Technology is important, but don't forget the past (Week 5)

The article on ReadWrite.com by Brian Hall titled "My Teenage Son Does Not Know How to Mail a Letter - I Blame Technology" actually had me laughing out loud.  We push technology in the classroom, children and young adults are surrounded by technology, and technology is at the forefront of just about everything we do.  However, what about the past?  How did we look up an address and phone number?  How did we write a research paper?  What about using snail mail to send a letter - as the article discusses?  The author writes about a teenager, who was just about to graduate high school, and he didn't know how to write an address on a letter.  Even more ironically, the parent told the teenager to Google how to address a letter.  Yes, use the internet to learn now to write an address on a letter that's going to the USPS.  I find that funny!

My daughter is 3 years old.  She amazes me everyday with her abilities to use and understand technology.  I, too, support her use of technology for purposes of learning... and fun, too!  However, I never forget about the past.  We actually write and draw pictures to send to grandparents.  She helps me write the address and put the stamp on the letter.  She knows we put it in the mailbox and the mailman picks it up.  These thing are important to me, and I want them to be important to my daughter too.

The point I want to make... Technology is so important to our future generations.  Technology is used to support and enhance learning in the classroom and at home.  However, students and young adults still need to know where we came from as a society.  If this includes something as simple as being able to address an envelop, then so be it.  Technology is important, but don't forget the past!

Hall, B.  "My Teenage Son Does Not Know How to Mail a Letter - I Blame Technology."  ReadWrite.com.  27 May 2013.  Web.  Retrieved 27 May 2013.  <http://readwrite.com/2013/05/27/my-teenage-son-does-not-know-how-to-mail-a-letter>

Wikis - I didn't know how great they are - Until Now! (Week 5)

Wikis, plain and simple, are fabulous!  I've read and collaborated on a Wiki in the past.  However, the class wiki for EDU653 has really made me appreciate the versatility and opportunities at wiki can present.  At first, I was unsure as to how, we as a group, would be able to create coherent essays that take a stance on a topic.  I questioned how often I would really look at a classmates wiki.  I also didn't know how I would be able to edit my wiki on a weekly basis.  Boy was I wrong!  The wiki format is simple, user-friendly, and easy to collaborate on.  Also, the edits and changes are instantaneous.  I like when I'm posting on the class wiki and can see my classmates posting at the same time.  "...[T]he results of the users’ actions on the content of the site are instantly visible to other users."  (Educause 2005)

In addition, I truly enjoy how all of my work for this course is contained in one location.  Furthermore, I can visit any of my classmates' wiki to see how they created a project or set up their wiki.  The article from Educause "7 Things You Should Know About Wikis" points out "Some institutions are experimenting with wikis as e-portfolios. Artifacts within a wiki-folio are easily shared when the wiki is used as a presentation tool."  (Educause 2005).

While most aspects of the wiki are positive, the Educause article does point out some setbacks.  One that I see as being a potential problem is, when used in the classroom, the teacher must pay very close attention to content that is posted by users.  "...wikis are often monitored to ensure that inappropriate language, spam, and incorrect or inappropriate content are not allowed. This can be both time-consuming and personnel-intensive.

In my school district, we are currently not allowed to use Wikispaces in our classroom.  We do use the online program called MyBigCampus, which offers many similarities   However, the ability to collaborate as easily is not possible.  I may try to appeal to my school district again this year to see if Wikispaces will be a possibility at some point in the future.

"7 Things You Should Know About Wikis."  Educase Learning Initiative (2005).  1-2.  Web.  27 May 2013.  <http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7004.pdf>

Potential Risks with BYOD (Week 5)

I thought this article posted on Edutopia.com by Albert Roberts fit in very well with our recent discussion on the class wiki about monitoring offsite and onsite online behavior.  The article discusses BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) trends and how such programs could have an impact on bullying in schools.  The idea behind BYOD is that students can use their own technology, such as smart phones, tablets and laptops in the classroom.  This is beneficial in that it allows students to use technology they are already comfortable with.  It also allows a school district to use technology in classrooms, which would have otherwise been impossible due to lack of funding.  With the push for technology, media and 21st century learning in the classroom, more and more teachers are turning to such means.  The benefits are apparent.

