Megan Bassett

Next steps on the path of a life long learner.

Month: November 2020

Digital Citizenship

November 14, 2020 / / 0 Comments

 

Digital citizenship is a broad and ever-changing term. It describes the way in which we act on the internet, which is guided by a set of rules that describes an appropriate interactions and personal accountability (Wang & Xing, 2018). Digital citizenship also includes the way we work with new information that we find online (Wang & Xing, 2018). However, when these rules are not followed there can be a substantial impact.

It is important to teach digital citizenship because people worldwide are using the internet and social media more than ever.

Attribution: world location by ProSymbols from the Noun Project
https://thenounproject.com/term/world-location/564877/

One statistic that I found was that the average use of social media daily was 144 minutes (Clement, 2020). In order to ensure that our students are interacting with social media and the internet safely, we need to ensure that they have the proper education about acceptable uses, the impact of their internet presence. One interesting metaphor I found about the importance of digital citizenship was the “digital tattoo”. The digital tattoo describes the idea that  what you put out on the internet is permanently painted onto your online identity, similar to a tattoo on your skin (University of British Columbia, n.d.). For students to be conscious of the information they put on the internet, we need to educate them about digital citizenship. Without this education, there is a greater chance for harm including cyberbullying, or sharing of personal information (Hsu et al 2019).

One way approach teaching digital citizenship in K-12 schools is through shaping students vision of what kind of behaviour, and decision making needs to go into interacting with information or posting information on the internet (Kim & Choi, 2018). I think that one way to do this would be through active modeling or speaking through a thought process. For example, teachers speaking through evaluating a source. Explaining the relationship between being a good person in the present and how that translates online (Kim & Choi, 2018). Overall,  it should be an underlying theme or lesson that is incorporated into all work that students are doing on the internet. (Marrs, 2019)

I found a couple of interesting examples of actives that model digital citizenship that are practical to use in the classroom.

  • Peer assessment of both handwritten and online work. In order to highlight the idea that we need to respect the person on the other side regardless of the medium.  This can again be taken to the application towards social media (Farmer, 2011).
  • Having a digital online portfolio and classroom blog (like what we have for the education program). Using the app Seesaw, Heather Marrs describes that she has students post an ongoing flow of their learning in blog post / social media post format. Which allows other students to comment and follow. This app also has a function to have students upload their work to make their own digital portfolio (Marrs, 2019).  Furthermore, the teacher has to accept or decline what posts are allowed on the website, so no inappropriate comments go up. This app also allows for parents to easily follow their child’s learning by reading their posts and portfolio.
    • Only cavate here is making sure that the app is FIPPA compliance and parent permission given

Overall, digital citizenship is an essential lesson that we need to be incorporating into our future classrooms in order to give the students the right skills so that they can be informed and hopefully make appropriate choices on the internet and to keep themselves safe. Within a school year this may start out as a class discussion and lesson but should be later incorporated into each online assignment that they do until it becomes second nature. We know, that if you don’t use it, you lose it and digital citizenship is a skill that is way to important to lose.

Clement, J. (2020, Feb 26). Daily Social Media Usage Worldwide 2012-2019. Retrieved from Statistica: https://www.statista.com/statistics/433871/daily-social-media-usage-worldwide/

Farmer, L. (2011). Directing the Digital Moral Compass: teaching Digital Citizenship. International Association of School Librarianship. The Annual Conference, (pp. 1-5). Bradford. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.prxy.lib.unbc.ca/docview/1221249403?pq-origsite=summon

Hsu, H. P., Wenting, Z., & Hughes, J. E. (2019). Developing Elementary Students’ Digital Literacy Through Augmented Reality Creation: Insights From a Longitudinal Analysis of Questionnaires, Interviews, and Projects. In Journal of Educational Computing Research (Vol. 57, Issue 6). https://doi.org/10.1177/0735633118794515

Kim, M., & Choi, D. (2018). Development of Youth Digital Citizenship Scale and Implication fot Educational Setting . Educational Technology & Society, 155-171.

Marrs, H. (2019, Oct 1). Don’t teach digital citizenship-embed it! Retrieved from ISTE: https://www.iste.org/explore/In-the-classroom/Don?articleid=809

University of British Columbia. (n.d.). What is the Digital Tattoo Project? Retrieved from University of British Columbia: https://digitaltattoo.ubc.ca/

Wang, X., & Xing, W. (2018). Exploring the Influence of Parental Involvement and Socioeconomic Status on Teen Digital Citizenship: A Path Modeling Approach. Educational Technology and Society, 186-199.

 

 

 

#edcampuvic 2020

November 7, 2020 / / 0 Comments

#edcampuvic 2020

My teaching cohort were very fortunate to be invited to #edcampuvic 2020. This was  a different kind of learning experience compared to other professional learning opportunities.  Basically, we had the opportunity to meet with other teachers and teacher candidates and talk about experiences, questions, and ideas towards using technology in the classroom. The flexible structure of this event allowed for conversations to naturally wander to all aspects of the topic leading to a well rounded discussion.

