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.