I think that it is in a song somewhere about one gun getting added to one gun and then one gun is added on. Same thing with your voice. Once someone stands up and says hey that's not cool, another person soon follows until there is a huge body of people saying, hey that's not cool.
The story in the attached video is of a six year old boy who had a brain tumor that the doctors told his parents would make it impossible for him to meet any of his milestones. This little boy has and he walks, runs etc. Part of his disability is a severe speech impediment. Of course, if you did not hear him speak you would not know anything was wrong with this little boy, kind of. For what ever reason, he has decided he wants to wear a shirt, tie, jacket and hat. It makes him feel comfortable. This is were the bullying started. Fortunately he participates on a football team as a water coach and when they found out, they rallied around him.
For most children living through this there is no football team to back them up. What they need is us. We need to start telling children that they need to be brave and be the first voice saying it is not cool. We need to make sure that they know if they are the first voice, lots of voices will join in. An adult voice will not stop it and sometimes it actually makes it worse.The voice needs to come from a peer. It is hard to be brave for a child as most adults are not. When we see bullying happening it only takes one voice to stop it and I hope we all become the first voice.
Watch the video and please be that voice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq7ZgXz_YLc
When school starts back in January I will be wearing a hat. I hope I am questioned so I can share my one voice.
Have a great Holiday
Jeff
Jeff's Blog by Jeff Murrell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Monday, 16 December 2013
Sunday, 15 December 2013
Math Comes up Again.
Only a week ago we heard about the poor state of math in our education system and the numerous suggestions on how we can improve it. This subject came up as part of a meeting I was attending as a member of HAT (Heads of Apprenticeship Training) with OCOT (Ontario College of Trades) and the Curriculum Development Committee for Carpentry. The group had assembled to work through some issues that have came up due to the transfer of the curriculum from the Ministry of Training for Colleges and Universities to OCOT.
The change in the curriculum is well over due and very needed. The Curriculum committee has done a great job putting together the proposal. The conversation centered around the details of what needed to stay and what we would have to remove. One subject, that in my mind, should not be part of the curriculum, is Math. This time would be better spent applying math that the apprentices have been exposed to in their secondary education to the trade. Then it happened. The statement was made that people with a grade twelve College level math did not have the basic numeracy skills to be successful as a carpenter apprentice.
Of course the suggestion was made that they would need to change the entry level requirement into the trade. There are a number of options for a College level certificate or two year diploma related to the field. This option was actually considered as a possibility until it was determined that establishing this was totally outside the scope of anyone at the table. The Math has stayed.
What it has made me wonder is if these students are not able too be successful at apprenticeship then how could they possibly succeed in an advanced diploma. The answer to the question is of course they can not. Students who take the college level math in their secondary education have actually made it very difficult for them to achieve success in any of the technology programs offered at anyone of the Colleges in Ontario. Also, if we looked at the data, we would find that this is why we are suffering a problem with retention and completion of apprenticeship.
I don't know the answer. I do think that the education system has to change and start holding students back who do not demonstrate basic numeracy skills. By doing this it will give back value to the completion of a grade twelve diploma.
Have a great week,
Jeff
The change in the curriculum is well over due and very needed. The Curriculum committee has done a great job putting together the proposal. The conversation centered around the details of what needed to stay and what we would have to remove. One subject, that in my mind, should not be part of the curriculum, is Math. This time would be better spent applying math that the apprentices have been exposed to in their secondary education to the trade. Then it happened. The statement was made that people with a grade twelve College level math did not have the basic numeracy skills to be successful as a carpenter apprentice.
Of course the suggestion was made that they would need to change the entry level requirement into the trade. There are a number of options for a College level certificate or two year diploma related to the field. This option was actually considered as a possibility until it was determined that establishing this was totally outside the scope of anyone at the table. The Math has stayed.
What it has made me wonder is if these students are not able too be successful at apprenticeship then how could they possibly succeed in an advanced diploma. The answer to the question is of course they can not. Students who take the college level math in their secondary education have actually made it very difficult for them to achieve success in any of the technology programs offered at anyone of the Colleges in Ontario. Also, if we looked at the data, we would find that this is why we are suffering a problem with retention and completion of apprenticeship.
I don't know the answer. I do think that the education system has to change and start holding students back who do not demonstrate basic numeracy skills. By doing this it will give back value to the completion of a grade twelve diploma.
Have a great week,
Jeff
Saturday, 7 December 2013
Math - Something does not add up
This past week the international report on how 43 countries are preforming on math was released and of course the usual media activity soon followed. Canada, while doing much better then the other "western" nations, came in at 13. Not bad if you ignore that this is a six spot drop on the list over the past two reports. Of course this was pointed out by several news reports which also tried to point out the problem with Canada's school system. Most pointed at two main possible causes. Poor teachers who are not prepared to teach math, and of course the curriculum needs to be adjusted back to a more traditional one. This for me just does not add up.
I visited a local high school as a representative of our College and was asked a question by some of their faculty that kind of made me understand the first point in these news casts. They said "What do we need to teach our technology students to better position them for your trades and technology related programs, and don't say math?" These teachers don't want to teach math because it is boring. They want to teach all the things that are part of the learning outcomes in our technology programs instead of preparing them for post secondary by giving them a proper foundation.
It is so easy to point out that this is a problem in our elementary and secondary school systems. They are the ones with the task of teaching these very fundamental subjects. One suggestion of the media is very true. We need to go back to traditional curriculum. This will help but only take us part way. We need also to remove all of the calculators from math class. Children need to be able to figure things out in their head. This will put us back on a path of strong mathematical skills in our youth giving them an opportunity to meet the skills shortage of tomorrow.
After this there is nothing else the school system can do. No magical fix that some of the other countries are doing that we do not know about. They need to just hand back the traditional curriculum's to teachers and take away all the cool subjects they want to teach.Also make a hard fast rule that indicates when and how calculators can be used in math class. Yet, even with some of our Canadian schools teaching a more traditional curriculum, they are not preforming at the level of other nations. This is where things do not add up and there has to be something else. I believe there is a very big piece missing, but it can not be supplied in a school.
The way our children play is ever changing and I think in here lies a key. I was shopping last week for my grandchildren for Christmas and picked up a Monopoly game. This will be great, I thought, they are at the age when they will need to be doing the math required in this game. The picture on the box was different and on closer examination I found that this game now has a computer to figure everything out for them. They don't do any math at play so it is little wonder that they can not figure things out, they have never have to. Games is a big part of the reason that these children do not know how to do math. I know that I enjoyed the times I would play crib with my grandfather and the entire time I was learning math and strategy. Kids are competitive and by giving them a game in which they have to do simple math to win, they will quickly learn the simple math as well as fundamental problem solving. This allows the school to teach more complex math, thus preparing them for post secondary and to help fill the skills shortage.
Parents, the best thing you can do for your child is to play.
Have a great week,
Jeff
I visited a local high school as a representative of our College and was asked a question by some of their faculty that kind of made me understand the first point in these news casts. They said "What do we need to teach our technology students to better position them for your trades and technology related programs, and don't say math?" These teachers don't want to teach math because it is boring. They want to teach all the things that are part of the learning outcomes in our technology programs instead of preparing them for post secondary by giving them a proper foundation.
It is so easy to point out that this is a problem in our elementary and secondary school systems. They are the ones with the task of teaching these very fundamental subjects. One suggestion of the media is very true. We need to go back to traditional curriculum. This will help but only take us part way. We need also to remove all of the calculators from math class. Children need to be able to figure things out in their head. This will put us back on a path of strong mathematical skills in our youth giving them an opportunity to meet the skills shortage of tomorrow.