On the surface, the supports student learning and the acquisition of important knowledge and 21st century learning.  However, the article raises two critical points would are potential risks for using BYOD.  The first deals with bullying.  "Out of date or older devices could become a source for embarrassment, while students might also be subject to cyber-bullying through emails and social messages...  BYOD could intensify the 'already significant divide between students from high and lower income families.' " (Roberts)  The second issue is more technical in nature.  BYOD schemes require a comprehensive security program to ensure that viruses are not being accidentally or maliciously released into a school's system." (Roberts)

The author of the article offers several solutions to help school districts that want to use BYOD deal with potential bullying.  The suggestion I found to have the largest benefit is simply managing the technology.  The author states it's necessary to "ensure that they're not simply an excuse for students having free rein to use their devices in school. A system that allows high-quality devices while also placing strict rules and limits on their usage means these devices can still improve the quality of classroom engagement without creating as much of a divide within a student body."  The second suggestion, which may not work for all districts that are in a financial pinch, is to purchase devices that are discounted in bulk.  These devices could then be loaned to the students who are unable to afford their own devices for the school year.


Roberts, A.  "Does BYOD Encourage Bullying?"  Edutopia.com.  24 May 2013.  Web.  Retrieved 26 May 2013.  <http://www.edutopia.org/blog/do-BYOD-programs-encourage-bullying-albert-roberts?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EdutopiaNewContent+%28Edutopia%29>

Heartbreak at Another School (Week 4)

For any of our cohort classmates who are in the Oklahoma area, my prayers and thoughts go out to all of you following the devastating tornado.

This year has been very difficult for students, schools, young people and families.  I have been glued to the news, watching the terrible devastation in Oklahoma.  I realize all of the situations have been different (from armed gunmen to natural disasters), but I wonder sometimes if students feel like they are safe in school?  A tragedy always feels much more heartbreaking when it involves children.  Unfortunately, a school was in the direct path of this tornado.

As a teacher of broadcast journalism, we watch live streaming events together on the internet when big news stories break.  We watched Sandy Hook... We watched the Boston Marathon bombings... And today we watched the Oklahoma City tornado coverage.  We discuss how the events are covered, and we also discuss how the events impact our country and the world.  We discuss how journalists hold a great responsibility and must serve their communities.  I'm thankful that technology can help unit a country, stay better informed, and allow those who are at a distance to feel the heart of a story to offer support and love.

"The Situation Room."  CNN.  (2013).  Web.  Retrieved 20 May 2013.  <http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2013/05/20/tsr-wolf-plaza-towers-school.cnn>

Skype Helps to Connect the World (Week 4)

I just read the article from Educase Learning Initiative "7 Things You Should Know About Skype," and several of the topics really sparked my interest.  First, I am an avid user of Skype for personal reasons.  My husband and I don't live near our families.  Having a 3 year old makes it even more important that we are able to see and talk with them.  However, life is busy!  Skype has really helped to bridge a lot of those gaps. We turn our computer on, my parents do the same - and we really just leave it on for hours sometimes.  It's almost like we're all in the same room!  As the article discusses, all we need are computers, a WiFi signal, a web camera and microphones.  It's actually pretty simple - and it's free!  This is even more helpful for my in-laws, as they live in another country!  That's my personal story...

Now, in terms of education, I've spent a lot of time throughout this school year thinking of how I can incorporate the use of Skype into my classroom to create an online learning community.  In my media technology classrooms, Skype could help me to set up Q&A sessions with industry professionals.  I would also like to be able to work with Broadcast Journalism classes in other parts of the country to possibly collaborate on a project.  The author of the article states "Learning becomes increasingly authentic as it expands beyond the walls of the classroom, and being able to have a phone call or a video chat with someone on the other side of the world can make learning come alive."

However, Skype does raise some issues in my classroom, which are also addressed in the Educase article.  As I've addressed in a previous blog post, my school district has a brand new web filter this year.  Skype is considered to be social media, and therefore Skype is blocked in my school.  It's quite a process to have Skype unblocked, so it can happen as spontaneous as I would like it to.  It's blocked for many reasons discussed in the Educase article, such as "Skype requires access to certain network ports, and many network administrators are uneasy allowing traffic to flow in and out of the network this way."  While I understand these concerns, perhaps advances in technology will provide better security for this useful online learning resource.

"7 Things You Should Know About Skype."  Educase Learning Initiative (2007).  1-2.  Web.  20 May 2013.  <http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7032.pdf>

Protecting Students From Spam (Week 4)

As students in my school district entered classrooms at the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year, they saw a big change in internet access.  They could no longer access personal email accounts.  The reason is the district was unable to police what was received and sent through email accounts.  One of those elements is spam email and the content contained in that spam email.  Jeremy LaTrasse talks about what he calls a spam email “epidemic” in his article “How to Make the World Safer for Email” on ReadWrite.com.  My students were not happy to learn they couldn’t get into their accounts and would have to work through student email accounts.  While it does pose a bit of an inconvenience, it allows educators to do their job and protect students from potentially unsafe content that exists in the digital world.  While LaTrasse says that “mass email senders have a responsibility,” he also offers ways that email users can protect themselves.

