Blog Post 5

"Driving Questions"

 WHY should teachers use technology to communicate 
with students, parents and peers?

        Teachers should use technology because it provides the opportunity to engage, inspire, motivate, and transform student's work efficacy and willingness to learn. Technology is a social networking engine that can communicate anywhere around the world. It allows you to live in the U.S. but talk to a friend in China. In the past, communication between two different places took days while you waited for the delivery man to send a letter. Now, we communicate instantly and when we have something to say to someone, all we need is to pick up our laptops or cell phones and send an email, instant message, Facebook comment, etc. This is good news for Education and teachers because there are so many letters, emails, updates, notices, etc. that teacher's need to communicate to parents, students and peers. With all of the work they have to complete, using technology to communicate is the most efficient and easiest route. Of course, all of this is only possible once you understand how to work technology well and all of the resources that are available to you. It is beneficial to the students and the classroom learning as a whole when the teacher is well informed and well versed.  

 WHICH technology tools have the greatest potential 
to improve communication between teachers and others?  

HOW do these tools improve communication?

          

        I believe that one of the potentially greatest technological tools that can be used to improve communication between teachers and others is the internet. There are numerous amounts of resources, such as blogging, wikis, emails, personal profiles, etc. In particular, blogs are especially enjoyable, clear cut, and get the information across. If a teacher were to use her blog as the primary resource for getting information to parents about classroom activities and their student's performance, it would be so convenient and easy for a parent to simply get online and view the blog. It doesn't rely on a student to get the weekly or monthly newsletter to their parents, and encounter the possibly that it will be lost. Blog posts and link posts are flexible to everyone's individual schedules and a parent can go and check updates at home or whenever they have time. Blogs also allow you to create threads where a parent could post a question and the teacher could answer, as well as other parents. That would allow the parents to communicate to one another rather than only the teacher. I believe that keeping parents informed and up to date is extremely important. They should always be involved in their student's learning and be a co-supporter with the teacher for the student. I think blogs, more than any other technology based tool I've learned, would be the most affective way to communicate in education with students, parents, and peers. I believe that these tools improve communication in great ways.

In addition to the blog as an upcoming tool, I think it would be very strategic and effective for a teacher to create two separate blogs. One for the parents, and one for the students. The student blog can remind students of classroom activities, upcoming and past assignments. The student work could even be posted online as an example for a student to see a nicely done project. There are so many ways and advantages to using blogs to communicate for both the parents and students!

     

Blog Post 4

In Defense of Gadgets

 Have you ever experienced an over-crowded, cluttered and hard to follow blog page? I have personally encountered many myself, and it isn't enjoyable to read the postings or navigate through different links because there are so many to choose from. This particular blog was created to defend specific gadgets that are added to my blog page and reasons why I believe it supports my blog's purpose. Here is a following explanation for  the gadgets that are applied to my page in order to enhance the information of my blog postings.

1. Picture: I thought that this particular picture enhanced my goal for this blog, as well as went along nicely with the overall blog theme. I titled it "Technology Connects Us" because technology is used all over the world and it is powerful enough to reach across countries and allow people to communicate long distances. The picture seemed to fit that idea and present a sense of unity among people, cultures, places and online social networks. I also used two other pictures at the bottom of my page to spire some inspiration for teachers, students, and the overall goal of education.

 2. Search: This is an extremely helpful gadget. It allows readers to instantly find a blog posting by simply typing in a key word or phrase. This is placed on the side bar of my blog and in the upper right corner, because when new viewers enter into my blog, they will know where to find information. It is a nice way to assistant readers and make it easy for them to navigate. 

3. Pages: I chose this gadget because it is an easy to use navigation tool, that helps blog viewers sort through my different pages and find the exact topic they need. 

4. List: I chose to post this gadget because I think it is important for the readers to know their blog creator. I listed my favorite things to do and through that information I hope to build in my student's a trust for their teacher, as well as feel more connected.  I believe that it is important that the student's not only know their teacher's academic background, but also small facts about their favorite things to do.

5. Profile: This is the "About Me" section. This gadget is more personal and explains my passions in life and what I spend my time doing. I can always better connect with people and their blogs when I know something important to them. By knowing a few simple things, it can help the reader understand the writing in a different light because they know a little bit about the author.

6. Followers: I thought this gadget was useful to my blog because once you set up a blog and begin to frequently write and post things, sometimes a reader will see if it is worth it to even attempt to read, by looking at how many views they've gotten. Popularity is a big deal and being able to see how many followers a blog has, is a tool to help you to decide whether you have a desire to read on. 

7. Blog Archive: This archive gadget allows viewers to find blog posts in an easily, organized way. I set it up, in the right column, in a format of just clicking on the months of my postings. If they click on April, for example, they will find only all of my postings made from April. A great navigation tool! 

8. Video: I posted a youtube video thread on topics having to do with technology in the classroom. I thought this gadget would be helpful for auditory learners, as well as visuals, who would more so benefit from seeing this clip. It also emphasizes the point of how important it is that all students have access to technology and the advantages it brings to effectively teach.  

9. Follow by Email: This is an extremely useful tool, especially when new updates or events are happening. Parents and students alike, can check for these changes and be notified through email what will be happening in the next week. That way, parents are always in the loop with lessons in the classroom.

10. Logo: I think this Logo gadget enhances my blog by giving credit to Blogger. It is important to sight your sources and show the viewers that they are navigating through a blog published under Blogger. It is a good advertising tool, as well.