After this there is nothing else the school system can do. No magical fix that some of the other countries are doing that we do not know about. They need to just hand back the traditional curriculum's to teachers and take away all the cool subjects they want to teach.Also make a hard fast rule that indicates when and how calculators can be used in math class. Yet, even with some of our Canadian schools teaching a more traditional curriculum, they are not preforming at the level of other nations. This is where things do not add up and there has to be something else. I believe there is a very big piece missing, but it can not be supplied in a school.
The way our children play is ever changing and I think in here lies a key. I was shopping last week for my grandchildren for Christmas and picked up a Monopoly game. This will be great, I thought, they are at the age when they will need to be doing the math required in this game. The picture on the box was different and on closer examination I found that this game now has a computer to figure everything out for them. They don't do any math at play so it is little wonder that they can not figure things out, they have never have to. Games is a big part of the reason that these children do not know how to do math. I know that I enjoyed the times I would play crib with my grandfather and the entire time I was learning math and strategy. Kids are competitive and by giving them a game in which they have to do simple math to win, they will quickly learn the simple math as well as fundamental problem solving. This allows the school to teach more complex math, thus preparing them for post secondary and to help fill the skills shortage.
Parents, the best thing you can do for your child is to play.
Have a great week,
Jeff
Tuesday, 3 December 2013
Digital Citizenship - Week Twelve
The final week of the course but will it be the final blog?
First I want to thank all of my classmates who took the journey with me. This was great fun and it has been a pleasure reading and sharing all your thoughts and ideas around digital citizenship. I must admit that there were times when I felt that there was no way that I was going to be able to complete some of these tasks as I was a digital immigrant but that over the twelve weeks has changed and here we are, at the end with a new attitude on technology and the possibilities for education.
I have tried to google myself a few times over the course of the the program. Unfortunately, or fortunately, there are a lot of people with my exact same name who come up every time. One does lighting for movies and I knew of him as I am one of those people who read the credits. There are a couple of Lawyers, a musician and know I show up. I think that one of the reasons that I do not show up near the top of the page is that I have a limited digital footprint currently. If I make my search very specific like adding the city I live in or my job title then I of course pop up first. I have but one choice to change this and that is by having a greater digital footprint. I will do this by continuing to be digitally active.
I have really enjoyed the common sense approach to the nine elements of a good digital citizen. while participating in the course I have discovered that they are not simple. It takes some real understanding and a good social compass to be able to ensure you are always acting correctly. In fact I had someone today ask me if I was upset about something because I did not include a salutation in the beginning of an e-mail. I was not, they needed a response right away on an issue and I was running to another meeting. Just saving time. If they came to my office door and asked a question they would have gotten the same short answer followed by "I have a meeting so I have to run" and they would not have thought anything of it. I need to make sure I always take that couple of extra minutes to interact properly or don't respond at all.
I think that at the College I work at I have many opportunities to help others by simply being a good digital citizen. If I show people how to act appropriately and when they have not give them guidance, then they will all start to act properly. I am also going to get my faculty to implement elements into the courses that they are teaching that have an online component. This is very important as I think that young people are just looking for guidance. If we teach them and show them they will start to teach and show others.
This might be my final blog for this course, but it is not my final blog. I am hooked. I have a few ideas of what I will be writing about next week. I of course am going to have to come up with a better name for my new blog. I do like to write when I critically reflect so it is very possible that I will continue to write weekly just as a reflection on what ever subject I am taking. Look me up and follow if you wish.
It was a blast. Have a great Holiday,
Jeff
First I want to thank all of my classmates who took the journey with me. This was great fun and it has been a pleasure reading and sharing all your thoughts and ideas around digital citizenship. I must admit that there were times when I felt that there was no way that I was going to be able to complete some of these tasks as I was a digital immigrant but that over the twelve weeks has changed and here we are, at the end with a new attitude on technology and the possibilities for education.
I have tried to google myself a few times over the course of the the program. Unfortunately, or fortunately, there are a lot of people with my exact same name who come up every time. One does lighting for movies and I knew of him as I am one of those people who read the credits. There are a couple of Lawyers, a musician and know I show up. I think that one of the reasons that I do not show up near the top of the page is that I have a limited digital footprint currently. If I make my search very specific like adding the city I live in or my job title then I of course pop up first. I have but one choice to change this and that is by having a greater digital footprint. I will do this by continuing to be digitally active.
I have really enjoyed the common sense approach to the nine elements of a good digital citizen. while participating in the course I have discovered that they are not simple. It takes some real understanding and a good social compass to be able to ensure you are always acting correctly. In fact I had someone today ask me if I was upset about something because I did not include a salutation in the beginning of an e-mail. I was not, they needed a response right away on an issue and I was running to another meeting. Just saving time. If they came to my office door and asked a question they would have gotten the same short answer followed by "I have a meeting so I have to run" and they would not have thought anything of it. I need to make sure I always take that couple of extra minutes to interact properly or don't respond at all.
I think that at the College I work at I have many opportunities to help others by simply being a good digital citizen. If I show people how to act appropriately and when they have not give them guidance, then they will all start to act properly. I am also going to get my faculty to implement elements into the courses that they are teaching that have an online component. This is very important as I think that young people are just looking for guidance. If we teach them and show them they will start to teach and show others.
This might be my final blog for this course, but it is not my final blog. I am hooked. I have a few ideas of what I will be writing about next week. I of course am going to have to come up with a better name for my new blog. I do like to write when I critically reflect so it is very possible that I will continue to write weekly just as a reflection on what ever subject I am taking. Look me up and follow if you wish.
It was a blast. Have a great Holiday,
Jeff
Friday, 29 November 2013
Digital Citizenship - Week Eleven
This was a fantastic week that I truly enjoyed. I have book marked extra sites into my diigo from this week that I have not had a chance to explore yet but will well after the course is complete. The week was jammed with all sorts of exciting and interesting information that every good digital citizen should know about.
The first thing that we explored was the MOOC or Massive Online Open Course. These seem to be growing as more and more Ivy League Universities are starting to get involved. In my feedy a few weeks ago I came across a very interesting piece that indicated there would always be the need for a teacher. The thing is, the teacher will change. In my view, it becomes even more important that we teach children how to be good digital citizens because they could be participating and collaborating with other students in away that they transition back and forth from being the learner to being the teacher and back again.
I really enjoyed the reading that was set out in the course as well. It is kind of interesting that we see all these people wondering why a College or University would venture into the realm of MOOC's. One such article speaks to the lack of a business plan by these institutions. The suggestion that eventually they charge actually defeats the purpose of an open or free course. So why would they do it? I believe that they have thought it through very nicely. In fact, the article does brush on the subject of attracting students. I think this is at the root. As our World becomes more of one large global community, attracting the best students becomes an increasingly harder task. I think that the best students will be in these MOOC's. Those that succeed must be master students as defined by Ellis, Toft and Dawson (2012), so my question is why would you not want to reach out to these students?
I think that by going where the students are, online learning, they have a better chance of drawing them into the programs that already exist in their institutions. There is no way a student would sign up for a MOOC delivered by some no name person run out of the spare bedroom of an apartment somewhere when they can sign up to a MOOC delivered by Harvard with a rock start in the field as the subject mater expert. These Ivy League schools will push the small guys back out of the market and at the same time, once they have the infrastructure built, be doing their recruitment at a fraction of the cost. The revolution in education is upon us. Not really. I think that we have a really cool way of learning and connecting through MOOC's but it will still be the degree that gets you the job.
The other piece that we explored this week was pod and screencasting. I found these to be great tools that can be used in your PLE (personal learning environment). I think that there is a huge advantage for an educator to use both of these tools to create mini lectures and demonstrations on subjects that can then be used by students around the world and for generations to come. One such person who has been successful has been Kahn. Of course, there will always be those who think that these tools are not good and will start to pick them apart. I found a great article written from a neutral stand that will allow the reader to make their own choice. In my mind these tools are great and will always be part of my future PLE, whether I am officially the teacher or the student.