I think I’ll share the following with my students when we discuss social aspects of media and the internet.  It’s an excerpt from LaTrasses article, “How to Make the World Safer for Email:”

1. Use different passwords for different logins.
2. Never share personally identifiable information (passwords, social security numbers, bank accounts, etc.) via email: Your bank will never email you and ask you to confirm your bank account number or the password you use to log into your account.
3. Remember, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. If you don't know who sent it, delete it. If it was important, they'll send it again.
4. Your operating system will update itself if you allow it to; usually you just have to agree once and it'll happen forever after.
5. Look for email personalization in messages. Marketers leverage first name/last name, and other information you've shared with them when setting up an account to help identify them as legitimate senders.

LaTrasse, J.  “How to Make the World Safer for Email.”  ReadWrite.com.  16 May 2013.  Web.    Retrieved 16 May 2013.  <http://readwrite.com/2013/05/16/how-to-make-the-world-safer-for-email-trust>

YouTube In the Classroom for Active Learning (Week 3)

To begin, I'm a huge fan of YouTube, both in my personal life and in the classroom.  It's a great way to share video, and it's a great resource of video for just about anything.  I teach a very visual content area, and therefore I always need to be able to show examples of what students might create and produce.
However, YouTube does one more thing, which I believe writers from Educase Learning Initiative hit right on the head in the article "7 Things You Should Know About YouTube."  The article states "YouTube is part of a trend among Net Generation students to replace passive learning with active participation, where everyone has a voice..." and "YouTube offers opportunities for expression through video - a new spin on the notion of self-publishing..."  That's exactly what it is - an active medium.  The social site allows interaction, feedback, self-reflection, and much more beyond just viewing video.

In one of my media classes recently, students produce "how to" videos, which were designed to teach viewers how to do something step-by-step.  This demonstration type video is very popular on YouTube (and one of the primary reasons I visit YouTube - learn to do something!).  Students then collaborated and created a community of how-to videos on a YouTube channel for our school.  Student teams had to write descriptions, identify key words to make their videos searchable, and evaluated feedback from the viewer hits and posts.  The project was great, and students benefitted from it for all the ways describe in the Educate article.

"7 Things You Should Know About YouTube."  Educase Learning Initiative (2006).  1-2.  Web.  11 May 2013.  <http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7018.pdf>    

Imagine an entire year with no Internet? One man did it! (Week 3)

As many of you might know by now, I'm a news-junkie!  I guess that's because of my previous profession. I came across this great read on the CNN feed about a man named Paul Miller who stopped using the Internet for an entire year!  He literally disconnected himself from technology and recently rejoined the digital world on May 1st.  In the CNN post, a journalist questions Miller about what it was like to be Internet-less for the long duration.  I think his answers to the questions are what we might expect.  He was bored at times; he felt disconnected and unable to find information as easily; he learned things about himself that he didn't know.  Miller also says in the post that he tweeted and rejoined the digital world pretty much the same as he left it.  He did say that the time helped him to better understand that his circle of family and friends are important and that the Internet, technology and smart phones reduce our abilities to have personal relationships.

I completely embrace the use of the Internet and technology in my classroom when it is used properly.  I, however, am always amazed that my students don't know what it's like NOT to have the Internet and technology.  They just don't grasp the concept.  This post about Paul Miller on CNN might actually be a great read for students to see what they wouldn't have without technology and to perhaps better appreciate the resources that it can provide when used properly.  I might incorporate this into my classes this week!

Kelly, H.  "Disconnected:  My Year Without the Internet."  CNN Tech.  10 May 2013.  Web.  Retrieved 11 May 2013 <http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/10/tech/web/paul-miller-internet-year/index.html?hpt=te_t1>

Gadgets in my Classroom - It requires a lot of messy plugs!

OK, so this might be off the topic of education.  However, in addition to teaching, I love interior decorating - so I'm blogging about something I spotted on ReadWrite.com!  How many people out there get frustrated with those cords, outlets and being afraid to push a heave dresser up against cord that's plugged into a wall?  Well, I'm one of those people.  These recessed outlets that Janet Hall writes about in her blog "Recessed Outlets:  A Great Way to Hide Messy Gadget Cords."  You just have to see the photos to understand how great this is!  Click on the link below.  Also, now that I think about it - these would be awesome in my classroom.  I have so many gadgets, cameras, battery chargers, computers, projects and such plugged in here and there.  The outlets would really help to tidy things up and actually add space (since I'm afraid of pushing furniture up against plugs and all!).  However, as much as I'd love to have them in school, I'm very sure it would never be in our budget.  After all, it is a little over the top of a school!  However, I'll have to think about it the next time we redo a room in my home.  :)

Hall, J.  "Recessed Outlets:  A Great Way to Hide Messy Gadget Cords."   ReadWrite Blog.  4 May 2013.  Web.  6 May 2013.
http://readwrite.com/2013/05/04/recessed-outlets-a-great-way-to-hide-messy-gadget-cords

Inspiration for all classrooms - Creativity Before Theory!

