Journal Article

John Cunliffe

July 26, 2011

EDU 685

Article title: Evaluation Across Contexts: Evaluating the Impact of Technology Integration Professional Development Partnerships

                After reading this article I found a few parts that interested me and that I wanted to talk about them a bit more from my perspective.  This article was a very good one to have and did bring up some quality points about technology integration.  This first excerpt was mentioned in the introduction:

“Teachers can use technology to transform the teaching and learning context in a way that will position their students for future opportunities in the global context, preparing them for the flattened world that technology has helped to make possible.”

               

                First they mentioned that the “technology world is flattened.”  I remember we talked about this earlier this semester.  I agree with this quote that technology is basically a tool for our future to use to gain a better understanding of what is out there for them to grab a hold of and make their own.  Teaching with the use of technology is beneficial to our students.  They now have the resources to obtain any type of information that they would need in increase their knowledge.  With the emergence of technology we have become equal, we have become smarter, and we have become a world with nothing standing in our way of achieving a better education.  Before technology not everyone was equal or of the same status.  There were “barriers” or walls in the way of certain people throughout the world that told them that they were not allowed on the other side.  Technology itself tore down those walls.  Within the internet everyone is equal, everyone has a say in what they will do in their future, and no one can say otherwise. 

               

                The second excerpt that I wanted to discuss a bit is more towards to the end of the quote where they mention collaborative evaluation:

“Technology Integration Professional Development, (TIPD) evaluation must provide feedback and information that is useful for all stakeholders in their roles. The evaluation should be nested in the contextual realities in which the technology is integrated. It should take into account the dynamic nature of technology development. To accommodate such demands, many researchers are advocating for collaborative evaluation approaches that are participant oriented.”

                I do agree that sometimes in order to evaluate someone’s performance you need more than one person evaluating.  Not everyone is able to make a clear and concise evaluation unless there are more people on board who are looking for different things.  As a “soon to be” technology teacher I feel that I will be under a microscope from many different pair of eyes.  Everyone at Iber Holmes Gove and Raymond district would like to see what I can bring to the table as an educator.  As for students they are always trying to get the teachers approval no matter what.  I prefer the method where there is peer evaluations going on.  With the use of peer eval’s going on in your class you are having students learn from their peer’s mistakes.  It is a win/win situation for the students in terms of learning.  Evaluations are the most important feedback that anyone can get.  It is not a way of telling you that you did great or that you messed up here and there; instead it is a way for you to become a better learner which in turn makes you a better educator because our best evaluators are our students.

http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ918900.pdf

Scratch in the classroom

                When we started Scratch I was a little slow at getting it because I need to play around with things before I start to understand it.  After class I began playing around with it and I am getting a little more comfortable with it now.  It was fun to know that I created an “Avatar” and was making him do everything I wanted him to do.  Now that I have my own classroom and some young kids in grade 5, I may use Scratch for a project.  Scratch can be used for any subject and it is fun to use, which is what kids want.  They don’t want to go to school and be bored and be forced to learn, instead they want to go to school, have fun, and not know that they are being educated.  Scratch can make that happen.  Scratch makes students open their minds and become creative.  They can make their “Sprites” look like whatever they feel and make them do whatever they want.  With Scratch, they hold a world of expression, students now cannot be afraid to show who they really are by expressing themselves through a “Sprite” in Scratch.  Not only will Scratch be a creative tool for lesson and learning but can also help students come out of a shell and express who they are without ridicule.

Teach Good Digital Citizenship

                In order for your faculty to understand the true meaning of what a good digital citizen is you need to show them.  You should show them both the good and the bad of the internet.  How social chat rooms can both be useful or hurtful to teens.  Some teens find comfort in them being able to express themselves and others find themselves being ridiculed to no end.  The video “Growing up Online” was one that did show both sides of the story. 

                Bullying is a huge issue right now in school and cyber bullying is now a new type of bullying.  I would show a variety of videos that show the results of cyber bullying.  These reports are not pleasant but they are real.  They do show how the internet can be harmful to many.  If someone wanted to “tease” or “ridicule” a peer than all they need to do is post something online and it catches like wild fire and spreads all over.  Just a small post can ruin someone’s life.  I would show my faculty that the internet is very useful in a school setting but it needs to be monitored and any type of inappropriate use should be noted and brought to an administrator’s attention.  Just like so many argue that we need to change the way we teach due to the uprising of the internet and multimedia tools, I would not just lecture and say do this do that, I would show them how to promote good digital citizenship.  I would make it interactive for all members of my faculty or workshop.  Using videos would get the right message about digital citizenship across to the teachers.  I know that for a fact my school would be a much better place knowing that everyone from teachers to students would understand how to use the internet to better themselves not only as students or teachers but also as citizens to our community. 

Digital CitizenShip

                Good ol’ Digital Citizenship!  My, how things have changed since I was in junior high and high school.  I can remember being in school when there were no computers except for the ones in the main office.  Now-a-days there is multiple computers in every classroom.  I can remember using a computer in high school, in a computer lab, and the teacher just instructing us on how to complete our work using a computer.  I do not remember them lecturing us on how to use the computer in a safe and respectful way.  The internet was not as huge back then and the chances of us going to or finding a bad website was very low.  We just did what was needed of us and if time was left we could e-mail friends.

                Today is a whole new ballgame.  Permission slips and other papers need to be signed by parents and students in order for them to have access to the computers in the schools, students need to review a booklet and take a test on how to use the computer properly, and students are constantly on watch from teachers and administrators.  For students to become a good digital citizen they need to know how to respect the computer and its use.  Far too often students abuse their privilege with a computer, they type swear words, play games, and/or check out bad websites.  Some students are so good that they know codes or passwords to get by the blocked sites set up by the school.  In a link provided to us I would have to agree with Suzie Nestico where she stated, “Part of being a responsible Digital Citizen as a teacher is being in the know.” (1)  Us as educators need to know what is going on around us and what is interesting to students today.  For us to stay in the loop with our students is progress in the right direction.  We could understand our students better….to a degree, know what intrigues them, and see how they may feel about certain current news topics.  Facebook was mentioned in her post.  I’m not sure that I feel the same way about it.  She said she does not accept current students which imply that she does have former students on her account.  I feel that you should not have any Facebook friends that were students. 

                In order for us to teach our students how to be a good Digital Citizen we need to promote it and show them first and foremost.  Show them how to use the internet in a safe manner and show them that the door is wide open for them to succeed in school using the internet.  We can teach them how to use computers through projects or assignments.  I would assign a group project in the form of a PowerPoint presentation.  Groups of three would show me what a good Digital Citizen is to them.  I would like what they thought Digital Citizenship was before the project and what it means to them after I have taught it in the PowerPoint.  After all groups have presented I would then have an open class where we would jot down the main points on what it really is to be a good Digital Citizen.  Teaching them young and early in their school years will help them understand and know how to use a computer as they get older in school and beyond and hopefully become a model student and citizen.

                Intellectual property and creative rights are important because it teaches our students to be truthful and honest.  They should know that plagiarizing someone else’s work is not only wrong but also against the law.  Although they know that it is wrong students still do it and try to get away with it.  When a student works hard on a paper or an assignment they have a certain ownership to it.  It is their “masterpiece” that they are, at times, extremely proud of.  Teaching students to work hard at something and in turn they will be proud of what the accomplished is a huge step in helping students understand what is right and wrong when it comes to using the internet.

1.       http://coalcrackerclassroom.wordpress.com/2011/03/29/digital-citizenship-in-schools-inverted/