Online Communication Tools and Security Issues

In order to teach good 21^st century skills, and because the nature of work has changed and people are working more remotely, the use of online communication tools is growing. Students need to develop these skills in order to participate in these changing times.  Online communication tools provide students with invaluable experience in remote collaboration that prepares them for future careers.  Technological variety within the educational environment can aide in providing optimal learning for diverse groups of students.  By using a range of instructional approaches utilizing different types of technology, I can not only addresses the various learning styles of the students in the classroom, but keep learners more engaged in their learning.  

The paramount goal of school in our society is that it will provide students with the background knowledge and skills that they need to interact and live in the real world.  As evidenced by the ability of students to graduate high school without being able to read, much less use a computer, this is not always the case.  It is important that teachers take time to motivate students and monitor their learning, instead of just passing them off to the next level, and computer-based applications provide an interesting and fun way to disseminate knowledge instead of the traditional lecture-based system.  The school, and each teacher, is ultimately accountable to society to provide a functioning and contributing future generation.  Parents also play a crucial role in their child’s development, so there needs to be an open partnership and communication avenue between them and teachers.  Online communication tools are excellent ways to foster a student’s learning, provide information to families, and initiate feedback from them as well.

Standardized testing is not the only answer for determining a child’s success in school, or the teacher’s success in the classroom.  There needs to be other, more individualized, options for determining what a child has learned and measuring their progress.  One such option is the use of educational software that teaches the same information through a variety of formats, such as CompassLearning Odyssey.  Reports detailing a student’s activity logs, grade level averages, and skill strengths and weaknesses are just a click away with this program.  Another idea that I would use is creating a e-Portfolio of a child’s work throughout their schooling that includes written work, drawings, journaling, classroom records and assessment of the work, and interactions with parents.  Extensive descriptions of the child's total involvement in the learning process would also be included.  Analysis of such documentation can provide meaningful evaluation of children's learning.

Along with the many benefits of technological resources, comes the potential for security issues as well.  As seen by the ability of someone to hack even Dr. Goldberg’s computer, there are many ways to get in even with the upmost security.  Unfortunately, some students in this day and age have the knowledge to get around almost any type of controls that the school can implement.  There is also the danger of the Internet allowing people or programs into the computer system of a school.  Most computers labs that I have seen utilize standard parental style controls limiting access to inappropriate information as well as necessary log-in procedures so that if a computer is infected or an unapproved site is visited, it is fairly easy to track down the individual responsible.  Antivirus and firewall protection is also key in securing the school’s computers.  While it is the responsibility of the district to put these controls in place, it will be up to the teachers to ultimately supervise the students.  Continuing professional education courses on technological applications should be required to give the teachers the knowledge necessary to both educate their students and keep them, and the school computer system, safe.     

Educational Software

The educational software that I chose for my future classroom is CompassLearning Odyssey.  Teachers in our school district use this program to provide students with interactive learning both in and outside of the classroom.  This software is designed to motivate students and improve their performance in various subjects.  Subject areas such as Reading/Language Arts and Mathematics contain assignments that are marked by the teacher for completion by the student, who has his or her own username and password to access the site from school or at home.  Differentiated learning is made easy with this program, as the teacher can assign each student their own lessons. 

Learning can be differentiated by individual skill level, intelligence type, and learning style.  Students take a beginning adaptive test, and the results are used to determine individualized activities based on the student’s dominant learning style as well as any areas of strength or weakness demonstrated.  As the student progresses through the assignments, this information is refined to provide the teacher with an update on how well the learner is performing so as to change the types or levels of activities accordingly.  The objective is to determine each student’s grade level and abilities, and to track and store their progress.  Teachers are provided real-time information on a child’s activities and, ultimately, can choose which activities to mark for each child to complete.  In addition to the individualized assignments and feedback, teachers can also monitor group or class progress through unit-based quizzes and tests.

With exceptional database management and reporting functions, as well as web-based teacher support through professional development courses and technical support, this software adds assessment tools and curriculum-based lessons to the teacher’s arsenal.  The ultimate instructional objective of any teacher is that the students will comprehend the lesson and be able to demonstrate the skills taught.  This application helps do just that, in an efficient manner that saves time for both the teacher and the student.  This software can also save valuable classroom time in that it reduces the amount thatthe teacher has to focus on individualized instruction. 

The benefit for the student is multifold:  they can practice classroom lessons in an individualized setting, obtain additional instruction in areas in which they may be lacking, while learning technological skills at the same time.   Students who have families that stress high educational expectations are more likely to do well in school, therefore the education of the child is first and foremost the responsibility of the parents.   With the teacher’s role as a facilitator of knowledge, sharing in the responsibility of student education, this software allows the parents to see which lessons the child is working on so they can monitor and reinforce them at home.

