The day I have looked forward to for some time now has arrived.
I am about to complete my master's degree. Upon completion of this program, I will be the first person in my family (that I am aware of) to complete a degree at this level. To say I am thrilled is an understatement! Although I am excited to have my time back and to have finished the program, to say this is the end would be incorrect. I have toiled over thiseportfolio website many months, worked into the night tackling research for literature reviews, and have been glued to this computer more hours than I can count watching videos and reading articles, but, I would not trade it for any other experience. I have enjoyed working through the material and sharpening my understanding of learning and leading in this crazy environment we call the digital world. As you read through my journey below in the digital storybook I created covering the span of this program, I want you to consider all the work I have put into creating a digital representation of my learning and, most importantly, how this program will equip me to move forward with change in my elementary library and how COVA has transformed the way I learn. (Click here or the image below to start reading my journey...so far.)
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Implementing this plan is not something I take lightly. I have thought about it every week since I took over the library and especially since I began the Digital Learning & Leading (DLL) program. I ponder over it so much because I believe makerspaces can have a powerful impact on each student, each class, and, ultimately, the school culture as a whole. In my post, Why?...It Matters, I discuss how a central location in the school that sets aside traditional learning as we know it to allow students to have some choice in what they learn and how they learn could have a powerful effect on the campus culture and how students view learning in today's world.
When I started the DLL program, I had an idea of what a grad level program would be like. I pictured lots of reading, research, and writing. Of course, we have engaged in all three of these, but I was not ready to engage in the "other" things the DLL program contained. One of these "other" things is the idea of COVA, which I have now become very familiar with after going through the DLL program. For those who may be new to COVA or if you need a quick reminder, watch the quick video below or read more about it here.
This course on digital citizenship is now one of my favorite courses in the DLL program mainly because it addresses topics such as copyright use and cyberbullying. Both topics are aspects I deal with in my professional practice as campus librarian and campus technologist. However, I was not aware of how little I understood of these topics, as well as the other topics in the course, until I read through the first half of the Ribble text over digital citizenship (Ribble, 2015). The nine elements opened my eyes to the multiple areas such as copyright use, commerce, security, and even health and wellness that, along with the other elements, are intertwined all throughout our lives. These elements are not anything new, however, when applied to the digital world, they take on a whole new life which affects me and the students I serve.
Digital citizenship expert Mike Ribble (2015) provides great material concerning nine elements he considered crucial to the digital well-being of students. The video I created below addresses the none elements as well as how you can apply them at home as well. Although I geared the video towards parents of students in my school, the information is applicable in all school settings. References:
This week’s topic of cyberbullying has been difficult. The toll cyberbullying (or any form of bullying) has on a child of any age is heartbreaking. Whether it is embarrassment, fear, or emotional pain so high it leads to self-harm or suicide, our students are not mentally capable of handling such stress. The research currently available on the topic of cyberbullying demonstrates it is no more detrimental than traditional bullying (Hinduja & Patchin, 2015), however, the time frame a bully has access to the victim has expanded beyond the school day to nearly constant connectivity due to the social aspect technology now provides our society. As the topic of cyberbullying is studied and more data collected, I believe society will soon see an uptick in cyberbullying related issues because the balance of power is further tilted towards the perpetrator. Ease of anonymity, the ability to attack in secret, a wider audience range, and other factors all enable the act of bullying to be easier than ever before (Hinduja & Patchin, 2015).
I have been in the education field for almost 17 years now and we have had numerous trainings and workshops centered around best practices in education. One topic that never comes up is the issue of copyright in the classroom. I did not know what fair use even meant until about 5 years ago. In the last two years, the district I work for implemented an online training module at the beginning of the school year which consists of a variety of topics and one of them happens to be copyright and fair use. Outside of the 15-minute online session, teachers in my district receive and discuss nothing in the way of the copyright issue and how it could potentially lead to problems they wish they did not have. More importantly, teachers are unaware of how fair use, public domain, and creative commons all work in their favor in the classroom to enhance learning for their students. This is such an important topic that it is one of four standards in the Citizen category of the ISTE Standards for Educators (International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), n.d.).
The past has a way of hanging around in the shadows and reappearing when you least expect it. Sometimes it is in the form of an old school friend you run into at the store or a letter you may have received years ago tucked away in a shoe box you just went through in the attic. Now that much of our life is lived digitally, the past has permanent residence on a device or server somewhere. This problem of digital footprints is the issue facing students and educators in this highly digitized world. Social media comments, video and photo postings, texts, emails, and much more are permanently stored somewhere and as students begin the transition into adulthood seeking colleges and jobs, the last thing they need showing up to potential college recruiters or bosses are inappropriate items on the Internet from when they were a teenager.
Mike Ribble (2015) points out early in his text we as educators assume that since our students are born as digital natives with devices in their hands, they know all there is to know concerning digital life. This is something that bothers me as a technology teacher and has for some time now. Ribble also mentions that many educators do not see themselves as proficient with technology nor the ability to help their students in this area of life. Pair these two mindsets and a digital citizenship deficiency gains a foothold in the school setting.
Sit-and-get.
Spray-and-pray. One-and-done. All of these phrases are attached to an event educators are well acquainted with: professional development. Just the sound of these words brings headache and frustration to educators everywhere. Why? The Mirage (TNTP, 2015), states less than HALF of teachers said their professional development was tailored to their development needs or teaching context. This should serve has a wake up call for school districts across the nation The Internet is a powerful tool for learners. Any topic wished to be studied can be accessed online with seemingly endless amounts of information from a variety of sources. No longer are students regulated to the confines of a textbook. However, with such a wide array of information literally at the fingertips of learners using computers and mobile devices, it is easy for students to get lost amid the onslaught of information from even the simplest of web searches. This is quickly becoming the new role of educators as they help their learners navigate the sea of information they will find. In the traditional face-to-face classrooms prior to Internet access, students were limited regarding access to information and relied upon the instructor to prepare the information in a designed lesson to give to the class. Morrison (2013) states that the traditional classroom has set boundaries (walls, for example) which govern and facilitate in student learning. The Internet, unfortunately, is wide open and students, even older students, have difficulty learning in a methodical way due to this open nature. This is where educators are now finding themselves. Educators are in a unique position to help students navigate learning in a variety of ways in online environments (Bates, 2015).
