Digital badge #5--Chapter 6

Digital Badge #5--Chapter 6

The entire section on managing information electronically (pp. 134-138) caught my attention immediately, since organization has never been one of my strong suits.  My list of bookmarks (p. 134) on my personal computer is huge, and I've never learned how to organize it in any fashion other than, the last thing I bookmarked is the last one on the list.  The Cloud scares me just a little; it seems like I'm sending all my bookmarks out into the world for anyone to retrieve.  I guess I have a way to go before I can call myself a digital immigrant!

Virtual field trips (pp. 140-141) sound like a wonderful way to fight back against the lack of funds for real field trips; plus, there is NO limit on where you can go!  Can you imagine being able to take your entire class to the Smithsonian, or to the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., or even to Tallahassee?  When I taught in Immokalee, the highlight of the year for our 8th graders was a trip to Vanderbilt Beach; it was astounding how many of them had never been to the beach--a drive of about 45 minutes!

I was surprised to see that Florida is one of five states that require students to take an online course before graduating from high school (p. 142).  I knew our virtual school program in Lee County has been growing by leaps and bounds since I retired six years ago, but I don't believe the online requirement is responsible for that growth.  As an assistant principal (and former math teacher), I enrolled two students in an on-line Geometry class about 15 years ago.  They were 8th graders who had completed Pre-Algebra and Algebra, and needed to move to the next class (Geometry), but were unable to take it on the high school campus, as was typically done at that time in Lee County.  Neither student had the maturity to work on the material without direct supervision, and both chose to drop the class, repeat Algebra I, and take Geometry in the 9th grade.  A son and daughter-in-law both worked in virtual school programs in Arizona before moving overseas, and both had very successful programs, with scheduled "office hours" and with the determination to stay on top of their students' progress.  I guess it's just like brick-and-mortar schools--the quality and dedication of the administrators, faculty, and staff are usually good predictors of the school's success.

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin, Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.