5-4 Blog

There are pros and cons of using social networking in schools. The best way that I have seen it used is by having the school have a twitter or Facebook page where they post their sporting events, academic events, school accomplishments and student accomplishments. Teachers could also have pages where they post assignments, reminders, or send out notifications. This give the school more of a community feel and encourages students and parents to be involved. Some schools also monitor their students on social media to make sure students aren't bullying each other outside of school. 

The cons of using social media in schools is that students tend to misuse it. For example, at my school girls have looked at their Facebook pages during lunch and gotten into a fight because they didn't like what another girl in the school posted. Many schools block social media sites so that students can not use it on their network, but many students use their phones and therefore the school can't stop them unless they don't let me use their phones. I have not heard of any teachers using social media in their classrooms to supplement or enhance student learning. 

2-2 Blog

Digital footprint is the data that we leave behind on the internet when we use it. When I think of this I think of the papers and blog posts I have put online during my graduate school program and then the things I have posted on social media such as Facebook and Instagram. I think this apples to most people as schools are integrating technology more and more. This requires students to put more of their work online and most people use some sort of social media. I personal don't like being required to post things online for school. This is because when employers go to hire people they look them up online. This means that they could be looking at something from my first year of college and be judging me on something they maybe i don't even agree with anymore. They also may judge me based on my writing in that paper which has improved so much since i was a freshman in college. It also bothers me the sites like Facebook will sell your profile because my private life is none of my employers business, but by signing up I know I am agreeing to that. 

Digital citizenship is teaching others how to appropriately use technology and the internet. I believe that whoever is giving the child the access to this is responsible for showing them the correct way to use it. This means that if parents are giving their child a laptop or phone with internet access then they should be talking to them about how their using it and if they use it inappropriately then it will be taken away. Unfortunately many parents do not do this. Most schools do a much better job of this though. Many elementary and middle schools have a technology teacher the teaches the students how to use computer and they are responsible for teaching them digital citizenship. If they do not, then their classroom teachers are responsible for this. In my experience schools have done a good job of talking to students about the consequences of social media as well. High school students are even starting to see the consequences of posting mean thing on social media due to things like the Dignity for all students act(DASA). This requires schools to address bullying in all cases regardless of when or where they happen which includes online. Hopefully if we teach digital citizenship before students are given the access to the technology then students will make better choices when using it. 

1-4 Blog

A technology integration specialist is someone who works with administrators and teachers to get teachers to use technology in their lessons. They are responsible for working with administration to make sure technology is up to date and to get more technology into the classroom. They also work with teachers to show them how to integrate technology as well and how to use different types of technology. This means individually helping teachers as well as giving many hours of professional development.

Technology is much more prevalent outside of the classroom than it is inside of the classroom. Pew research(2013) says that “78% of teens now have a cell phone, and almost half (47%) of those own smartphones”(p.1). Whereas I don’t believe that 78% of students in all schools are using technology in all of their classes. Also, I think that some classes lend themselves to technology better than others. There are many ways that English and Social Studies teachers can use free common technology in their classes like blogs, word processors, and online classrooms. This is more difficult for math and science as the websites and programs need to be specifically made for math or science. For example, Edmodo is an online classroom that many teacher use. You cannot type in equations so it’s not useful for math teachers. They need more specific programs that tend to cost much more money. This is something that technology integration specialists needs to work on and become familiar with but should not stop them from working with all teachers in the building. 

Resources:

Madden, Mary, Xlenhart, Mary, Duggen, Meave, Xcortesi, Maeve, and Grasser, Urs. (2013). Teens and Technology 2013. Pew Research Center. http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/03/13/teens-and-technology-2013/

Reflection

Education is a forever changing field. As Meltzer says "What was once good enough for grandma, or even mom and dad, is not good enough for our children"(2012, pg. 1) It seems natural that the technology we use is our everyday lives, all too often, is creeping into our classrooms and changing the way we teach. We need to prepare our students for the future and the future is bound to have more and more technology. We therefore work on effective and safe ways of integrating technology into our schools and our classrooms. For this purpose we needs things like  the ISTE NETS standards and  a technology integrator. These two things were familiar to me before this class but I have since become much more familiar with them and the role that they play in technology integration. The plan that Meltzer outlines in her book has made me very familiar with the different necessary parts of integrating technology that I did not think about before such as setting short and long term goal. I had always just thought of the broad goal of technology integration rather than more specific and measurable goals. 

I also had not thought about how much administration matters with regards to technology integration. My former administration spent time and resources on giving us professional development on technology and also pushed us to integrate it. My current administration has barely touched on it at all and it's easy to see in the classrooms that it isn't happening very often. It's not surprising knowing that my former Dean of academics know about the ISTE NETS standards and integration and my current Dean does not. It shows that providing professional development and resources make a great difference. Because of this class I will push for more technology focused professional development from my administration so that I have the support to work on increasing how often I integrate technology into my classroom. 