The other very important piece we explored was adding a creative commons license to our Blog. You can find mine at both the top and bottom of my blog. This is critical for anyone who wants to utilize the tools of web 2.0. I think that there really should be another agreement process we have to go through that shows us where and how to get and protect ourselves with a creative commons license before we can go onto the internet. I now know how to do it, have book marked the page, and will make sure in the future I will add a license to anything I create and post.
I found two great pieces in my feedy this week that I really want to share. The first is on using your Diigo to automatically feed you the information for a daily blog. This is a cool idea and i can hardly wait to try it out. The second is an interesting cartoon that was posted as well. Not much information here but it will leave you thinking about how we look at students. I hope you look at this cartoon and reflect on how many fish you have ever asked to climb a tree.
Have a great weekend.
Jeff
Chen, Angela. (2012). Parody Critiques Popular Khan Academy Videos. Retrieved from; http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/parody-critiques-popular-khan-academy-videos/37543
Davis, Vickie, (2013). How to automatically post bookmarks to your post using Diigo. Retrieved from; http://www.coolcatteacher.com/videos/automatically-post-bookmarks-blog-using-diigo/?utm_source=feedly
Davis, Vickie, (2013). The education Cartoon everyone Should Read. Retrieved from; http://www.coolcatteacher.com/quotes/education-cartoon-everyone-read/?utm_source=feedly
Ellis,D. Toft, D. and Dawson, D. (2012) Becoming a Master Student. (5th ed).Toronto, Ont. Canada.
Gsiemens, (2013). WISE Panel: Can MOOC's democratize higher education. Retrieved from; http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2013/11/05/wise-panel-can-moocs-democratize-higher-education/
McKenna, Laura. (2012). The big Idea That an Revolutionize Higher Education: MOOC's. Retrieved from; http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/05/the-big-idea-that-can-revolutionize-higher-education-mooc/256926/
Selingo, Jeff. (2012). As Elite Colleges Invite the World Online, Questions Remain on their Business Plan. Retrieved from; http://chronicle.com/blogs/next/2012/05/19/as-elite-colleges-open-to-the-world-online-questions-remain-on-business-plan/?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
The first thing that we explored was the MOOC or Massive Online Open Course. These seem to be growing as more and more Ivy League Universities are starting to get involved. In my feedy a few weeks ago I came across a very interesting piece that indicated there would always be the need for a teacher. The thing is, the teacher will change. In my view, it becomes even more important that we teach children how to be good digital citizens because they could be participating and collaborating with other students in away that they transition back and forth from being the learner to being the teacher and back again.
I really enjoyed the reading that was set out in the course as well. It is kind of interesting that we see all these people wondering why a College or University would venture into the realm of MOOC's. One such article speaks to the lack of a business plan by these institutions. The suggestion that eventually they charge actually defeats the purpose of an open or free course. So why would they do it? I believe that they have thought it through very nicely. In fact, the article does brush on the subject of attracting students. I think this is at the root. As our World becomes more of one large global community, attracting the best students becomes an increasingly harder task. I think that the best students will be in these MOOC's. Those that succeed must be master students as defined by Ellis, Toft and Dawson (2012), so my question is why would you not want to reach out to these students?
I think that by going where the students are, online learning, they have a better chance of drawing them into the programs that already exist in their institutions. There is no way a student would sign up for a MOOC delivered by some no name person run out of the spare bedroom of an apartment somewhere when they can sign up to a MOOC delivered by Harvard with a rock start in the field as the subject mater expert. These Ivy League schools will push the small guys back out of the market and at the same time, once they have the infrastructure built, be doing their recruitment at a fraction of the cost. The revolution in education is upon us. Not really. I think that we have a really cool way of learning and connecting through MOOC's but it will still be the degree that gets you the job.
The other piece that we explored this week was pod and screencasting. I found these to be great tools that can be used in your PLE (personal learning environment). I think that there is a huge advantage for an educator to use both of these tools to create mini lectures and demonstrations on subjects that can then be used by students around the world and for generations to come. One such person who has been successful has been Kahn. Of course, there will always be those who think that these tools are not good and will start to pick them apart. I found a great article written from a neutral stand that will allow the reader to make their own choice. In my mind these tools are great and will always be part of my future PLE, whether I am officially the teacher or the student.
The other very important piece we explored was adding a creative commons license to our Blog. You can find mine at both the top and bottom of my blog. This is critical for anyone who wants to utilize the tools of web 2.0. I think that there really should be another agreement process we have to go through that shows us where and how to get and protect ourselves with a creative commons license before we can go onto the internet. I now know how to do it, have book marked the page, and will make sure in the future I will add a license to anything I create and post.
I found two great pieces in my feedy this week that I really want to share. The first is on using your Diigo to automatically feed you the information for a daily blog. This is a cool idea and i can hardly wait to try it out. The second is an interesting cartoon that was posted as well. Not much information here but it will leave you thinking about how we look at students. I hope you look at this cartoon and reflect on how many fish you have ever asked to climb a tree.
Have a great weekend.
Jeff
Chen, Angela. (2012). Parody Critiques Popular Khan Academy Videos. Retrieved from; http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/parody-critiques-popular-khan-academy-videos/37543
Davis, Vickie, (2013). How to automatically post bookmarks to your post using Diigo. Retrieved from; http://www.coolcatteacher.com/videos/automatically-post-bookmarks-blog-using-diigo/?utm_source=feedly
Davis, Vickie, (2013). The education Cartoon everyone Should Read. Retrieved from; http://www.coolcatteacher.com/quotes/education-cartoon-everyone-read/?utm_source=feedly
Ellis,D. Toft, D. and Dawson, D. (2012) Becoming a Master Student. (5th ed).Toronto, Ont. Canada.
Gsiemens, (2013). WISE Panel: Can MOOC's democratize higher education. Retrieved from; http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2013/11/05/wise-panel-can-moocs-democratize-higher-education/
McKenna, Laura. (2012). The big Idea That an Revolutionize Higher Education: MOOC's. Retrieved from; http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/05/the-big-idea-that-can-revolutionize-higher-education-mooc/256926/
Selingo, Jeff. (2012). As Elite Colleges Invite the World Online, Questions Remain on their Business Plan. Retrieved from; http://chronicle.com/blogs/next/2012/05/19/as-elite-colleges-open-to-the-world-online-questions-remain-on-business-plan/?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
Thursday, 28 November 2013
Screencast Tool
I hate doing it because there has to be away but I give up. Spent way
to long trying to embed my screencast onto my blog. I originally
started by trying to do a podcast but did not like it for this
assignment so I changed to the screencast. The week and entire course is
quickly coming to a close and I must move on so that I can complete the
big project. The funny thing is that my screencast is about putting in
the Creative Commons license on your blog. As well, I have not had any
difficulty getting other images to embed. Eventually I have to push
back, laugh and move on, if I don't, the computer would end up out the
window floating away on Lake Huron. I am sure that in some cases, like
this one, I have discovered and learned more from the struggle than I
did from the actual process of creating the screencast. While I reflect
on this and figure out how to embed a screencast I will discover the
lesson. For now, this too will have to wait. Please see the link
attached. I at least got that correct.
http://screencast.com/t/qEylzShw
When I first started to look at these sharing tools I thought that there was no place for them in my Personal Learning Environment. I viewed these tools as ones that I would only use to communicate with the World or my students as an instructor. This to me looked more like the reverse video that has been showing up in several classrooms, and would make great ones. The instructor logs in, creates either a podcast or screencast on a subject and then posts it within the walled garden of the Learning Management System for the students to view. This becomes a great tool for instructors to help students figure out complex principles or may even allow them to cover a subject the entire class did poorly on in a test.
