Week 11 Reflection

While reading this section from Brave New Schools about an Internet scenario in “Explorations”, I couldn’t help but think how far we’ve come, as educators with the use of the Internet. At the time that this book was published—in 1995—the use of the Internet in the classroom setting was very new. Teachers were faced with the challenge of figuring out how to us it effectively while engaging students simultaneously. Ms. Reyes, the fifth grade teacher featured in this reading section, was very ambitious and embarked on a journey of her own to figure out how to create a unit around the topic of “explorations” with the use of the Internet. ERIC was a resource that Ms. Reyes found that provided her with an abundance of lessons and other resources that were useful for her planning of the unit. Furthermore, the use availability of Parents AskERIC, helped her to engage parents, as she often tried to do in her academic planning and teaching. I find this service to be especially important when students come from diverse backgrounds and varying cultures. My personal experience with diverse students has proved that it is often difficult to involve parents that either do not speak English or speak very little English. Thus, a service like Parents AskERIC seems like an excellent way for parents to be able to find information on their own about topics such how to aide in their child’s development and academic achievement. As an educator for students that come from diverse backgrounds, I find myself trying to help parents become involved in their children’s learning experiences in the classroom. Today, there are many different services that aim to help parents become educated and involved in the school setting. In my school, we hold Parent Group sessions, when the school social workers “teach” parents different coping skills that will help them to work with their children (who have emotional and behavioral difficulties). Once parents become involved with these Parent Group sessions, they become attached and really enjoy attending them. This in person service seems very similar to an online service that provides parents with important resources that can help with their children’s development. This makes me think, however, about which service is better—online or in person? My thought is that it would depend on the parent’s preference and ability to either attend a session or to simply find resources at their own leisure.
Ms. Reye’s experience with using a LISTSERV to both connect with teachers regarding theory and practicalities of teaching in addition to class to class collaborations is an excellent way to easily gather information that can aid in the planning and teaching process. Ms. Reyes simply sent a message on her LISTSERV and received one back from a teacher from another country. Ms Reyes was able to coordinate with this teacher and her students were able to compare their experiences learning about both historical ideas, in addition to their learning about space exploration. In my School Library class, I signed up for a LISTSERV. I was overwhelmed with the number of messages that I received daily about various topics. I was able to post a question in the form of a message, and within less than a day of sending it, I had received an abundance of messages in response to the question that I had posted about book banning. I found LISTSERVs to be very useful and helpful when looking for an answer to a specific question. However, they can also be quite overwhelming. Something that teachers must learn is how to effectively weed out the important messages and information received from the messages that may not be of importance to their own teaching experiences.
The use of the Internet in gathering resources for teachers is extremely valuable. Teachers can find resources that help them in their classrooms to both plan and teach lessons, in addition to helping parents access information to help them with their children’s academic achievement and development. When explored and used appropriately, the Internet can provide parents, teachers, and students with a wealth of information to help them as they progress through their educational careers in the school setting.

Annotations

Stevens, K. (2007). The development of virtual education environments to support inter-school collaboration. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 8. Retrieved from: http://tojde.anadolu.edu.tr/tojde26/articles/article_2.htm
This is a journal article that discusses the use of the Internet as a tool for collaboration between schools in Canada. The author discusses five stages that computers has experienced as they have become increasingly useful in the classroom setting. The use of the Internet as a network to connect rural and urban schools in Canada have opened up doors for students and teachers, as they become learners engaged in the world beyond the classroom walls.

The Global Gateway. Retrieved from: http://www.globalgateway.org.uk/default.aspx?page=4705
This is a website for a program, sponsored by the UK, but open to the world, where students can find schools across the world who may be interested in a collaborative project. The website provides resources to use in the classroom, in addition to a link that helps to find a partner school in countries all over the world. I find this website to be full of useful resources for the classroom setting.

Global Nomads Group. Retrieved from: http://www.gng.org/home.htmlThis group, established in 1998, aims to create international programs for students about global issues. The website features information about programs sponsored by the group. Programs for the Fall, 2009, include Rapid Response, a program that focuses on emergency response from events such as Hurricane Katrina, 2-Part Pulse, a program that provides students with the opportunity to participate in virtual town hall meetings to discuss challenging issues today, and a few others. The website also features videos and other media clips for both teachers and students to watch in order to become educated on various global issues.