Digital Divide Wordle

Sustainability

Today in class we talked about the issues and affects of sustainability and watched a video called VoiceThread that portrayed technology use in the classroom with elaborate images. It showed the importance of educators incorporating technology in their teaching and striving for equal opportunity for their students, as well as ways in which technology can be more sustainable.

Blog Post 2

E-sponsibility

 

 

1) Is it fair to scrutinize teachers' private lives (either online or offline?) Explain/defend your position.

               I think that it is fair to scrutinize, as well as analyze the private life of a teacher because they are held to a higher standard than many other positions. They are prominent influences to the students they are educating daily, and if they expect to be respected and admired, than they must hold themselves to the standards they hope for their students. How can a high school teacher, for example, expect their students to stay sober or drug free if they themselves are using those things and openly discussing it? A teacher should demand respect by the way they live their life and their everyday actions. As far as their online life, if a teacher is going to do immoral things, then they need to be tactful about what they are posting online. All things on the internet are accessible to anyone and we need to be careful and cautious. For the same reasons I mentioned about an online life, even a teacher's life offline is important to monitor. Teachers need to be aware that learning eyes from students, as well as the critical eye of their parents are always watching them.  Teachers should not be offended that they are scrutinized about their private life, but they should rather expect to be challenged and watched if they expect to live openly and recklessly. If they do, however, want to live in a manner that is inappropriate in the professional world than

"Actions Speak Louder Than Words"

2) Should teachers maintain a presence on social networking sites? Why or why not? As a teacher, what steps can you take to protect yourself from criticism and /or sanctions when using social media sites?

         I believe that it is important that teachers stay connected to social networking sites. Communicating online is quick, easy and efficient and without using online networks as a tool to communicate, the process is much slower. It is, for example, convenient to send out a group email to parents or an assignment to students. Both teachers and students alike can greatly benefit from using email, blogs, blackboard, etc to get information such as alerts, dates to remember, reminders, questions, updates and much more. 

         

        The steps a teacher can take to protect themselves from criticisms is to be wary of what they say and do, as well as and their activities online. For instance, if they wanted to have a Facebook, then they could have two separate profiles, one for their students and co-workers, and the other for personal friends and social reasons. That way, they are separating work life from social life. Although this could be a good plan, a teacher must still act the way they want to be viewed by their students. Teachers will be held accountable for their actions if something unwanted was found by a student and brought to the principal's attention. A teacher can also protect themselves by refraining from putting personal frustrations or negative comments in permanent ink on the internet. To sum everything up, teachers basically need to make smart choices and live a life worth modeling after.

Accountability

Does technology in education HELP, HURT or BOTH?

Blog Post 3

Classroom Educational Blogs 

"What Works and Doesn't Work"

An Educational Blog that WORKS

          
              This blog is called "Primary 1 Blog - Step into the World of P1." What works for this specific blog, as far as design goes is its simplicity. There really aren't any theme colors or designs everywhere, but there are many pictures of students and their art work. I appreciate this blog because it is student focused and celebrates the student's lives. For example, the teacher posted an article wishing student's a happy birthday, as well as welcoming new students to the school and making them feel loved and welcomed. This blog is a perfect example of the statement, "less is more." The design is also easy to follow and understand. There is an area on the side of the blog that separates and organizes categories from events to physical education to science and math. A school calendar is posted and informs parents when there is no school or a field trip to remember. There is also a floating word picture that allows to to click on an event that you're interested in hearing more about. I clicked on "book week" and it took me to a page with valuable details I need to know and in the form of a video. The text is easy to read and organized neatly. In addition to the appealing design, the content is also well done. The teacher talks about students and informs parents on how their child is performing in the classroom through their art work and crafts and basic subject areas. Overall, in my opinion, this blog meets the requirements that the "5 Vital Design Tips" handout has to offer. It is clean, focused, shows many photographs and videos, has a simplistic color scheme, and has easy to read text. 

An Educational blog that NEEDS WORK

             This blog is called "Middle Matters" and it is for 3rd and 4th graders in Melbourne, Australia. Some areas that this blog needs to change or work on is the background design. It is very distracting from the text on the page and the designs and bold orange colors makes it feel like there is too much happening and my eyes have a hard time focusing in on one thing. The teacher added a lot of glitter and glam to the page and sparkly, blinking words. I find this not only to be distracting, but also in favor of female students. It makes me wonder what the 8 and 9 year old boys think of having shining pink words and stars floating around. Another area that needs a little changing are the colors of the text. They are a mix of orange, blue, red, green and purple and are randomly highlighting certain headings or words in the text. It might be a better idea to be more consistent with your colors and use only 2 or 3 different ones that go well together. Color is great in an Elementary blog, however, it should be organized and make sense. 
            
            Another area that is equally important to the design of the page is the content. They isn't a large portion of text on the page, but the content that is there is mostly a description of a video or picture. There isn't an area that gives more detail about what they are doing daily in the classroom but there are videos from students about poetry. It is a great idea to display student's art work and ideas for all to see, however, posting all the videos is taking up all of the pages space and taking away white space, as well as room for other content. There is really a lack of depth to the blog and everything falls only into two different columns. I would suggest to this teacher to take away anything blinking and sparkly, choose only 2-3 colors, and to add more descriptions about the classroom and the improvements student's are making so far. Parents love to see how their kids are gaining more knowledge and understanding!