While I had all these wonderful ideas floating in my head as I explored both of these tools, it dawned on me that others would have the same idea as well. Why spend my time creating new podcast on a subject when there must be someone out there doing it already. Why not search and subscribe to these. The information then, just like my feeder, comes to me. If I find great podcast, I can then share these with other students.
The screencast tool really spoke to me. I totally enjoyed the process and believe that this tool used correctly in a classroom or learning situation will help students grow and learn. A screencast will allow students to be both the teacher and the learner at the same time. If a student asks another one for help and the second student creates a screencast to walk them through the problem, the second student has actually become the teacher. This process makes the student to move the information into a different part of the brain and they will actually retain the information much longer. There is a better chance for real learning and discovery when this occurs. Used at it was here in this course, we all became teachers for these short little video's. I am sure we choose things that would be easy for each one of us to do our assignment on as that is human nature. While I was doing mine I know that I did learn a lot more about Creative Commons.
This was an excellent project that I really enjoyed (I was only kidding about my computer going for a swim) even if I could not get the video to embed. I totally now believe that both of these can be in my PLE as collaboration tools or for collecting information or better yet as pieces to assignments that I will be completing in the future.
Jeff
http://screencast.com/t/qEylzShw
When I first started to look at these sharing tools I thought that there was no place for them in my Personal Learning Environment. I viewed these tools as ones that I would only use to communicate with the World or my students as an instructor. This to me looked more like the reverse video that has been showing up in several classrooms, and would make great ones. The instructor logs in, creates either a podcast or screencast on a subject and then posts it within the walled garden of the Learning Management System for the students to view. This becomes a great tool for instructors to help students figure out complex principles or may even allow them to cover a subject the entire class did poorly on in a test.
While I had all these wonderful ideas floating in my head as I explored both of these tools, it dawned on me that others would have the same idea as well. Why spend my time creating new podcast on a subject when there must be someone out there doing it already. Why not search and subscribe to these. The information then, just like my feeder, comes to me. If I find great podcast, I can then share these with other students.
The screencast tool really spoke to me. I totally enjoyed the process and believe that this tool used correctly in a classroom or learning situation will help students grow and learn. A screencast will allow students to be both the teacher and the learner at the same time. If a student asks another one for help and the second student creates a screencast to walk them through the problem, the second student has actually become the teacher. This process makes the student to move the information into a different part of the brain and they will actually retain the information much longer. There is a better chance for real learning and discovery when this occurs. Used at it was here in this course, we all became teachers for these short little video's. I am sure we choose things that would be easy for each one of us to do our assignment on as that is human nature. While I was doing mine I know that I did learn a lot more about Creative Commons.
This was an excellent project that I really enjoyed (I was only kidding about my computer going for a swim) even if I could not get the video to embed. I totally now believe that both of these can be in my PLE as collaboration tools or for collecting information or better yet as pieces to assignments that I will be completing in the future.
Jeff
Friday, 22 November 2013
Digital Citizenship - Week Ten
I really have enjoyed the video at the beginning of this week as I do totally agree with Kirby Ferguson and have watched it several times this week. I liked it so much I could not resist adding it here. Try as I might, the code supplied for embedding just would not work. I loved the piece where Kirby speaks to Apple and how they used copyright to their advantage.
I honestly believe that the people in the world are no smarter then those generations past, we just have been starting our learning and exploring and expanding our knowledge base from a totally different starting point. This is accelerating at the speed of the web as new ideas are shared almost instantly. The gap between time and space has shrunk considerably in the past century. Albert Einstein was several years getting his new theory of relativity out to the world and yet more before he could prove it as he was trapped in war torn Europe. We now get video footage from behind the lines almost as fast as it is happening. I know I have never had a truly new idea in my life but rather just thoughts or adjustments to the ideas of others. The entire world remixes.
The object of study this week of course would be copyright laws. While most people might not enjoy the exciting read any copyright law is, I am sure they would prefer it to a court order. One of the pieces that I did learn form was the part on fair dealing. I find this very interesting and I think that its intent is to enable some people the ability to use certain material in constructive ways for the betterment of all. I like that it does give the ability for material to be used in education and for study. I do find it interesting that this has yet to be tested in the courts. I would hate to be the first so for the near future I will still proceed with caution. I think that if I remain reasonable and remember to properly cite the information then I should be safe. While it might seem like they have given education more freedoms, we did learn last week that with freedom comes responsibility so I will still cite.
The creative commons article was also very interesting and enlightening. I totally enjoyed looking at each of the creative commons licenses when I was looking for images for my Aminoto. A very cool concept and I think that it will become a huge piece of my classrooms going forward. As our College moves towards an entirely mobile institution, more and more students will be posting things on the web. They will all need to understand this concept and I think that as a College we should make it a policy that we do not allow students to post anything they will be using for grades unless they have first created their own Creative Commons account. It protects the students, has them learn about copyright and helps them become better digital citizens.
Unfortunately I did not find anything in my feeder that peeked my interest. There was one that started out very good but turned into speaking about funding. Another that I did enjoy was based on five lies about Brock University. I liked this because some of the things mentioned had actual ties to being a good student, which every successful Brock Student must be, as well as some humor. Check them out.
Have a great weekend.
Jeff
Ted Talks (2012), Kirby Ferguson:Embrace the Remix. Retrieved from; http://on.ted.com/FergusonRemix
Media Smarts (n.d.), Fair Dealing for Media Education. Retrieved from; http://mediasmarts.ca/intellectual-property/fair-dealing-media-education
Wolf, L.G. (2010). Remix Reuse Recycle- A Creative Commons Assignment. Retrieved from; http://www.leighgraveswolf.com/2010/06/11/remix-reuse-recycle-a-creative-commons-assignment/
I honestly believe that the people in the world are no smarter then those generations past, we just have been starting our learning and exploring and expanding our knowledge base from a totally different starting point. This is accelerating at the speed of the web as new ideas are shared almost instantly. The gap between time and space has shrunk considerably in the past century. Albert Einstein was several years getting his new theory of relativity out to the world and yet more before he could prove it as he was trapped in war torn Europe. We now get video footage from behind the lines almost as fast as it is happening. I know I have never had a truly new idea in my life but rather just thoughts or adjustments to the ideas of others. The entire world remixes.
The object of study this week of course would be copyright laws. While most people might not enjoy the exciting read any copyright law is, I am sure they would prefer it to a court order. One of the pieces that I did learn form was the part on fair dealing. I find this very interesting and I think that its intent is to enable some people the ability to use certain material in constructive ways for the betterment of all. I like that it does give the ability for material to be used in education and for study. I do find it interesting that this has yet to be tested in the courts. I would hate to be the first so for the near future I will still proceed with caution. I think that if I remain reasonable and remember to properly cite the information then I should be safe. While it might seem like they have given education more freedoms, we did learn last week that with freedom comes responsibility so I will still cite.
The creative commons article was also very interesting and enlightening. I totally enjoyed looking at each of the creative commons licenses when I was looking for images for my Aminoto. A very cool concept and I think that it will become a huge piece of my classrooms going forward. As our College moves towards an entirely mobile institution, more and more students will be posting things on the web. They will all need to understand this concept and I think that as a College we should make it a policy that we do not allow students to post anything they will be using for grades unless they have first created their own Creative Commons account. It protects the students, has them learn about copyright and helps them become better digital citizens.