I participated in the “using cell phones in the classroom” breakroom, and our conversation spanned many different aspects around the topic. In order to summarize our conversation, I felt that I needed to incorporate a visual component.

 

What I found the most important about our conversation on the use of cellphones in the classroom is  dependent on the teacher and on the students.

As the teacher, you can either use cellphones as a learning tool or banish them. Using cellphones as a learning tool, allows you to address the fact that students want to use them and that it can help engage students in the room.  Cellphones can be a tool to produce the diversification in learning with the use of app that help students with reading or writing. Cellphones can also be used as a tool for students to play review games (like  Kahoot) or make flashcards. Lastly, they can be a way to poll the room, and allow students to anonymously respond to how they are feeling about the content.

What I really enjoy about these uses of cellphones in class, is that they provide a medium for students that are shy, quiet, or uncertain about their answers or are embarrassed to say they don’t understand to in a way voice those opinions. I also think, at the start of a year or semester, it may allow for a way for students to start feeling connected in the classroom.

On the flip side of this, cellphones can also be a teachers worst nightmare- depending on the students present in the class. Sometimes cellphones will completely distract students in the class, can be a source of bullying, and a source of social elitism. They can even be a problem when a teacher is trying to incorporate them into the learning experience. For example, when there is  the opportunity to type in answers while remaining anonymous then some people develop the idea that they can make inappropriate comments with no consequence. Therefore, I think that teachers need to pre-face the use of cellphones and set up clear expectations and guidelines in how they are to be used.

Now, how would I bring cellphones into my own classroom…

From what I have learned today, I think that I would allow cellphones to be used. What I would want to approach at the start of a term, is the idea of self-regulation. I feel that it is essential for students to learn when to, and when not to use their cellphones. I also want to give students resources that they can use on their phones that can benefit their own learning, and help individualize their learning styles. However, what I will also say, is that I have not actually tried to teach a lesson and try and control cellphone use, so maybe this method of listing my expectations is not going to be enough for grades 8-10 students.

However, the use of cell phones is also dependent on the school that you are working in. Is there wifi that students can use?  If not, then asking students to use data is not producing an equal learning opportunity, because some students may not have the same access to data plans, or cell phones like other students. So, if cell phones are being incorporated then I think you also need to be offering the use of mobile computer/ tablet lab if it is accessible in the school. Or else, by using cellphones you are just providing an even larger gap in learning between the people that have and the people who do not.

Learning Progressions

November 4, 2020 / / 0 Comments

What are learning progressions?

Learning progressions are the break down of a core competency into achievable pieces that can be sequentially worked on to eventually accomplish the goal.

Attribution: conveyor belt by Ben Davis from the Noun Project
https://thenounproject.com/search/?q=conveyor+belt&i=906266

The first thing that popped into my mind when reading about learning progressions was conveyor belts. I felt that this was a metaphor for learning progressions. In my own mind, a conveyor belt has small boxes moving along the belt, where the boxes represent the compartmentalized pieces of information that the kids must learn. Then as the learning goes on the conveyor belt moves along bringing the new boxes or learning progression. Then I think of the teacher and the educational assistants as the people stationed at the conveyor belt that watch and adapt in order to keep the boxes on track.  In addition, the speed in which the belt is moving is individualized to their pace. I also feel that this linear path and scaffolding of the curriculum represented as conveyor belt is that it is a linear path.

Why are learning progressions important?

They allow teachers to assess a student’s development and give a suggestion for the next steps in their learning. During this assessment, teachers figure out where the child is a zone of proximal development. This zone where we are assessing what a student is capable of, where they are now, and how can I as a teacher get them to their potential. The learning progressions also outline how a teacher can scaffold the learning progressions and start adding layers of complexity. I also think that having a good grasp on the progressions, allows the teacher to quickly adapt to the students present. You may need to go back a few steps with one child, and another skip forward.

What did you learn from today’s learning activity? 

In our class, we had the task of trying to create the learning progressions that contribute to a skill and what ones come after. My group examined what goes into the learning progressions of reading in grades K-9.

Based on our activity I learned that it takes a lot of knowledge about a subject area and familiarity with the curriculum in order to break down the learning progressions. But, on top of just knowing the content, you really must know students and how learning works. I think when making this progression, it may make sense on paper, but when you try and apply it to the classroom it may not work in the same way- or you find that there is too big of a gap between the learning progressions.

Also, what we found when we were listing out our interpretation of the learning progressions. What we noticed is that the progressions looked very traditional way of learning. Furthermore, our group noted that we have to actively plan activities based on these progressions that incorporate innovative teaching techniques and activities.

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