Challenges with incorporating this into my classroom are like those with any computer application: lack of student access to a computer at home and limited computer access time at school.  To combat this problem, I would use this software primarily so that the in-school activities are mandatory and part of the child’s grade, while the activities assigned for outside of school are merely for additional practice or extra credit points.  When the class is divided into groups, a portion of the students would be given computer time to complete their lessons.  I would also use laminated ID cards with early elementary students, with bar codes related to their in-school account, so that login would be less tedious and prone to error.  Our local school uses this technology for computer access, and I think incorporating it with CompassLearning, where the sign-in information was saved under the child’s school account would greatly benefit the student and teacher.

WebQuest Creation

Let's Travel to Another Planet!

Who wants to go on vacation?  My webquest allows this third grade class to do just that – to another planet in our solar system!  I created this lesson to teach the students scientific knowledge about the planets, online research skills, and core competencies in writing.  They were also given the assignment of designing a creative project that would be presented to their fellow classmates, both to develop their own oral communication skills and help the other students learn about the planet they want to visit.

Learning about, and then creating, a webquest has been a very rewarding and educational experience.  Webquests are great tools, especially for the young students who have limited research skills, in that they can provide guidance as to where to look for information.  Students in the early elementary years would be best served in learning how to navigate websites for relevant information instead of navigating the entire internet for relevant websites.  I limited the number of research tools, while providing access to sites that included all of the information that the students would need for this lesson.  For students that were interested in learning more about the solar system, I included additional links in the conclusion section for further study.

As a first step, each student is to identify the planet that they would like to visit on vacation.  There are two online research links provided for each planet, as well as a third online link that compares and contrasts each of the planets.  After choosing their planet, the students have a choice of whether to create a travel poster, brochure, or PowerPoint presentation to later present to the class.  Using their research skills, they will respond to the prompting questions in the lesson to create this project and will then write a one page paper to reflect on why they want to visit this planet.  To promote higher level thinking, the students will also give an oral presentation to the class so that everyone can learn about what they have done.

I thoroughly enjoyed creating this webquest, and I choose a subject that was also pertinent to my own child’s learning at this time as well.  When I presented my first draft, my daughter told me it was too simple and that I should include a writing portion in addition to just creating a poster.  This gave me the idea to also include an oral presentation task so that students would be exposed to the information at various levels.  I have always felt that teaching others increases my own learning exponentially and, since public speaking is such a great fear for many, it would expose the students to this medium at an early age.

The only real problem that I faced when completing this webquest was finding child-friendly sites that weren’t oversimplified in their design and that provided relevant content for student research.  It took some time, but I am extremely satisfied with the end result and my daughter gave it a thumbs-up as well.  The only other problem that I faced was the timing out of the questgarden.com site due to weather-related internet issues.  After losing some of the project, I learned to keep hitting save every few minutes but realized that this could happen in the school setting as well.  To circumvent this, the students would be better served if the webquest (and its related links) were made available in an offline format to also combat any issues with limited online classroom access at the school.

Online Communication in the Classroom

My only form of technology use in the classroom comes from my own experience as a student, not as an educator.  As such, I am going to date myself here because we did not use online communication in high school – in fact, I vaguely remember learning DOS applications on a Commodore 64 and had never heard of any Windows except for the ones in the building itself.  In college, there were obviously online communication tools out there, but I honestly did not learn much of them as none of my instructors used or required them for class.  Looking back, I find this amazing considering that I graduated from the University of Louisville in 1996. 

Fast forward to today, I cannot wait to use online communication tools in my own classroom!  As I don’t yet teach, I have based most of my expectations on what I have seen my children’s teachers use, what I have learned from my classes at the University of the Cumberlands, and my own ideas of what would work with students based upon what worked for me in the business world and the continuing education therein.  I continuously used online communication during my accounting career and understand how important it is in today’s world.  I want to be able to use that knowledge in relation to the education of tomorrow’s leaders to create students who are comfortable with technology.

Since I do not teach, my thoughts went first to what online technologies I would use with my students at the beginning of the school year.  I think that a Wiki would be a great tool for students to be able to create pages about themselves in an interactive and fun way.  Enhancing the usual “meet and greet” that takes place during the first weeks of school, I would implement the use of a Wiki where I would have pages created for myself and all of the students. 

In addition to our personal pages, I would want to implement pages where students could communicate on what they would like to learn during the school year, feedback pages on lessons that are currently being taught, and collaboration pages for students who are working on group projects.  Another feature that I would find helpful is that a Wiki allows the teacher to also create informational pages that are un-editable, containing assignments, due dates, lesson standards, and classroom information normally found on a traditional Website.  By having everything at one site, it would decrease chances for miscommunication and any potential confusion having multiple sites could create.

