Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Evaluating my GAME plan progress.

NETS-T 3. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning c. communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats (NETS-T)

Efficacy of my Actions: My research and efforts towards creating my own lessons have been quite effective.  I have been able to incorporate a few dynamic lessons in my classroom and feel confident that I can continue to bring more technology to my lessons.  My blog has been successful in being a repository for interactive web activities and my students have become increasingly involved in the blog.  Additionally, I have used our school website to communicate with parents and students with decent success.  As soon as our parent portal is open fully, I believe that the website will be even more successful.

Applicable Learning:  I spent some time working with the different programs available to me to find what the capabilities are.  At this point I feel comfortable navigating the technology and the available resources.  Much of my learning has been achieved via practice and trial and error, thus my learning has been focused on my needs.

Still to Learn/New Questions:  I still need and want to learn how to make the processes a little bit quicker.  Any automation that I can create or work with will make my goals much easier to attain without taking such a great toll on my schedule and me.  Does anyone know of any programs that help with multitasking?  For example, I use tweetdeck to view my facebook and twitter feeds simultaneously and I use an RSS feed to read all of my favorite blogs, but I do not have a seamless process for taking classroom technology/activities and posting it to my blog and website.  The cumbersome nature slows me down more that I would like.

Adjusting my Plan:   The biggest adjustment that I have had to make is the recognition that I cannot always use technology in my lessons.  Though I love to bring technology into my classroom, not every topic needs or benefits from the introduction of technology.  Additionally, I realize that time does not allow for technology integration in every lesson.  I do what I can to bring supplemental technology to my students via my blog, but I need to step back and accept that it is okay if I focus on some topics and leave some to be developed later.

NETS-T 4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility a. advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources (NETS-T)

Efficacy of my Actions:  I believe that my actions to date have been effective.  My research has yielded tremendous information, but I am still somewhat stagnated at my philosophy.  I have incorporated the beginnings of citations on my blog and I am pleased about that progress.  I have not yet formally taught the concept of documenting to my students, but look forward to finding a time where the lesson supports that discussion.  I was very pleased with the short discussions I had with my classes when I sent home a photograph permission slip for my blog.  As I saw in the previous suggestions of my classmates, taking the approach of being the subject or creator of the intellectual property has piqued my students’ interest in this topic more than the opposite side of the coin might have.

Applicable Learning:   Much of my learning has been through formal sources with a dash of common sense.  Using accepted documenting formulas, e.g. APA, I have attempted to create a simplified version that makes sense in a blog format and for students in 6th grade.  I have also sought out a variety of exemplars from online sources to help me determine what I think will work for my needs.

Still to Learn/New Questions:  I still need to determine what my philosophy will be in respect to my expectations of my students and my own work.  I would greatly appreciate any commentary that others could provide.  Should my students fully document any images that they use or would a shortened version suffice?  I tend to think that they should, especially since this will not occur too often.  Should I include full documentation when I use a picture on my blog?  Due to the frequency with which I blog, this could be prohibitive.  Additionally, most blogs that I see usually just include brief credits such as, “Photo from Reuters.”  It could clutter the blog format if I include an extensive credit, but is it wrong to require more of my students than I require of myself?  I would really appreciate any and all feedback that you can provide!

Adjusting my Plan:  The focus of my work seems to be centering on my usage of images and other creative elements that I would like to include on my blog.  I want to model ethical usage of the intellectual property of others, but do not want it to overwhelm my lessons, webpage or blog.  I have not yet decided how I will modify this aspect of my plan, but I am very open to the thoughts of my classmates and look forward to your input.

References:

National Education Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at:
http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

2 comments:

  1. Nancy,
    I wish I could say I knew of a program that could help you with the connection between all of your applications and your blog. I know what it is like to have all of these ideas in your mind and try to make they come to life online and through technologies use. Maybe in the future someone will answer our call.
    As for your blog and the use of images that are not yours, I believe you should do what you expect form your students. If you are concerned about the clutter and overwhelming use of references, then shorten your usage of them. I hope this helps.
    Wendy

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wendy,

    Thanks for your input. I do not know that any program exists that would allow me merge my work retroactively. I am sure that there are some programs available that would allow for merging as long as all aspects were created in the program. I think, however, that would be dependent upon a purchase by my district.

    I agree with your assessment that I shouldn't expect more from my students than I expect from myself. My next step seems to be to define expectations for each venue. What is appropriate for a blog vs. a power point presentation. Again, I will attempt to use more of my own photography on my blog so as to avoid the concern in entirety.

    Thanks again for your comment.

    -Nancy

    ReplyDelete