Unfortunately I did not find anything in my feeder that peeked my interest. There was one that started out very good but turned into speaking about funding. Another that I did enjoy was based on five lies about Brock University. I liked this because some of the things mentioned had actual ties to being a good student, which every successful Brock Student must be, as well as some humor. Check them out.
Have a great weekend.
Jeff
Ted Talks (2012), Kirby Ferguson:Embrace the Remix. Retrieved from; http://on.ted.com/FergusonRemix
Media Smarts (n.d.), Fair Dealing for Media Education. Retrieved from; http://mediasmarts.ca/intellectual-property/fair-dealing-media-education
Wolf, L.G. (2010). Remix Reuse Recycle- A Creative Commons Assignment. Retrieved from; http://www.leighgraveswolf.com/2010/06/11/remix-reuse-recycle-a-creative-commons-assignment/
Animoto project
Here is my first ever Animoto but I promise that this will not be my last.
Copyright by J. Murrell
While I really enjoyed using the Animoto tool and like the result, I did find this project a little frustrating as I did spend way to much time on it. It may have been the process that I went through and not actual tool. Once I got into creating my video it was very easy. I am sure that once I start using it more, and I will be using it more, I might spring for the upgrade and then I am sure that it would be much easier. I see myself using this in the future for embedding a message into a blog or as part of a presentation that I might give and of course for creating cool family memories. what I am not sure is if this will fit into my personal learning environment. I know all tools are not for everyone and I kind of feel that this one is not for that use for me.
The message that i was trying to get across was that people always think that everything on the internet is free but of course we are now good digital citizens and know this is not true. People who do not obey copyright laws can get themselves into a lot of trouble. It is important that you know the restrictions on the use of anything and then abide by them. Of course, just because you can use it does not mean that you do not have to give the owner of the item credit. I hope you enjoy my little creation. While the assignment may have been frustrating, the actual creating the video was fun.
Have a good week,
Jeff
Copyright by J. Murrell
While I really enjoyed using the Animoto tool and like the result, I did find this project a little frustrating as I did spend way to much time on it. It may have been the process that I went through and not actual tool. Once I got into creating my video it was very easy. I am sure that once I start using it more, and I will be using it more, I might spring for the upgrade and then I am sure that it would be much easier. I see myself using this in the future for embedding a message into a blog or as part of a presentation that I might give and of course for creating cool family memories. what I am not sure is if this will fit into my personal learning environment. I know all tools are not for everyone and I kind of feel that this one is not for that use for me.
The message that i was trying to get across was that people always think that everything on the internet is free but of course we are now good digital citizens and know this is not true. People who do not obey copyright laws can get themselves into a lot of trouble. It is important that you know the restrictions on the use of anything and then abide by them. Of course, just because you can use it does not mean that you do not have to give the owner of the item credit. I hope you enjoy my little creation. While the assignment may have been frustrating, the actual creating the video was fun.
Have a good week,
Jeff
Sunday, 17 November 2013
Digital Citizenship - Week Nine
During the past couple of weeks we have been exploring a few things. One of those is the rights and responsibilities of digital citizens. There is never a right that does not have some sort of parallel duty or responsibilities. Freedom of anything is never really free. This is so true with respect to the community that we have created that resides in cyber space. It seems all to easy to do something that is not ethical when we do not have to look the other person in the eye. As part of the past two weeks we were required to create a brainstorm diagram of what we thought the rights and responsibilities are for digital citizens. I have attached mine. I have since adjusted (actually added to it) as I have explored the thoughts of my fellow students on this subject but this is the original.
When we talk of these responsibilities we fail to realize that we as educators and parents have a greater responsibility that extends past ourselves. We have the responsibility of setting a good example and for building a structure for our children to learn and grow online. We must ensure their safety by properly communicating with them and by staying active in their digital lives. The computer can no longer be the babysitter that the TV was in the Eighties. Parents must act to inform their children and interact with them as they use technology. As educators we must build a sound Acceptable Use Policy for our institutions. We are not going to be able to stop technology but with proper guidance, the students will become better digital citizens. Part of the issue and the danger is that while bullying has always existed, until web 2.0, it was always very private. An incident would occur on one side of the school and rarely everyone would find out, and even if they did it, was face to face so others rarely would join in. Now it seems to explode and when it occurs, people around the world can be informed, never mind across the swing set.
One of the most enjoyable things we have done in the class has been the voice thread exercise. I found that there are huge applications for education with this tool. I believe that it would become very addictive for most students who would then take the education and make it their own and in the process have the learning become part of them. They would critically reflect and form real true deep learning and understanding of the topic. This will definitely be part of my PLE as a tool for collaboration.
I do think that a voice thread will have other applications as well. I am going to playing with this over the next few weeks to determine just how well I will be able to utilize it in certain situations at work. In the past I have been involved, and very innocently, where I was pulled into a meeting that I had no idea what it was about, and a print out of one of my e-mails was thrust onto the table. The reader had missed not one but two punctuation marks, imposed what they thought was my tone and had interrupted the mean totally wrong. In fact, the other people at the meeting read my e-mail and were confused. To them, and what was actually happening, I was agreeing with and supporting the decision of the person who was so upset. I think that this could be a great tool for communicating around certain things so the person receiving the message can hear, and if you chose video, see you so there can be no imposed tone to the words written on the page. I found an interesting piece on tone in e-mails while reading weekly reflections by other students.
While reviewing my feed and through exploring links I picked up from twitter I really only found one the interested me and it really had nothing to do with this week. The general message is about how teachers can implement or learn how to implement the ipad into their classrooms. The more important message is near thee end. It speaks to the amount that the tech industry is coming into main stream more and more. Interesting how we one day soon are all going to be expected to be digital citizens.
I always believe that practice never makes perfect but rather perfect practice makes perfect and that goes so true with being a good digital citizen. I can only hope that I am learning and growing and improving.
Have a great week
Jeff
Noodlefood. (2013). The Problem of Absent Tone in E-mail. Retrieved from http://www.philosophyinaction.com/blog/?p=10144
Cool Cat Teacher Blog (2013). Daily Education and Technology News 11/12/13. Retrieved from http://www.coolcatteacher.com/daily-education-technology-news-schools-11122013/?utm_source=feedly
Stay Safe Online. (2013). Raising Digital Citizens, Retrieved from http://staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/for-parents/raising-digital-citizens
Education World (2013). Getting Started on the Internet: Developing an Acceptable use Policy, Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr093.shtml
Ribble, Mike. (2011). Digital Citizenship in Schools (2nd ed). Washington, DC. United States of America
Linda Kalmikov. (2013). Weekly reflection and Post Week 8. Retrieved from http://lindakalmikov.blogspot.ca/2013/11/a-couple-of-great-articles-from-my.html
 |
| Murrell, J. (2013) Digital Rights and Responsibilities |
When we talk of these responsibilities we fail to realize that we as educators and parents have a greater responsibility that extends past ourselves. We have the responsibility of setting a good example and for building a structure for our children to learn and grow online. We must ensure their safety by properly communicating with them and by staying active in their digital lives. The computer can no longer be the babysitter that the TV was in the Eighties. Parents must act to inform their children and interact with them as they use technology. As educators we must build a sound Acceptable Use Policy for our institutions. We are not going to be able to stop technology but with proper guidance, the students will become better digital citizens. Part of the issue and the danger is that while bullying has always existed, until web 2.0, it was always very private. An incident would occur on one side of the school and rarely everyone would find out, and even if they did it, was face to face so others rarely would join in. Now it seems to explode and when it occurs, people around the world can be informed, never mind across the swing set.
One of the most enjoyable things we have done in the class has been the voice thread exercise. I found that there are huge applications for education with this tool. I believe that it would become very addictive for most students who would then take the education and make it their own and in the process have the learning become part of them. They would critically reflect and form real true deep learning and understanding of the topic. This will definitely be part of my PLE as a tool for collaboration.
