.  The more we learn about the advancements in technology and the more we use it, can help us understand and shed some light on the potential for teaching and learning as well as personal and professional development; then only can we steer our learners in becoming digital citizens. 

Weekly Report & Reflection blog post #5

 

Week 5 has been a lot of fun especially because I was able to use tools within my PLE to engage in my learning for this course.  I have been using Twitter for a short while now and I also have the mobile app, which is a great way of staying connected.   People use it for various purposes, but it appears to have many benefits for education.  50 Plus Tips on How To Use Twitter in Your, a blog post I came across in my Feedly reader, shares several ways in which Twitter can be used in the classroom.  

http://siliconangle.com/files/2012/03/Using-Twitter-for-business-282x300.jpgn

It was great that our Professor created a hashtag for us to tweet ideas, insights, links and basically anything we have learned and experienced in this course to share with our peers. The important thing to note when using Twitter or any other social media tool for that matter, is that we are all digital citizens; we need to respect others' time and share something that's going to be value to them.    

I am a strong believer in collaborative and social learning; knowledge grows when it is shared with others.  It does not stop to amaze me how much information is on the web, and the rate at which information is being generated.  There is so much to filter from when having to do my own research.  The value I have found by using Twitter is that I have learned a great deal from the people I follow as they have shared some valuable resources that have influenced my work.

Twitter has come to play a unique role in my PLE/PLN as it has become a platform for my professional development.  I have access to the collective knowledge of my PLN.  Additionally, due to the fact that Twitter is an open and public space, it creates opportunities for others outside of my PLN to actively make insightful contributions.

Tool integration, what a great concept! I have just learned that we can “save our favorite” tweets to Diigo, a social bookmarking tool we learned about last week where we can highlight and annotate digital resources.  In the educational context, this can be very beneficial for both students and educators when engaging in research.  In addition to individually researching scholarly articles, we could be “tweeted” valuable information that could influence the purpose of our research.   These resources, if saved as a favorite on Twitter, can then be automatically bookmarked to our Diigo accounts.

I am looking forward to exploring more tools in the weeks to follow.  My initial concern about using various social media tools was “how do I manage it all”?  Thanks to Hootsuite, I will have a dashboard to manage my social media networks!

 

Weekly Report & Reflection blog post #4

This week we have been exploring social bookmarking and content curation tools, which I believe, are great tools that allow us to sift through and reflect on topics that are of interest to us personally and professionally.   

As educators, we have always been curators of content.  We have read books, publications, and news on current events to collect information and organize it so that we can present it to our students in meaningful ways.  Content curation is a great “method to help you stay informed about your field and be more effective at your job” (Kantor, 2011).  

I had heard about Diigo, but had never used it.  I can definitely see some benefits for teaching and learning.  Not only is the tool great for gathering information about a specific topic, but you can annotate and add sticky notes, which can then be shared for group work purposes, in classrooms, and/or amongst your social communities.  Now that I have found value in using Diigo, I can add it to my personal learning environment: 

I was introduced to Scoop.it about 6 months ago and it is a great content curation tool and I can also access it via my mobile app.  What’s valuable about Scoop.it is that it provides you with a list of relevant information about a specific topic of interest.  It is up to “me”, to sift through the resources and “scoop” or identify valuable information.  When using curation tools, it is important to not only find quality in the information we find, but to make constructive contributions and add value that can be shared with others.  “Aha”, this constitutes being a valuable digital citizen.  “Content curation and content creation aren't competitive… Curate or create content, but get correlated to the topical content of your industry and meet the quality standards to become fit enough to survive the evolving World Wide Web” (Ahuja, 2012).

There are many tools that can be explored to help us find relevant information on our topics of interest.  I came across the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2013 in my Feedly news reader, which I would like to share.  I believe when exploring social bookmarking and curation tools, it enables us to enrich our use of technology, as well as our critical thinking and reflective practice skills to allow us to transform personally and professionally.  

As digital citizens, it is important for us to contribute valuable information to the “World Wide Web” and use technology effectively and appropriately that will allow us to live in a digital society that promotes learning, social interaction, laughter (entertainment), and innovation.  

Ahuja, B. (2012, October). If you can't be a creator, then be a curator. Retrieved fromhttp://searchenginewatch.com/article/2221068/If-You-Cant-Be-a-Creator-Then-Be-a-Curator

Kantor, B. (2011, October). Content Curation Primer. Retrieved fromhttp://www.bethkanter.org/content-curation-101/

Weekly Report & Reflection Post #3

Content curation is the act of collecting and presenting digital content for specific topics.  In my personal learning environment, I had included Feedly, my news aggregator, in my Curation Tools category.

With the plethora of information on the web, I’m not sure of how anyone can manage the wealth of information that would help them keep up-to-date with their topics of interest.  With the shift to digital information, content curation tools, whether it be Pinterest, Feedly, or ScoopIt is almost a necessity.  I believe it is important to use such tools especially in the workplace to keep abreast of what is happening in our professional fields.  But it is not all about consuming the information; it is important for us to be able to critically reflect, individually or collaboratively, on information in order to make sound judgments and/or implement change.