Concerns that I would have in using this online communication are the obvious:  that students could change another student’s personal information, that students working on a group project may not agree with the changes made to their contributions, and that some parents may not want their child’s information out there in a public forum.  I researched these concerns and learned that not all Wikis necessarily have to be open to modification by anyone with web access and an internet connection.  They can contain password protected pages where each student would have their own password to change their personal page, can have editing privileges where only group members can edit content, and can be set to private viewing. 

As for peer revision of group projects, the teacher can view who has made changes, but it will ultimately require teaching students how group collaboration and cooperation work as a cohesive lesson in itself.  The first things that students will need to learn is how to create the pages, edit and add information, and access the site using their password.  I would create a PowerPoint presentation of the step-by-step process this entails to instruct students during class, and would make it accessible on the site as well as in printed form for students to take home for later reference.  Class time would initially be allocated to allow students to create their pages as a writing assignment and gain exposure to the workings of the Wiki.

Powerpoint Presentation

As I do not teach, I created a Powerpoint presentation that I could use with one of my children.  The subject that I used was on westward expansion through Railroads as my daughter is currently studying this topic, and I thought it would be a great way to help her with an upcoming quiz.  I used basic information from handouts that her teacher had sent home, but tried to add interesting facts such as contrasting the amount of time it had taken to travel west both before and after the railroads.  Since so many of the ideas pertained to other areas, such as the affect of the buffalo’s demise on the American Indians, I decided to add questions that would promote higher level thinking and discussion beyond the information presented on the slides.

We were able to effectively study the facts that she needed to know for the quiz, and also have a dynamic discussion where she gave independent ideas for how the early settlers would have dealt with the problems they faced and how the American Indians were dependent on the buffalo.  One of the things that I added that is not apparent from the slides, as they can only be posted as visuals, was an audio clip of the United States government’s stance on the killing of buffalo.  I think that in today’s age of environment protection, she was more than a little surprised at how they actively promoted the killing off of the buffalo herds.  I was proud to be able to add this component to show how ways of thinking have changed over time, and it led to us researching further what the status of the buffalo are today.

If I could create this presentation again, I would have added links to internet resources that explained some of the questions that she had so that the research was done prior to presentation.  Although it was fun to be able to conduct this research with her, it would be too time-consuming when teaching a class and I would want to be better prepared for some of the questions the students may have.

Overall, the experience was a very rewarding one as I was able to put together a Powerpoint presentation indicative of one that I would use in a classroom and also help my daughter study and think critically about the ramifications of the information presented.  “I already know this” was the response that I received upon asking my daughter to be my test subject for this presentation.  After much cajoling on my part, and a little bribery, she agreed to sit down for the lesson.  She said that she liked how we talked about other things than just the railroads, how the slides were short, and how there weren’t too many pictures.  Her only concern it seems, upon viewing the last slide, was “Do I really have to write about this?”.

Documents for Students & Parents

My youngest children transferred this year to a brand new elementary school in our district.  The colorful building, brightly lit classrooms, new technologies, and overall enthusiasm are wonderful; however, the communication between staff and parents definitely leaves room for improvement.  Our newsletters are overstuffed with detail, often in a paragraph form that is somewhat overwhelming and where it is easy to miss information.  By trying to include everything, often nothing gets noticed.

Teachers and administrators should make information as easy to understand as possible, perhaps in a bolded bullet point format or with a calendar of important events in addition to the detailed information contained within.  Another item I have noted has been the lack of visual stimulation included on correspondence.  Images pertaining to the content of the message could draw attention to its main features.  This would also help younger students who do not read at an advanced level to recognize ideas that are being presented. 

Effective document design is about helping your important information stand out.  Headings and bolded text can help draw attention to essential elements, and tables can organize information into concise patterns to distinguish between ideas.  This is true for both communication with parents and lesson assignments provided to students.

I would begin with having the school logo on top of all communication that is not already on letterhead, so official exchanges are not overlooked.  It is also important to include school contact information in case there are any questions or concerns.  As parents, we are required to sign daily agendas of our children to portray our involvement.  We receive a weekly newsletter that has to be signed as well, and this helps to ensure that we are receiving the information in an appropriate time frame.

Teachers should strive to supply timely, consistent, and scheduled communication.  As the single mother of three, I have to plan in order to organize all of our necessary activities.  There is nothing worse than not receiving a weekly newsletter and then discovering an event at the last minute.  It is also important to inform parents what organizations and policies are available.  In addition to class newsletters, the teacher should supply PTO/PTA newsletters, school websites, email addresses, and school homework websites to students and parents.  Parents and students alike need to understand how and where to get their questions answered.

It is critical to develop documents with the receiver of the information in mind.  Communication skills, knowledge level, attitudes, and culture need to be considered when determining the type of correspondence to employ. The credibility of the speaker is also key in ensuring that the message is conveyed and understood in the way it was meant to be.  The teacher needs to be able to relate to both students and parents in a professional manner, while keeping the recipient of that information at the forefront of planning documents.

