Digital Badge #3 (Chapter 5)

Search engines and how they work caught my attention for several reasons.  The graph on page 104 shows that over 90% of online adults use a search engine.  Personally, I have started putting our phone books in the recycling box as soon as we receive them, because it is so convenient to look up information on Google.  Another reason it caught my attention involves a reading lesson I've seen several times in the past few weeks at Sylvan.  Students are asked about resources to find an answer to the question, and NONE of them chose "encyclopedia" as one of the correct answers!  During the discussion while grading the responses, they admitted that they had never seen a set of books called an encyclopedia, and did not consider any of the sites they had seen on the Internet to be an encyclopedia.

Evaluating online information (pp. 112-117) was almost frightening.  When one considers the sheer quantity of information on the Internet, the odds of finding "misinformation", "malinformation", "messed-up information", or "mostly useless information" are pretty high.  Educators have a responsibility to teach our students not only how to find information on the Internet, but how to look at that information critically and sort fact from fiction.

Cartoon: Verify Information

Using technology together as digital citizens (pp. 121-123) referred to empowering students to use technology wisely.  Students must have authentic activities, not paper-and-pencil exercises that have been typed into a computer, if they are going to respect the powerful tool they have in their computer.  This section also referred to cyberbullying, which I researched for a discussion post.  I was astounded at the number of articles about cyberbullying and its effect on our students.  I know that bullying has been around forever, and I guess it was just a matter of course that bullies would begin to use technology to bully their victims.  This is another area of technology that educators cannot ignore, but must address from the early grades, encouraging students to report every incident of bullying to a trusted adult.

Digital Badge #2

Chapter 2
Key issues for technology-using teachers include one's readiness to use technology and one's knowledge of the technologies students are using. (pp. 25-26)  These are the two issues that stood out the most for me.  I think of the statement "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" when I think of my readiness to use technology.  The thrill I feel when I create an avatar, or a cartoon (stay tuned for that one!), is dampened by the agony of spending too much time trying to find my dashboard so I can create a new post on my blog.  I am taking lots of notes in my notebook with information about Credly, Bubbl.us, Delicious, toondoo, Wikispaces, and even my FSW library card number so I can access the library on-line!  Just when I think I've taken hold of the reins, another technology jumps up and grabs them out of my hands.  I will not be defeated; I have my sweet husband cheering me on, and even my students at Sylvan try to hide their amusement and encourage me to try new things, even offering assistance after their session is completed.  Being with our students and keeping in touch with my grandchildren will keep me from being too far out-of-touch with the technologies students are using, if I keep an open mind and am willing to step out of my comfort zone to try new things.
Even with a school full of teachers ready, willing, and able to use the technology, there are still many barriers to technology use in our schools. (pp. 30-32)  Sometimes the most frustrating one involves money; unfortunately, a one-time grant or influx of funds for technology simply means the school will be on top of technology for a year or two (if that!) before the computers are out of date.  On-going funding must be a priority if schools are to produce graduates who can function in our technological society.  As an assistant principal whose duties included creating the master schedule each year, I can attest to the obstacle presented by teaching schedules.  When asked their preference (6 periods, 7 periods, block schedules), the lines were almost completely math/science/technology for blocks vs. language arts/reading/social studies for 7 periods.  Add to that the curriculum requirements of the district and the state, and teachers find it difficult to find time to stray from "what's on the test" to explore things the students are interested in each day--a wonderful thing we used to call a teachable moment.
Reading the list of technologies students with they could use for learning shows me once again how far removed I am from the digital natives. (pp 38-41)  Nowhere in the list did I see playing games; I did see math learning games, social networks, Internet sites for learning, online classes, smartphones and mp3 players as TOOLS for learning, and virtual reality simulations.  Will some students abuse these tools and use them to goof off? Certainly.  Will students come to school with different levels of knowledge and experience with these tools? Of course.  Are these tools expensive to buy and maintain?  Yes.  Are these reasons to ignore the need to teach our students the skills they need with the tools they will use in their careers?  How can we say we are preparing our students for the future if we insist on using the tools of the past?  Let's find a way to do it and do it right.