DYOD

There are many pros and cons to having a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy in a school. Some of the pros for the school is that it saves the school a lot of money. Having a classroom set of computers such as iMacs for 30 students would cost the school $32,970.00. Student devices also tend to be more up-to-date than school computers so they can run what ever new software teachers are able to find. It also allows for technology to be used in every class at once rather than making teachers sign up for a lab or laptop cart. This encourages teachers to incorporate technology into their lessons as it is so available to the students. This will also increase student engagement and responsibility. If students know that they can't complete their work if they don't bring their device they will be more likely to remember their device. This is also similar to the situation students face in college therefore students who have experienced this may be ahead of those who haven't when they get to college. Even though their are pros for the school their are also cons.

Some of the cons that a school faces when they have a BYOD policy is that there is a increased chance of theft. Students must be made aware of this possibility and asked to keep their devices on them at all times. It also puts a responsibility on the family to afford a device. Many families may already have devices but some will not want their child to bring it into school. This depends on the class of students you are serving though. If the majority or a large portion of your students live in poverty than you may be asking too much of families. This also leads to inequality between students. Some students will have high end technology while other will not which may lead to students feeling insecure or getting made fun of which obviously no one wants but is sometimes difficult to stop. 

In the class there pros and cons as well. Some of the pros are that students are already familiar with their own devices. They therefore need less training on using their operating system and the programs they already have. Also, Wainwright says that "With BYOD students are more likely to continue learning outside of schools hours"(Wainwright, http://www.securedgenetworks.com/strategy-blog/20-Pros-and-Cons-of-implementing-BYOD-in-schools).  Students can continue their work when they go home if necessary. Some of the cons in the classroom are that students may be responsible for downloading new software that they don't have which takes class time. Also, the large numbers of devices on the network can be a strain and therefore it may be hard for all the students to be online at once. The biggest problem would be if some students didn't have a device to bring from home. The school would hopefully have loaner devices that some students could use if they needed. 

I am for a BYOD plan with the school providing for the few students who can't afford it in schools that serve the majority of students who are middle class or upper class. I feel that asking families that are struggling financially to provide their student with such an expensive investment is thoughtless. I think that this will generally work better with high school students as they are more mature and responsible. One of the difficult parts of this policy is that teachers needs to be trained on the different types of devices they allow. I would suggest this include laptops and full size tablets and smart phones are difficult to do things like word processing with. The school also needs a network that can handle all the devices on it. The school's policy will have to have a detailed description of the protocol for student's who violate the policy. This would include students who are not on task and students who are doing inappropriate things. Students are to be always on task and using the technology in the way the is instructed by their teacher. If they are not then they can lose the ability to use the technology. All of the policies will be presented to teachers before school during a PD and to all the students during their 1st class by their teacher. The students will be sent home with the policy to be signed by their parent or guardian and will not be allowed to use their device until it is signed. 

Here are some resources that have similar views. 

Chadband, E. (2012, July 19). Should Schools Embrace "Bring Your Own Device"? Retrieved from http://neatoday.org/2012/07/19/should-schools-embrace-bring-your-own-device/

Wainwright, A. (n.d.). 20 PROS AND CONS OF IMPLEMENTING BYOD IN SCHOOLS. Retrieved from http://www.securedgenetworks.com/strategy-blog/20-Pros-and-Cons-of-implementing-BYOD-in-schools

What is the K-12 Blueprint? (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.k12blueprint.com/about

Technology Reflection

Technology integration is becoming more and more necessary in education because of the enhanced engagement and learning it provides. When students are in a one-to-one technology classroom it is easy for teachers to create situations for students to create a product that shows their understanding. Teachers can ask students to write a comparison essay based on two articles they find on a topic. Without computers the teachers would have to give students the articles but by the students finding the articles the teachers are assessing their ability to evaluate articles as well as comparing them. It also gives students a plethora of ways to create. Students can easily create images, videos, documents,  blogs, and websites. This easily assesses the student's ability to synthesize. Creating way for students to quickly do these things on pen and paper is much more difficult and many students are less likely to try with pen and paper. This can be a little more difficult if the one-to-one is with the students own technology as not every device they bring will be have the ability to run all the programs the teacher wants to use in order to ask the students to evaluate, synthesize, and analyze. 

If the classroom has enough computer for a group of students to work together on one the teacher can still create these opportunities for students but they students may not be held as accountable for their knowledge because the students are creating something together and it may be easy for some group members to not contribute very much or at all. This is not ideal but is better than if students has no access to a computer. In this case it is much more difficult for teachers to create activities that engage students and allow them to create a product that shows their higher order thinking. 

The budgeting aspect of the matrix was eye-opening because I have used different types of technology during my teaching career but I did not realize how expensive they are. The most surprising to me was the laptop cart. I expected it to be able half of the price it is. It also made me curious about how much a SmartBoard is, which is one of my favorite types of technology for the classroom. 

Survey

Here is the link to my technology survey.