Revised ENews

And this is the revised October ENews.  Enjoy!

Original ENews - Prior to Revision

This is the original ENews sent last October from my children's elementary school.  I will post the new updated version in the next post.

Comprehensive Assignment 2 - Databases & Spreadsheets

While searching the internet for spreadsheets and databases in the classroom, I came across this one:

http://www.amphi.com/~psteffen/excel.html

I found it extremely helpful in that it contained links to numerous other sites that provided a lot of useful information and tools, and those led to even more links to other sites!  I could have spent all day just clicking from one site to the next.  The only downside to the site was that some of the links appeared to be outdated in that the page could not be found.  Some of these were easily fixed by just conducting a search and then you were redirected to the correct page.

During my studies this week, I was really surprised at what a young age students were exposed to spreadsheets.  As an Accountant, I had always viewed spreadsheets as a means to an end.  While mathematics seemed a reasonable concept to use in this arena, it was very insightful to see everything from Art to Science lessons being taught through the use of spreadsheets.  Teachers can adapt or modify any subject with the help of a spreadsheet to make it provide useful information and learning opportunities for their students.  This gives students who learn through either auditory, visual, or kinesthetic styles a way to be able to see and use the information to gain an understanding of a concrete concept.

Not having worked much with databases in the past, it was insightful to see the abundance of information that can be stored and easily accessed through various queries.  It would be immensely time-saving for an educator to use these tools to compile student attendance, grades, contact information, etc.  Instead of the traditional way of writing everything down, then having to compute attendance and grade percentages manually, it can be provided at the click of a mouse.

As stated, I have not worked much with databases in the past.  The closest thing to a database that I worked with in a regular capacity was the analyzing of prior year worksheet tabs in a spreadsheet when conducting audits.  Our firm was small, so almost all compilation work was done through the use of spreadsheets.  As such, I do have a lot of experience with spreadsheets in relation to input of data, predictions and forecasts, financial information presentation, analysis of trends, ratio computation and comparisons, charting and graphing, and critical analysis.

I will use my new insights into the educational possibilities of spreadsheets, as well as my past experience, to show students that there is no end to how raw data can be used to provide valuable information for all forms of decision-making.  One example of this is to have students perform a task a set number of times while noting the number of correct responses of each student in a spreadsheet.   Depending on the grade level, the students could then be taught how to (1) create graphs or charts of the information, (2) create formulas to determine the mean, standard deviation and mode of each set, or (3) use the information to predict outcomes based on how often a task is performed (i.e., how does repitition of a task, or practice, increase scores).  Everything from basic visual representation of the data to providing a critical thinking tool for students could be created using the same raw data.

Lesson One - Comprehensive Assignment

This week began as I took my first class as a Graduate student: Educational Technology.  I went into this class believing that I was a fairly tech-savvy person.  After reading Chapter One, I started to realize that my first step was to redefine my thoughts of technology from visions of computers, the internet, and webcasts.  As a portion of the textbook states: "Technology for those educators includes any media that can be used in instruction".

After studying the NETS*T, I began to differentiate between the technologies (in this sense, the ways to do something) to how teachers can shape, direct, exhibit, and demonstrate these technologies to teach students more than just the subject at hand.  Instead of just “handing out” the knowledge, teachers directly impact students by providing a model upon which they can rely.  It is our job to ensure that students leave the classroom with a firm foundation in meeting their own NETS student standards.

Although I do not teach at this time, I know that each child’s unique learning style will command the use of many different teaching styles. From volunteering, I have observed that everything from simple manipulative tools and rote memorization can be made more interesting with the use of technology.  It has been insightful to watch each teacher in action, and the collaborative efforts between classes, when it comes to reaching their students.

By understanding the different ways in which people think, their cognitive styles, I plan to design instruction which consider student preferences and enhance their experiences in the classroom.  Another factor to consider are personal filters.  Filters such as cultural differences can affect not just how a person thinks, but how they learn as well.   In attempting to teach the same subject in a variety of ways, I hope to touch upon and reach the many different learning styles of the students.  I will incorporate audio, visual and manipulative (kinesthetic) tools into my classroom while using both modern and traditional teaching technologies.

In order to implement these tools into my classroom, I will actively learn which lend themselves to the lesson at hand.  When faced with a technology that I am not familiar with, I will take classes and practice using that information.  I will search the internet and related educational avenues for auditory and videos related to the subject, as well as develop hands-on learning activities so the students can learn as they perform tasks.  Since the abstract understanding of a subject can make sense but have little impact on the reality of completing the task, I will help students both understand and conduct the assignment.  I consider the art of teaching as a lifelong learning experience that continually evolves as the technology around us evolves.