In my workplace, information is stored in many places depending on the department we belong to.  A lot of non-formal and informal learning takes place in my organization and I’m sure in all organizations.  Additionally, people begin to develop their personal learning networks.  Wouldn’t it be great if people would share their knowledge, experiences and best practices and curate it for others to tap into and explore?

Additionally, I believe that it is important for students to develop skills in content curation.  For example, there are many ways in which RSS feeds can be used in the classroom.  One example I can refer to is how our Professor has used a reader to create a collection of all our Weblogs.  Another example of how RSS feeds can be used is to keep students and educators up-to-date in their fields by using an aggregator to collect current news items or innovations in their fields.

Content curation has really changed the way in which we consume information on the web or even how we interact with information that can be made readily available on our mobile devices.  There are a multitude of benefits in using RSS feeds for both students and educators that range from passively consuming content, to collaborating with others in our personal learning networks (PLN’s), to influencing innovation in our fields and contributing towards our professional and personal fulfillment.  

News aggregators and other forms of content curation are essential for everyone today especially as lifelong learning has become the norm in any field.  The more we become self-directed in our learning, the more important it will become to develop a skill as content curators.

As digital citizens we have to be cautious and provide credit to other’s for their work.  Not everything on the Internet is credible and reliable.  And when we share our knowledge and experiences, we are looking to add value.  

My Experience with RSS Feeds

Many sites are offering RSS feeds, which allow us to keep up-to-date on information that impacts us personally and professionally.  I have created a Feedly account, which is an RSS reader or what some people may refer to as a news aggregator.  An item of interest I would like to share with you from my reader is the use of Google Hangouts in the classroom. 

A Google hangout is a great way to connect students virtually for group work, office hours, or reviewing complex concepts.  

Personal Learning Environments

We have come to the end of session 2 for my course in Learning in Digital Contexts.  In this session we explored what it means to create personal learning environments (PLE).  In all honesty, I always thought about using social media tools to create personal learning networks (PLN).  I came to the realization that I had already created a personal learning environment upon completing a PLE diagram.

Datoo, S. (CC) 2013.

In Clint’s blog post, he quoted, “the tools, artefacts, processes, and physical connections that allow learners to control and manage their learning” (Couros, 2010, p. 125).  I strongly believe that learners should be able to derive long-term benefits from their investment in learning, no matter the context. 

Learners vary in age, culture, gender, nationality as well as in their drive and motivational (or other) factors that drive them back into continuing education.  Creating a learner-centred environment can tailor to the needs of my learners.  However, in larger classrooms, it is a challenge to personalize learning.  Technology has created many learning opportunities that can go beyond the classroom walls. 

Steve Wheeler created a slide share presentation on Learning Management Systems and the personal learning environment: A bridge in the cloud? This presentation compares LMS’s with PLE’s.  Steve mentions that LMS’s are good for secure organization, storage and delivery of content, but it’s not good for opening up content or personalized learning”.  This slide share presentation was created in 2010.  Educators are beginning to open up learning by integrated social media and Web 2 tools into education and are leveraging LMS's to do so.  LMS’s are also providing ways to create personalized learning.  For example, the educational institution I work at uses the Desire2Learn LMS.  We can embed twitter feeds and make Google docs available as a resource or allow students to collaborate from within the LMS…this to me is integrated and seamless learning where students are not required to go from site to site to retrieve information and collaborate.  Furthermore, this LMS allows us to personalize learning by using release conditions.  If students receive below 70% on a quiz, instructors can provide more resources to help students master their learning.  This is just one example of using release conditions to create personalized learning paths. 

Instructors and instructional designers however, design how they make use of an LMS.  So I can see how Steve Wheeler also mentions that "institutions that use LMS are in danger of turning the Web back into a funnel" (Wheeler, 2010). How technology is being used is defined by educators, it could used as simply as sharing a bunch of PowerPoint presentations, and that too, without voice over!  If educators cannot use LMS’s for their purpose, which is learning, they should not be using it at all as they are not adding any value to student success.

Personalized learning is what PLE’s are all about.  There are so many tools that allow us to create our own PLE’s that is geared towards our personal learning styles.  Graham mentions that PLE “recognizes the role of the individual in organising their own learning.  Moreover, the pressures of a PLE are based on the idea that learning will take place in different contexts and situations and will not be provided by a single learning provider (Attwell, 2007). Learning management systems provide an array of tools, which allow for communication, collaboration, reflective practice and 24/7 access to information of which can be delivered in text or multimedia formats.  Together with social media and Web 2 tools, LMS’s in my opinion can be truly powerful.

Attwell, G. (2007). The Personal Learning Environments: the furture of eLearning? eLearning Papers, 2(1), 1-8. Retrieved from http://www.elearningeuropa.info/files/media/media11561.pdf

Lalonde, C. (2012, August 10). Twitter, PLEs, and PLNs [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://clintlalonde.net/2012/08/10/twitter-ples-and-plns/