Journal 9

Fasimpaur, K. (n.d.). Massive and Open. (2013). Learning and Leading With Technology, 40(6), 12-16. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-leading/digitaledition/digital-edition-march-april-2013

Summary:
A brief summary of this article includes some old terminology used in a new way. The Massive Open Online Courses originate in the college setting and are held online. Massive and open are the two terms that the authors states are debatable; open because of some MOOC's using firewalls to block access or that all are offered with no charge and massive because it does not state what number is considered massive. The courses obviously vary on content and format. This is catching the attention of the K-12 setting and many are wondering how to integrate this into  that level of education. The online world is definitely becoming a large part of education and how people attain that education as well. MOOC's are being used as a gathering place for k-12 teachers to learn about ways to expand their PLN's (Personal Learning Networks) and gain new information on how to integrate technology into their classrooms for students. 

Question One: A Massive Open Online Course is fantastic for synthesis and analysis of information, but is it a good place to nurture student's education?
Answer One:
I find MOOCs to be on the cutting-edge for students, I don't feel that it is developed enough for student use for the K-5 but perhaps it could be modified for use for 6-12 depending on the teachers preference. I think it would need highly motivated students and engaged students in order to work. Teachers would have to do a lot of prep in order to introduce this into their classrooms and have it be effective. Perhaps one day this will work but for now I feel it is best left to higher education and teaching seminars. 

Question Two: How would I use this in my classroom?
Answer Two: 
If  I were to bring this into my classroom, I would first want information as to how to protect my classroom from the dangers of cyberspace such as cyber predators and other issues pertaining to cyber safety. The first thing I would want is passwords so that this environment was secured. Perhaps I would use this to connect my classroom to a classroom elsewhere in the world to learn about their culture and customs and vice-versa. This would create a dialog and be incredibly engaging to be able to talk to a person their age in say, South Korea. I would first begin using it myself at length so that I would be able to deal with any problems that arose and make sure I developed a contact in the teacher I partnered with overseas. This MOOC has potential but I am not sure I am ready for something on this scale as far as technology is concerned perhaps I would start with a program like Greenleaf offers first and then branch out into this using some of their ideas and implementing my own.

NETS 4: Journal 8- Adaptive Technology

Communication
ASHA or American Speech-Language Hearing Association terms Augmentative and Alternative Communication as anything other than actual speech to assist with communication. Examples of these can be electronic devices, pictures, or even sign-language. 
For a low-tech tool to assist a student with disabilities, I choose the Speech Buddy which is a series of tongue depressor looking devices that are shaped to aid the tongue in pronunciation of difficult to pronounce letters and sounds such as; "R", "L", "S", "CH", and "SH". Each of them are appropriately named and fun for kids. For example, the "CH" sound is called the Cheetah Speech Buddy and the "L" is the Lion. According to Speech Buddies these are an easy way to help those with slight speech impediments, lisps, and inability to pronounce the aforementioned sounds.
The high-tech tool to assist a student with vocal disabilities, I chose the DynaVox Maestro. This tool is amazing in its capabilities, it is designed for those who are still learning how to read and write and master social skills. This would fit into a classroom very well, since the design of its speakers are loud enough to hear in a crowded room which is great for teachers to be able to hear over pairing discussion if need be. It is small and compact for a device of its nature and it resembles an ipad or similar device which can help ease feelings of uncomfortableness around peers. 
Accessibility
An input device is anything that can be used to enter data into the computer, many of these devices make it easier for a student with disabilities to access the computer.

This is a screenshot of what the software looks like.

The software I chose for accessibility was Mindjet this software for Macs, web, and mobile is a software that allows the student to map out content ideas. I love this tool because it can be used by all of the students and enrich everyone's digital experience. However, this tool is great for students with learning disabilities because it encompasses mapping and forces organization of content in an easy way to understand. There are other free versions out there I suppose a teacher would need to use trial and error to find the one that best fit their students. 
 
 For a hardware device I have chosen a key guard keyboard. This stops the user from pressing too many keys down at once and allows for bigger keys as well. The keys are separated by steel and are easy to clean as well. This keyboard allows people who shake, or otherwise cannot control precise hand movements to use a computer just as well if not better than the rest of the population. For a student with disabilities this would be a great tool for essay writing or college note-taking. 
 
  

NETS- 5:Journal 7: My Personal Learning Network.

In the interest of maintaining the goal of life-long learning a Personal Learning Network is a great way to keep informed about teaching that combines social networks like Twitter, with web based tools like Diigo, forums such as Classroom 2.0 and those are just the ones I chose to work with there are plenty more out there to be discovered. A personal learning network has always been around however in recent years it has been able to expand into a global market with these tools and especially the internet. I feel that a PLN will help me to keep my lessons interesting and engaging through the use of shared ideas within my learning It network. Through Diigo I can save my research project ideas and the sites that sparked those ideas as well as lesson plans for my students.