I believe the article entitled "Instead of, Learn the Tools, Perhaps, Discover the Poetry Within" should be a MUST-READ for all educators, administrators, families and students.  The link to the article, by Petr888 posted on the Adobe Education Leaders blog page, is listed below.  The online resource is connected to Adobe, which is specific to digital editing type products and techniques.  However, if that isn't your subject matter, don't let it sway you.  Author Petr888 writes,"...creativity is not longer an elective, it's our future" and "Don’t teach theory, teach what you can do with it."  That's the focus, and something I think we all need to focus on in our classroom and educational institutions.  I, similar to the author of the article, have many students in my media technology classroom, who do not excel in their core academic areas.  However, they tend to flourish in my classroom.  I don't teach theory.  In fact, I tell my students up front there are many ways to interpret and accomplish our learning objectives, and often times it's up to the students to find how to best get there.  Most assignments and lessons in my class start with brainstorming sessions to get the creative juices flowing before we even jump into the new topic. Students then take part in a discovery process, with new information and techniques, to figure out how to use writing, filming and editing techniques (with Adobe products) to create and produce a digital story.  Students who don't typically excel in LAL, math, science, and history are using skills from those subject matters, along with leadership, organization and communication, to be creative in the classroom - and most of all they enjoy it!  Check out the link below to read more from the author and be inspired!

Petr888.  "Instead of, Learn the Tools, Perhaps, Discover the Poetry Within."  Adobe Education Leaders Blog, 29 February 2013.  Web.  6 May 2013.
http://blogs.adobe.com/educationleaders/2013/02/instead-of-learn-the-tools-perhaps-discover-the-poetry-within.html

Great Classroom Resource for Viral Video Effect (Sharing RSS Blog)

MediaCollege.com posted a very interesting blog written by Dave called “Why Videos Go Viral,” which includes an entertaining YouTube video.  In it, the actual YouTube Trends Manager, Kevin Allocca, presents his ideas and key concepts as to why and how one simple video can receive millions of hits.  Blog author Dave explains, “In a nutshell, it comes down the three things:  1.  Tastemakers, 2.  Communities of participation, 3.  Unexpectedness.”  Furthermore, in the YouTube video Kevin Allocca states, “These are characteristics of a new kind of media in a new kind of culture where anyone has access and the audience defines the popularity… No one has to green light your idea, and we all now feel some kind of ownership in our own pop culture.”  In my opinion, this humorous, light-hearted video provides all generations, older and those creating the digital age day by day, with an excellent overview as to how and why a video goes viral.  It has the ability to spark creativity, interest and understanding of how someone can create their own niche in the viral video world and how viral video can be applied in so many different settings.  I teach a unit in one of my Media Technology classes that incorporates an aspect of this, and I will definitely use this resource next year.  I encourage all teachers to view this video and think about how the message can be incorporated into their classrooms!

Dave.  “Why Videos Go Viral."  Official MediaCollege.com Blog., 29 Feb 2012.  Web.  3 May 2013.  <http://www.mediacollege.com/forum/entry.php?73-Why-videos-go-viral&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mc-blog+%28MediaCollege.com+Blog%29>

Digital History, Chapter 1 Richardson Textbook

We’re only in chapter 1 of “Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms” by Will Richardson.  I already have sticky notes scattered here and there to remind myself of ideas to revisit for self-evaluation and to better incorporate into my classroom.  Richardson describes the current digital world with the ideas of author Douglas Rushkoff as a “’society of ownership’ where… every person with access… will have the ability to contribute ideas and experiences to the larger body of knowledge that is the Internet” (p. 5).  I believe this idea seems simple to the young minds that fill our classrooms.  They are growing up in a digital world that allows to them connect through technology.   Too often I see teachers, school districts and older generations try and fight this concept.  Whether we like it or not, the generation that we are teaching is writing history on the Internet.  Therefore, as educators, leaders and facilitators, I believe we need to embrace this idea described in Richardson’s book and support the digital generation in contributing to our digital world.  Our job is to teach the digital generation how to use the Internet appropriately and successfully in all aspects of life.

Richardson, W.  (2010).  Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms.  California:  Corwin, A SageCompany.