I do think that a voice thread will have other applications as well. I am going to playing with this over the next few weeks to determine just how well I will be able to utilize it in certain situations at work. In the past I have been involved, and very innocently, where I was pulled into a meeting that I had no idea what it was about, and a print out of one of my e-mails was thrust onto the table. The reader had missed not one but two punctuation marks, imposed what they thought was my tone and had interrupted the mean totally wrong. In fact, the other people at the meeting read my e-mail and were confused. To them, and what was actually happening, I was agreeing with and supporting the decision of the person who was so upset. I think that this could be a great tool for communicating around certain things so the person receiving the message can hear, and if you chose video, see you so there can be no imposed tone to the words written on the page. I found an interesting piece on tone in e-mails while reading weekly reflections by other students.
While reviewing my feed and through exploring links I picked up from twitter I really only found one the interested me and it really had nothing to do with this week. The general message is about how teachers can implement or learn how to implement the ipad into their classrooms. The more important message is near thee end. It speaks to the amount that the tech industry is coming into main stream more and more. Interesting how we one day soon are all going to be expected to be digital citizens.
I always believe that practice never makes perfect but rather perfect practice makes perfect and that goes so true with being a good digital citizen. I can only hope that I am learning and growing and improving.
Have a great week
Jeff
Noodlefood. (2013). The Problem of Absent Tone in E-mail. Retrieved from http://www.philosophyinaction.com/blog/?p=10144
Cool Cat Teacher Blog (2013). Daily Education and Technology News 11/12/13. Retrieved from http://www.coolcatteacher.com/daily-education-technology-news-schools-11122013/?utm_source=feedly
Stay Safe Online. (2013). Raising Digital Citizens, Retrieved from http://staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/for-parents/raising-digital-citizens
Education World (2013). Getting Started on the Internet: Developing an Acceptable use Policy, Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr093.shtml
Ribble, Mike. (2011). Digital Citizenship in Schools (2nd ed). Washington, DC. United States of America
Linda Kalmikov. (2013). Weekly reflection and Post Week 8. Retrieved from http://lindakalmikov.blogspot.ca/2013/11/a-couple-of-great-articles-from-my.html
Technology Use Scenario 9.
Scenario 9;
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 one of those individuals talking to some of her friends. Now, the 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.
My Thoughts,
Jamie's parents have many options here on how they react and need to be very careful, The first thought of any parent is anger that someone might be threatening your child. This feeling needs to be controlled as the only person in the house they should feel angry with is themselves for not having a detailed conversation about online safety in the first place. They must be sure to support and encourage Jamie as most young people don't talk openly about these subjects and if they made her feel uncomfortable about telling them there would be less of a chance she would tell them in the future. They will need to get as much information as possible and then contact the authorities. The physical threat may not be real and this may just be another teenager but if they are communicating in away that makes someone uncomfortable, this could lead to cyber bulling.
Next they need to hit the reset switch on the internet use in the home. They need to explore some safe online guidelines with her and encourage her to use the internet properly. They will never be able to shut her out from the internet so they need to make her aware. The parents should also spend some time with her learning all there is to know about how she uses the internet. Explain the dangers of not being private and how she can keep herself safe. They might even encourage her to get back into another chat room with her friends, but let her know that they are right there to support and guide her. They could also move the computer to a central location in the home so that they can monitor her activities. Its not so much to spy but rather just to monitor and guide her use of the internet and help her become a great digital citizen.
Please leave your comments or thoughts below.
Thanks and have a great week,
Jeff
Magid, B. (n.d.). Teen safety on the Info Highway. http://www.safekids.com/teen-safety-on-info-highway/
StaySafeOnline.org. (2013). Raising digital citizens. http://staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/for-parents/raising-digital-citizens
StaySafeOnline.org. (2013). Cyberbullying & Harassment. : http://staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/for-parents/cyberbullying-and-harassment
Ribble, Mike.(2011) Digital Citizenship in Schools (2nd ed) Washington, DC. United States of America
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 one of those individuals talking to some of her friends. Now, the 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.
My Thoughts,
Jamie's parents have many options here on how they react and need to be very careful, The first thought of any parent is anger that someone might be threatening your child. This feeling needs to be controlled as the only person in the house they should feel angry with is themselves for not having a detailed conversation about online safety in the first place. They must be sure to support and encourage Jamie as most young people don't talk openly about these subjects and if they made her feel uncomfortable about telling them there would be less of a chance she would tell them in the future. They will need to get as much information as possible and then contact the authorities. The physical threat may not be real and this may just be another teenager but if they are communicating in away that makes someone uncomfortable, this could lead to cyber bulling.
Next they need to hit the reset switch on the internet use in the home. They need to explore some safe online guidelines with her and encourage her to use the internet properly. They will never be able to shut her out from the internet so they need to make her aware. The parents should also spend some time with her learning all there is to know about how she uses the internet. Explain the dangers of not being private and how she can keep herself safe. They might even encourage her to get back into another chat room with her friends, but let her know that they are right there to support and guide her. They could also move the computer to a central location in the home so that they can monitor her activities. Its not so much to spy but rather just to monitor and guide her use of the internet and help her become a great digital citizen.
Please leave your comments or thoughts below.
Thanks and have a great week,
Jeff
Magid, B. (n.d.). Teen safety on the Info Highway. http://www.safekids.com/teen-safety-on-info-highway/
StaySafeOnline.org. (2013). Raising digital citizens. http://staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/for-parents/raising-digital-citizens
StaySafeOnline.org. (2013). Cyberbullying & Harassment. : http://staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/for-parents/cyberbullying-and-harassment
Ribble, Mike.(2011) Digital Citizenship in Schools (2nd ed) Washington, DC. United States of America
Voice Thread
This week, we as a class, have been working with a voice thread. I found this to be an extremely good educational tool. This allowed the learners to participate in forming the meaning around the subject mater. This is very powerful. The most important step in any educational process is the critical reflection piece. By allowing the students to be part of the creation of the message by sharing their personal thoughts they would actually take the time to properly reflect. Most students would not want to post something that others will see that is poor so they will put in a better effort into the reflection of the subject. Students can participate in two ways. They could watch the entire thread and see what their classmates are saying or stop the feed, which is what I did, and then think about it personally and then make my comment. Once I made mine without influence from others, I then listened to the other comments. If I wished, I could add more after.
As an educator I see this as a great tool. I could post a difficult lecture or subject with my explanation added and then have the students work through the slides and add comments as well to help clarify for their classmates. This takes the concept of a flipped classroom to an entirely different level by allowing interaction by students. As a student this can become a huge advantage for working on a collaborative project over a distance. I feel it would be much easier to create this type of voice thread so that a person could be looking at a screen shoot of the project while listening to an explanation and then of course add their comments as well. It would help with reducing the number of text messages and e-mails while working on a project.
Jeff
As an educator I see this as a great tool. I could post a difficult lecture or subject with my explanation added and then have the students work through the slides and add comments as well to help clarify for their classmates. This takes the concept of a flipped classroom to an entirely different level by allowing interaction by students. As a student this can become a huge advantage for working on a collaborative project over a distance. I feel it would be much easier to create this type of voice thread so that a person could be looking at a screen shoot of the project while listening to an explanation and then of course add their comments as well. It would help with reducing the number of text messages and e-mails while working on a project.
Jeff
Friday, 8 November 2013
Digital Citizenship - Week eight
As I come off a week of vacation, or disconnecting to connect, I have really enjoyed this session. I have been reading everyone's blogs to try and catch up as well as get some ideas to determine who they are tracking on their feeders. I have again made adjustments to mine as I fine tune it so that I am getting the information I want and need while not having to wade through stuff that is just not interesting or relevant. I think that this tool will always be part of my learning. I have also enjoyed examining the different styles of writing. It has all been very interesting. This I believe should be a key piece to the reflective process as we look back at our own blogs.