My use of Twitter has been a surprisingly rewarding experience. I have been able to connect with two very useful chats to gain content for my classroom and those are #sschat and #wrldchat. I have collected various other people as well many of whom are established history teachers who have amazing ideas. I also have education chat and new teacher chat and am working on collecting people out of those chat groups as well. I have posted different sources pertaining to my history field as well as attained a huge amount of support and help from those people in the chats.

In terms of Diigo, as a networking tool I do not feel that it is as strong as Twitter. However, I have collected some students who are in various stages of their education, mostly those that are in their masters programs or those in the doctoral program. I wanted to add these people because I am interested in their experiences and the resources they will come up with in doing these higher studies can be beneficial. Since I am just beginning to find tools that will help me build my PLN those are the things I tagged in my account, sites that talk about how to build a successful PLN using different tools to broaden your horizons. I feel that these will come in handy in the future to reference as resources.




Visit Classroom 2.0
I have joined Classroom 2.0, which is a discussion forum online for teachers. They have different forums based on content which was very interesting to me. It also have some great information pertaining to technology in the classroom. For example one thread was about classroom tools and I learned about a lot more I didn't know, Quizlet for example is a tool that allows students to make flashcards of vocabulary and then creates games pertaining to those flashcards. I rushed over to the site and bookmarked in in Diigo to use a a homework resource.

Journal 6

Spencer, J. (2011, 09 19). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.educationrethink.com/2011/09/ten-reasons-to-get-rid-of-homework-and.html

Summary:

The author implores his readers through ten arguments to get rid of homework in their classrooms. The two I disagree most with is that students of all ages are busy. However as a child, I had a significant amount of homework and still managed to maintain my extra-curricular activities and learned how to manage my time effectively. Spencer sites unequal help ratios between parents who are educated and those who have very little education. Homework creates adversarial roles, is bad, confines work to busy work and is not effective, and finally  homework demotivates.  Spencer simply gives us a list to ponder these reasons and no solution just his feelings on homework and why he does not give it.

Question One: How can homework demotivate a child and how can we incorporate motivating work into the home?
Answer One:
The key in this is that homework, having done a huge portion of it myself truly does demotivate a child. Most children that I have come in contact with rush through it and try not to let it interfere with their home lives and I am not just talking about K-12 this happens in higher education as well. If homework is necessary, it should be a project done at home with a research component not a mindless packet full of things that the student may or may not fully grasp the concept of. Or another method can be found to keep kids practicing and engaged in the current theme of study. For example research projects in my opinion cannot be contained to the classroom or the school library, there is simply not enough time in the school day for those things. Therefore a portion of the home time has to be leaked into in order to accomplish goals or else we are short changing high school students out of learning valuable resources for college level work. 

Question Two: If equity is a problem in homework, can't a teacher offer to stay an hour after school to help students who need or want the help?
Answer Two:
Yes, I understand that most teachers do not want to interfere with their own personal lives and yes I agree that they are important too. However, I feel that if equity is an issue then reach out to struggling students and offer them your time and help. This does not have to be everyday, but perhaps on an early release day when teachers stay on campus anyway to catch up on grading and lesson plans. Even if it simply turns into a quiet room for students to study and occasionally ask a question about that days lesson, the teacher has gone above the call of duty and the student feels more comfortable asking for help. This availability may not be taken advantage of every time but most teachers stay after the final bell rings anyway so why not offer the time to your students.

Journal 4

Fergueson, H. (2012). Join the flock. ISTE Learning and Leading, 39(8), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-leading/issues/june-july-2010/join-the-flock!


Miller, S. M. (2010). Enhance your Twitter Experience. Learning and Leading with Technology, 37(8), 14-17. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-leading/digitaledition/digital-edition-february-2013

Summary:
Ms. Fergueson's article introduces a concept called PLN's which is associated with Twitter in which she gives steps on how to make it most helpful for you and the others in your network. It is a very interesting concept to gain and trade information within your interests and spread more technology awareness. Miller's article piggy backs off of Fergueson's article with defined terms and more in-depth explanations of how to enhance the twitter experience that Fergueson refers to in her article. These two articles paired together are a great asset for introducing Twitter for an academic use in addition they meet the criteria for NETS-T 3 and 5.