Week 10 Reflection

While reading this article, I couldn’t help but think how much the Internet and research has changed since the time that this article was written. However, though there have been so many changes with the Internet itself, the practices and importance of using the Internet in appropriate and effective ways has remained rather consistent. The importance of building learning communities using online sources has always been a focus of the Internet’s use in the classroom setting.
Even since the beginning of Internet use in the classroom, there has been a digital divide. The authors state, “The gap between “info-rich” and “info-poor” is demonstrated by the statistic: Schools with larger proportions of poor students are only half as likely to have access to the Internet versus students serving wealthier populations.” How could this have been prevented from the start? Was there a way? I feel like most of the use of Internet was learned as the Internet unfolded and its uses were learned. It is sad to know, however, that since the beginning of the Internet, nothing was able to be done that could have fixed or minimized this digital divide that exists more than ever across the country and across the world.
When students use the Internet, it is extremely important that they know how to be appropriate with it. Appropriate Use Policies (AUPs) are now put in place within schools across the country to educate students about the appropriate usage of the Internet. Students learn about, read, and sign these policies so that they understand the correct ways to use this form of technology. In addition to these AUPs, teachers must also educate students about how to evaluate online sources. We must teach students that just because information is posted online, it does not make it reliable. I believe that teachers and parents are responsible for educating students about biases that exist within information provided on many different websites. The article states, “Before students commit to a belief, they should become aware of the range of existing opinions and to identify, at least, some of the ones they do not accept.” I completely agree with this statement and think that it needs to be left to parents AND teachers to teach students this important principle. Just as students need to learn how to evaluate print sources, they also need to evaluate online sources. Furthermore, educating students about the importance of citing sources is a crucial step to take when using Internet resources for research purposes. If students begin learning about how to effectively evaluate and cite sources at a young age, it is hopeful that as they get older and progress through their educational careers, they will only become better writers and students, as a result.
The Internet, in addition to being an excellent resource for finding information, can also be used as a tool for communication. This communication can take place between students, students and teachers, or even teachers and parents. Blogs, wikis, and other Internet sites can be used as the place where students write and communicate their thoughts about a given content area. Teachers can comment directly on the website and parents can also access student work. Though this is of great benefit to teachers, students, and parents, I find that it can also become problematic. When parents have full access to work that is completed by students, they can become very critical and may begin to question the teacher about student grades and feedback. The article discusses the positive benefit of using the Internet as a communication board for parents to critique their children’s work. Though it is presented as a benefit, I find it to be the opposite. Parents can often be very critical of their children and giving them access to be able to critique their work online can either discourage their children or inadvertently offend someone else’s child. I feel that the Internet has great uses as a tool for communication between parents and teachers, but parent access should be limited and they should only be able to see their own children’s work without the ability of writing comments. The work that is done as a part of a school assignment should be commented on only by the teachers and staff from the school setting.
Overall, the world wide web has many uses in the educational setting. It has always been seen as having great potential as a learning tool. However, it has also been known that Internet usage within schools needs to be regulated and students need to be educated on appropriate use of it. Though there have been many transformations and changes with Internet usage today, the fundamental uses have remained the same. In time, I think that the Internet will continue to change and its use in the classroom will change, as well. However, we, as teachers, must be aware of how to educate our students about how to use this tool appropriately and effectively in order to enhance their educational experiences.

Annotations

American India Foundation (2009). Retrieved from: http://www.aifoundation.org/default.htm
This website for a nonprofit American development organization aims to bridge the digital divide that exists among children in India. The organization, which works out of New York and California in the United States, and New Delhi and Bangalore in India, attempts to bridge the divide by providing computers and other forms of technology to students in Indian schools that do not have such resources. It seems to be an organization that has raised money in order to help bridge this divide effectively.

Bridging the Digital Divide for Kids (2008). Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P6FP6JJazY
This is a YouTube video that highlights some of the work that has been done by the American India Foundation. Indian students are interviewed and the positive effects of this organization are highlighted.

Hoar, J. (2006). The Digital Divide 2.0. CBS News Online. Retrieved from: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/09/gentech/main1699023.shtml
This is an article that discusses the change that the digital divide has encountered, from simply being a disparity between the availability of computers to now being “more than lack of a machine.” The author writes about some of the ways that companies try to bridge the divide and the obstacles associated with make positive changes.