The past couple of weeks have been very interesting as we have started to work on projects and collaborate online. Some of these have been very interesting. I unfortunately missed the hangout session with the group but believe it would be very similar to the one I did a few years ago on Skype, which was very cool. I look forward to making the next one. I see so much value in this from an educational point of view in the post secondary world. The professor could set up a weekly time when they are available, just like office hours, and answer questions, help work through problems with assignments or just check in. Then by exposing the students to this, I can see them creating study groups to work together. No more booking a room and trying to get people together face to face.
This week we looked at wikis and I must say that I was a disappointed with them as I was with description given in the text. As an educational tool on the surface they seem fine but I think that it would allow more students to ride the coat tails of others. My initial thought was that an instructor could put a set of problems or questions up for the class to work on but all that would happen is the students who want to learn would log on and actually work together to solve the problem or get the answer while others would just stop by after to see the finished result. It may afford greater opportunities for learning for a few but then remove them for rest. Even those students who wished to jump in have actually work through the problem but showed up after it was solved would not have had the opportunity. The other piece is that these sites are not secure so anyone could access them if they happened upon them. I am always aware of what information I want to share and I think that this bothers me as well. I do not think that a wiki will be part of my PLE.
I have however totally enjoyed working through both the todaysmeet and with Google Docs. I actually found that they were very simple to use and that I did connect online to connect with a project partner a few hundred kilometers away. Last week I disconnected to connect but this week I connected to connect. The balance in life is so very important. I enjoyed them so much that I have actually set up a couple of similar shared documents at work in very secure locations that at least two of us are working on. With out the need for so many e-mails with so many copies of just a slightly different document floating around it has been great. A quick communication about updates and suggestions and it has been very effective. I know that Google Docs will be part of my PLE and I will introduce my faculty to them as well in the hope that they use them with their students.
This week started for me with a presentation at Lambton College by a professor from Ottawa University on data collected around student retention. Now most of you might be thinking what has this student retention piece have to do with the last two weeks in which we examined ways to collaborate online. Well it really did. In part of the information it showed the first year retention rates of those who lived at home, to those who were out of town and not living at residence and those who were living at residence. Those who lived in residence had the highest retention of the three groups. Now I was shocked by this data as I thought that they only thing going on at residence was extra curricular activities. It occurred to me that the reason why was the connection with other students and the learning institution. this connection is a face to face interactions. One of the leading factors was how a student preformed in the first term. If you are always interacting with class mates you are going to be reminded about the quiz or assignment. When you are prepared, you will do better.This makes it so important for students who are not on campus 24/7 to have access to online types of collaborative and interactive spaces so they can connect with the learning institution and other students after the lights have gone out in the lecture hall. Most of the true learning happens after the lights are out anyway as students reflect on what was taught.
While looking through the information on my feeder I did come across a good blog on ways students can learn from others. I found it very interesting as it speaks to the way these students connect so effortlessly online. When I reflect on this I think that without being shown or taught younger students have figured out that if they can connect with me digitally, when I am responding it will be directly to them. In some cases, the student can actually have captured my full attention. Something that will rarely happen in the class room.
As I start to reflect and actually become a digital citizen I think I am going to have to figure this out. At Disney World I will not only be enjoying the hand in hand discoveries and interactions but also the ones that involve capturing something in a photo and sharing it with my grandchildren as well. They would not even actually have to be there with me.
Have a great week.
Jeff
The past couple of weeks have been very interesting as we have started to work on projects and collaborate online. Some of these have been very interesting. I unfortunately missed the hangout session with the group but believe it would be very similar to the one I did a few years ago on Skype, which was very cool. I look forward to making the next one. I see so much value in this from an educational point of view in the post secondary world. The professor could set up a weekly time when they are available, just like office hours, and answer questions, help work through problems with assignments or just check in. Then by exposing the students to this, I can see them creating study groups to work together. No more booking a room and trying to get people together face to face.
This week we looked at wikis and I must say that I was a disappointed with them as I was with description given in the text. As an educational tool on the surface they seem fine but I think that it would allow more students to ride the coat tails of others. My initial thought was that an instructor could put a set of problems or questions up for the class to work on but all that would happen is the students who want to learn would log on and actually work together to solve the problem or get the answer while others would just stop by after to see the finished result. It may afford greater opportunities for learning for a few but then remove them for rest. Even those students who wished to jump in have actually work through the problem but showed up after it was solved would not have had the opportunity. The other piece is that these sites are not secure so anyone could access them if they happened upon them. I am always aware of what information I want to share and I think that this bothers me as well. I do not think that a wiki will be part of my PLE.
I have however totally enjoyed working through both the todaysmeet and with Google Docs. I actually found that they were very simple to use and that I did connect online to connect with a project partner a few hundred kilometers away. Last week I disconnected to connect but this week I connected to connect. The balance in life is so very important. I enjoyed them so much that I have actually set up a couple of similar shared documents at work in very secure locations that at least two of us are working on. With out the need for so many e-mails with so many copies of just a slightly different document floating around it has been great. A quick communication about updates and suggestions and it has been very effective. I know that Google Docs will be part of my PLE and I will introduce my faculty to them as well in the hope that they use them with their students.
This week started for me with a presentation at Lambton College by a professor from Ottawa University on data collected around student retention. Now most of you might be thinking what has this student retention piece have to do with the last two weeks in which we examined ways to collaborate online. Well it really did. In part of the information it showed the first year retention rates of those who lived at home, to those who were out of town and not living at residence and those who were living at residence. Those who lived in residence had the highest retention of the three groups. Now I was shocked by this data as I thought that they only thing going on at residence was extra curricular activities. It occurred to me that the reason why was the connection with other students and the learning institution. this connection is a face to face interactions. One of the leading factors was how a student preformed in the first term. If you are always interacting with class mates you are going to be reminded about the quiz or assignment. When you are prepared, you will do better.This makes it so important for students who are not on campus 24/7 to have access to online types of collaborative and interactive spaces so they can connect with the learning institution and other students after the lights have gone out in the lecture hall. Most of the true learning happens after the lights are out anyway as students reflect on what was taught.
While looking through the information on my feeder I did come across a good blog on ways students can learn from others. I found it very interesting as it speaks to the way these students connect so effortlessly online. When I reflect on this I think that without being shown or taught younger students have figured out that if they can connect with me digitally, when I am responding it will be directly to them. In some cases, the student can actually have captured my full attention. Something that will rarely happen in the class room.
As I start to reflect and actually become a digital citizen I think I am going to have to figure this out. At Disney World I will not only be enjoying the hand in hand discoveries and interactions but also the ones that involve capturing something in a photo and sharing it with my grandchildren as well. They would not even actually have to be there with me.
Have a great week.
Jeff
Sunday, 3 November 2013
Digital Citizenship - Week Seven
Last week in my blog I stated how I disliked the reading week as I felt that I was disconnected form the world of education. I had noted that I found myself spending time investigating the many new ideas and concepts coming at me from twitter or my feeder and just how exciting this was for me. This week it was very different. I was on vacation with my Daughter and her family in Disney World. I had every intent on staying connected and carried with me both a laptop and my Ipad for this purpose. I carried both back without ever turning either of them on. I disconnected to be connected. Funny how many people do not even understand the concept of disconnecting to connect. The face to face interaction with my two grandchildren that was occurring moment to moment was the single most important connection at that time. While they were experiencing the sights, sounds and wonders that are Disney, I needed to have one hand in theirs with full focus on each experience instead of both hands on a device, nose down, reading the latest tweet, while life's moments passed by. There was a great interaction between me and them and I enjoyed learning with them and experiencing things with them. I found the proper use of the off button. My biggest lesson this week is balance. Unfortunately I saw way to many parents who do not understand this and wasted great opportunities to spend time with their children.