 Question One: What exactly is a PLN?
 Answer One: It seems like Twitter on its own using hash tags and tweet deck is sufficient enough for attaining information as shown in a previous class meeting. I also feel that Diigo is a great source for attaining information within your realm of interests, which I use on a daily basis to expand my resources for my future history classroom and to help me through the credential program.  However this does sound like an interesting concept and one that we will most likely be exploring in this class. I hope to attain more information from a hands on experience. It seems as though students could benefit from the use of a PLN perhaps in the form of a research based project in connecting them with students from across the globe. I do like that PLN opens up a variety of new teaching sources that I may have never found in my own research and allows a communication of teaching strategies that could be beneficial to a teacher at any point in their career. 

Question Two: How can students benefit from a PLN?
Answer Two:This talks mainly about how teachers benefit from acquiring new teaching sources for lesson plans and different ideas of teaching and sources. This indirectly benefits students in the sense that the teacher is prepared with resources but how can students use a PLN to their advantage in a math class or in a history class? Perhaps if a student had a semester long project this would be helpful but I cannot see a way to incorporate this into a classroom directly for students. 

Journal 3

Swan, G., & Park , M. (2012/2013). Students need a Digital Driver's License before they start their engines. Learning and Leading with Technology ,40(4), 26-28. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-leading/digitaledition/digital-edition-december-january-2012-13

Summary:
This article was about a program used by mainly high schools to gauge digital literacy which meets the NETS-T for numbers four and five. These districts encourage a program called BYOD or Bring-your-own-device, which reminds me of a sort of show and tell which has been adapted for teaching technology. It also addresses the problem of teachers saying they are going to address technological problems but rarely do. This program gives you the tools necessary to teach and protect your students online. It outlines CIPA as well which is the Children's Internet Protection Act which states that it is the school's responsibility to educate their students about internet safety.
 Question One:
In regards to the bring your own device option, how are low-income areas going to be able to cope with this?
As more schools adopt such a policy how are students whose families can barely support themselves and put food on the table supposed to buy laptops or Ipads for their children. The article states that the schools are able to provide devices but how are low-income schools supposed to manage this when schools libraries are out of date. This is an amazing tool, however I don't see it being accessible for all districts.
Question two:
Since the basis of the program is testing based with practice-its and prove-its, how can we motivate the student to want to perform well when we already put them through so much testing already?
 Due to the abundance of testing  schools already have in place and my lack of working knowledge of the program used, I feel as though this could be misinterpreted by students as "just another test." Students who know a fair amount about technology and tools that can be used by students like citation machine or what is considered common knowledge in plagiarism and what is not run the risk of being disillusioned by the product and not advancing their knowledge. Since this program is used primarily high school it seems at though it would be functioning as a part of a class but I remember being able to test out of my required technology based class by showing proficiency in word and other programs used often in academics.

Journal 2

Anderson, S. (December/ January 2012-13). Learning without Borders. Learning and Leading with Technology, Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-leading/l-l-december-january-2012-13/feature-learning-without-borders.

Summary:
 Learning and Leading with Technology's article depicts a world that is becoming closer through technology because of this article encompasses the NETS-T standards 2,3, and 4. The educator is writing about her experience with a program called Greenleaf through Schoolwires that joins Chinese students and American students together via technology. Through this program she is able to incorporate all of the NETS for her students into six core units which are as follows: 1) Team building and digital citizenship  2) Where do you live? 3) Our futures in school and career 4) Global citizenship 5) Landmark locations 6) Iconic images. Through this program she also opens the door to learning about new cultures and how their own is view. She also breaks down the walls of diversity being viewed as otherness and difference with negative connotations.
  
 Question 1: As part of being a pilot group for this program, how many glitches did she experience?
Answer One: I could see this being an incredibly frustrating experience for her as the teacher but an learning experience for her as well. I would hesitate to incorporate this into my classroom, not because I think what it promotes is wrong but for the purely scary nature of trying a technological product that wasn't overly tested and all the "bugs" had been worked out. However, knowing my nature and wanting to give my students the best of what is available I would eventually concede and as Sue did make quick friends with the school's technology advisers.

 Question 2: From a economic standpoint, how much did this cost for students as well as the school? 
Answer two: Naturally because this was a test run for the program, Mrs Anderson and her school as well as her students probably got to enjoy this product for free or at least had a very nominal fee. In doing additional research on this product, I found the site to be incredibly vague and they wouldn't give out information unless you requested it with backing from a school district. This tells me that the product is expensive. How would funding be acquired for this program, with all of its merits I cannot see a lower-income school district "springing" for this product. What would the students be responsible for if it is as expensive as the illusive website implies? A fifty dollar fee is a huge amount for a low- income student and would they be not allowed to participate if they could not come up with the funding? Overall the concept is amazing, but perhaps it is only useful for those districts who are in wealthy areas and the areas with the resources to find such a program.