Week 9 Reflection

The framework of the ETIPS Digital Equity Cases seems to strive to achieve an equal balance between students’ access and use of technology inside and outside of the classroom setting. While reading the seven principles, I found myself hopeful that teachers can achieve and live up to these principles in their respective classroom and school settings.
The first principle discusses the importance of each student and family receiving equal access to technology within their community settings. Teachers, it states, can help families who do not have technology in their homes by providing them with information about where they can access computers within the community setting, such as Boys and Girls Clubs, libraries, or even by providing families with organization names that donate refurbished computers. In order to figure out which families are in need of such resources, it is recommended that teachers conduct surveys at the beginning of the year to find out the extent of access that each family has. One problem that I would face with this survey in my own classroom setting is the fact that often time, when I send papers home, they do not come back to school signed or completed by parents. It seems that the families that may be in the most need of technology do not have the time to complete a survey as they make work at night. Furthermore, even if we, as teachers, provide families with names of places that have computer access open to the public, these families may not have the transportation to get them there or the time to help their children get there. How do we, as teachers, help these families? I find that I am asking myself these questions with regards to my own classroom population.
The second principle focuses on the importance of educating teachers about how to effectively use technology. This is an extremely important step in contributing to the success of technology use in the classroom. Even if teachers are provided with computers or other forms of technology, they may not know how to use them effectively. Before enrolling in the Educational Technology Masters Program at Fairfield University, I was unaware of many of the tools that exist on the Internet for both teachers and students to use. Though I have been given a list of websites to which we have subscriptions, etc., I did not know of available sites, such as ICONN and other resources to help me as a teacher. Thus, it would seem correct to say that most teachers are unaware of teacher tools on the Internet. Professional development with the use of technology would greatly help teachers to both become more comfortable with using and teaching with technology in addition to showing them the many available programs and tools that can be used with computers. The importance of professional development is often left on the backburner due to things such as budget cuts, etc., and though it may not seem crucial to student progress, without training with technology, students are not learning to their fullest potential. Though it seems that many teachers are resistant to using technology, it might simply be due to the fact that they are not comfortable with it. According to the article, a major national study found that, “fewer than 5% of teachers using technology in their instruction, even though federal studies estimate that 97% of the nation’s classrooms have access to the Internet and computers.” Is this because of lack of teacher training? I think so. In my school, this is definitely the case. There are many teachers that would love to learn how to implement technology, but finding the time and the resources to learn gets in the way.
One step that educators can take in helping each other learn how to effectively use technology in the classroom is by communicating. If teachers do not feel comfortable teaching with or talking about technology, they often become silent. The seventh principle stresses the importance of all teachers to discuss what they feel needs to be done with regards to the use of technology in their schools, so that technology experts can help provide for professional development opportunities. Administrators and technology specialists should make all teachers feel comfortable and encourage all teachers to engage in team meetings, where technology use is discussed. This could help in increasing the comfort levels of many teachers in addition to sharing lessons that have been successful with the use of technology.
After reading about these seven principles, I was left with an important question that may not yet have an answer. Why are teachers held accountable for teaching content and meeting standards but are not yet held accountable for using technology? Will there be a point when students’ knowledge and familiarity are tested on standardized tests? I don’t think the answer in improving technology use in schools lies in testing, but it is an interesting idea for me to think about. Maybe if teachers continue to collaborate and discuss the benefits of technology use when teaching content, a trend will begin and technology use will increase across all student populations.

Annotations

Bridge the Digital Divide. Retrieved from: http://www.bridgethedigitaldivide.com/
This is a website sponsored by CNET Networks and UK charity Computer Aid International that aims to bridge the digital divide across the country. The site can be used to make PC or financial donations or to learn about the digital divide and its effects worldwide. I think that site is one step in the right direction to help fix this problem that exists worldwide.

Worldwide Community Schools (2008). Retrieved from: http://www.myworldwide.org/
Teachers can use this website as a starting point to help students in other countries receive appropriate educations. Support can be given in monetary donations of any amount, which can be put towards building new schools, sponsoring students to go to schools, or giving teachers the tools they need in order to educate students in developing countries. Though the site serves a good purpose, I don’t know how teachers or other individuals would find out about it or be inspired to donate.

The Center for Global Education. Retrieved from: http://www.globaled.us/
This site, managed by Loyola Marymount University, promotes international education to help students understand multicultural awareness. Projects sponsored by this center include study abroad programs, and resources to assist in research about study abroad programs. This Center seems to promote global education to a college aged population.