The advances in technology and the powerful connections made possible through the Internet have brought about a time in our culture in which gaining access to information is no longer a problem for most of society. This advancement, in time, will bring about a change in learning unlike anything we have seen. (For more on this information on this topic and the future of learning, I highly suggest Tony Bate's open textbook, Teaching in a Digital Age.)
However, not every educational facility is ready to revolutionize the way learning takes place in their environment. I was rather intrigued by a chapter I read this week explaining the difference between technology and media especially as it relates to education. You can read the whole chapter here and since it is an open textbook, you can access the entire book here. I will say I am not 100% sure of the differences, but I will say I have never given much thought to the idea that my teaching is some sort of medium. Tony Bates states in chapter 6: "In education we could think of classroom teaching as a medium. Technology or tools are used (e.g. chalk and blackboards, or Powerpoint and a projector) but the key component is the intervention of the teacher and the interaction with the learners in real time and in a fixed time and place." Tools, or in our case technology, change often, but in spite of all the change, the learner still needs the teacher to guide and instruct. I know there are many people, especially in the generation before me, that see the onslaught of technology in education as a bad thing that would take away the personal aspect of a teacher-student relationship, and if not properly implemented, I could see how that could happen. However, I don't panic that we will be taught by robots in the future like some propose. I do see us utilizing technology and media in such a way where learning of all kinds happen at any time and in any way. For example, here recently, my daughter has really shown an interest in drawing and painting. Her mother does not know much about either topic and I know less (I can barely spell art!). Typically, we would have had to seek out an art teacher and hopefully find the right schedule (and price!) to fit our family with the hope that the teacher would be able to answer all of her questions and show her all she needs to know for each session. But what about when she gets home and is confused on how to apply a medium or correct a mistake? Her parents wouldn't be helpful! So, we decided to acquire video art lessons. Not only can she learn wherever and whenever she can also move back and forth through the lessons as she needs to as many times as she needs to until she has grasped the technique. Not only that, mom and dad can join in on the lessons, too, and now it becomes a family learning event! (I know it made be hard to tell by the photos, but we both used pastels for the very first time and we were able to create an aurora borealis picture with trees in the foreground.) As far as the medium is concerned, we had all we needed: the paper, the pastels, the video, the audio, etc. As far as the tech was concerned, we had that as well: the TV, the Internet, etc. Yet, we could not have figured it out on our own. We needed the teacher to guide us to success. What is also great, is that none of our paintings looked the same. You could tell we all had the same instructor but in the end, our work was unique. As I finished up chapter 6, the following two quotes from Bates stuck out to me that I wanted to share and to keep in my mind as I proceed through the rest of this course and program:
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![]() Image by silviarita from Pixabay A topic that has really resonated with me this week is that of cognitive overload and how that can affect the success of the learner. I'll start with myself. I almost ended my online master's program as soon as it started because of cognitive overload. The readings, the videos, the books, the discussions, the assignments...all of it was too much for me. I tried to find a quiet place in the house to get it all done, thinking that would help, but the amount of volume around me wasn't the main problem; it was an overload of information and thinking. The month I started classes, I also started a new position at work, and my mind was having trouble focusing and putting it all together. I had not been a student for over 15 years, I had never taken an online class before, and getting a masters was not in my plan, but I was required to get it to keep my position. Looking at the syllabus and classroom sections overwhelmed me and I almost backed out of the program. (I'm glad I didn't. I'm over halfway there!) Angela Duckworth in her book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance would call this (can you guess it?) grit. While I don't agree with everything in her book, I do feel as if I have some sort of drive to stay with something, even if it causes me frustration, mainly because I want to see it fixed or completed. However, this type of drive could lead to exhaustion of the mind. In his Tedx Talk below, Darren McNelis discusses how he had to take a break from technology and social media to basically give his brain a break. When I sit down to do a weekly discussion post, I leave the computer dozens of times because I can't wrap my mind around what I want to think much less what I want to type. I get bogged down in the theories and research and my mind just puts up a mental barrier. (It took me almost 2 hours to get the paragraph above written because I kept drawing blanks and coming up empty as I sat here.) As self-centered as it may seem, when I think about creating my online course of makerspace introduction to elementary teachers (who stay at a high cognitive overload level during the school year), I'm trying to think of myself and if I would have the capacity to start, finish, and implement my course. As the creator of the course, if I wouldn't want to complete it, how can I expect my colleagues? In chapter 3 of our class readings this week, Tony Bates details the benefits and disadvantages to various models such as lectures, apprenticeships, experiential learning, and so on. At first, I felt this was not helpful this week because here I am trying to develop an online course and I am reading an entire chapter about non-online methods of teaching. With chapter 4 covering online methods, it finally hit me. All of these methods are valid and have merit depending on the situation. As I begin filling in the blanks for my online course, especially considering the fact I am dealing with makerspaces, a very "hands-on" topic, I want to be sensitive to avoid just presenting information about makerspaces and actually have the learners experience makerspaces, yet all through an online forum. How that will play out is yet to be determined, but one thing I truly want to avoid is an overload of information and one thing I want to hone in on is the success of my learners, which I know I have not given as much consideration...yet. References:
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