I did really enjoy playing with Google documents. I found that it did not work exactly like the Microsoft applications that we are all so familiar with but was close enough that it was very simple to figure out. As an educator this tool would be great for sharing with students. As an administrator I see many applications for working with faculty to develop a new policy or plan as well as then communicating the final document. Finally, I also work on many projects that require a few hands working on the same document and I can not wait to try this out as we build our collaboration project. As an experienced trades person I have made the connection between the new style of learning and apprenticeship years ago. This week feels very much like an apprenticeship. We read and explore a little to guide and then we go and do it. Learning more from the doing and less form the reading.
I found a couple of interesting articles in my feeder this week. The first was on learning as an apprenticeship. It was very interesting how they indicated that people should be shown how to learn by their parents. The very interesting piece for me is that the parents of most individuals who are very successful do just that. They disconnect to connect with their children and interact with them so that they learn and grow. Does not matter whether that disconnection was from a news paper, the telephone (the ones that hung on the wall), the television, our jobs or any of the new ways that we interact on the net, they still disconnected so they can totally connect. The second was on time management. A very important subject for everyone, not just students. We always tend to build our lives on the small things and then try to squeeze in the important ones. Kind of neat way to look at this with some good ideas to explain to students. It does go back to the disconnect to connect idea in that we push out spending time with kids floating on lazy river laughing to answer some text. The one is a small item that can be handled later, the one will only happen now. I guess it is for each person to decide which one is which.
Jeff
I did really enjoy playing with Google documents. I found that it did not work exactly like the Microsoft applications that we are all so familiar with but was close enough that it was very simple to figure out. As an educator this tool would be great for sharing with students. As an administrator I see many applications for working with faculty to develop a new policy or plan as well as then communicating the final document. Finally, I also work on many projects that require a few hands working on the same document and I can not wait to try this out as we build our collaboration project. As an experienced trades person I have made the connection between the new style of learning and apprenticeship years ago. This week feels very much like an apprenticeship. We read and explore a little to guide and then we go and do it. Learning more from the doing and less form the reading.
I found a couple of interesting articles in my feeder this week. The first was on learning as an apprenticeship. It was very interesting how they indicated that people should be shown how to learn by their parents. The very interesting piece for me is that the parents of most individuals who are very successful do just that. They disconnect to connect with their children and interact with them so that they learn and grow. Does not matter whether that disconnection was from a news paper, the telephone (the ones that hung on the wall), the television, our jobs or any of the new ways that we interact on the net, they still disconnected so they can totally connect. The second was on time management. A very important subject for everyone, not just students. We always tend to build our lives on the small things and then try to squeeze in the important ones. Kind of neat way to look at this with some good ideas to explain to students. It does go back to the disconnect to connect idea in that we push out spending time with kids floating on lazy river laughing to answer some text. The one is a small item that can be handled later, the one will only happen now. I guess it is for each person to decide which one is which.
Jeff
Wednesday, 23 October 2013
Digital Citizenship - Week Six
Week six is finally here. I struggled a bit last week. Not due to the hardships of trying to get Evernote to work, which were many, but because it was reading week at Brock. I found it funny that I felt disconnected form what was happening in the wide world of education as I was not spending as much time interacting on line at the beginning of the week. Reading week, I was only exploring these cool tools for grades. As the week progressed I did change this and started to explore. Critically reflecting on how I felt and my actions through the week has given me the sense of clearly where this path is leading and the changes that have and will occur in me. I can now spend hours just reading the vast number of twitter posts that have links to blogs or web sites and then just explore each one of those and the time just slips away. The new ideas and concepts are so vast that at times it becomes tough to decide which ones to share and explore further. Each one in its own way exciting and intoxicating as my mind races to determine how or what can be tried in my classrooms or implemented at Lambton College. The interaction of all the tools has actually helped the process. It has now become clear how I can use this technology to help me collect information that is on a particular topic and the many ways in which it can be shared.
The Evernote piece was a tiny struggle for me for a couple of reasons. First getting the clipper to perform correctly was a bit of a learning curve that I have now mastered. Nothing wrong with the tool, the issue was all in the student. I still could not get an academic Article from a Library uploaded. I have not given up, just have not yet been successful. The other issue was that I wanted to only find things to store in Evernote through twitter or my feeder. This was turning out to be very time consuming and showing very little results. In the end, I just searched the web to come up with the many "notes" that are going to be required for this research project.
My time looking through my feeder and posts on twitter were not totally wasted as I did find lots of great information. One interesting piece spoke to the increase of social media use in class rooms. There is some statistics that they are using but I wonder what type of social media and just how is it being used. There were also many other links at the bottom of the page that are worth a look. I believe that it is about time and that these numbers are way to low. I think that as social media evolves, great educators will use all these tools to their advantage to guide the students to new concepts and ideas that they will explore themselves. Quality educators, using social media to its fullest, will reach more students at any age, and facilitate learning and real change.
I also found a piece that caused me to laugh aloud as I realized that this was exactly what was occurring in me. Ferriter and Provenzano ( I am following Provenzano on twitter as well) wrote a very good piece on how the use of social media has and well replace the need for professional development. Of course I could not help but see myself as they describe the interaction between like minded educators, sharing and learning from one another using the numerous tools that we have been exploring in this course. Interestingly I feel that this will only be a small number as I only see the truly great educators taking advantage of this now. The revolution has started, just how long will it take before all educators are on board?
I am excited as I grow and learn. I find myself looking forward to the next new bit of the puzzle for my PLE and discovering just how I will make it fit with the others. Thank you reading week for giving me the oppurtunity to critcally reflect and to grow as I am starting to become digitally literate.
Jeff
The Evernote piece was a tiny struggle for me for a couple of reasons. First getting the clipper to perform correctly was a bit of a learning curve that I have now mastered. Nothing wrong with the tool, the issue was all in the student. I still could not get an academic Article from a Library uploaded. I have not given up, just have not yet been successful. The other issue was that I wanted to only find things to store in Evernote through twitter or my feeder. This was turning out to be very time consuming and showing very little results. In the end, I just searched the web to come up with the many "notes" that are going to be required for this research project.
My time looking through my feeder and posts on twitter were not totally wasted as I did find lots of great information. One interesting piece spoke to the increase of social media use in class rooms. There is some statistics that they are using but I wonder what type of social media and just how is it being used. There were also many other links at the bottom of the page that are worth a look. I believe that it is about time and that these numbers are way to low. I think that as social media evolves, great educators will use all these tools to their advantage to guide the students to new concepts and ideas that they will explore themselves. Quality educators, using social media to its fullest, will reach more students at any age, and facilitate learning and real change.
I also found a piece that caused me to laugh aloud as I realized that this was exactly what was occurring in me. Ferriter and Provenzano ( I am following Provenzano on twitter as well) wrote a very good piece on how the use of social media has and well replace the need for professional development. Of course I could not help but see myself as they describe the interaction between like minded educators, sharing and learning from one another using the numerous tools that we have been exploring in this course. Interestingly I feel that this will only be a small number as I only see the truly great educators taking advantage of this now. The revolution has started, just how long will it take before all educators are on board?
I am excited as I grow and learn. I find myself looking forward to the next new bit of the puzzle for my PLE and discovering just how I will make it fit with the others. Thank you reading week for giving me the oppurtunity to critcally reflect and to grow as I am starting to become digitally literate.
Jeff
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